“Do you know Arthur Spaulding, the head technician?”

“Yeah, he was introduced to us when we first came on the job.”

“Did you see him when you were in Rothman’s office?”

“Sure, a few times. Quick ins and outs.”

“Anyone else more than once?”

“The secretary, Martha.”

“Marsha.”

“Whatever, yeah. You know, you sound an awful lot like a cop.”

“I’m not a cop, just a student who has a few questions. Sorry to keep you. But if you think of anything unusual, just find me.”

“Are you gonna be here?”

“Actually, no. Let me give you my cell phone number. If you remember anything, please call. I rarely use it, but I’ll pick up a message.” A message that I can ignore if it’s not germane, thought Pia. She usually made it a point not to give out her cell number. O’Meary wrote it down.

“Okay, I got it.”

Over O’Meary’s shoulder Pia saw Spaulding say good night to Marsha and leave. She silently applauded. She was now free to go and check out the storage freezer.

To be on the safe side, Pia did a circuit of the lab to see who else was around. A couple of the other support personnel were tidying up in the main lab area, and Marsha was busy around the front desk, but there was no one there who might go into the biosafety unit. Stepping into Spaulding’s office, she took the microbiological storage freezer log from where she knew Spaulding kept it in his desk. In the anteroom of the unit she quickly suited up, and once inside the unit itself, she used her own key to enter the large walk-in storage freezer. The door closed automatically behind her. She was surprised the interior light was on, which was odd, because Spaulding was scrupulous about turning it off when he left. As Pia started to contemplate what that might mean, the door was yanked open. Pia’s heart leaped in her chest. She found herself face-to-face with an equally surprised Arthur Spaulding.

“What are you doing here?” Pia asked quickly, feigning indignation.

“I came to turn off the light. More to the point, what are you doing here? This is off-limits to anyone but Nina Brockhurst, Panjit Singh, Mariana Herrera, and me. You know that. And how did you get in, damn it?”

“I have a key,” Pia said, producing it and dangling it in front of her masked face. “Dr. Rothman gave it to me, and he gave me authorization to come in here.”

Spaulding snatched the key roughly out of Pia’s hand, causing her to start again.

“Maybe you didn’t hear, but Dr. Rothman isn’t around anymore to give you his authorization.”

“I bet you’re happy about that,” Pia blurted. As soon as the comment left her mouth she regretted it.