“For now I’m in charge of this lab, and from this point on, you no longer have authorization. And I’ll take that too.” Spaulding snatched the logbook that Pia was holding.

Pia stood there for a couple of beats, deciding what to do. She’d recovered from the shock of Spaulding’s unexpected appearance and now was just angry. She’d never liked the man. She brushed past Spaulding heading toward the freezer door.

“You’re not the princess anymore, Pia darling. Your access to this entire lab is revoked, as I’m sure the dean would be happy to confirm if I asked.”

Pia said nothing. In the anteroom she took off her protective garb and passive aggressively left them where they fell. Seething, she walked back into her tiny office and packed up the few belongings and files she’d accumulated in three-plus years. She found an empty box and put them in it. Without looking back, she closed the office door and walked toward the entrance to the lab. Marsha Langman didn’t look up as she passed by. What a bunch of jerks, Pia thought.

In a huff, Pia headed back to the dorm, but then she remembered George in the library. Reversing her direction, she quickly found him and got his attention. She then left. He quickly closed the journal he was reading and followed her out into the hall. He had to jog to catch up with her. It was no secret she was angry.

“Can I ask what happened? You weren’t gone long. Was the lab still off-limits?”

“Maybe it would have been better if it had been,” Pia said. “I hope you’re hungry because I’m starved.”

“I’m hungry enough. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

“Fine,” Pia said.

They exited the hospital. It was cold and dark. They walked quickly.

“You still haven’t told me what happened,” George reminded Pia.

“What happened was that prick Spaulding surprised me at the storage freezer and ended up kicking me out of the lab for good. The dummy left the light on and came back to turn it off. My bad luck he’s so anal. Figures, he’s a huge asshole.”

“You can’t be surprised he got mad. And why do you care if he kicked you out of the lab? You’re going to another lab come Monday. You can strike another staff member off your Christmas card list.”

“I don’t send Christmas cards.”

“It’s a figure of speech, you know what I mean. So now the lab’s really off-limits, right?”

Pia nodded. “I guess so.”

“So there’s not much more you can do, unless you want to break into Springer’s office.”

Pia looked over at George with confusion.