And a jealous bitch, Pia thought but didn’t say. Instead she said: “You suggested on the phone he was not feeling up to par. Did he come in today?”

“He came in, yes. Of course. He’s a dedicated man, in contrast to yourself. Why do you ask?”

“I’m just interested, Mariel. Why are you giving me such a hard time about everything?”

Mariel stopped reading her ledger and looked up at Pia. She affected a flinty smile.

“I’m sorry if you think I’m giving you a hard time, but I’m really not. We’re all under a lot of pressure. That pressure comes from the top, and I have to act accordingly. My pressure is coming directly from Zachary Berman, and I assure you he’s giving me a much harder time than you think I’m giving you.” Mariel kept her smile fixed on her face, then looked back at her ledger. Pia marveled at how someone could smile with such great insincerity.

Pia had to do something, get her mind grounded—Mariel Spallek was becoming unbearable and making it difficult to concentrate. Pia had checked on all the experiments that she had running and saw everything was in order. There still were no signs of any immunological response in the lot. The polyethylene glycol in the microbivores’ skin was doing wonders at all concentrations, even what she would have thought were minuscule amounts.

“I’m going to take a breath of air,” said Pia. Before Mariel could respond Pia added, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back. One way or the other, you’ll get your full day’s work out of me.”

Needing a few moments away from Mariel, who’d made a point of shadowing Pia for the whole time that she had been there, Pia descended in the elevator and marched outside. Needing to talk to someone, she called Paul Caldwell. Before the call went through, she remembered he said he was going to sleep when he got home. She disconnected.

Impulsively, she called George despite the can of worms such a call might unleash. Luckily she got his voice mail, which wasn’t surprising, given that no doubt he’d be hard at work somewhere in his L.A. hospital. Mostly out of desperation, she called the internist who was responsible for Will McKinley’s treatment in New York to see if she had any new information for her, but she didn’t pick up her phone, either. For Pia it was a complete strikeout. Still, the break had been therapeutic. Fortified, she headed back into the building and anticipated another couple of frosty hours with Mariel Spallek.