"She does. I think living with an architect all those years helped," Lou said, thinking of her father fondly.
"So, what can I do for you, Lou?"
"I have a sample missing in the lab. We've searched for it, but more frighteningly, all my notes that go with it are gone."
Vasilii stood and walked around the front of the desk. "You think somebody has stolen it?"
She knew that would be the first place he would go. "I'm not sure. But I think it's odd that the sample and all of our notes would go missing."
"Let me call Ivan."
She waited as he carried his cell phone toward the window and muttered something to Ivan she couldn't hear, and within a minute, Ivan bounded into the room.
"Hey, Louisa, Vasilii," he said, coming to stand next to her.
Louisa had always thought it odd, yet understandable, that Ivan usually addressed his grandfather by his first name.
"Ivan," Vasilii said. "Louisa has concerns about a missing sample."
Ivan turned to face her. "What sample are you talking about, Louisa? The one you texted me about?"
"Yes. That one. The one we had just moved to live testing. The one that led to paralysis."
Ivan sat down in one of the chairs opposite his grandfather. "Have you done a thorough check?"
"I did. All the other labs have checked their units. Everybody has been asked whether they borrowed anything from the lab. I've gone through our units four times, and always get the same answer. The sample is missing."
She was about to add that she had switched the samples, but something made her hold back. Something niggled the back of her brain. But she trusted these two men. They'd been good to her, provided a safe place to continue her research, but something … what. Irked? Itched? She couldn't put her finger on what had her so unsettled.
"Just to be doubly cautious, I'll do a check," Ivan said. "You know how it is, sometimes you can't see for looking. Happens to me all the time with my car keys, and they are usually right there in front of me."
"Of course, that's a great idea," she replied tactfully. "But that doesn't explain why all the notes are missing. They're gone too. I looked this morning, but they aren't there. Someone removed the working notes from the file and the full reports from the system. It's as if the sample never existed."
Vasilii stood. "Tell me more about the sample. What is it? What are the risks?"
"It had been looking really positive until we started live testing," Ivan answered. "It paralyzed the mice yet kept them alive and fully functioning mentally. They could feel pain but not respond."
"Look," she said, standing. "I know we have protocol for this kind of thing, but I think there is a quick way to figure this out. We can use the security footage of the lab to see who went through the files. We keep the footage for a while, right? Or maybe somebody in IT can help figure out who accessed the data. They'd have to have put in a user ID, right?"
"Louisa," Vasilii said, calmly, "the cameras in your lab haven't worked in over two months. We trusted you and Ivan, so it wasn't a priority to fix them."
The news hurt like a kick to the stomach. The wind left her.
"But there are things we can do," Vasilii continued. "We can look at which cameras near your lab work, maybe we can see someone heading to your lab who had no business there. And you are right, we can get IT to take a look and see if the person who deleted the files left some kind of trace behind them."
"We should call the police as a precaution," Louisa said, feeling anxious.
"Let us conduct our own internal investigation, first. If the samples turn up in the lab, it will be a significant embarrassment for all. And even if they don't, we need to handle this carefully. Losing a dangerous sample is not something we would want to get out there if we can avoid it. Let us check those things out first, then I promise you we will call in the police if there are no answers."
"Great idea, Grandfather."
Vasilii held out his hand toward the door, and Louisa turned toward it. "You and Ivan should return to the lab and begin your search while I start the wheels in motion. Trust me, Louisa. You know I take things like this incredibly seriously, and the perpetrator will be punished to the fullest extent of the law."
As she walked toward the lab with Ivan, who was chattering on about how it was likely nothing, and how they'd be laughing about it by lunchtime when they found the sample in a silly location, thoughts flashed through her mind at high speeds. She felt like Dr. Susan Wheeler in the old movie Coma. What if she had stumbled onto a conspiracy? She shook her head. Those were the rambling thoughts of someone who was paranoid. It was a missing sample, and Vasilii was taking steps to find the culprit. She had to have faith in the process.