Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(21)

Vasilii wrapped up the large blueprints on the table to make room for her. "Of course. Come and sit down. Your mother mentioned she took a spill. Is she okay?"

She was fine, if you ignored the fact she'd spent a large percent of the weekend complaining that Lucan hadn't been overly companionable. He'd only shown his face once over the weekend and had stayed the sum total of twenty-three minutes. Louisa knew because she'd timed him. "It was a pretty clean break. She needs six to eight weeks in a cast. We hired a nurse to help her with day-to-day things like bathing."

"If you need some time off to go be with her, we can most definitely arrange it. If you feel you should be there … "

"Thank you, Vasilii, but I think it is better for both of us that she has help and I go see her every day."

Vasilii squinted his eyes at her. "Are you sure? I feel like this would be a good idea. Yes?"

Louisa shook her head. "No. Thank you. I came to see about the missing sample," she said, changing the subject. "Were you able to find the person who took it?"

Abruptly, Vasilii pushed his chair away from the desk and stood before putting the blueprints on his shelf. "We are still working on it," he said. "We have some suspects."




       
         
       
        
"But if you haven't found anyone yet, should we call the police?"

Vasilii returned to the table and sat back down. "Of course we've informed all the relevant parties," he said. "Our reputation is paramount, and I won't have anybody mess with it. Listen, you have enough to worry about, Louisa," he said. "With your mother and all. Please. Leave this to me to deal with. I'll let you know if you can be of help."

Liz bustled in and gave Lou her coffee. "Enjoy, my love."

"Thanks, Liz."

Liz picked up a stack of mail from Vasilii's desk and walked out again.

"Louisa. I'm grateful that you care so much about this. But it is probably nothing for us to worry about."

She stood and picked up her coffee. "I certainly hope so."

The lack of progress was a concern. Without knowing why the sample was taken, it was impossible to know whether someone had messed with other samples. She hated the thought of having to dispose of the brain slice she'd been sent; the very idea squeezed at her chest. It was hard to find donors for medical research, and the body parts were treated like gold once they were. A highly valuable commodity, and a once-in-a-million chance to figure out in real time what had caused the condition they suffered from.

Louisa wandered into the break room, which was still quiet. She sipped her coffee while looking out over the parking lot. The gray sky would soon be brilliantly lit by the late August sunshine. Perhaps it was time for her to go see a doctor. Her mind was telling her that there was something strange about the way Vasilii had answered her question about the police. He'd never said yes. All he'd done was tell her that he'd called the relevant authorities. But the man had been a friend of her family's for years. He treated her like a daughter. Her heart was telling her there was nothing strange about the way he was handling it  …  but her mind. It was on fast-forward. She could barely keep up with the doubt and paranoia it was creating.

Louisa rinsed her mug in the sink and placed it into the dishwasher. No closer to understanding what was going on, she knew there was one thing she could do. It was small, and it might not even reduce the risk.

Determined, she returned to the lab. Ivan wouldn't be in for another hour. Not such an early riser. She hurried into her lab coat and protective clothes and entered the air unit. Once inside the lab, she grabbed the sample from the fridge and a large bottle of bleach, then headed to the sink they disposed of biomedical waste in. She mixed the sample and bleach together, neutralizing its properties and destroying it forever.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh my God. Ivan." She placed her hand over her chest. "You made me jump." 

Ivan picked up the sample bottle. "Clearing out? What was this?"

Thinking quickly on her feet, she said the only plausible thing he would buy. "With the lab being compromised, and us not knowing what was tampered with, I thought we should clean house. It sucks to get rid of some of this work, but what good is continuing if we aren't a hundred percent certain what we are working with."

Ivan studied her at length, and she got the sneaking suspicion he was testing her. "Don't you think that is a little premature?"

She shook her head. "We don't have any footage in here of what they touched, even if whoever took it was only in here for a few moments." God, it was ridiculous to doubt Ivan.