“Dressed as security. Ed’s badly hurt; he caught the man in the lab and confronted him, and the guy assaulted Ed. He also fled with some samples,” Paulson explained.
“Fuck!” I roared. I should have stayed with Ed last night or insisted that he leave.
“Rain, it’s no one’s fault. Corporate have closed our level off for now. Security is reviewing the footage for any clues. From what I’ve been informed, the intruder headed straight for our floor and laboratory,” Paulson continued.
“How’s Ed?” I said.
“Ed was struck five times over the head. He’s been rushed to the hospital,” Sophie said softly.
Aggrieved, I closed my eyes. That could mean brain damage. Ed was a brilliant technician, and if he lost the capacity to do what he loved… shit.
“Five times is overkill; there’s anger behind it,” Paulson murmured.
I nodded; I couldn’t disagree.
“Dr Paulson, can you and Dr Wright please come inside? We need you to check for whatever is missing,” a guy said, approaching. “Detective Brown from the Bell Fourche PD. I’m the lead on this.”
“Wish I could say it was a pleasure, but the circumstances…” Paulson shook his head.
“Sorry for your colleague’s attack. Dreadful thing to happen. This isn’t the best time, but I need to understand what’s missing in the laboratory. The intruder took several items, but we don’t know what they were. It would be helpful if we knew what we were searching for.”
“Sure,” I replied.
I thought I’d prepared myself for the lab being a mess. I hadn’t. There was blood spatter near a bench. Nearby lay a pool of blood where Ed had fallen. Smashed glass was strewn across the floor, and two stools had been overturned. Paper and liquid were scattered randomly, and several items had been knocked over. A plate sat where Ed usually worked, with a dried-upsandwich and a cold cup of coffee. That brought a lump to my throat.
A violent fight had happened here, and Ed had clearly fought back. I prayed my colleague would get better and make it through this.
There were two officers inside, fully suited to prevent contamination, and I thanked God for that. If I’d have had to start from scratch, I’d have been furious, not that I already wasn’t.
“Weird,” I said, staring at the fridges.
“What?” Brown demanded.
“We either had a total idiot, an amateur, or someone who had no idea what they were looking at. Those are the rejected cultures he’s taken. That doesn’t make sense,” I remarked, puzzled.
“Rejected?” Paulson asked.
“Yes, sir. Those were the non-viable tests. They were waiting to be incinerated,” I replied.
“What the hell are you working on?” Brown exclaimed.
“That’s not for public knowledge. NDAs will need to be signed by detectives.”
“You say he came straight to this fridge? He didn’t check the others?” I frowned.
“Yes,” Brown confirmed.
Confused, I opened the fridge, which contained the viable tests. With suspicion, I checked them all.
“What is it?” Paulson questioned as I chewed my bottom lip.
“I had a rather nasty thought. But it was wrong,” I replied.
“Oh? Elaborate, please,” Brown said.
“I wondered if someone had swapped a viable sample out for a non-viable one. But I make a special mark, and nobody knows about it. They’re all here,” I mused as I kept checking the trays.
“You do?” Paulson asked, amused.
