Chapter Seven

 

 

“Thank you for coming up on a Saturday.” Becca smiled at the intern. Annie showing up to help her out in the lab on a weekend seemed to be one of the only things going right for her.

That wasn’t true. The research was going great, and that should make her happy, but all she seemed able to think about was the fact that she’d passed Owen Shaw three times in the hall in the last few days and he’d said nothing but hello to her. And then walked on.

She should be cheering. She’d gotten away clean and there was no weirdness between them.

Yet here she was on a Saturday, hiding at work so she didn’t have to see if he was going on a date. Which was perverse because she had a date tomorrow. She’d agreed to Cathy’s plan and she was going through with it come hell or high water.

“They’re doing great, Dr. Walsh,” Annie said, who despite Carter’s insistence seemed incredibly smart and focused on her job. The young woman couldn’t be more than twenty-four, her blonde hair up in a ponytail and a ready smile on her face. “Kidney function is perfect in all the rats. The drug doesn’t seem to be affecting the liver either.”

Becca stared down at the reports. “Excellent. How did short-term memory perform?”

Annie handed her another set of files. “With the drug, they managed to make it through the maze two times faster than the control subjects. After three tries, memory function made them ten times faster.”

It was everything she’d hoped for. “Yes. That’s what I want to hear. The nerves are repairing themselves. The connections are coming back online once the drug clears the plaque out of the system.”

“Once you clear the plaque,” Annie said. “Dr. Walsh, this is remarkable. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“A lot of people helped work on this,” she murmured, uncomfortable with the praise. She didn’t give a shit about the prizes that would likely come if this worked out. The notoriety she would receive would be the worst part of her work.

She wasn’t looking for money and fame. She was in a war, and it finally hit her that she might be winning.

“Yeah, well, a lot of people didn’t have your ideas,” Annie said. “I’m going to be you when I grow up.”

She glanced up at the intern. “I’m like five years older than you.”

A slender shoulder shrugged. “Yeah, but you’re an actual adult. You don’t party and stuff. I’m still sowing a bunch of oats or something. That’s what my nana says. My mom just slut shames me and wants to know when I’m going to find a husband. She then tells me no man is going to want me if I don’t slow my roll.” She leaned in. “She means sex. I think if a guy can sleep with a bunch of people and have fun, then I should be able to, too. Not that you should. You should be here working and making the world a better place and stuff.”

Did everyone see her as some kind of boring, plain Jane, never-gets-out of the lab martyr? “I have fun.”

She’d damn straight had fun a few days before.

She kind of wished Owen had been the stripper she’d teased him about being. Then she could call and request his services. She wanted to celebrate and couldn’t think of a better way than watching Owen get naked.

Annie’s lips firmed as though she was holding in a chuckle and she nodded. “Of course you do. You simply have a different version of fun than a normal person. You’re a genius. You’re different from the rest of us.”

She groaned because she’d heard that her whole life. She was special. She was different because she’d been touched by God or something. Her big brain was a blessing and she had to ensure that she did everything she could to make herself worthy of it.

She was sick of being seen as some kind of goody-two-shoes brainiac. “Do you know what I did Wednesday, Annie?”

“Yes, Dr. Walsh. You came to work. You were in the lab most of the day and then you had to listen to Jimmy’s complete and utter failure of a trial. I saw the chick who wants to kill him. Her nose hair grew. I mean all the rest of it did too, but I was impressed at how fast that nose hair grew. You had a turkey sandwich for lunch at your desk and Cathy called in a chicken salad sandwich for your dinner from the Spadina Street café.” She shrugged again. “We all have your schedule in case Cathy has an emergency.”

God, she was boring. Well, she would have to fix that. “Was banging a hot Scot in an elevator on Cathy’s schedule? Because that was how my night went.”

Annie’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

She felt her face flush, but there was no going back. Besides, she wasn’t exactly ashamed. “His name was Owen and he was incredibly good stress relief.”

“I thought your shoulders seemed looser lately. Good for you, Dr. Walsh.”

Her shoulders weren’t the only thing that were loose. So was her tongue.

Annie leaned in, conspiratorially. “Who was he? I didn’t know we had a doctor from Scotland here. I thought the closest we had was the guy who’s really from Vancouver but does that bad British accent.”

Finally something she could jostle the girl with. “He’s not from the foundation. He lives in my building. He’s a bodyguard.”

Yep, those youthful eyes bore the stamp of pure shock. “You did a blue-collar guy?”

She had and it had been glorious. “I did. I’m getting back in the dating world, though I don’t guess getting trapped in an elevator counts as a date.”

“It sure seems to have ended like one,” Annie said. “Are you seeing him again? You know you don’t have to, right? It’s perfectly acceptable for you to have your fun and move on to greener pastures.”

“I’ve got a date tomorrow but not with him,” she admitted. Lawyer Larry texted her this morning and asked if he could call. They’d had a nice chat and lawyer number one of a hundred professionals Cathy was likely to parade in front of her seemed pretty nice. “I’m having lunch with a lawyer. I think that’s what I’ll do. I’ll take the alliterative approach to getting back out there. Lunch with lawyers. Dinner with doctors.”

Boning with bodyguards. Boffing with bodyguards. Bedtime with bodyguards.

Bodyguard. Bad boy. Except that bad boy had been awfully good.

Damn that man was in her head, but she wasn’t giving in.

“That sounds good,” Annie said with a smile. “Definitely stick to doctors and lawyers. They’re the only ones who truly understand the kind of hours we put in. Unless you’re looking for a good time. Then I can introduce you to some guys from the university who know what they’re doing.”

“I scarcely think Dr. Walsh needs to meet your friends, Annie,” Carter said from the doorway. She hadn’t heard him come in. “If you’re done with Dr. Walsh’s reports, why don’t you go and help in the lab. Dr. Holder had some patients coming in for baseline MRIs.”

Annie’s eyes rolled but she was all smiles when she turned around. “Sure thing.” She started for the door and then turned when she was behind Carter’s back and gave Becca the call me sign along with a far more juvenile gesture that let her know Annie was willing to hook her up.

With college boys.

Did Annie know any men with ridiculously broad shoulders and eyes as blue as any ocean? Did she know any guy rough enough to send a thrill along her spine and tender enough to make her stupid heart soften up?

She needed to work on her reputation if all anyone was going to send her way was either professionals looking for companionship or college boys who wanted to get laid.

“I apologize for her familiarity,” Carter said with a long-suffering sigh. “I go through this with them in their training classes.”

“She was being friendly,” Becca replied. “You should go easier on the interns. There might be a couple we want to keep, after all.”

“Certainly not Annie. She’s not serious about her work. She’ll find a husband, some meathead with a good paycheck, and settle down. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.”

“I hardly think medical school is the place to find a husband and never work again,” she shot back. Normally she would let it go, but there was something under her skin today. “She’s worked hard and we should value that.”

If her little show of temper bothered him, he didn’t let her know. He simply laid out an envelope that had her name typed on the front of it. “I think you’ll like Tucker. He’s very respectful, and from what I can see, he knows his stuff. He’s assigned to Dr. Huisman right now, but I’ll snatch him up for you if I can. This came by courier.”

“On a Saturday?” She worked most Saturdays, but one of the things she liked about it was how she didn’t have to deal with administrative stuff. She didn’t get mail on weekends.

“I suppose whoever sent it knows you don’t take a lot of time off work,” he replied. “It was a bike messenger. Not the usual. He didn’t have me sign for it or anything.”

That was unusual to say the least. In her world there was always paperwork. Sometimes she expected the vending machines to need a signature to deliver a can of soda. She looked down at the plain white envelope in her hand. It wasn’t thick. Her name had been typed neatly on the front and there was nothing else distinguishing about it.

“Is there something wrong?” Carter asked. “I was about to run some errands. I’ll be back around six and we can head out together. If you like we can talk about your calendar for the next month. I’d like to get that on the books so the interns don’t make excuses about not having the schedule in time.”

She glanced up at the clock. She was supposed to be at River’s in a few hours. She was surprised to discover she wasn’t even thinking of canceling. It was what she usually did when it came to social events. She would say yes with all the good intentions in the world, and then the day would come and she would find some excuse to not put herself out there.

She wasn’t even thinking about it today. Today she was eager for some lasagna. It had been a long time since she’d had a home-cooked meal, and her stomach growled at the thought. “I’m heading out early. I have a party to go to.”

A single brow arched. “Party?”

Yep, she was working on her reputation. “Yes, I go to parties.” At least she did now. “I have one tonight, so I’ll see you on Monday.”

“You’re taking Sunday off?” The poor man looked like the world had shifted on him.

“I have a lunch date. I told you about it.”

“I would assume it won’t last all day.”

“Only if I’m lucky,” she replied pointedly.

His face flushed and for a moment he seemed to not understand. Then he backed away and she could see the shock in his eyes before he buried it under the veneer of professionalism. “Well, I suppose I’ll see you Monday then. You…have fun this weekend.”

Carter left without a backward glance. He was such a prissy man, much like a lot of the academic types. He was more focused on the job than the people they were trying to help. She’d known a lot of Carters. Somehow he’d latched on to her when she’d come to work at the foundation, and he’d been helpful at first. It had been nice to have someone who lived in the same building and was willing to show her around, but over time she’d gotten to realize he was pretty much a misogynist asshole. If her newfound sexual freedom made him put her in the same basket as the Annies of the world, she would happily go and bring a bottle of wine.

She should bring a bottle of wine to River’s. She shouldn’t show up empty handed.

That thought made her glance down at the envelope again. She should head out and stop somewhere along the way to grab a bottle. Red went with Italian, right? She might ask someone.

As she thought about the dinner, she opened the envelope and drew out the single sheet of paper.

If you want to know where the money went, meet me at Casa Loma where the Duchess overlooks the troops. 2 p.m. Next Friday.

What the hell did that mean? She stared at the note. It wasn’t signed and there was no Dear Rebecca. Just those words printed on plain white paper.

The money. Fuck. There was over a million dollars missing and she’d been praying it was nothing more than an accounting error. Now it looked like not only was it not some kind of mistake, but something sinister.

Had she lost that file? Had it fallen out of her tote bag?

Or had someone taken it?

She grabbed the note and shoved it into her purse, the one nothing ever fell out of. It was time to go and talk to the security guards, to see if they had any video footage of whoever had sent the note.

 

 

After running down the security guard, she had a name. The note had been sent over by bicycle messenger and the security guard had recognized the young man who’d brought it to him. Arik Wheeler was a frequent visitor to the foundation. She’d been told he worked for several courier services, but this time the paperwork had been from City Messenger Toronto, one of the newer companies in town. She’d tried to call, but no one had answered, the business closing early on the weekend.

This mystery would have to wait until Monday when she would go straight to the head of accounting and start unravelling whatever the hell this was. She wasn’t an accountant. She’d wanted to get a grasp on what was happening before she brought in her bosses, but this had officially gone over her head.

If she wasn’t an accountant, she damn straight wasn’t an investigator.

Frustrated, she closed up her laptop. It was getting late, much later than she’d planned on leaving. She glanced out the windows of her office and noted the street lights had come on and evening had fallen across the city. From her office, she could see the sparkling lights of Toronto.

Saturday night in the city.

She wondered if Owen was out and about, enjoying his first few nights in a brand-new town. Her lips curled up as she imagined all the women who would likely think about fainting so the handsome Scot would catch them.

She packed up and for a moment thought about falling back into routine. It was right there, the instinct to call and explain that she’d changed her mind and couldn’t do dinner this evening. She could stop at the café and grab a salad and watch the same movies for the hundredth time and fall asleep on the couch. In the morning, she would call Lawyer Larry and let him know she had a work emergency and she could spend tomorrow here, too.

It was comfortable. It was safe, this routine of being alone.

It was cowardly and not what she’d promised the woman who’d given birth to her.

With a long sigh, she vowed to try. Tonight she would be all social and sparkly and meet River and Jax’s friends. Tomorrow she would smile and see if Lawyer Larry was at least a lust match.

She put her purse over her shoulder and opened the door to leave. She stepped out into the hall and realized how quiet it was. It wasn’t like she didn’t leave after everyone else did on a regular basis. She was usually the last one left with the singular exception of the janitorial staff and Chuck, who ran night security. But there was always ambient noise. There was the hum of printers left running or the heater. Not tonight. An eerie silence filled the space, as if sound could have weight.

Becca stopped, listening for something, anything that might tell her someone else was in the building because in that moment she realized she was being watched. She could feel it, knew it as surely as a rabbit knew a wolf was around, its eyes searching for prey.

But she didn’t hear a sound. No one moved or even breathed. There was absolutely nothing that let her know that instinct deep inside her was telling the truth. She glanced around and not a damn thing moved in the wide bank of cubicles that dotted the floor.

Of course those cubicles could also hide a person.

What the hell was she doing?

It was ridiculous. She shouldn’t have watched that stupid horror movie with her stepmom the last time she’d come into town. Melissa loved them. They gave Becca bad dreams and apparently made her paranoid that there was a serial killer in her office.

Her shoes clicked on the marbled floors, echoing through the space.

That was the moment when the lights went out.

She stopped, the place going dark, and then she could hear someone breathing. It came from her left, low and rattling through the room. Someone coughed and she took off, her heart pounding, adrenaline coursing through her veins like wildfire.

She raced for the bank of elevators, the light above the doors the only illumination in the building. She wouldn’t be able to get in the elevators, but it was the only light to be found so she ran for it.

She could feel it; something was there behind her. Something was chasing her and if it caught her…

The elevator doors opened and a flashlight beamed in the darkness.

She stopped, her feet planted to the floor, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.

“Dr. Walsh?” a familiar voice rang out. “We’re having some problems with the lights on this floor. Are you all right?”

Chuck. Her hands shook as the lights came back on and the world went from terrifying to normal in the space of a heartbeat.

Chuck clicked off his flashlight and concern showed on his face. “Dr. Walsh?”

She took a deep breath. “I’m okay. I just got a little scared. Is anyone still here?”

He slid the flashlight back into the belt around his waist. “There are a couple of researchers working in the cancer center. And Frank from human resources is sleeping in his office again. I know I shouldn’t let him do that but he’s been having…”

She was being paranoid. She shook her head. “If I was Frank’s wife, I would have kicked him out, too.” He was a jackass, but he wouldn’t scare her like this. “The lights went out and I could have sworn I heard someone coughing.”

A sound rattled through the room and she nearly jumped.

Chuck sighed. “It’s the heater. You don’t notice it when everyone is here and talking. We need to have it fixed. I’m sorry, Dr. Walsh. Come on and I’ll escort you down. I promise I’ll talk to maintenance the first thing Monday morning.”

She nodded and didn’t argue with him. She did notice the heater. That hadn’t been the sound that frightened her, but she was being silly. She started following him toward the elevator. She glanced back and could have sworn she saw a shadow move in the rear of the building.

But it was nothing more than her eyes playing tricks on her. She could describe easily how the brain filled in spaces, how memory could make the mind twist and turn and see things that weren’t actually there.

She went through it in her head as she forced herself not to give into fear, not to look back to make sure that thing she’d felt before wasn’t still there. Wasn’t waiting for the lights to go out again.

She banished the fear and promised herself she wouldn’t let it affect her.