Page 18 of Conspiracies and Chemistry

I didn’t bother knocking on her office door. I simply opened it and charged in, ready for battle.

When it was Simon’s office, there was a Centipede arcade machine in the corner and a miniature basketball hoop on the inside of the door. The walls had been painted in eye-watering colors, a bright persimmon on the back wall with saffron yellow on the sides. How many coats of primer had Tessa needed to turn them to their current warm gray? A fern had replaced the game cabinet, and a thick charcoal rug cushioned my feet.

She held up a hand to Sadie. “Yes, Oliver?” Her reddish eyebrows arched sky-high.

I glanced around the room. She’d gathered not only Sadie, Aanya, and Huong, but Ekaterina too. “What’s going on here?” I snapped.

“We’re brainstorming a new test.”

The heat soared into my head, burning and noxious like an acetone-fueled fire. My brain might actually ignite right here in her office. “A new test? What the hell for?”

“For endometriosis,” she said. “Did you know it affects more than six million people in the US alone? And that’s only confirmed cases. Researchers think the numbers might be much higher. If we could create a biomarker test for it, we could?—”

“I wasn’t asking about the condition you want to test for. I mean, don’t we have enough going on?—”

“And are you also aware,” she said as if I hadn’t interrupted her, “that the condition affects at least one person in this very lab?”

“I, uh…no?” I thought back to the small amount of research I’d done on endometriosis. It was a condition in which cells similar to the lining of the uterus grew outside the uterus. The cells were invasive like cancer, but endometriosis only slightly increased the risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer, so I hadn’t researched it further. Abdominal pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, and fatigue were the key symptoms I recalled.

When I glanced at Sadie, she nodded almost imperceptibly. She took a couple of sick days each month and always returned to the lab pale and with low energy. I’d assumed she was depressed over her brother’s death, but fuck, it was endometriosis.

I dipped my chin. As her boss, her health conditions weren’t my business, but I was glad she’d trusted me enough to acknowledge it. Still…

“Don’t you think we’re busy enough trying to get our ovarian cancer test to trial on time?” I persisted. “I don’t want to add to everyone’s workload while we’re already so busy. You should have lives outside of work too.”

“Every one of these scientists and technicians has volunteered to work on the project in addition to her other duties,” Tessa said. “It won’t take away from the mission.”

“You’re sure?” I met each woman’s gaze to check in. Every one of them nodded. “Okay, then. But please tell me or Tessa if you start to feel overwhelmed by the additional work, and we’ll adjust your task load.”

Sadie’s smile was bright. “Thanks, Ollie. This test is going to help so many people. I’m honored to get to work on it.”

My heart panged. Simon used to call me Ollie, and her smile was a twin to his, down to the crooked upper left incisor. It was almost like he was telling me to commit resources to this.

But it wasn’t my dead partner who’d distracted my team. It was Tessa, a newcomer. And I didn’t care that it was for a good cause.

“Could you all give us a moment?” I asked. “I need to talk to Tessa.”

“That’s enough brainstorming for today,” she said. “Why don’t you think on it, do some research, and we’ll meet back in the lab at ten tomorrow?”

The others nodded and filed out, chattering about CA-125 and follistatin.

When Ekaterina shut the door, I turned back to Tessa. She was paler than usual, the freckles across her nose more conspicuous. Was she angry? Well, so was I. “Really? Like we don’t have enough work, you’ve got to add a whole otherresearch projectto the mix?”

She pressed her hand to her stomach. In a much steadier voice than I’d used, she said, “I’m trying to use our resources effectively. All your checks and rechecks often leave team members idle.”

“Mychecks and rechecks?” My voice rose into a register more common to a lab rat than a human. “This isourwork. The risks of false negatives or false positives are too great for patients. And for our company.” But she didn’t care about that. Someone who cared about her company wouldn’t have mistreated her employees the way she’d done.

“You can’t avoid every risk,” she said. “The risk of launching late is that someone who needs the test doesn’t get diagnosed in time. She might suffer or even die because of it.”

“But…but…” My brain spun its wheels, looking for purchase. Grandma Vee’s cancer had gone undiagnosed too long, and she’d died for lack of an inexpensive test. Tessa was right.

She tilted her head. “Every member of that team volunteered to work on the project. They see the value of it. Perhaps because they’re women, they understand how necessary a noninvasive test for endometriosis is. With a simple test, they’d qualify to receive treatment for a condition that’s often ignored or stigmatized.”

“Wait.” My brain had stuck a couple of sentences ago. “Did you take every one of thefemale lab employees?”

“They volunteered. And, really, it’s shameful that every female member of the lab fits in this office.” She splayed her hand at the room, which was large as far as offices went, but it was still an office. “More gender diversity would benefit research across the board.”

Goddammit. She was right—again. Like she could read the admission on my face, she shrugged. “We’ll prioritize the work on the ovarian cancer test, of course. Regardless, I’m confident we can get both projects done on time. More products mean a better chance of this company’s success. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’ve got work to do. And I think you do too.”

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