Page 33 of Conspiracies and Chemistry

“No! God, she’s like my little sister. She was so broken up when Simon died she flunked out of her graduate program, so I asked her to work here. We watch out for each other.”

I stepped closer. In the photo, Simon’s eyes looked red around the rims. “Does she come down here too?”

“Nah.” He scuffed the toe of his sneaker on the floor. “She thinks it’s creepy.”

I chuckled. “She’s not wrong.”

He glanced back at the shrine. “I don’t want anyone to forget him. He was such a force here. These are all his favorite games, and this room used to be full of people whenever he came down to play. He’s what made this company great.”

I thought of how Sadie’s blue eyes shone with admiration whenever her boss spoke. “So are you, you know.”

He shrugged. “Anyone can do what I do. Everyone in the lab does the same work.”

“But you’re their leader. They light up when you’re here. Everyone wants to please you.” There was a different energy in the lab when Oliver was there. Couldn’t he see it?

“Sadie idolizes you,” he said.

It was my turn to shrug. “You could use a few more female role models in the lab. Remember, there are only four women in a lab of twenty-five.”

He winced. “I know. Our next five hires will be women or nonbinary people, I promise.”

“Good.” I folded my arms because suddenly, I wanted to reach for him. Dammit! Just because he’d committed to diversifying the lab didn’t mean he wasn’t a roadblock to my plans. It certainly didn’t make touching my colleague a smart move.

“How did you know about Sadie’s endometriosis?” he asked.

“I observe people,” I said carefully. “And I observed that she seemed to be experiencing abdominal pain the day before she called in sick. Then, when she came back, she seemed pale and a bit unsteady.”

“But how did you know it was endometriosis and not a stomach bug and anemia?”

“I…someone close to me has it. I’ve seen the signs before.” My medical conditions were none of his business, but I could admit that much.

He nodded. “Now I get why you spun up the endometriosis project. You’re right. We could use a more diverse perspective in the lab.”

“Of course I’m right,” I said. “You should admit that more often.” I allowed the corner of my mouth to curl up and let him in on the joke.

He chuckled and tossed the spent flower in the trash. “Care to join me for a game ofMs. Pac-Man?”

“No, thanks. I prefer games of the tabletop variety.” He’d probably only invited me to play to be polite. He was like that. Playing one of Simon’s favorite arcade games was another step in his grieving process, and I wouldn’t get in the way of that. “See you later,” I said.

It wasn’t until I sat down at my desk upstairs that I realized I’d forgotten to ask him about ELISA. Well, shit. I’d have to consult my good buddy Google. A search engine was safer than the temptation of Oliver and his sad eyes.

15

Antagonism

Antagonism:In drug-drug interactions (DDI), antagonistic results occur when one drug reduces or eliminates the pharmacological effect of another drug.

OLIVER

Peering at the results of the assay on Sanjay’s screen, I let out a breath. For the first time all week, it didn’t feel like the weight of the entire lab was stuffed inside my chest. “Great results, Sanjay.”

“Thanks. I think we’re going to make it. It’ll be okay.” He rubbed at the mark his goggles had left on the sides of his nose.

Everyone had worked hard over the last few weeks. And today, the first Monday after Christmas, when most people wanted to be enjoying time off between the holidays, the lab was buzzing with activity. Maybe it had something to do with the huge62on the wall. Or maybe it was because Sanjay had made a breakthrough. He’d found a relationship between not one but two hormones and ovarian cancer. His success caught on, and the next day, Aanya improved it. After that, it was like atoms crystallizing into a stable lattice. Here we were, gazing at our first truly successful test. For the first time in over a year, hope fluttered in my chest.

We only needed to replicate it a thousand more times to ensure it wasn’t a fluke.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Sanjay said. “We’ll run more tests. We’ll know more by the time you get back from Vegas.”

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