Chapter 10: The Inspection

At seven fifty-eight the next morning I stood in the doorway of the Marwick Lab with my arms crossed.

Pippa stood beside me in her good lab coat, and behind us four grad students and a postdoc held their coffee.

The elevator opened, and Dorian Halloway walked out in a camel overcoat with three people behind him.

Two of them carried clipboards.

The third carried a camera with a very long lens.

"Good morning," Dorian said. "Ms. Marwick. Dr. Marwick."

"You're early," I said.

"The Foundation likes to be thorough."

"So do I. Can I see your authorization?"

He blinked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"A Foundation inspection," I said. "It requires a signed order from the chair. I'd like to read it."

He took a folded sheet from his coat and handed it over, smiling.

I read it slowly, while four people watched me.

The order was signed at the bottom by Dorian Halloway, Vice Chair.

The line above it, marked CHAIR, was blank.

"This isn't signed by Odile," I said.

"I'm authorized to act in her absence."

"She's not absent. I had breakfast with her last Wednesday."

"Ms. Marwick."

"I'll take a photo of this, if you don't mind," I said, and took one with my phone.

His smile thinned.

"Send it to whomever you like," he said. "We are coming in."

"You can come in for the lab," I said. "You cannot photograph a notebook, a sample or a formula without the chair's signature."

"This is ridiculous."

"It's in your own bylaws, page twelve. I read them last night."

Pippa made a small happy noise.

Dorian turned to the man with the camera.

"Take the room," he said.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Billionaire's Fake Wife from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.