He Declared Me Dead on Tuesday, So I Walked Into Court on Friday novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: She Gives Him the Divorce Filing

Petra tucks the representative's folder under her arm and walks me toward the diagnostics lab before Adrian can reclaim the room.

She does not ask permission.

That is one of her better qualities.

Adrian follows us down the glass corridor with a guard at his elbow.

He has no access left, so he has to walk where we walk.

Petra opens the lab door and places a black founder badge beside the microscope at the first assay bench.

"Lena," she says, loud enough for the technicians to hear, "the respiratory panel is throwing a false positive on channel four."

A technician swivels from the workstation.

"The control passed twice."

"Run the blank against a new lot," I say.

"If the blank clears, the reagent is contaminated. If it does not, check the reader before you touch the sample."

The technician reaches for a fresh tray.

Petra turns to the next bench.

"Blood chemistry platform is due for calibration," she says.

"It was calibrated yesterday."

"By whom?"

"The night technician."

"The night technician knows the machine. Lena knows the machine's habits."

The technician gives me a quick smile.

"It drifts when the room gets cold."

"It drifts when the waste line is pinched. The room temperature only makes it easier to blame the wrong thing."

He checks beneath the platform.

A strip of tubing has folded against the housing.

He looks at Petra.

"I hate that she can do that from across the room."

"You should hate the machine. It is the one charging you rent."

The technician laughs.

I let myself smile once.

The lab settles around me.

Refrigeration units cycle.

A printer feeds out results.

Someone opens a drawer and swears at a missing pipette tip.

The original patent file lies open on the workstation near the far wall.

Petra has placed it beside the company protocols, where anyone can see the author line.

Dr. Lena Mercer.

Adrian stops at the glass entrance.

The guard looks at me.

I nod once.

Petra sees him.

She does not move to meet him.

"He has come for the private explanation," she says.

"I assumed the public one had been sufficient."

"It was. He appears to have missed the educational value."

Adrian enters the lab with both hands visible.

His expression is patient.

He has worn that expression at investor dinners, hospital fundraisers, and every breakfast where he wanted me to agree before I finished my coffee.

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