Lethal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  Once Brett started fully at BioQex she would report directly to him rather than Piers and she was due to have a short one to one meeting with Brett later this afternoon. He was certainly a very attractive man, smartly dressed, slim, average height and neatly gelled back hair. She was sure he would get a lot of attention from the female contingent here at BioQex.

  She looked over towards the laboratory and could see Nick Thomas at the centre of a huddle relaying some story to his colleagues. Nick was a very good scientist but she had noticed that he liked to chat rather too much for her liking. She was new to the company so didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot but she would be keeping an eye on how much time he spent gassing. He obviously put in the hours but it was no good if he distracted other members of staff, Kirsty in particular needed to dedicate all her concentration in the direction of her reactions. She was a pleasant and keen worker but she had a lot to learn and could ill afford any accidents. It was all too easy to be labelled as slipshod and careless and that type of reputation could be hard to shed even when one’s behaviour improved.

  She looked up again, ‘for goodness sake,’ she muttered, she almost felt like going to knock on the glass window of the lab to get Nick to knuckle down. He looked over at that point so she held his gaze and it must have signalled to him that she wasn’t too pleased, so he stopped talking and the group broke up and set about their reactions. She had about an hour before her meeting with Brett, she would have a cup of tea, she didn’t want her breath to be reeking of coffee, not that she would be getting that close to Brett, definitely not.

  **

  Brett was about halfway through his one-to-one meetings with staff and things seemed to be going quite well. It was rather tiring though, having to remember everyone’s name and who they supervised etc. He’d been given a chart of the current staffing so that helped. It would take a few weeks to get to know everyone and build relationships.

  Amanda had scheduled a comfort break in the middle of his meetings and had brought him a cup of sludge-like coffee, presumably from a vending machine. He didn’t even know if the company actually had a vending machine, perhaps it was made in a makeshift kitchen. There was no fancy coffee bar here unlike at his previous company, that wasn’t good news. Perhaps he could get one of those pod machines on expenses and have it in his office, he was not prepared to drink rubbish like this. Nor was he going to make his own drinks in a communal kitchen which was probably messy and horrible. He wasn’t sure how he was going to cope at lunchtimes either, he usually got a meal or a sandwich in the restaurant but he assumed here that people brought in some home-made sandwiches. Well, he couldn’t see himself embracing domesticity like that, perhaps he would have to buy a couple of packets of sandwiches on the way home several times a week or something, then bring them in the next day. He laughed to himself, he was getting rather obsessed with his meal arrangements.

  The biggest surprise of the day was when he scanned the assembled staff at the welcome meeting and spotted a guy at the back who looked remarkably like the busybody who was in the wine bar that unfortunate Monday evening some weeks ago. The evening when the woman he was meeting on what was actually a spot of business, not a date, had subsequently been involved in an accident. That night the chap had been wearing glasses and a baseball hat but he was sure it was him. Today he’d caught his gaze and he was sure there was a flicker of recognition. It could well have been he who was responsible for the police asking him some awkward questions. Well, he thought, if it was indeed you I will be keeping my eye on you and I will make it quite clear exactly who is in charge here, you had better watch out.

  He looked at his watch and realised his next appointment would be here soon. Wilhelmina Matheson, what a name, it said Billie in brackets. He could see from the reporting line that she was going to be one of his direct reports. Let’s hope you are an attractive lady he thought, that will help brighten my weekly meetings with you.

  Chapter 4

  Nick was so relieved he didn’t have to have a one-to-one meeting with the new CSO that same day. Brett was only seeing the more senior people today, the ones who reported directly to him. That was doubtless where Billie had rushed off to a few minutes ago. Nick spotted Billie looking at herself using the selfie feature on her phone to check her appearance. When Brett Chandler started his job properly next week he would be sure to want to greet everyone individually and Nick was not looking forward to that at all. He was anxious to leave work and tell Polly all his news, he didn’t know where to start. The information from the building society might have to take a back seat behind this piece of news. He began to think back to recent events before Matt had left the company, it had certainly been a very eventful period.

  Before he left work he was going to google Brett Chandler to see what he could find out and also have a look at some scientific searches to see what papers he had published. A while ago Nick had spotted the man he now knew to be Brett visiting BioQex under the guise of being a journalist. Yet a colleague in a contract company on the science park had told him that the person Nick had seen in the wine bar worked and masquerading as a journalist actually worked at StourMed, a fact confirmed this afternoon. Nick couldn’t understand this, it was such a strange thing to do, why on earth would someone pretend to be a journalist when he worked down the road at another pharmaceutical company.

  The last few months had provided a lot of intrigue for Nick, so much so that his girlfriend had thought he was fantasising, and it had put a real strain on their relationship. Nick didn’t want to actually say, ‘I told you so,’ to Polly but he did feel somewhat vindicated that there was more to this Brett than met the eye. But he also reminded himself that he needed to be careful, he must not start rocking the boat. He had no idea what this guy was like nor what he was capable of. Nick had done well recently in receiving a promotion and he felt that Matt had probably recommended him for the position. Polly was delighted when that happened, and they could start to make plans for the future. They were hoping to buy a house soon, hence the trip to the building society this lunchtime. It would be a stretch though even on both their salaries and he would need to make sure that his promotion wasn’t taken away from him anytime soon, otherwise, it would mean a salary cut.

  He found some publications by Brett and they looked very impressive, a difficult area of research from a quick glance. He looked at the dates and calculated that it was about twelve years ago when he was doing his PhD. Then he noticed the university, well that was interesting, wasn’t that where Matt went to uni, yes, he was sure of it, so Brett and Matt had been contemporaries. Well even if they hadn’t been friends they must have known each other, surely, you would remember who was in your research department at university. So why oh why did he pretend to be a journalist when he’d come over to see Matt a couple of months ago. Once again Nick felt the web of intrigue start to encircle him, it was accompanied by a slightly sinking feeling that things had suddenly started to get very confusing again. How was he supposed to concentrate with all these things circulating around in his head? At that point, he was aware of Kirsty calling to him from the lab.

  ‘Nick, Nick, have you got a minute, I just need to ask you something about my reaction. Could you pop back into the lab?’

  ‘Sure, Kirsty, coming,’ replied Nick.

  ‘I thought you had gone into a trance,’ said Kirsty, ‘I called you a couple of times.’

  ‘Oh, sorry Kirsty, I’ve got a lot to think about with trying to sort out a mortgage,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, that’s OK, there’s a lot going on here at the moment, what did you think about our new CSO?’

  ‘How can I say, we only saw him for a few minutes giving that little speech, we’ll have to see how he shapes up once he starts next week,’ said Nick with little enthusiasm.

  ‘Well I hope he comes to speak to me,’ said Kirsty, ‘I think he’s gorgeous, very handsome, don’t you think?’

  ‘Ha,’ laughed Nick, ‘not my type Kirsty, now
what did you want to ask me about?’

  **

  Gradually his colleagues left for the night, leaving only himself in the lab. Zac could now get on with some proper work for a change. Billie had been the last to leave and asked if he was working late again.

  He told her he would just be a little while longer and had a lone worker alarm so she needn’t worry. Any problems and it would connect with the security guard Mark who manned the reception desk from 6 to 8 p.m. after the regular receptionist had left.

  ‘OK, Zac, don’t work too hard,’ said Billie, ‘you are allowed to go home occasionally,’ she joked. ‘See you tomorrow,’ and she waved goodbye and walked briskly down through the office area.

  Zac raised his hand to wave goodbye and breathed a sigh of relief.

  Chapter 5

  Nick couldn’t wait for the day to end, he had so much to tell Polly. With all the excitement about the new CSO, people had left a bit earlier than usual, apart from Zac, of course, he was burning the midnight oil so to speak. So he was home at least half an hour before he heard the key in the door signalling Polly’s return.

  ‘Polly, Polly, come in here and sit down I’ve so much to tell you!’ he said excitedly.

  ‘Hang on Nick, I need to go to the loo and then I need to get a drink of water, I’m parched. Give me a couple of minutes then I can concentrate on what you tell me about what the building society said.’

  Oh, yes thought Nick, the building society, he would have to try to remember what the guy said about all the different mortgage options. However this wasn’t at the forefront of his mind, it was the news of BioQex’s new CSO which he really wanted to share. Polly returned and flopped down on the sofa.

  ‘Right, Nick, I’m all ears, so what did the building society recommend?’

  ‘I’ll get on to that later, show you the paperwork,’ said Nick, ‘but first I’ve got something much more interesting to tell you!’

  ‘What, more interesting than our mortgage options?’ asked Polly, starting to feel a bit annoyed. She’d been waiting all day for this and would have gone along with Nick this lunchtime but they had some visitors at the university and the meetings had gone on longer than expected so she had texted Nick to go ahead without her. Polly worked in the publicity department at Persford University.

  ‘It’s about our new CSO, he was introduced to us today and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw who it was!’ Nick was speaking really quickly now and was so hyped up, Polly couldn’t understand how his new boss could cause such an electric atmosphere. She started to look puzzled.

  ‘It’s the bloke from the wine bar!’ shouted Nick.

  Polly was momentarily perplexed as she couldn’t understand how someone who worked in a wine bar had suddenly become Chief Scientific Officer of BioQex. Then her face fell and she realised where this conversation was headed and her heart sank.

  ‘It’s him, him, look!’ and Nick took out his phone and showed her the pictures he’d taken at Sarah’s secretive meeting in Bells Wine Bar with her mystery man.

  ‘Are you absolutely sure Nick?’ she asked, sounding thoroughly depressed.

  ‘Certain,’ replied Nick, ‘and it fits in with what Gio told me, he has joined us from StourMed down the road.’

  ‘Well, it’s not so surprising that he’s from another pharmaceutical company is it?’ said Polly.

  ‘No, of course not,’ said Nick tetchily, ‘but you don’t understand the significance of this!’

  ‘Calm down Nick, there’s no need to shout, you’re sitting next to me, I’m not deaf!’ said Polly, moving away from Nick.

  ‘Yes, but remember, he was the guy who said he was a journalist when he met up with Matt that day!’

  ‘Nick, I’m not happy where this conversation is going. I thought we had moved on from all this nonsense. I feel a conspiracy theory coming on.’

  ‘It’s not a conspiracy theory, as you so condescendingly call my stories. I know something strange was going on with Matt a couple of months ago. There’s more to this than meets the eye! I’m going to find it hard to trust this guy, whose name is Brett Chandler by the way,’

  ‘Nick, just listen to me. You need to look at this objectively. You have a new CSO who has transferred from a company down the road. He happened to have a drink with Sarah one night. You have no idea he had anything to do with her accident, she wasn’t looking where she was going. And, one more thing, you only saw a back view of someone going into Matt’s office that day and from what I can see in the photos, whatsisname, Brett, is fairly average looking, particularly from the back.’

  ‘No, you are getting this all wrong, you aren’t seeing it from my point of view!’ shouted Nick.

  ‘Oh yes, I do!’ replied Polly. ‘You are getting all wrapped up in your theories again and reading too much into things. I will repeat what I’ve said before, this has got to stop, you are going to risk getting the sack if you start to focus on all these things rather than your job!’

  Polly paused for breath at this point and put her head in her hands, she couldn’t believe they were having this conversation again.

  They both sat on the sofa in silence, neither of them wanting to break the awkward mood which was now enveloping them.

  ‘Have you started dinner yet?’ asked Polly.

  ‘Er, no, I forgot to put the oven on,’ replied Nick, rather sheepishly.

  ‘Oh, for goodness sake, you were back first and I was hoping you would sort out our meal. But do you know, after this conversation I just don’t feel hungry. I’ll make myself a sandwich and then I’m going to get an early night, read my book. I’m very tired and now I feel rather depressed.’

  So Polly stomped off to the kitchen, finding some bread and cheese, then once she had made her sandwich she took it off to the privacy of their bedroom. She had hoped that Nick had decided to stop all this sleuthing at work and concentrate on doing his job. After all, he had been recently rewarded with a promotion and he needed to put his heart into that role and make a success of it. She was beginning to worry whether there was any future in their relationship if Nick continually caused such stress between them. Sod the mortgage details she thought to herself, if Nick didn’t stop all this rubbish they wouldn’t need a mortgage, instead she would be looking for a place on her own.

  Chapter 6

  Brett climbed into his Mercedes SLC 200 sports car and sped out of the BioQex car park in the direction of his flat. It was 6 p.m. and it had been a very tiring day. At his previous company, he would have been able to head down to the on-site gym now for an hour or so, but there was no such thing at cash-strapped BioQex. He would see how things went over the next few weeks and then would consider joining one in town. When he started his new position properly next week he would doubtless have to work longer into the evenings. At the moment though it was a bit of a slack time. He couldn’t really have full access to BioQex’s results and documents until he had started properly, confidentiality agreements weren’t due to be formally signed until next week. So this week he was a bit in limbo. His security pass had been cancelled for StourMed so he was effectively finished with them and yet not fully assigned to BioQex. It was a strange feeling, he’d never been in this position before. It was a lovely evening and he didn’t feel like going home and spending all evening in front of the TV or just playing with his Xbox, he felt like a change of scenery. He would go and park his car outside his flat, get changed and go into town for a bite to eat and maybe some drinks afterwards. He might see if any of his old colleagues were free for a few drinks this evening.

  Pleased he had decided on a plan for this evening he reflected on his day meeting with some of the staff. It was a bit embarrassing the way Piers was so complimentary about him, he was worried that he was singing his praises too much and he would have a lot to live up to. What he really aspired to was Piers’ job, that seemed a much better option, CEO would suit him very nicely as it seemed quite a cushy number, much easier than having to direct the actual science
. Surely it wouldn’t be too long before Piers retired now, he didn’t think anyone else would be in line for that job. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Frank Stevens was really a bean counter, he didn’t have the personality to lead the company. They also had a Chief Business Officer (CBO), Jonathan Barrow, perhaps he might have his sights set on Piers job, but so far he’d only spoken to him briefly. He would have to suss him out properly and if he seemed too much of a threat he would have to do something about it.

  He parked up in his allotted space outside his block of flats and entered his comfortable abode, headed straight for the shower and got ready for an evening out.

  **

  Over the other side of town in a rather less well appointed flat Nick was watching some mindless TV. It was just background company for him really, his mind was elsewhere and Polly was keeping out of his way. She’d eaten her sandwich on her own in their bedroom and was now taking a relaxing bath with the bathroom door locked. Nick had tried to speak to her again when she emerged from their bedroom to put her plate and glass in the kitchen but she didn’t want to speak to him. He was getting the silent treatment for a while. He was equally upset with her levelling accusations against him that he was reading too much into situations. Polly might be the type of person just to let things wash over her head but Nick couldn’t rest if he felt there was something underhand going on, particularly if it meant some innocent person was being caught up in it. He did not like the look of this Brett character. What if he was the sort to indulge in unethical practices and the company was dragged down into some litigation or something. Polly kept banging on about him losing his job by annoying people or creating some conspiracy theory but there might well be something not above board actually happening or due to happen. Well, Nick had his principles and sometimes you just had to follow your conscience and speak out. He would be watching Brett Chandler very carefully.