Division Three was almost deserted when the elevator deposited us a few minutes later. It might have had something to do with the security guards stationed beside the cryo lab door.
“What do you think you’re doing down here?” one of the men asked.
Asher put on his most innocent expression. “We’re here to work on our assignment. We both have clearance to be here.” He flipped open his badge, and the two men exchanged uncertain glances. “Our lab isn’t anywhere near the crime scene. We just need to get our work done today, or we’ll be late with this project.”
Finally, one said, “Very well. But you’re to stay in that area of Division Three. The cryo labs are restricted until the investigation is complete.”
“Of course. Thank you.” Asher grabbed my arm and led me away from the guards.
I shook my head at him. The guy would put Brad Pitt to shame with his acting skills. Unfortunately, I’d also started to wonder where fake Asher ended and real Asher began.
We made our way to the end of the hall and slipped into one of the darkened labs. Asher booted up a computer and started typing. “Now, we just need to sneak around back and get into the labs. I should be able to download the schematics from here.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to get in? Won’t there be security everywhere? It’s a crime scene after all.”
He shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out.”
I wandered around the lab while he played on the computer. It looked like they were doing some sort of medical research down here. X-ray images of rib cages and internal organs were tacked up on the walls. There were thin-slice photos of different layers of skin and nerve bundles and even a cross-section of a brain taken with some sort of machine that made it look like it was still alive. It made me feel queasy. I moved back to Asher’s side to peer over his shoulder.
“Almost there,” he said, downloading a map of the division into his tablet. “Okay, let’s go.”
We slipped out the back of the lab into another long, dark corridor. The overhead lights flickered on at our movement, and I blinked. “Where exactly are we going?”
“The cryo labs have a back entrance. Should be easy to sneak in and see what’s going on.”
“We should have called Max, Zella, and Amy. They’re probably wondering where we are. We were supposed to meet them in your office fifteen minutes ago.”
Asher shrugged. “They’ll wait. Besides, with all the excitement, they’re probably too distracted to even remember us.”
“Somehow I don’t think Amy will ever have that problem.” My voice was drier than I intended, and Asher frowned at me.
“Amy can be intense, but she’s got a good heart. And she’s an important part of this team.”
“I’m sure she is.” I tried not to roll my eyes.
We slowed as we approached a heavy, metal door. “Here’s the lab.”
“How convenient,” I muttered.
Asher pressed his thumb to the print scanner, and it beeped. The door slid open, and we stepped into a huge room lined with what looked like commercial freezers — shiny, stainless steel front panels with beeping, blue digital numbers on each door that recorded the temperature inside.
I shivered from more than the cold and ran my hands over my arms. “Why would Dr. Avery be down here?”
“I don’t know why everyone keeps asking that. He could have died somewhere else, and the killer brought him down here.”
I stared at him. “Which would mean the killer was someone here at QT with access to these labs.”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah, Lexicon. Who else would kill him?”
My face flushed. “I don’t know — an irate husband? According to the gossip, it wasn’t like he kept his hands off the married ones. Or maybe someone didn’t appreciate his advances and fought back. Maybe it was just an accident.”
“Or maybe it has something to do with him trying to sabotage the project.” He shrugged. “We’re not going to find out standing here.” He led me past the tall freezers, through a storage area, and into a morgue-like space with white tile floors and a drain in the floor.
“This is where they prep the bodies for freezing. QT has a warehouse in Division Twelve where they’ve stored thousands of human and animal samples. Just in case.”
“In case of what?” I shivered again. It smelled of chemicals and air conditioning, and the whole place gave me the creeps. I moved closer to Asher.
“In case of a world catastrophe. It’s like a frozen Noah’s Ark down there.”
I shuddered. “Can we just hurry up and find the freezer where they found Avery please?”
Asher smiled and shook his head. “Some scientist you are.”
“Yeah, there’s a reason I’m not going into biology, thank you very much.”
We’d reached the far end of the room, and I peered through the thick glass of the door into another room with tall freezers. Several men inspected one hanging open, dusting for fingerprints and scanning the space with a weird, hand-held sensor that looked like a laser gun.
“What are they doing?” I whispered.
“Scanning for biochemical markers the killer might have left behind. Everyone at QT is on file, and even the smallest skin sample could register.” Asher frowned. “The room looks clean to me. I doubt we’ll find anything there to help us.”
“Maybe we should try searching his office?” Goosebumps pricked my arm, and the only thing I wanted was to get the hell out of this place. I turned toward the exit, then spotted a scrap of fabric stuck on the edge of the door.
I bent down to study it. “Did you see this?”
Asher shook his head. “Looks like it’s from a shirt.”
“Do you think it’s from Avery? Or the killer?”
“Let’s find out.” He crossed the room and pulled open a drawer that held a set of shiny metal instruments. He grabbed a pair of tweezers and held them out to me.
I carefully pulled the fabric from the doorframe, then paused. “What about those scanner things? Wouldn’t they be able to pick up skin flakes on this?”
Asher looked like he wanted to grab me in a bear hug, but he dropped his arms before he touched me. “You’re a genius, Lexie. Come on — I know where they store the machines. We might get lucky and sneak in unnoticed since everyone’s down here.”
A warm glow surged through me. I liked holding my own with the resident genius.