Page 19 of Patrick’s Seduction

“Tell me everything you can remember.”

A tear freed itself from her eye and made its way down one cheek. He resisted the temptation to wipe it off with his finger. As a stranger, he had no right to touch her so intimately. He was already crossing the line by holding her hand.

“I just know that I used my cell phone light because the lights in the lab were off. I flicked the switch after letting myself in, but nothing happened. But when I regained consciousness when my colleagues showed up for work, the lights worked again.”

Patrick absorbed the information. Any janitor or other employee could have tampered with the fuse box. It was a simple thing to do: flip a fuse to off, and then switch it back to on later. As long as somebody could pick the lock to the electrical closet in the building’s corridor, it would be an easy thing to do. But why?

“You said you received an alert on your cell phone about the refrigerator’s temperature rising. Who knows about this alert?”

She shrugged. “Anybody working in my lab for sure.”

“So, they would know that you’d come running to check on it, if you got an alert, right?”

“Yes. I can’t just let the tissue samples spoil. It would set my research back by months.”

“Is it possible that you slipped in the dark? I mean, you only had your cell phone light.”

“No!” A hurt expression spread over her face. She pointed her finger to the area beyond the curtain. “You believe them? That the shelving unit fell on me?”

Again, she rubbed her shoulder. Patrick’s gaze was drawn to it, but before he could ask her about it, she continued, “You believe that I slipped? I didn’t slip. Somebody attacked me.”

“I believe you, Fallon,” he assured her, and though she couldn’t provide any more information about it, he sensed that her fear was real. “I’m just trying to figure out what happened.” He already had a suspicion, and short of a staff member of her lab playing a cruel trick on her, there was only one other person who was capable of such a deed.

“Did Cameron know of the alert you’d get if a fridge door is left open?”

Fallon shivered visibly, nodding. “He was at my place one evening when I got an alert. And he was annoyed that I would interrupt our evening to rush to my lab to check on it.” She met his eyes. “He knows I would come to the lab no matter what.”

He’d suspected as much. But why attack Fallon? What would he gain by that? What would be the purpose of it? By attacking her, Cameron was all but assured that she’d never get back together with him.

“And the injuries?” Patrick asked, running his eyes over the exposed parts of Fallon’s body, her face, neck, and arms. “Nothing major?”

“Cuts and bruises. There was broken glass on the floor when they found me. But I don’t remember any glass breaking.”

“Has somebody already cleaned up the area where it happened?”

“I don’t know. I assume so. I mean they had to, or they’d be stepping on glass, hurting themselves.”

That was to be expected, but maybe it was best to check it out anyway. “Alright. How’s your head? Any pain? The nurse said it’s possible that you have a concussion.”

She shook her head but stopped immediately as if the motion was causing her pain. “No, she didn’t say that. She said that the doctor wants to keep me here for observation—in case I have a concussion. But I don’t wanna stay.”

“Are you sure?”

Fallon sat up straight and leaned in, lowering her voice. “I don’t feel safe here. If somebody got into my lab to attack me there, it’s gonna be even easier in a hospital room. They’re not locked. Anybody can just walk in there.”

Patrick nodded quickly. He had expected as much. “Good, I’ll take you home. But before that, I’d like to see your lab. You need to show me where it happened.”

It took a few minutes until Fallon had signed all the paperwork, confirming that she was leaving the hospital against the doctor’s orders. The nurse handed her antibiotics and painkillers, demanding that Fallon take the antibiotics because there was a chance that she could get an infection caused by whatever had fallen on her. After all, in any lab all kinds of bacteria could be present that could harm a human. Infections contracted in hospitals could become life-threatening. But Patrick already had a plan of how to prevent anything serious from developing. He just needed to execute his plan covertly so that Fallon didn’t stumble on his secret.

Medications in hand, they made their way to her lab on the 9th floor of the Medical Sciences Building. As they entered, Fallon’s colleagues greeted her with questions. They all appeared concerned about her well-being, and Patrick didn’t notice anyone feigning their well-wishes.

“This is where they found me,” Fallon said with her arm stretched out toward one corner of the large space. “The refrigerators are back there.”

Patrick walked to the area and looked around. There were plenty of supply closets and shelves where somebody could easily hide in order not to be seen immediately. Even though Fallon had had her cell phone light, the beam would have only illuminated a small part of the room as she crossed it to reach the refrigerator in question.

There wasn’t much else to glean. “Alright. I’ve seen what I needed to see. I’ll take you home.”

She hesitated, and he half expected her to say that she wanted to stay and work, but it appeared that even Fallon knew that after being attacked in her own lab, it was best not to stay here. At least not today.