Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(37)

I can’t do it. Or can I?

“It wasn’t right. We realized we made a mistake. It’s been finished for two years.” She wanted to scream that she wasn’t seeing anyone, that Rory was only a passing thought, and that she’d gladly take Seth back in a heartbeat.

The logical part of her mind overruled. Seth had to lay a lot of groundwork before she’d risk her heart again.

He nodded. “I understand mistakes.”

“I need to get back to work,” she said and pushed by him out of the stifling room. She brushed his upper arm as she scooted around him through the doorway and felt his heat penetrate through her lab coat. She strode blindly down the hallway in the general direction of her lab, her brain spinning in confusion.

Seth wanted her back.

Could she do it? Was her heart worth it?

As she rounded the last corner before her lab, the fire alarm sounded. The siren screamed and she stuck her fingers in her ears. Looking down the hall, she saw the pant leg and shoe of a man as he vanished out the emergency exit at the end of the building.

Did he trip the alarm by going out the door? Or was he getting out because of the alarm?

She sniffed the air. No smoke.

Ears ringing, she did a quick peek in the three rooms in her hall, finding nothing to set off the alarm. She jogged back to the main hall, meeting up with a half-dozen employees, questioning and shouting over the din.

The alarm abruptly shut off.

The group exhaled.

“Everyone okay?” she asked.

A chorus of yeses and head nodding answered her.

“Who set off the alarm?” asked Seth from directly behind her.

Victoria glanced over her shoulder, comforted by his tall presence. He nodded at her but kept his attention on the small group. They looked at each other, shaking their heads.

“Everyone here?” Seth asked.

“Yes, this is everyone who’s in the building at the moment,” Anita answered, stepping through the door from her office. “Both Dr. Campbells left for lunch. I shut down the alarm.”

Trust Anita to have her finger on the pulse of the office. Victoria wondered if Dr. Campbell knew how rare a gem ran his office.

“No smoke anywhere?” Seth asked. “Have all the labs been checked? All the suites? Storage?”

Everyone exchanged looks again.

“I checked all the rooms at my end,” Victoria spoke.

“Same with the suites,” added Jerry, Dr. Campbell’s assistant. “I looked in each one when the alarm started. I’ll go do a quick run through the labs.”

Seth nodded at him and the large man vanished.

“Anyone know what tripped the alarm?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Wait a minute.” Victoria turned to Anita. “Someone went out the emergency door down the hall from my lab. I saw the door as it was closing. You sure everyone’s here?”

Anita scanned the surrounding faces. “Yes.” Nods from the group agreed.

Victoria looked at Seth, tension twisting in her stomach. “Go out the front of the building and around to the east side and see if you spot anyone. I’ll go back down the hall.”

Seth was already headed toward the front lobby. “Take someone with you,” he shouted over his shoulder.

Victoria glanced to Anita, who nodded, and both women jogged back toward the lab.

“Who do you think you saw?” Anita was out of breath by the tenth step.

“Don’t know. I think it was a man. Looked like a male shoe and jeans. I didn’t see higher than a knee.”

They came up to the door with the ALARM WILL SOUND WHEN OPENED sticker above the broad silver bar handle.

“Will the alarm go off again if I open it?” she asked Anita.

She shook her head. “I deactivated the whole system.”

“Fire trucks aren’t going to show up, are they?”

“Shit! I need to go call them. They’ve probably called to confirm the alarm by now. Damn it!” The older woman hustled back down the hall.

Victoria pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the drizzle of the day. Portland was in one of those months where it seemed the sky would never be blue again. Record amounts of rain fell in the past ten days and the F-word was on every weather forecaster’s lips: flooding.

She looked right and left, but saw nothing but wet grass, concrete, and employee vehicles. Seth appeared on her right as he rounded the corner of the building from the front.

“See anyone?”

She shook her head.

“Me neither.” He stopped beside her, stepping under the small overhang to avoid the majority of the drops. It didn’t help; the wind guided the falling water onto them. He blew out a breath, scanning the lot, and Victoria watched his breath steam in the air. The sudden quiet and stillness of the outdoors made the alarm incident seem distant.

“What exactly did you see?” he asked.

She repeated her story.

“So someone was in the building. Do you think they triggered the alarm by going through the door?”

“It’s a good possibility. We should see if Jerry found anything in the labs.”

Seth nodded, beads of moisture sticking in his hair. He ran a hand over the dark dampness, making it spike up a bit, and he suddenly looked ten years younger.

Victoria’s lungs tightened at the sight. He looks like when we first met.