Kayla finished packing the few papers she was taking into her laptop case.

“I don’t know why you still mess with that thing,” Trixie said.  “A tablet or a smartphone is so much easier.”

Kayla shrugged.  “A laptop is what the company provides me,” she said.  “And my smartphone is mine;  it’s personal.  I don’t want to put any more work stuff on it than is absolutely necessary.”

Trixie sighed, avoiding looking at her lab mate.  “So, this is it, huh?” she said.

Kayla nodded.  “Yep,” she said.  I’m off to California.”

“Well, the money’d better be good, with the cost of living out there,” Trixie said.

“It is a promotion, and I already have my house there lined up,” Kayla said.  “I’m sure I’ll be fine.  What about you, Trix?”

Now Trixie looked  Kayla in the eye.  “I’ll be fine,” Trixie said.  “You know me.”

Kayla stepped over to her friend, looking down.  Kayla was nearly six feet tall and athletic.  Trixie was not quite five feet tall and tiny in every dimension.  “I do know you,” Kayla said.  “That’s why I’m worried.”

“What have you got to be worried about?” Trixie asked.

“What you’re doing right now,” Kayla said.  “You’re still working, hyper-focused on your insect hormone project with that tunnel vision you get.”

“They’re not hormones.  They’re pheromones,” Trixie said.

“I don’t care what kind of moans they are,” Kayla said.,  “Trixie, it’s quitting time, and the start of the weekend, and there’s nothing about this work you can’t set aside to get a night off.   How many times have I had to pry you out of here, just for some time off or a night out?”

Trixie chuckled.  “Too many to count,” she said.

Kayla got down in Trixie’s face.  “Promise me you’ll give yourself some space to actually live, and not just be a lab mole among the lab rats,” she said.

Trixie laughed.  “I promise,” she said.  “I’ll miss you, Kay.”

“I’ll miss you, Trixie.  Take care, and stay in touch, OK?”

“You got it,” Trixie said, grinning.  “Bye.”

“Goodbye,” Kayla said.  As she left the office, she looked back.  “Keep your promise,” she said.

“I will,” Trixie said.  As soon as Kayla went out the door, she set to work on the next phase of her pheromone project.  It was going to be a long night.

Kayla’s move was relatively uneventful.  Her new home was spacious and comfortable, and she had so little stuff that unpacking went well.

In her new job, Kayla was responsible for monitoring the output of and projects in different labs.  For the first few weeks, things went well that way.  She also began to flirt with a tall, handsome man there, and he was flirting back.  Charles was his name, and he was handsome and athletic and loved to run almost as much as she did.  They started getting together for morning runs.

After she’d been in California about three months, Kayla noticed a reference to Trixie’s work in the online documents she reviewed.  Her former lab mate had made repeated requests for permission to begin a testing program on her pheromone therapy, and was getting repeatedly turned down.  From the way things read, the lab supervisor was beginning to get tired of having the conversation over and over.

Kayla was seeing Charles over and over.  Soon running together in the morning became easier, because they were spending nights together, too.  It wasn’t long before Charles moved in with Kayla.  She was glad now she hadn’t had too much stuff for the move; his possessions took up a fair amount of space.  Burt the nights were worth it.

It was about a month after Charles moved in that she started getting odd reports in the documents from her old home base in the Cincinnati office.  The tone of the supervisor’s  reports had changed.  It appeared he was increasingly deferring to Trixie on many matters.  That made no sense to Kayla.  Dr. Blake had never been close to Trixie, and had only tolerated her work because the company thought there might be some profit in it, somehow.  Why would he suddenly be giving Trixie increasing authority?

Kayla began digging into Trixie’s reports.  She discovered less and less data was being sent from Trixie.

Charles came into Kayla’s office at the end of the work day.  “You ready to go?” he asked.

Kayla simply looked up at him, her brow furrowed and a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong?” asked Charles, pulling up a chair.

“These reports from Cincinnati,” she said.

“Your old stomping grounds?” Charles asked.

Kayla nodded.  “Something’s wrong there.  Really wrong.  Trixie Minton, my old lab mate, is sending less and less detailed reports on the insect pheromone work she’s been obsessed with for years.  That’s not like her.  And Blake is giving her more and more control of the lab there.  That’s definitely not like him.  He’d never willingly give up authority, and if he did, it wouldn’t be to Trixie.  They got along like oil and fire.”

Charles placed a hand on Kayla’s.  “Are you sure?” he said.  “I mean, it’s been six months since you left.  Maybe things have changed between them.  And, if Trixie’s gotten additional authority, maybe that’s why her reports aren’t as detailed.  She just may not have the time.”

Kayla frowned skeptically.  “I suppose that’s possible, just barely,” she said.  “But I’m going to be keeping an eye on these reports.”

Two weeks later, Kayla knocked on the door of Charles’ office.  “Honey, I’m going to have to go to Cincinnati.  Something is really wrong there, and it’s my job to try to sort it out.”

“What’s up?” Charles asked.

“Look at this report,” she said.  “It’s for the entire office, but it’s signed by Trixie -- supposedly.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Look at the signature,” Kayla said.  “It’s huge, and kind of a scrawl.  Trixie always had some of the smallest handwriting, and it was always very neat.  I always thought her handwriting was like her: small and tightly wound.  Either someone else is signing documents in her name that should be signed by Dr. Blake, or something really wrong is going on there.”

“So you think something is rotten in the state of Ohio,” Charles said.

Kayla chuckled, getting his reference to Hamlet.  “Yeah, and it’s my job to find out what,” she said.  “I’m not just a desk-jockey, you know.”

Charles stood up and hugged his girlfriend.  “When do you have to leave?” he asked.

“My flight leaves at 6:15 tonight,” she said.  “I’m afraid I’ll be gone by the time you get home.”

Charles squeezed her.  “I’ll miss you,” he said.

“I’ll miss you, too,” Kayla said.  “See you when I get back.”

“See you then,” Charles said.

It was the last time he ever saw her.