Free Dangerously Placed by Nansi Kunze

like some kind of anti-Kiyoko dimension: white walls, white floor, white-coated people staring into white microscopes.
    â€˜Doesn’t all this whiteness get to you?’ I whispered.
    Ki smiled, walking confidently down the middle of the room.
    â€˜A contrasting background makes any object easier to see. I think this environment is allowing me to discover new aspects of myself.’
    I raised my eyebrows, but Ki looked totally serious. Before I could ask her what she meant, a tall man with grey hair and a pointy grey beard came striding up to us.
    â€˜Aha, you must be Alexandra!’ He held out his hand for me to shake. ‘Excellent! Splendid!’
    â€˜Alex, this is my mentor, Dr Evan Fairfield.’
    â€˜Kiyoko tells me you’re quite the science student,’ said Dr Fairfield.
    â€˜Uh, well, I guess …’ I mumbled. Obviously Ki had severely exaggerated my achievements in Science to justify getting me into the lab. I could tell from her facethat she wanted me to back her statement up. Well, I did get an A minus on that test about cell structure last year , I thought. ‘Yeah, I’m really into, um … biology, Dr Fairfield.’
    â€˜Call me Evan!’ he beamed. ‘Biology, eh? Wonderful! I can see why you’d be interested in our work, then. Biology’s a wide field, though – do you have a particular area of interest?’
    â€˜Uh …’ My mind went blank. What on Earth were the different branches of biology? ‘Well, I haven’t, um …’
    â€˜Anatomy,’ said Kiyoko. ‘Human anatomy.’ Her face was completely expressionless, but somehow I just knew she was referring to the recent conversation in which I’d described Dale’s butt.
    â€˜Excellent choice!’ cried Evan, oblivious to my embarrassed expression. ‘Well, if you’re anything like as dedicated and quick to learn as your friend, you’ll make a fine pathologist. Quite the best student we’ve had here in years!’ He clapped Ki on the shoulder.
    â€˜Thank you,’ said Ki, graciously inclining her head.
    The next half-hour was a strange mixture of the fascinating and the just-plain-gross, as Evan and Ki showed me around the lab. Sure, it was kind of interesting to know that each sample could be tracked using its own radio frequency identification label, but when the discussion turned to all the different colours of mucus Evan had seen over the years, I began to wish Ki wasn’t quite such a dedicated work experience student.
    â€˜I’m not sure I get the attraction of all this pathology stuff,’ I told Ki, when Evan finally left us alone in his office.
    â€˜Pathology is a search for the truth, Alex. What could be more central to our nature as humans than the quest for knowledge?’
    â€˜Good point,’ I said, although personally I could think of a few things. The quest for the perfect guy, for one. I wondered what Dale was doing with his afternoon off.
    â€˜And that’s where these little snippets come in,’ continued Ki, checking to see that no one was outside the office door and then stealthily drawing several sheets of paper from behind the monitor of Evan’s computer.
    â€˜What are these?’ I took the set of papers, which looked like a report of some kind. I scanned the first page: Cerebral ischemia caused by occlusion of carotid arteries … indications consistent with homicide …
    â€˜Wait, is this …?’ I looked at the corner of the page, and there it was: a case number and a name – Grody, Pierce Brian.
    â€˜Yes.’ Ki nodded. ‘It’s your former boss’s autopsy report.’
    â€˜Ki!’ I stared at her. ‘How did you get hold of this?’
    She looked around again, lowering her voice.
    â€˜I told you Evan had promised to let me work at the morgue, didn’t I? Well, this morning I had my chance to go there.’
    â€˜You saw him?