a full briefing this morning
"Next thing on my checklist."
‘I’ll be there at about eight. Have some answers for me then, please."
"One more thing. As soon as the staff begin arriving, rumors will sprcad. May I tell people that you’ll be making an announcement?"
"Good point. I’ll speak to everyone in the Great Hall at, say, nine-thirty." The grand entrance hall of the old house was the biggest room in the building, always used for large meetings.
Toni had then summoned Susan Mackintosh, one of the security guards, a pretty girl in her twenties with a boyish haircut and a pierced eyebrow. Susan immediately noticed the picture on the wall. "You look good in a uniform," she said.
"Thanks. I realize you’re due to go off duty, but I need a woman for this job."
Susan raised an eyebrow flirtatiously. "I know the feeling."
Toni recalled the company Christmas party, last Friday. Susan had dressed like John Travolta in the Grease, with slicked hair, drainpipe jeans, and the kind of crepe-soled shoes known in Glasgow as brothel creepers. She had asked Toni to dance. Toni had smiled warmly and said, "I don’t think so." A little later, after a few more drinks, Susan had asked her if she slept with men. "Not as much as I’d like," Toni had said.
Toni was flattered that someone so young and pretty was attracted to her, but she pretended not to notice. "I need you to stop all employees as they arrive. Set up a desk in the Great Hall, and don’t let them go to their offices or labs until you’ve spoken to them."
"What should I say?"
"Tell them there’s been a virus security breach, and Professor Oxenford is going to give them a full briefing this morning. Be calm and reassuring, but don’t go into detail—best leave that to Stanley."
"Okay."
"Then ask them when they last saw Michael Ross. Some will have been asked that question over the phone last night, but only those certified for BSL4, and it does no harm to double-check. If anyone has seen him since he left here on Sunday two weeks ago, tell me immediately."
"Okay."
Toni had a delicate question to ask, and she hesitated, then just came out with it. "Do you think Michael was gay?"
"Not actively."
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