Sometimes past midnight, Ezra arrived home to darkness. Dad had most likely retired for the night hours ago, and Shaki was still out on the account that her favourite pair of shoes were missing from the small shoe rack.

Ezra hung her coat in the world's smallest coat rack by the door and kicked her shoes off, threw her handbag and keys on the sofa, and rushed to the fridge, starving. She could say there are mice running free in her stomach if only it didn't remind her of Mum, who often cracked the brightest smile after blurting something silly like that.

She opened the single-door fridge in a world where most in their 'position' upgraded to the luxury of a double-door fridge. After all, Ezra had a steady job and a good income. But she thought such luxury was a waste of money. Truly. Not when there was no way in this cruddy rationed world that anyone could buy, let alone afford a fridge-full of food.

With that thought thoroughly squashed, she stuck her head in the cool, and breathed in with relief. The day had been stifling on all accounts: sweltering Aussie summer day, a lab crammed full of hot bodies and paltry air conditioners that couldn't keep up, a specimen cold storage that was damaged from repeated height-of-the-day power grid outages—I'll have to look at that tomorrow, fix it if possible. If not, tell Dr Archer of another expenditure. Not to mention, she'd had to run, in the muggy night, to catch the last tram to Central Station in order to get home.

When she opened her eyes, she spotted the dinner her dad had left for her—a wrap with a note stuck to it. EAT UP!

"Don't mind if I do!" The starving, thankful woman in her eagerly grabbed the food and rushed to gobble it. The sooner she did, the sooner she could drag herself upstairs, throw her body down on her bed, and sleep. And this is exactly what she did once she had her last bite.

As soon as her head hit the pillow—still wearing her day clothes—and closed her eyes, the intercom downstairs buzzed.

"Are you serious, Shaki?" Ezra groaned, pushing herself up on her elbows.

The electronic buzz sounded again in their small, old apartment, and she rose on heavy limbs. "I thought you said you'll stay over if you're gonna be this late..." she grumbled, clomping downstairs, most unhappy.

As she reached for the screen mounted on the wall in the kitchen, the buzzer sounded yet again. She pressed the answer button, hiding her yawn with the back of her other hand. "Shay, what happened to your key?"

Instead of her baby sister, another familiar voice crackled through the intercom.

"Dr Mayur? Is that you?" Tehreem Malik, her lab assistant at GenDesign, sounded panicked.

"Tehreem?" Ezra finally looked at the image on the intercom screen. Tehreem not only sounded panicked, but she looked pale even in the dim streetlights.

"Ezzie?" Halfway down the narrow stairs, her dad stood in his shorts, rubbing his stubble and yawning. "Is that your sister?"

"It's not Shay, Daddy." Ezra stared at the frantic look on Tehreem's face. "It's someone from my lab... Dr Archer's lab..."

"Everything okay?" Dad stepped down a rung. Worried.

This was the first time in four years since Ezra had joined Dr Archer's team—on the back of a horrid essay that had caused her to throw up immediately after having handed it in—that someone from the lab had turned up at her door.

And what a time to turn up, Tehreem.

"I'm sure everything is fine, Daddy." Ezra nodded, though everything about her assistant's manner of presentation, this late at night, told her otherwise. Something else probably broke after I left, and poor Tehreem needs me to come back so we can salvage more specimens before Archer gets wind of it—our incompetence.

"Go back to sleep, Dad. Our talks will only bore you, and I'm already awake if Shay turns up."

Dad turned and headed back up. "If she's not home in an hour, wake me. I'll probably have to pick her up again... some flakey friends she's got..."

"Dr Mayur?" Tehreem's voice broke through the intercom again. "Are you still there?"

"I'm here, Tehreem," Ezra spoke into the microphone while simultaneously opening the lobby door for her friend.

A second later, she heard the click of the lock and then silence as Tehreem no doubt slipped into the building.

Anxiety crawled like spiders under Ezra's skin. Her sleep, demolished before she even threw herself onto her bed. The minutes ticked by, waiting for Tehreem to knock on her door.

Ezra floated into the kitchen and filled the kettle. Tea. If they were going to talk shop, she needed tea.

With the whistle of the kettle, there was a soft knock on the door. She rushed to open it and watched Tehreem with great interest as the smaller woman stepped into her home.

"I'm so sorry to disturb you this late, but I didn't know where to go... what to do..."

Ezra closed the door and guided her friend towards a stool. "Sit, and tell me, slowly, what's happened, and how severe is it?"

But the woman refused to sit, instead, choosing to stand, agitated before the stool.

Ezra poured them cups of tea and sat on one stool. Tehreem may want to stand, but she was so exhausted she couldn't bear to hear any bad news without sitting down.

Tehreem finally met her gaze. "It's Dr Archer..."

Dr Archer? Shit, did he hear about the damaged specimen fridge already?

"What about Archer?"

Tehreem looked like she was about to cry. "He's gone missing."

Ezra gripped her mug tightly before she spilled her tea. "What do you mean, he's gone missing?"

"He came into the lab minutes after you left... I was packing up for the night. Checking on the rest of the fridge and the incubators..." Tehreem began pacing again. "He seemed distracted when I asked him what he was doing back, so late. He kind of just stared at me as if he had a million things on his mind, said he needed to get some urgent work done, and asked me to put on a pot of coffee for him before I left. That he was going to be all night."

Ezra slowly slid her teacup down on the counter, unable to drink. It wasn't unusual for Archer to work late into the night, but it was odd for him to turn up at the lab straight from the airport and get to work. What was so urgent he needed to work tonight?

"After that, I left, locking up the lab behind me as we usually do. But halfway home, I remembered I forgot my laptop in my rush—caught out by his sudden appearance. We weren't expecting him till tomorrow, no?" Tehreem stopped pacing and faced Ezra. "When I got back in, half an hour later, to grab my laptop, he was gone."

"Maybe he went home?" Ezra suggested. Perhaps he was tired after all.

Tehreem shook her head. "No. I mean, he was gone... I popped into his lab to say don't be alarmed, it's only me... He was gone. His coffee was still steaming in his cup. His office was in disarray... his personal computer and laptop, files he kept in that locker of his... all gone... like someone robbed us."

"Robbed? Who would want to rob a research lab? Maybe he took his stuff home." Ezra's mouth went dry. "Was anything else missing?"

"I don't think so. I ran to the specimen fridge, especially our top priority one... at a glance, it was still locked, and nothing seemed to be missing. Just everything from his office, and him." Tehreem shook her head.

Ezra narrowed her eyes. "Maybe he was in a rush?"

"But why would he leave his office a mess?" Tehreem queried. "It was all turned up, Ezra, and—"

"And?"

"There was blood... on the floor like they dragged him."

Ezra stood from her stool, hearing a creak on the stairs.

Her dad popped his head down again. "Is everything okay?"

Ezra snapped to attention, strode to her bag and keys, and grabbed them. "Something's come up, Dad. We have to go back to the lab. I'll message Shaki to stay with her friend tonight. You go back to sleep."

"No, I can't sleep now." He eyed the two of them standing there. "What's happened?"

"Dr Archer is missing," Tehreem blurted.

"We don't know yet what's happened." Ezra threw her colleague a side-long look. "But as the second in charge of the lab and its research, I'll have to go in. Call the cops if our suspicions are sound..."

"You haven't called the cops?" Her dad turned to the stranger in the room. "Instead, you came here to get Ezzie?"

"I'm sorry." Tehreem glanced at Ezra, a looking of understanding passing between them. "I didn't know if I should... yet."

"Sometimes we conduct sensitive research, Daddy. Tehreem's just running things by me to make sure it's okay to call the cops." Ezra hated when her dad studied the two of them, same as he used to when she was young and he was trying to determine her honesty. It was times like these she remembered that once upon a time, he'd been a cop, and a great one at that.

"And you have reason to suspect something nefarious happened tonight?" He stood resolute.

Ezra chewed her lip. Tehreem stared at her shoes.

Her dad grabbed his crutches from the wall, where they leaned every evening, exactly as he left them, next to the stairs, and plodded his way toward them. "I'll come with you."

"You don't have to, Dad."

"I've heard enough... if something went down, I'm not about to let my daughter walk in there unarmed. Not unless I know it's entirely safe." His face split into an easy smile that said he wasn't asking. "Besides, you could probably use my eyes."

Tehreem fidgeted beside Ezra. "We could use your dad's help."

Ezra looked from one to another, hearing the loud ticking of the clock above the door. "Fine."

#

What meet them wasn't a scene Ezra could have ever fathomed. According to her father, there was no forced entry into the building, yet Archer's personal lab space and his office looked as if looters had been through it in a rush. Files and papers littered the floor, equipment sat, smashed, countless slides broken, and countless research papers shredded and torn. His office was the worst. His desk was on its side as if Archer had upended it himself as a shield. The items from his desk scattered on the floor along with broken glass. His personal desktop was missing, abandoned cables and the pressure marks on the carpet from the tower, the only evidence it existed. His locker yawned open, pried open with a crowbar.

"Stay where you are, Ezzie." Her dad stood near the desk, studying the mess. A deep frown etched across his forehead. It was a face he usually made when he was deep in thought or considering something severe.

"What is it?" Ezra, despite herself, entered the office and approached him. Despite his raised hand signaling her to stop, she strode forward, until the sight before her chilled her to her bones and she regretted having defied him.

"See," Tehreem muttered, standing by the door, unable to come in.

"You said blood," Ezra's dad spoke, "you didn't say how much." He turned to stand before Ezra, blocking her way and pushing her back toward the door. "Have you touched anything in here, Ms Malik?"

Tehreem shook her head.

"What do you think happened here?" Ezra's heart ricocheted in her chest. She stared at Daddy as if he had all the answers like he used to when they were young.

"I won't make hasty judgments, honey. Too early, and I'm no longer in service. I'll have to call this in." He glanced back at the desk that hid most of the blood in the darkish room. They'd even broken the downlights in there as if offended by them. He grabbed her arm gently. "Do you have a staff kitchen here?"

Ezra nodded.

"Good. Take Tehreem. Make yourselves tea, and wait there until someone comes to fetch you."

"Dad." Ezra eyed the office behind him. "He's not... he's not... They didn't kill him, did they?"

He studied the hallway as he often studied new locations and places. "You have CCTV."

"The entire block was pitch black when I came back, Mr Mayur," Tehreem said.

"So someone shut off the grid. It wouldn't affect the cameras if they are connected to the backup generator..." He nudged Ezra again. "Go. I'll call you if I need either of you."

Ezra's gaze flickered one last time toward Dr Archer's darkened office. Where is Dr Archer? What happened to him?

A/N: This story is taking its own twists and turns and I'm really enjoying writing this. I will, in no way, take the blame!! 😂

What do you think happened to Dr Archer?
Who do you think would do such a thing?
And what do you make of Ezra's dad getting involved?