Richard looked at him directly, this time without hesitation.
“Where?”
Leo pointed toward the hallway behind him, toward the elevators that led down to the lower floors.
“She was rushing,” he said, trying to recall every detail exactly as it had happened.
“She bumped into me near the stairs. She dropped something.”
“What?”
Leo hesitated, his fingers tightening again, because now what he said mattered in a way he didn’t fully understand.
“A small case,” he answered, “like the ones doctors carry tools in.”
The younger doctor’s eyes widened slightly.
“That’s not standard for her shift,” he muttered.
Richard didn’t wait.
“Find her,” he said sharply to security, his voice now fully commanding, leaving no room for delay or doubt.
Two guards immediately moved, their earlier dismissiveness toward Leo completely gone, replaced by urgency.
The room shifted once more, this time into motion driven by something far more serious than a medical emergency.
Leo stepped back again, his role suddenly unclear, his presence no longer invisible but not entirely welcome either.
Isabelle looked at him, really looked at him for the first time, her expression softening in a way that hadn’t been there before.
