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Grace thought she saw him nod in agreement and she snapped, ‘Good. I’m gone.’
Warren clamped a hand gently on her shoulder and she bit off her sarcasm when she saw the pain and tenderness in his face.
‘Grace. Please. I need your help.’ His voice was low and urgent. He was turned away from Lee so the researcher couldn’t hear their conversation, and Grace felt again the connection with this aging man. ‘I need you to see this.’
She nodded and he took a breath, relieved. Grace moved primly down the aisle and stood next to Lee, noting that her perfume held a mix of citrus and musk, and something fainter.
Perhaps gunpowder. ‘What’s in there?’ Grace said.
Lee lifted the lid. Inside the vat floated a human heart.
It was the size of a tiny fist. It swayed gently in a thick, viscous liquid. It was an odd tan color and floated in a soupy nutrient sea the red color of Jell-O. Grace felt a wave of nausea. The last time she had seen a human heart was in Guatemala. She closed her eyes and steadied herself against the counter.
‘Grace? Are you okay?’ Warren said, alarmed.
‘I need to leave. Go into the hall.’
She patted her way blindly past them toward the door and burst through it into the hall, taking gulps of air and leaning against the wall. Her legs felt unsteady. She wiped her lip and swallowed hard, a faintly metallic acid taste in her throat. She heard the lab door close.
Warren joined her in the hall. ‘What can I do?’ he asked quietly.
She shook her head, took another gulp of air, opened her eyes. ‘Sorry. Just took me by surprise.’ The pale print on the hall wallpaper slowly stopped moving.
‘You want to sit?’
She shook her head and took a steadying breath. ‘I haven’t heard anything about that. A human heart. Extraordinary.’ Her legs had stopped trembling and she risked straightening up.
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