> Time is short and I still have to paint my nails hot pink! Should I say
> references available on request -- since I do have that info. OTOH, who
> knows where I stand given the ex-exploiter?
The hot pink nails will matter much more, one way or the other, than anything on your resume. The resume got you in the door; now all anybody cares about is chemistry. Nobody's going to check all the wild claims on your resume -- if they did that, nobody would ever get hired for anything. Every resume I've ever written has been full of extravagant lies and that never stopped anybody from hiring me.
The most they'll do is a background check -- to make sure you're not a felon. If you are in fact a felon, tell 'em you don't have a driver's license and give 'em your passport number instead. If they do ask you for references, that'll be something the HR people will check, in a very pro-forma way -- so give 'em three people who'll say nice things about you. No need for any correlation with what's on the resume; the resume is long forgotten at this point.