“Yes, I told Twyla Robinson, for all the good it did me. She thought I wasn’t giving him a chance to prove himself. Personally, I think she doesn’t want to admit she made a mistake in hiring him.”
“If he’s a germaphobe, this case, like the one on Monday, should turn him off enough to quit once we make sure he really understands what it is about. I mean, it terrifies me, and usually I’m relatively nonchalant around contagion.”
“You have a point,” Vinnie said. “He did not like the case you’re talking about.”
“I remember teasing him a bit about Ebola and influenza. We could lay it on a little thicker.”
“It might work,” Vinnie said. “He really hated the moon suit.”
“Okay. With that decided, let’s move on,” Jack said. “I want to handle the case the same way we did the one on Monday. We’ll use the decomposed room along with the moon suits. And take the X-ray and weigh the body without taking it out of the body bag like last time! We’ll again do the photos and fingerprinting in the decomposed room after we get the body out of the body bag. And make sure we have enough viral sample bottles.”
“Okay, boss,” Vinnie said. “And don’t let me down with Carlos.”
“I’ll do my best,” Jack said. “Seems to me I remember you trying to protect him on Monday from my teasing him about losing mortuary techs to contagion from autopsies.”
“Don’t remind me,” Vinnie said. “That was before I knew what a dick he was.”
“Keep an eye out for the body to arrive so you can get right on it,” Jack said. “It’s on its way from Bellevue ER, so it should be there in minutes if it isn’t already. And on my end, I’m happy to report the FDR Drive is moving along so I’ll be there in a flash as well.”
“Got it,” Vinnie said. “See you soon.”
After disconnecting with Vinnie, Jack made a final call to Aretha.“Guess what?” he said when he got her on the line. His voice had an urgency that he didn’t try to hide. “There’s another subway death that sounds exactly like the first one.”
“Wow! That increases the chances that we are dealing with a contagious virus,” Aretha said, even before she heard the details.
“That’s exactly my fear,” Jack said. “I’m heading back to the OCME and will be handling the case immediately. So we’ll have more samples. Will you be available?”
“I was planning on leaving at my normal time, but I’ll stay. I’ll inoculate more tissue cultures tonight. There go my chances for a game this evening.”
“Sorry about that,” Jack said. “But this is important.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Aretha said. “It’s a bit terrifying.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Jack said.
“Oh, by the way,” Aretha added. “In response to your question earlier. I ran another screen on the tissue culture and there is no garden-variety virus present. The cytopathic effects are being caused by a true unknown.”
“Any results from the MPS?” Jack asked.
Aretha laughed. “Identifying an unknown virus is a time-intensive exercise, so no. But you’ll be the first to know. Trust me!”
26
WEDNESDAY, 4:20 P.M.
Originally Jack had planned to park where he’d parked that morning in the shadow of the 421 high-rise, but with time a factor, he drove directly to the 520 building. Although there was no place to park, Jack pulled into the unloading dock area and left the Escalade behind one of the OCME vans with a note on the dash. He also gave the keys to the security officer, whose office overlooked the dock.
After checking the decomposed room for activity and seeing it was still dark, Jack had taken the time to run up to the front office. He thought it best to let Laurie know that not only was he back, but he was doing another subway death autopsy. He also wanted to let her know that he had Warren’s car and would be happy to give her a ride home after he finished the case. He’d known it was a risk that she’d be irritated with him for being gone all day, but he’d thought it a risk he needed to take, as it was important for her to know about the second respiratory death. As it turned out, she was again on one of her interminable conference calls with orders not to be disturbed.
After his quick visit to Laurie’s office, he’d run into the ID room totouch base with Rebecca Marshall. He wanted to make sure she knew about the second death and ask her to call him when someone came in for the official identification. He’d told her he’d like to ask the individual a few questions himself, if at all possible.
Returning to the morgue on the basement level, Jack pushed into the locker room where the moon suits were stored. Carlos was already completely outfitted with his ventilator running, whereas Vinnie was in the final stages of prep, zipping up his suit. Like a rerun of Monday, Carlos had his arms stuck out from his sides at a forty-five-degree angle, as if he was afraid to move. Although Jack couldn’t see his face, it was obvious the man was again clearly spooked. Jack was encouraged. He thought exacerbating the man’s apprehensions, like he promised Vinnie, wouldn’t be difficult, especially with Jack’s own fears at the forefront, but for different reasons.
“Should we head into the decomposed room and start getting the body out of the body bag?” Vinnie asked as soon as he was ready to go. He was always thinking ahead, which was one of the many reasons Jack liked to work with him.
“Let’s talk over the case before we start,” Jack said while putting his legs into his suit as if he were donning a pair of coveralls. “This is a lot scarier than on Monday. Now we know we could be facing a real subway pandemic.”
“True,” Vinnie said, immediately taking Jack’s lead. “Monday, we worried the case might be contagious, but now with a second case we know for sure.”
