Pandemic

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 to touch 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.”

“I want to get through this without one or all three of us coming down with the same illness,” Jack said. “What makes it particularly scary is that it’s an unknown virus.”

“Oh, no,” Vinnie said, feigning concern. “Don’t tell me it’s unknown.”

“What difference does that make?” Carlos stuttered.

Jack had to take a deep breath to keep from laughing. For some reason it seemed that tagging a microorganism as an unknown did provide an extra aura of danger. “Unknown viruses are a lot easier to catch than known viruses,” Jack said, now making an attempt at humor. For a moment he worried he’d overdone it, but Carlos quickly proved him wrong.

“Do you think you have to be on a subway to catch it?” Carlos asked.

“Now, there’s a good question,” Jack said. “If we take these two cases as indicative of the nature of the illness, we’d have to say yes.”

“Then we should be okay,” Carlos said. “I mean, as long as we don’t go on the subway.”

“Easier said than done,” Vinnie said. “Besides, we might still be at risk. We’re in the basement here at the OCME. It’s kind of like the subway.”

“Good point,” Jack said. He inwardly smiled as he got his ventilator battery pack and hooked it up. He listened for the hum of the fan to be sure it was functioning normally. “This could be the start of something really big. The only other time people died this quickly on the subway was the 1918 flu pandemic. Back then at the height of the pandemic, New York City saw two to three hundred people dying each and every day.”

“No shit,” Carlos exclaimed.

“I kid you not,” Jack said, as he got his head up into the moon suit. It made his voice sound slightly deeper. “All right, I’m ready. Let’s do it.”

As a group, they walked the short distance from the moon suit locker room to the decomposing room. Carlos lagged behind, using a shuffling gait that made him look like he was walking in wet pants. Once inside the small autopsy room, they first went to the X-ray view box, so Jack could view the film that Vinnie and Carlos had previously taken.

“Well, at least this one surely didn’t have a heart transplant,” Jack said. He didn’t see anything abnormal, like old bone fractures or extensive dental work. “So now we know that having a heart transplant is not a requirement to come down with the subway pandemic.”

Next they got the body out by folding the body bag over the sides of the autopsy table, just as they had done with Carol Stewart. It was obvious Carlos was an unwilling participant.

“I’d guess she’s about the same age as Carol,” Vinnie said. “And nice duds. She looks like she, too, had gotten dressed up for something.”

“Very similar to Carol,” Jack said. “To me it means she was feeling normal when she got on the subway. It’s truly amazing how fast this subway pandemic kills. I hope you are not going on the subway tonight, Carlos.”

“No, not tonight,” he said nervously.

Jack took a series of photographs with the body clothed for identification purposes while Vinnie did the fingerprinting and uploaded the prints into the OCME database. Then Jack removed the woman’s jewelry, which included a watch and a ring, both of which matched what was removed from Carol, further suggesting to him that it was not a coincidence her name was Helen. Although she had pierced ears like Carol, she wasn’t wearing earrings. Jack then told the two mortuary techs to go ahead and start cutting off the clothes while he put the jewelry aside next to the specimen bottles.

Carlos was on the patient’s right, and as soon as Carlos had the right arm exposed, Jack rolled it over to look at the volar surface. As he had anticipated, there was a duplicate of Carol’s puzzle tattoo, with the only difference being the name. In this instance it was Carol.

“Shit!” Vinnie said, looking at the tattoo. “These two women must have been lovers.”

“They might even have been married,” Jack said. “I suspected that they might be a couple the moment Bart said this woman’s given name was Helen.”

“Do you think Helen caught this unknown virus from Carol?” Vinnie asked.

“That’s my fear,” Jack said. “Or maybe the other way around. One way or the other, it means it’s contagious. That is for damn certain.”

“I don’t want to be in here,” Carlos suddenly blurted.

“You’re not having fun?” Jack questioned.

Carlos backed up from the autopsy table. He was still holding the bandage scissors in his gloved right hand. “You people are crazy. I don’t need this.” He tossed the scissors onto the countertop next to the sink as if he no longer wanted to touch them.

“If you are thinking of leaving the party, you have to disinfect yourself,” Jack said, while he pointed to the side door that led into the connecting room designed for that purpose. “I trust you remember how it’s done?”

Carlos didn’t say another word before turning and barreling through the side door.

For a moment Jack and Vinnie paused and stared at each other, even though it was difficult to see their faces through the plastic face guards. When they suddenly heard the shower start in the other room, they high-fived.

“I think you accomplished your goal,” Jack said. “Congratulations.”

“Pardon the cliché, but let’s not count our chickens before they hatch,” Vinnie said. “Though it’s looking positive. But it wasn’t me, it was you.”

“All right, enough fun and games,” Jack said as he looked down at the partially exposed Helen VanDam with only her face and arms visible. “Let’s get serious and knock this out. This could be the beginning of a major catastrophe.”