kill more,
The mechanics of the Laminar Airflow rooms
particularly fascinated him and he asked .me detailed,
analytical questions until my fund of answers
was exhausted.
“Months in that plastic box,” he said, troubled.
“And they don’t freak out?”
“Not if it’s handed right. You’ve got to orient
the child to time and space, encourage the family o
spend as much time there as possible. You sterilize
favorite toys and clothes and bring them in, provide
lots of stimulation. The key is to minimize the
difference between home and hospital–there’s always
going to be some, but you can buffer it.”
“Interesting. You know what I’m flashing on, don’t
you ?”
“What’s that?”
“AIDS. Same principle, right ? Lowered resistance
to infection.”
“Similar but not identical,” I said. “The laminar
airflow filters out bacteria and fungi in order to
protect the kids during treatment. But the loss of
immunity is temporary–after chemotherapy’s over,
their systems rebound. AIDS is permanent and AIDS
victims have other problems–Kaposi’s Sarcoma, vi-
BLOODTEST 109
ral infections. The modules might
a while, but not indefinitely.”
“Yeah, but you gotta admit, it’s a hell of an ira–age:
Santa Monica Boulevard lined with thousands
of plastic cubes, each one with some poor guy wast-
ing away inside. You cbuld charge admission, raise
enough money to find a cure.”
He let out a hitter laugh.
“The wages of sin,” he shook his head. “Enough
to make you a Puritan. I hear the horror Stories and
thank God I’m monogamous. Rick’s been fielding a
lot’of shit from both sides. Last week a patient
came to the E.R. with a mangled arm–bar fightm
and g]ommed onto the fact that Rick was gay. Probably
a paranoid guess, because Rick doesn’t exactly
swish, but he didn’-t deny it when this turkey demanded
to know if they were giving him a faggot
doctor. The guy refused to let Rick touch him,
screamed about AIDS–no matter that he’s bleeding
all over the place. So Rick walked away. But
the rest of the docs were up to their elbows in
shit–Saturday night and they were wheeling ’em
in one after the other. It threw the whole system
out of whack. Everyone ended up getting pissed at
Rick. He was a goddamn leper for the rest of the
shift.”
“Poor guy. ‘
“poor guy .s right. The man was top of his class,
chief resident at Stanford, and he’s taking this kind
of crap? He came home in a dark mood. The hell of
it is, night before, he was telling me that working
with gay patients–especially the ones who came in
bleeding–was making him antsy. I did heavy-duty
therapy that night, Alex.”
He spooned the last bit of ice cream into his
mouth.
“Heavy-duty,” he repeated and brushed the hair
out of his eyes. “But hey, that’s what love’s all
about, right?”
MILO BEGGED off the case during the drive back to
the Sea Breeze Motel,
“I can’t take it any further,” he said apologetically.
“All we’ve got at this point is a missing persons
squeal, and that’s stretching it.”
“I know. Thanks for coming down.”
“No big deal. It was a break from routine. Just so
happens I’ve got a particularly cruddy routine right
now. Gang shooting–two cholos blown away–liquor
store clerk ripped with a broken bottle, and, a real
sweethearta rapist who shits on his victims’ abdomens
when he’s through with them. We know he’s
attacked at least seven women. The last one ended
up more than defiled.”
‘Jesus.”
“Jesus won’t forgive this creep.” He frowned and
turned on Sawtelle toward Pico. “Each year I tell
myself I’ve witnessed the depths of depravity and
each year the scumbags out there prove me wrong
Maybe I should have taken the exam.”
111
Fifteen months ago he and I had exposed a prominent
orphanage as a brothel catering to pedophiles,
solving a handful of murders in the process. He’d
been a hero and had been invited to take the lieutenant’s
exam. There was no doubt he’d have passed,
because he’s brilliant, and the brass had let him
know the city was ready for a gay loot as long as he
didn’t flaunt it.H’e d debated it internally for a