There was an entrance to the autopsy room directly from the hallway, but that wasn’t used any longer except to bring bodies in and out. Instead Jack entered through a small anteroom with a washbasin.
By the time Jack entered the autopsy room Vinnie had Nodelman’s body on one of the eight tables and had assembled all the necessary equipment and paraphernalia necessary to do the case. Jack positioned himself on the patient’s right, Vinnie on the left.
“He doesn’t look so good,” Jack said. “I don’t think he’s going to make it to the prom.” It was hard to talk in the moon suit, and he was already perspiring.
Vinnie, who never quite knew how to react to Jack’s irreverent comments, didn’t respond even though the corpse did look terrible.
“This is gangrene on his fingers,” Jack said. He lifted one of the hands and examined the almost-black fingertips closely. Then he pointed to the man’s shriveled genitals. “That’s gangrene on the end of his penis. Ouch! That must have hurt. Can you imagine?”
Vinnie held his tongue.
Jack carefully examined every inch of the man’s exterior. For Vinnie’s benefit he pointed out the extensive subcutaneous hemorrhages on the man’s abdomen and legs. He told him it was called purpura. Then Jack mentioned there were no obvious insect bites. “That’s important,” he added. “A lot of serious diseases are transmitted by arthropods.”
“Arthropods?” Vinnie questioned. He never knew when Jack was joking.
“Insects,” Jack said. “Crustaceans aren’t much of a problem as disease vectors.”
Vinnie nodded appreciatively, although he didn’t know any more than he had when he’d asked his question. He made a mental note to try to remember to look up the meaning of “arthropods” when he had an opportunity.
“What are the chances whatever killed this man is contagious?” Vinnie asked.
“Excellent, I’m afraid,” Jack said. “Excellent.”
The door to the hallway opened and Sal D’Ambrosio, another mortuary tech, wheeled in another body. Totally absorbed in the external exam of Mr. Nodelman, Jack did not look up. He was already beginning to form a differential diagnosis.
A half hour later six of the eight tables were occupied by corpses awaiting autopsies. One by one the other medical examiners on duty that day began to arrive. Laurie was the first, and she came over to Jack’s table. “Any ideas yet?” she asked.
“Lots of ideas but nothing definitive,” Jack said. “But I can assure you this is one virulent organism. I was teasing Vinnie earlier about its being Ebola. There’s a lot of disseminated intravascular coagulation.”
“My God!” Laurie exclaimed. “Are you serious?”
“No, not really,” Jack said. “But from what I’ve seen so far it’s still possible, just not probable. Of course I’ve never seen a case of Ebola, so that should tell you something.”
“Do you think we ought to isolate this case?” Laurie asked nervously.
“I can’t see any reason to,” Jack said. “Besides, I’ve already started, and I’ll be careful to avoid throwing any of the organs around the room. But I’ll tell you what we should do: alert the lab to be mighty careful with the specimens until we have a diagnosis.”
“Maybe I’d better ask Bingham’s opinion,” Laurie said.
“Oh, that would be helpful,” Jack said sarcastically. “Then we’ll have the blind leading the blind.”
“Don’t be disrespectful,” Laurie said. “He is the chief.”
“I don’t care if he’s the Pope,” Jack said. “I think I should just get it done, the sooner the better. If Bingham or even Calvin gets involved it will drag on all morning.”
“All right,” Laurie said. “Maybe you’re right. But let me see any abnormality. I’ll be on table three.”
Laurie left to do her own case. Jack took a scalpel from Vinnie and was about to make the incision when he noticed that Vinnie had moved away.
“Where are you going to watch this from, Queens?” Jack asked. “You’re supposed to be helping.”
“I’m a little nervous,” Vinnie admitted.
“Oh, come on, man,” Jack said. “You’ve been at more autopsies than I have. Get your Italian ass over here. We’ve got work to do.”
Jack worked quickly but smoothly. He handled the internal organs gently and was meticulously careful about the use of instruments when either his or Vinnie’s hands were in the field.