“What now?” Terese asked. Her eyes were closed.
“Jack’s been sneezing and coughing. You don’t think he was exposed to my flu strain, the one I put in the humidifier?”
With the blanket wrapped around him, Richard got up and went into the kitchen and asked Jack about it. Jack didn’t answer.
“Come on, Doc,” Richard urged. “Don’t make me have to hit you again.”
“What difference does it make?” Terese called from the couch.
“It makes a lot of difference,” Richard said. “There’s a good chance my strain was the strain that caused the great flu epidemic of 1918. I got it in Alaska from a couple of frozen Eskimos who died of pneumonia. The time frame was right.”
Terese joined him in the kitchen. “Now you’re getting me worried,” she said. “Do you think he has it and has exposed us?”
“It’s possible,” Richard said.
“That’s terrifying!” She looked down at Jack. “Well?” she demanded. “Were you exposed?
Jack wasn’t sure if he should admit to his exposure or not. He didn’t know which would anger them more. The truth or his silence.
“I don’t like it that he’s not answering,” Richard said.
“He’s a medical examiner,” Terese said. “He might have been exposed. They brought the dead people to him. He told me on the phone.”
“I’m not afraid of that,” Richard said. “The exposure to worry about is to a living, breathing, sneezing, coughing person, not a dead body.”
“Medical examiners don’t take care of live people,” Terese said. “All their patients are dead.”
“That’s true,” Richard admitted.
“Besides,” Terese said, “Jack is hardly sick. He’s got a cold. Big deal. Wouldn’t he be really ill by now if he’d contracted your flu bug?”
“You’re right,” Richard said. “I’m not thinking straight; if he had the 1918 flu bug he’d be flat-out by now.”
Brother and sister returned to their couches and collapsed.
“I can’t take much more of this,” Terese said. “Especially the way I feel.”
At five-fifteen, exactly one hour after the previous call, Richard phoned Twin. This time Twin himself picked up.
“What the hell are you pestering me for?” Twin asked.
“I want to offer more money,” Richard said. “Obviously a thousand wasn’t enough. I understand. It’s a long drive up here. How much are you looking for?”
“You didn’t understand me, did you?” Twin said irritably. “I told you I couldn’t do it. That’s it. Game’s over.”
Two thousand, Richard said. He looked over at Terese. She nodded.
“Hey, man, are you deaf or what?” Twin said. “How many times…”
“Three thousand,” Richard said, and Terese again nodded.
“Three thousand bucks?” Twin repeated.
“That’s correct,” Richard said.
“You are sounding desperate,” Twin said.
“We’re willing to pay three thousand dollars,” Richard said. “That should speak for itself.”
“Hmmm,” Twin said. “And you say you have the doc handcuffed.”
“Exactly,” Richard said. “It will be a piece of cake.”
“I tell you what,” Twin said. “I’ll send someone up there tomorrow morning.”
“You’re not going to do what you did this morning, are you?” Richard asked.
“No,” Twin said. “I guarantee I’ll have someone up there to take care of things.”
“For three thousand,” Richard said. He wanted to be sure they understood each other.
“Three thousand will be just fine,” Twin said.
Richard replaced the receiver and looked over at Terese.
“Do you believe him?” she asked.
“This time he guaranteed it,” Richard said. “And when Twin guarantees something, it happens. He’ll be here in the morning. I’m confident.”
Terese sighed. “Thank God for small favors,” she said.
Jack wasn’t so relieved. His panic rekindled, he determined he had to find a way to escape that night. Morning would bring the apocalypse.
Afternoon dragged into evening. Terese and Richard fell asleep. Unattended, the fire died down. A chill came with the darkness. Jack wracked his brains for ideas of escape, but unless he was freed from the drainpipe, he didn’t see how he could get away.
Around seven both Richard and Terese began to cough in their sleep.
At first they seemed more to be clearing their throats than coughing, but soon the hacking became more forceful and productive. Jack considered the development significant. It gave support to a concern he’d been harboring since they both began complaining of chills: namely, that they had caught the dreaded flu from him just as Richard suspected.