“What are you still doing here?” Jack asked.
“I’ve got one more report to finish.”
Jack held up the folder in his hand. “Did you or Curt handle Nodelman?”
“I did,” Janice said. “Is there a problem?”
“Not that I know about yet,” Jack said with a chuckle. He knew Janice to be extremely conscientious, which made her ideal for teasing. “Was it your impression the cause of death was a nosocomial infection?”
“What the hell is a ‘nosocomial infection’?” Vinnie asked.
“It’s an infection acquired in a hospital,” Jack explained.
“It certainly seems so,” Janice said. “The man had been in the hospital five days for his diabetes before developing symptoms of an infectious disease. Once he got them, he died within thirty-six hours.”
Jack whistled in respect. “Whatever the bug was, it certainly was virulent.”
“That’s what worried the doctors I spoke with,” Janice said.
“Any laboratory results from microbiology?” Jack questioned.
“Nothing has grown out,” Janice said. “Blood cultures were negative as of four o’clock this morning. The terminal event was acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS, but sputum cultures have been negative as well. The only positive thing was the gram stain of the sputum. That showed gram-negative bacilli. That made people think of pseudomonas, but it hasn’t been confirmed.”
“Any question of the patient being immunologically compromised?” Jack asked. “Did he have AIDS or had he been treated with anti-metabolites?”
“Not that I could ascertain,” Janice said. “The only problem he had listed was diabetes and some of the usual sequelae. Anyway, it’s all in the investigative report if you’d care to read it.”
“Hey, why read when I can get it from the horse’s mouth?” Jack said with a laugh. He thanked Janice and headed for the elevator.
“I hope you are planning to wear your moon suit,” Vinnie said. The moon suit, the completely enclosed, impervious outfit complete with a clear plastic face mask, was designed for maximum protection. Air was forced into the suit by a fan worn at the small of the back, pulling air through a filter before circulating it within the headpiece. That provided enough ventilation to breathe but guaranteed sauna-like temperatures inside. Jack detested the setup.
As far as Jack was concerned the moon suit was bulky, restrictive, uncomfortable, hot, and unnecessary. He’d not worn one throughout his training. The problem was that the New York chief, Dr. Harold Bingham, had decreed that the suits be used. Calvin, the deputy chief, was intent on enforcing it. Jack had endured several confrontations as a result.
“This might be the first time the suit is indicated, Jack said, to Vinnie’s relief. “Until we know what we are dealing with we have to take all precautions. After all, it could be something like Ebola virus.”
Vinnie stopped in his tracks. “You really think it’s possible?” he asked, his eyes opened wide.
“Not a chance,” Jack said. He slapped him on the back. “Just kidding.”
“Thank God,” Vinnie said. They started walking again.
“But maybe plague.”
Vinnie stopped again. “That would be just as bad,” he said.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. “All in a day’s work,” he said. “Come on, let’s get it over with.”
They changed into scrubs, and then while Vinnie put on his moon suit and went into the autopsy room, Jack went through the contents of Nodelman’s folder. It had a case work sheet, a partially completed death certificate, an inventory of medical-legal case records, two sheets for autopsy notes, a telephone notice of death as received that night by communications, a completed identification sheet, Janice’s investigative report, a sheet for the autopsy report, and a lab slip for HIV antibody analysis.
Despite having spoken with Janice, Jack read her report carefully as he always did. When he was finished he went into the room next to the pine coffins and put on his moon suit. He took his ventilation unit from where it had been charging and hooked himself up. Then he set out for the autopsy room on the other side of the morgue.
Jack cursed the suit as he walked past most of the 126 refrigerated compartments for bodies. Being encased in the contraption put him in a bad mood, and he eyed his surroundings with a jaundiced eye. The morgue had been state of the art at one time, but it was now in need of repair and upgrading. With its aged, blue tile walls and stained cement floor it looked like a set for an old horror movie.