“No, she didn’t,” Beth said. “That’s why we feel she was exposed down here in the lab when she processed the samples. Rickettsia are notoriously dangerous in the lab.”
Jack was about to respond when he noticed that Beth had begun to fidget and look over his shoulder. Jack glanced in the direction she was looking, but there was no one there.
“I really should be getting back to work,” Beth said. “And I shouldn’t be talking with you. Dr. Cheveau told us specifically.”
“Don’t you find that strange?” Jack said. “After all, I am a medical examiner in this city. Legally I have a right to investigate the deaths of the patients assigned to us.”
“I guess I do,” Beth admitted. “But what can I say? I just work here.”
She stepped around Jack and went back to her workstation.
Jack followed her. “I don’t mean to be a pest,” he said. “But my intuition tells me something weird is going on here; that’s why I keep coming back. A number of people have been acting defensive, including your boss. Now there could be an explanation. AmeriCare and this hospital are a business, and these outbreaks have been tremendously disruptive economically. That’s reason enough for people to be acting strangely. But from my point of view it’s more than that.”
“So what do you want from me?” Beth asked. She’d taken her seat and gone back to transferring the throat cultures to the agar plates.
“I’d like to ask you to look around,” Jack said. “If pathological bacteria are being deliberately spread they have to come from somewhere, and the microbiology lab would be a good place to start looking. I mean, the equipment is here to store and handle the stuff. It’s not as if plague bacteria is something you’d find anywhere.”
“It wouldn’t be so strange to find it on occasion in any standard lab,” Beth said.
“Really?” Jack questioned. He’d assumed that outside of the CDC and maybe a few academic centers, plague bacteria would be a rarity.
“Intermittently labs have to get cultures of all different bacteria to test the efficacy of their reagents,” Beth said as she continued to work. “Antibodies, which are often the main ingredient in many modern reagents, can deteriorate, and if they do the tests would give false negatives.”
“Oh, of course,” Jack said. He felt stupid. He should have remembered all this. All laboratory tests had to be constantly checked.
“Where do you get something like plague bacteria?”
“From National Biologicals in Virginia,” Beth said.
“What’s the process for getting it?” Jack asked.
“Just call up and order it,” Beth said.
“Who can do that?” Jack asked.
“Anybody,” Beth said.
“You’re joking,” Jack said. Somehow he’d thought the security at a minimum would be comparable to that involved in getting a controlled drug like morphine.
“I’m not joking,” Beth said. “I’ve done it many times.”
“You don’t need some special permit?” Jack asked.
“I have to get the signature of the director of the lab on the purchase order,” Beth said. “But that’s just to guarantee that the hospital will pay for it.”
“So let me get this straight,” Jack said. “Anyone can call these people up and have plague sent to them?”
“As long as their credit is okay,” Beth said.
“How do the cultures come?” Jack said.
“Usually by mail,” Beth said. “But if you pay extra and need it faster you can get overnight service.”
Jack was appalled, but he tried to hide his reaction. He was embarrassed at his own naiveté. “Do you have this organization’s phone number?” he asked.
Beth pulled open a file drawer to her immediate right, leafed through some files, and pulled out a folder. Opening it up, she took out a sheet and indicated the letterhead.
Jack wrote the number down. Then he pointed to the phone. “Do you mind?” he asked.
Beth pushed the phone in his direction but glanced up at the clock as she did so.
“I’ll just be a second,” Jack said. He still couldn’t believe what he’d just been told.
Jack dialed the number. The phone was answered and a recording gave him the name of the company and asked him to make a selection. Jack pressed two for sales. Presently a charmingly friendly voice came on the line and asked if she could be of assistance.