“Gladly,” said Marissa.
As she left the hospital, Marissa realized she was shaking. She hated confrontations, and once again she was torn between righteous anger and guilty humiliation. She was certain she was close to the real cause of the outbreaks, but she still could not clearly formulate her suspicions-not even to her own satisfaction, much less someone else’s.
Marissa tried to think it through on her way to the airport, but all she could think of was her ugly scene with Dubchek. She couldn’t get it out of her head. She knew she had taken a risk by going into the Berson Hospital when she was specifically unauthorized to do so. Cyril! had every right to be enraged. She only wished she had been able to talk to him about the strange fact that each of the index cases had been mugged just before becoming ill.
Waiting for her plane back to Atlanta, Marissa went to a pay phone to call Ralph. He answered promptly, saying he’d been so worried about her that he’d gone to her house when she had failed to answer the phone. He asked her where she’d been, pretending to be indignant that she’d left town without telling him.
“Washington and now Philadelphia,” explained Marissa, “but I’m on my way home.”
“Did you go to Philly because of the new Ebola outbreak?”
“Yes,” said Marissa. “A lot has happened since we talked last. It’s a long story, but the bottom line is that I wasn’t supposed to go, and when Dubchek caught me, he went crazy. I may be out of a job. Do you know anybody who could use a pediatrician who’s hardly been used?”
“No problem,” said Ralph with a chuckle. “I could get you a job right here at the University Hospital. What’s your flight number? I’ll drive out to the airport and pick you up. I’d like to hear about what was so important that you had to fly off without telling me you were going.”
“Thanks, but it’s not necessary,” said Marissa. “My Honda is waiting for me.”
“Then stop over on your way home.”
“It might be late,” said Marissa, thinking that it might be more pleasant at Ralph’s than in her own empty house. “I’m planning on stopping by the CDC. There is something I’d like to do while Dubchek is out of town.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” said Ralph. “What are you up to?”
“Believe me, not much,” said Marissa. “I just want one more quick visit to the maximum containment lab.”
“I thought you didn’t have authorization.”
“I can manage it, I think,” she told him.
“My advice is to stay away from the CDC,” said Ralph. “Going into that lab is what caused most of your problems in the first place.”
“I know,” admitted Marissa, “but I’m going to do it anyway. This Ebola affair is driving me crazy.”
“Suit yourself, but stop over afterwards. I’ll be up late.”
“Ralph?” Marissa said, screwing up her courage to ask the question. “Do you know Congressman Markham?”
There was a pause. “I know of him.”
“Have you ever contributed to his campaign fund?”
“What an odd question, particularly for a long-distance call.”
“Have you?” persisted Marissa.
“Yes,” said Ralph. “Several times. I like the man’s position on a lot of medical issues.”
After promising again to see him that night, Marissa hung up feeling relieved. She was pleased she’d broached the subject of Markham and was even happier that Ralph had been so forthright about his contributions.
Once the plane took off, though, her sense of unease returned. The theory still undeveloped in the back of her mind was so terrifying, she was afraid to try to flesh it out.
More horrifying yet, she was beginning to wonder if her house being broken into and her dog killed was something more than the random attack she’d taken it for.
11
May 20-Evening
MARISSA LEFT THE AIRPORT and headed directly for Tad’s house. She’d not called, thinking it would be better just to drop in, even though it was almost nine.
She pulled up in front of his house, pleased to see lights blazing in the living room on the second floor.