After they had settled on the couch in the parlor, with brandy snifters in hand, Marissa mentioned something she had been afraid to point out to Dubchek in his current patronizing mood. “There is one thing about the two index cases that I find curious. Both men were mugged just a few days before they got sick.” Marissa waited for a response.
“Very suspicious,” said Ralph with a wink. “Are you suggesting that there is an ‘Ebola Mary’ who robs people and spreads the disease?”
Marissa laughed. “I know it sounds stupid. That’s why I haven’t said anything to anyone else.”
“But you have to think of everything,” added Ralph. “The old medical-school training that taught you to ask everything, including what the maternal great-grandfather did for a living in the old country.”
Deliberately, Marissa switched the conversation to Ralph’s work and his house, his two favorite subjects. As the time passed, she noted
that he did not make any moves toward her. She wondered if it were something about herself, like the fact that she’d been exposed to Ebola. Then, to make matters worse, he invited her to spend the night in the guest room.
Marissa was insulted. Perhaps just as insulted as if he’d tried to drag her dress over her head the moment they walked in the front door. She told him thank you, but she did not want to spend the night in his guest room; she wanted to spend the night in her own house with her dog. The last part was meant to be an affront, but it sailed over Ralph’s head. He just kept on talking about redecorating plans he had for the first floor of the house, now that he’d lived there long enough to know what he wanted.
In truth, Marissa did not know what she would have done if Ralph had made any physical advances. He was a good friend, but she still didn’t find him romantically attractive. In that respect, she thought Dubchek’s looks distinctly more exciting.
Thinking of Cyrill reminded her of something. “How do you and Dr. Dubchek know each other?”
“I met him when he addressed the ophthalmology residents at the University Hospital,” said Ralph. “Some of the rare viruses like Ebola and even the AIDS virus have been localized in tears and the aqueous humor. Some of them even cause anterior uveitis.”
“Oh,” said Marissa, nodding as if she understood. Actually she had no idea what anterior uveitis was, but she decided it was as good a point as any to ask Ralph to drive her home.
Over the next few days, Marissa adapted to a more normal life, although every time the phone rang, she half expected to be called out for another Ebola disaster. Remembering her resolve, she did pack a suitcase and kept it open in her closet, ready for her to toss in her cosmetics case. She could be out of her house in a matter of minutes, if the need arose.
At work, things were looking up. Tad helped her perfect her viral laboratory skills and worked with her to write up a research proposal on Ebola. Unable to come up with a working hypothesis for a possible reservoir for Ebola, Marissa concentrated instead on the issue of transmission. From the enormous amount of data that she’d amassed in L.A. and St. Louis, she had constructed elaborate case maps to show the spread of the illness from one person to another. At the same time, she’d compiled detailed profiles on the people who had been primary contacts but who had not come down with the disease. As Dr. Layne had suggested, close personal contact was needed,
presumably viral contact with a mucous membrane, though, unlike AIDS, sexual transmission had only been a factor between Dr. Richter and the medical secretary and Dr. Zabriski and his wife. Given the fact that hemorrhagic fever could spread between strangers who shared a towel, or by the most casual close touch, Ebola made the AIDS scare seem like a tempest in a teapot.
What Marissa wanted to do was to validate her hypothesis by using guinea pigs. Of course such work required the use of the maximum containment lab, and she still had not obtained permission.