PATRICIA CORNWELL. Unnatural Exposure

‘Then is it smallpox or not?’

‘We ran its genomic sequence, and it doesn’t match up with any poxvirus in any reference lab in the world. Dr Scarpetta, I believe you got a virus that’s a mutant.’

‘Meaning, the smallpox vaccination isn’t going to work,’ I said as my heart seemed to drop right out of me.

‘All we can do is test in the animal lab. We’re talking at least a week before we know and can even begin thinking about a new vaccine. For practical purposes, we’re calling this smallpox, but we really don’t know what the hell it is. I’ll also remind you we’ve been working on an AIDS vaccine since I986 and are no closer now than we were back then.’

‘Tangier Island needs to be quarantined immediately. ‘ We’ve got to contain this,’ I exclaimed, alarmed to the edge of panic.

‘Believe me, we know. We’re getting a team together right now and will mobilize the Coast Guard.’

I hung up and was frantic when I said to Wesley, ‘I’ve got to go. We’ve got an outbreak of something no one’s ever heard of. It’s already killed at least two people. Maybe three. Maybe four.’

He was following me down the hall as I talked.

‘It’s smallpox but not smallpox. We’ve got to find out how it’s being transmitted. Did Lila Pruitt know the mother who just died? Did they have any contact at all, or did the daughter? Did they even live near each other? What about the water supply? A water tower. Blue. I remember seeing one.’

I was getting dressed. Wesley stood in the doorway, his face almost gray and like stone.

‘You’re going to go back out there,’ he said.

‘I need to get downtown first.’ I looked at him.

‘I’ll drive,’ he said.

12

WESLEY DROPPED ME off and said he was going to the Richmond Field Office for a while and would check with me later. My heels were loud as I walked down the corridor, bidding good morning to members of my staff. Rose was on the phone when I walked in, and the glimpse of my desk through her adjoining doorway was devastating. Hundreds of reports and death certificates awaited my initials and signature, and mail and phone messages were cascading out of my in-basket.

‘What is this?’ I said as she hung up. ‘You’d think I’ve been gone a year.’

‘It feels like you have.’

She was rubbing lotion into her hands and I noticed the small canister of Vita aromatherapy facial spray on the edge of my desk, the open mailing tube next to it. There was also one on Rose’s desk, next to her bottle of Vaseline Intensive Care. I stared back and forth, from my Vita spray to hers, my subconscious processing what I was seeing before my reason did. Reality seemed to turn inside out, and I grabbed the door frame. Rose was on her feet, her chair flying back on its rollers as she lunged around her desk for me.

‘Dr Scarpetta!’

‘Where did you get this?’ I asked, staring at the spray.

‘It’s just a sample.’ She looked bewildered. ‘A bunch of them came in the mail.’

‘Have you used it?’

Now she was really worried as she looked at me. ‘Well, it just got here. I haven’t tried it yet.’

‘Don’t touch it!’ I said, severely. ‘Who else got one?’ ‘Gosh, I really don’t know. What is it? What’s wrong?’ She raised her voice.

Getting gloves from my office, I grabbed the facial spray off her desk and triple-bagged it.

‘Everybody in the conference room, now!’

I ran down the hall to the front office, and made the same announcement. Within minutes, my entire staff, including doctors still in scrubs, was assembled. Some people were out of breath, and everyone was staring at me, unnerved and frazzled.

I held up the transparent evidence bag containing the sample size of Vita spray.

‘Who has one of these?’ I asked, looking around the room.

Four people raised their hands.

‘Who has used it?’ I then asked. ‘I need to know if absolutely anybody has.’

Cleta, a clerk from the front office, looked frightened. ‘Why? What’s the matter?’

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