“She’s in the back,” the secretary said. She pointed through a pair of swinging doors that were propped open.
Marissa continued her search. Beyond the propped-open swinging doors were several ophthalmologic examining rooms, each with its barber like chair and attached slit lamp. A lone patient sat in the first room Marissa went by. In the second, the room light was out and two figures were bent over a reclining patient. Allowing her eyes to adjust, Marissa recognized one of them as Wendy.
“Now press down gently and look where you are pressing,” Wendy said, guiding a junior resident through a specialized exam.
“You should see the tear at the periphery of the retina.”
“I see it!” the resident cried.
“Good,” Wendy said. She caught sight of Marissa and waved.
Turning back to the resident, she said, “Write it up and call the senior resident.”
Wendy came out of the darkened room, blinking in the raw fluorescent light of the main part of the emergency room.
“This is a surprise,” she said.
“What’s up?”
“I got a very interesting call from the CDC,” Marissa said.
Then she lowered her voice.
“Where can we talk?”
Wendy thought for a minute, then took Marissa around the back of the emergency area into an empty laser room. She shut the heavy door behind them.
“You look positively mischievous.
What’s going on?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Marissa began. She then told Wendy the gist of Dubchek’s call indicating that they were dealing with a problem that had national scope.
“My word! We’re on the brink of some major discovery,” Wendy said, catching Marissa’s enthusiasm.
“I don’t think there is any doubt,” Marissa said.
“And there is only one minor barrier to the whole denouement.”
“Wingate,” Wendy said.
“Exactly!” Marissa said.
“We have to see if there are more cases. I’m sure there are. There have to be. Once we have them all, we can begin to look for areas of commonality in all the subjects in terms of lifestyle, work, health history, all that. I’m sure if we do that with enough cases we’ll come up with a theory as to the source of the TB and how it is being transmitted.
Usually TB is airborne. But if no one has any lung lesions, maybe it’s traveling by some other means.”
“So what do you propose?” Wendy asked.
“It’s Friday night. I think we should go over to the Women’s Clinic and act as if we own the place. I wore my white coat over here just to try it. No one questioned me. I walked right in as if I were on the staff.”
“How soon do you want to do this?” Wendy asked.
“When are you oV.” Marissa asked.
“I can leave anytime now,” Wendy answered.
“Get a white coat and pens and a stethoscope,” Marissa said.
“The more medical paraphernalia, the better.”
Half an hour later, Marissa and Wendy slowly drove beneath the overhead walkway and past the opening into the courtyard of the Women’s Clinic. They had started out the drive with excited chatter, but now, within sight of the clinic, they had fallen silent.
Both felt nervous, tense, and a little fearful. Although Marissa tried not to think about it, Robert’s comments concerning the felonious nature of what they were about to attempt were preying on her mind.
“The place is still hopping,” Wendy said.
“You’re right,” Marissa agreed. People were entering and exiting.
The windows were ablaze with lights.
“I suggest we go someplace and cool our heels for a couple of hours,” Wendy said.
“How about a bar?”
“I wish we could drink,” Marissa said.
“A glass of wine might calm me down. That reminds me, when do you have your blood test?”
“Tomorrow,” Wendy said.
You must be nervous about that too,” Marissa said.
“I’m a wreck,” Wendy agreed.
Paul Abrums; rummaged in his right front pocket for a dime.
It was still one of the bargains of Boston that if you could find an ATT phone, a local call was still only ten cents.
He let the coin drop into the slot and dialed Robert’s office. It was before eight, and he was confident Robert would be there.