Robin Cook - Contagion

“Excuse me, Doc,” David Jefferson said as the police were leaving. Jack had informed them he was a medical examiner. “How come you live in this neighborhood? Aren’t you asking for trouble?”

“I ask myself the same question,” Jack said.

After the police had left, Jack closed his splintered door and leaned against it while surveying his apartment. Somehow he would have to find the energy to clean it up. At the moment it seemed like an overwhelming task.

A knock that he could feel more than hear made him reopen the door. It was Terese.

“Ah, thank God it’s you,” Terese said. She came into the apartment. “You weren’t kidding when you said this wasn’t the best neighborhood. Just climbing these stairs was a trauma. If it hadn’t been you opening the door I might have screamed.”

“I tried to warn you,” Jack said.

“Let me look at you,” Terese said. “Where’s the best light?”

Jack shrugged. “You choose,” he said. “Maybe the bathroom.”

Terese dragged Jack into the bathroom and examined his face. “You have a tiny cut over your jawbone,” she said.

“I’m not surprised,” Jack said. He then showed her the chipped tooth.

“Why did they beat you up?” Terese said. “I hope you weren’t playing hero.”

“Quite the contrary,” Jack said. “I was terrified into total immobility. I was sucker-punched. This was evidently some kind of warning for me to stay out of the Manhattan General.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Terese demanded.

Jack told her all the things he hadn’t told the police. He even told her why he hadn’t told the police.

“This is getting more and more unbelievable,” Terese said. “What are you going to do?”

“To tell the truth, I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it,” Jack said.

“Well, I know one thing you are going to do,” Terese said. “You are going to the emergency room.”

“Come on!” Jack complained. “I’m fine. My jaw is sore, but big deal.”

“You were knocked out,” Terese reminded him. “You should be seen. I’m not even a doctor and I know that much.”

Jack opened his mouth to protest further, but he didn’t; he knew she was right. He should be seen. After a head injury serious enough to render him unconscious, there was the worry of intracranial hemorrhage. He should have a basic neurological exam.

Jack rescued his jacket from the floor. Then he followed Terese down the stairs to the street. To catch a cab they walked to Columbus Avenue.

“Where do you want to go?” Terese asked once they were in the taxi.

“I think I’ll stay away from the General for the time being,” Jack said with a smile. “Let’s go uptown to Columbia-Presbyterian.”

“Fine,” Terese said. She gave directions to the cabdriver and settled back in her seat.

“Terese, I really appreciate your coming over,” Jack said. “You didn’t have to, and I certainly didn’t expect it. I’m touched.”

“You would have done it for me,” Terese said.

Would he have? Jack wondered. He didn’t know. The whole day had been confusing.

The visit to the emergency room went smoothly. They had to wait as auto accidents, knife wounds, and heart attacks were given priority. But eventually Jack was seen. Terese insisted on staying the whole time and even accompanied him into the examining room.

When the ER resident learned Jack was a medical examiner, he insisted Jack be seen by the neurology consult. The neurology resident went over Jack with utmost care. He declared him fit and said he didn’t even think an X ray was indicated unless Jack felt strongly otherwise. Jack didn’t.

“The one thing I do recommend is that you be observed overnight,” the neurology resident said. He then turned to Terese and said: “Mrs. Stapleton, just wake him up occasionally and make sure he behaves normally. Also check that his pupils remain the same size. Okay?”

“Okay,” Terese said.

Later as they were walking out of the hospital Jack commented that he was impressed with her equanimity when she’d been addressed as Mrs. Stapleton.

“I thought it would have embarrassed the man to have corrected him,” Terese said. “But I’m going to take his recommendations quite seriously. You are coming home with me.”

“Terese…” Jack complained.

“No arguments!” Terese commanded. “You heard the doctor. There’s no way I’d allow you to go back to that hellhole of yours tonight.”

With his head mildly throbbing and his jaw aching and his stomach sore, Jack surrendered. “Okay,” he said. “But this is all far beyond the call of duty.”

Jack felt truly grateful as they rode up in the elevator in Terese’s posh high-rise. No one had been as gracious to him as Terese in years. Between her concern and generosity he felt that he’d misjudged her.

“I’ve a guest room that I’m confident you’ll find comfortable,” she said as they walked down a carpeted hallway. “Whenever my folks come to town it is hard to get them to leave.”

Terese’s apartment was picture perfect. Jack was amazed how neat it was. Even the magazines were arranged carefully on the coffee table, as if she expected Architectural Digest to do a photo shoot.

The guest room was quaint with flower-print drapes, carpet, and bedspread that all matched. Jack joked that he hoped he didn’t get disoriented since he might have trouble finding the bed.

After providing Jack with a bottle of aspirin, Terese left him to shower. After he’d finished, he donned a terry-cloth bathrobe, which she’d laid out. Thus attired, he poked his head out into the living room and saw her sitting on the couch reading. He walked out and sat across from her.

“Aren’t you going to bed?” he asked.

“I wanted to be sure you were okay,” she said. She leaned forward to stare directly into his face. “Your pupils look equal to me.”

“To me too,” Jack said. He laughed. “You are taking those doctor’s orders seriously.”

“You’d better believe it,” she said. “I’ll be coming in to wake you up, so be prepared.”

“I know better than to argue,” Jack said.

“How do you feel in general?” Terese asked.

“Physically or mentally?”

“Mentally,” Terese said. “Physically I have a pretty good idea.”

“To be truthful, the experience has scared me,” Jack admitted. “I know enough about these gangs to be afraid of them.”

“That’s why I wanted you to call the police,” Terese said.

“You don’t understand,” Jack said. “The police can’t really help me. I mean, I didn’t even bother to tell them the possible name of the gang or the first names of the intruders. Even if the police picked them up, all they’d do is slap their wrists. Then they’ll be back on the street.”

“So what are you going to do?” Terese asked.

“I suppose I’m going to stay the hell away from the General,” Jack said. “Seems like that’s going to make everybody happy. Even my own boss told me not to go. I suppose I can do my job without going over there.”

“I’m relieved,” Terese said. “I was worried you’d try to be a hero and take the warning as a challenge.”

“You said that before,” Jack said. “But don’t worry. I’m no hero.”

“What about this bike-riding around this city?” Terese asked. “And riding through the park at night? And what about living where you do? The fact is, I do worry. I worry that you’re either oblivious to danger or courting it. Which is it?”

Jack looked into Terese’s pale blue eyes. She was asking questions that he strictly avoided. The answers were too personal. But after the concern that she’d demonstrated that evening and the effort she’d expended on his behalf, he felt she deserved some explanation. “I suppose I have been courting danger,” he said.