“Good, good, thank you both,” Hebert said, taking their forms. He picked up Christine’s first. “So you didn’t get sick? What would you attribute that to, Miss Tiggs?”
“I followed Doc Adams suggestion that I always wear gloves and a mask whenever I was near Trevor, and to wash my hands frequently.”
“That’s good. Did you do anything else? What did you eat? Or drink?”
“Mostly we had chicken soup. I would give Trevor the broth and I would eat the noodles. I don’t care if I ever have chicken soup again,” she answered. “Oh, and juice, I drank orange juice and cranberry juice, sometimes green tea.”
“Anything else?” Hebert asked seriously. The sudden change in his demeanor sent a red flag waving at Trevor.
“I’ve always taken a multi-vitamin, that’s it though,” Christine added straight faced, a signal Trevor caught.
Dr. Hebert made some notes on the second sheet, never once questioning the areas she left vacant. “And what about you, Trevor?” He glanced at the questionnaire, making sure he had the name right, a tactic he’d found helpful to gain trust. No one liked to be called by the wrong name.
“To be honest, I was pretty much out of it the entire time,” he said smoothly. “When I could, I ate what Christine spooned into me and I drank the tea she gave me. I do remember there was a lot of honey in it and it made my throat feel better.”
“I see,” Hebert made some notes. “Do you know how you contracted the flu?”
“I’m not sure, Dr. Hebert,” Trevor glanced at the guy’s name badge, letting him know he understood the tactic. “I started feeling bad a few hours after getting a stock shipment for the store. And I remember that as he was leaving, the truck driver coughed.”
“Hmm,” Hebert looked up from his notes. “If that cough infected you, why didn’t it infect Miss Tiggs?”
“I don’t know.” Trevor thought a bit before continuing. “I shook his hand, Christine didn’t.” He glanced over at Christine, realizing he just discovered something important: the virus transmission was by contact.
“I guess we’re done for now. With the interview, that is.” Hebert smiled broadly. “Next step is to draw some blood to see if there is anything unusual or different about your natural antigens. Please follow me.” He led them to the adjoining room. “After you’re done here, this nice young lady will bring you back to my office.”
“I really don’t like needles,” Christine told Mary, the technician who was about to draw blood.
“I’ll go first,” Trevor offered. He sat in the school desk styled seat and rolled up his sleeve. Mary swabbed the inside of his elbow and withdrew a single vial of blood. “I didn’t even feel it, Christine. Mary has a good touch.”
Mary blushed at the compliment while she labeled the vial of blood with Trevor’s name.
Christine took Trevor’s seat and pushed up the sleeve of her sweater. Mary attached the rubber tourniquet, swabbed the skin, and then glanced at Trevor.
“How about we go to lunch when we’re done here?” Trevor suggested, drawing Christine’s attention to himself instead of the needle. “Maybe back to that sushi place?”
“That would be nice. I like that place.”
“All done,” Mary announced, smiling at the two.
“I didn’t feel anything!” Christine said in awe.
***
“Ah, I see you’re finished with the first draw,” Dr. Hebert said, as the two of them settled back into the chairs in front of his desk.
“First draw?” Christine asked.
“There may be another needed. We can only do so many tests on one vial, and these particular tests need the specimen to be fresh,” he informed them. “We won’t know if more is needed until these tests are complete. You two may just be healthy enough to have beat this naturally. In the meantime, I’d like to ask if the two of you could help us with a survey. It’s still not known who survived this flu. Many of the victims, like yourself, stayed home and recovered without ever contacting their doctor. Others sought treatment at the hospital or one of the walk-in clinics. We know of you only because of Dr. Adams.”
“What kind of survey?” Christine asked. She didn’t like this guy, though she did want to help if she could. And as gentle as Mary was, Christine would rather do a survey than give more blood.
“It’s much like what you filled in here, questions about the flu, if they had it or anyone else in the house, who survived, who didn’t, that sort of thing. The more information we have and the more samples we can take, the closer we will be to developing a vaccine,” he explained. “It’s helpful to us to have locals do this legwork for us, because you’re likely to be more tru… ah, known,” Hebert said, catching himself,. He’d almost said trusted, and that would have given them the wrong idea. Or maybe the right one, he chided himself. “And, you get paid for doing this.”
“Paid? How much?” Christine asked.
Hebert grinned.
***
They sat at one of the cozy booths for two at the sushi restaurant. Christine sipped on her tea.
“Why didn’t you tell Hebert about the sage tea and the garlic pills?” Trevor asked, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Even though he knew being paranoid wasn’t always good, a little bit could be helpful in the right circumstance. He was proud that Christine was quickly learning to not be so trusting.
“Marion said Dr. Adams wouldn’t believe any of that would help. I think it did and I don’t like being mocked,” she said bluntly. “Why didn’t you?”
“I was following your lead, babe, and I figured you had a good reason. It’s a good thing we were questioned together, I might have said something otherwise. Maybe we should go over the details and make sure our stories match.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, Trevor. If we agree to not mention the sage in the tea and the garlic pills, we can stick to the truth. Too many lies can trip us up.” She leaned back and rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “Listen to me! I’m sounding like this whole thing is some sort of conspiracy!”
***
Dr. Marcus Hebert set aside the recent two files. Something about those two just didn’t fit. Nobody was that naturally healthy. Or if they were, they might be the perfect pair for a discreet trial. Once the girl asked about payment for doing the survey, he knew he had them. They had to come back to turn in the paperwork. He’d give them a couple of days then reach out and convince them to come back in. He smiled to himself. This might be easier than anyone suspected.
***
“I’m glad we decided to come to the park today with Holly,” Christine said, sitting at the picnic table while Trevor tossed a ball for the dog.
“Me, too,” he replied. “I hope Seth comes. I think we should tell him about Janis. It sure is strange, isn’t it? She seems so normal most of the time, yet I now look back and some of her childlike behavior makes sense.”
“What behavior is that?” Seth asked.
“Geesh! Seth, I didn’t hear you at all!” Trevor laughed. “We were discussing Janis, and thought you should know some things about her that we just found out.” Trevor and Christine relayed what they knew about the accident and her living situation.
“That poor child,” Seth said when they finished. “I do appreciate you telling me this. I will be sure to keep a closer eye on her now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The next morning, to cover the most area for the survey, Trevor and Christine parked at a residential intersection a few blocks from home. They both took the same side of the street, in opposite directions, then agreed to cross over and start back down once they reached the end of the block and meet back at the car. Although Trevor didn’t like Christine being alone, the fact that she had Holly with her made him much more comfortable.
After covering several blocks this way, they had a stack of sheets between them in a short time.
“It’s 11:30. I think it’s time to head home, grab a bite to eat, and go open the
store,” Trevor said.
“Good idea. All this walking is making my legs tired. I’m glad I’ve got some good walking shoes,” she said, reminded of the shopping trip the day of the quake… and of Lois. “Would it be okay for me to come too?”
“Of course it is. In fact, the new shipment should be arriving today and I could use the extra help.”
“Do you think you’ll be hiring any of your former employees back?”
Trevor sighed before answering. “I don’t know. After what happened with Riley I don’t know if I can trust any of them. It’s just you and me, babe, for a while anyway.”
***
“Where’s the other driver?” Trevor asked after directing the delivery truck to the service entrance.
“Sorry to tell you this, he died from the flu shortly after he was here last time, according to his log. All we can guess is he pulled into a rest stop to get some sleep and he never woke up. The police found him the next day after our main office reported him missing,” the new driver reported.
Hearing this, Trevor was sure now that the handshake had given the virus to him and he’d undoubtedly passed it on to his customers.
Christine checked off the boxes as they were unloaded and stacked in the back room of the Main Street store, and Trevor wrote a check.
The driver held out his hand, then withdrew it with a nod.
Time passed quickly as Trevor and Christine stocked the shelves and tended the counter. Sales were brisk with people spending what little money they had on food.
“You have a lot of things that aren’t food related, how come?” Christine asked.
“This is a convenience store, not a grocery. Although currently canned food is outselling motor oil, so I’m putting in more ready to eat items. Like this.” He held up the large double can of heat and eat Chinese food. “I will always carry those little items, though, like the spiral notepads and packs of pens, which are right next to the motor oil and hose clamps.”
The dry goods area was where the facial tissue and paper towels were, next to the various feminine products, all at inflated prices.
“I see we got potato chips in, I bet they don’t last long,” she giggled.
“Those and pretzels are hot sellers,” Trevor agreed. “Oh, and I talked with the bakery yesterday and we should get a load of bread and baked goods delivered tomorrow. Even at these higher prices, business is good.”
“What about gas? Is that ever going to come back?”
“I can’t answer that. I’m not concerned though, gas was never a money maker, it’s just a draw to get people in the store.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you get into this business, Trevor?”
“For extra cash when I was in high school, I worked at a convenience store, the Spring Hill store.” He smiled at the fond memory. “I would stock the coolers. When I accidently saw the bill for the bottled water, I was shocked that the owner had paid ten cents a bottle and sold it for a dollar, and I knew it was a good business to get into. People are willing to pay for convenience.”
“And then you bought the store?”
“Not right away of course. I took night courses on business and economics, and kept working to learn what I could firsthand. When I turned twenty-one I got all the money my parents left me and that’s when I bought the store.” He glanced at the clock and seeing it was six o’clock, turned the open sign to closed and locked the door. “How about Chinese for dinner tonight?” He grabbed one of the cans from the shelf.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Are you coming to the store with me today?” Trevor asked as he rinsed his coffee cup in the kitchen sink.
“I’ll be there a little later. I want to drop off these questionnaires to Dr. Hebert,” Christine replied. “I don’t know about you, but I really wasn’t comfortable asking all those questions to strangers.”
“Me neither.”
“Then if you don’t mind I’m telling him we’re done,” she said emphatically.
“Fine with me. I got some real hinky feelings from him and I don’t trust him. The little they’re paying us isn’t worth it. Besides, we really don’t need the money,” Trevor reassured her.
***
“I’m here to drop off these surveys for Dr. Hebert. Can you make sure he gets them?” Christine told the same young man at the reception desk. She handed him a large yellow envelope.
“He’s in his office, you can go right in.”
“No, that’s okay, I don’t need to see him.” She turned to leave.
“Christine!” Dr. Hebert called out to her, and seeing the envelope said, “I want to thank you for doing this.”
“You’re welcome, but that’s all we’re doing. It’s interfering with work,” she lied.
“Well this should give us a start. While you’re here, can I get another blood sample?”
“No,” Christine answered simply. “No more blood.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. If you wait a minute, I’ll get the pay you’re due,” Hebert said, and went back to his office.
There’s no reason I can’t still do my little experiment, he thought and quickly put on a mask and gloves. From the locked cooler he removed a vial and set it carefully on his desk. Then he removed two hundred dollars in twenties from his wallet and put all but one in an envelope. A single drop from the vial went on the remaining bill, which he slid into the center of the bills in the envelope. One drop would contaminate the remaining money, and once they started spending, the new virus would be spread quickly.
After removing the right glove and mask, Herbert picked up the envelope with his still-gloved left hand and went back to the lobby.
“Here’s the pay for both of you. I do appreciate what you’ve done for me. If you change your mind about doing more surveys or donating more blood, you know where to find us,” Hebert said cordially, sliding his left hand behind his back and offering her his right hand.
Her fuzzy driving gloves still on, Christine accepted the envelope and put it in her pocket. “I’m sorry, Dr. Hebert, with all the diseases going around, I don’t shake hands anymore, and let’s face it, you work for a place filled with germs.” She turned her back to him and left.
***
“Ugh, I’m ready for a nice long hot shower and a glass of wine, not necessarily in that order,” Christine said, stretching her back. They had been stocking the shelves for hours and were ready to go home.
“Same here,” Trevor said, stacking some empty cardboard boxes in the back room.
“Woof!” Holly said in agreement, making the two laugh.
“I guess she’s ready to go too,” Christine said. “How does spaghetti and meatballs sound for dinner?”
“It sounds wonderful, I’m famished. Let’s get out of here.”
***
“So how did it go with Dr. Creepy?” Trevor asked, refilling Christine’s wine glass.
“It was odd. He really didn’t seem disappointed when I said we were done with the surveys. And he paid us right then. I’m surprised we didn’t have to wait a month for a government issued check.”
“Paid us? In cash? That is odd. How much?” Trevor asked.
“I didn’t look. The envelope is still in my jacket pocket. Should I get it?”
“Naw, it can wait, but this can’t…” He pulled her down to sit on his lap on the floor and kissed her deeply, the envelope forgotten.
***
Dr. Marcus Hebert paced the hall outside of his tiny office. He wasn’t a happy man. The med-tech that took blood samples for him stepped out of her room, saw him, and instantly retreated. His temper was notorious and she did not want to be the object of his wrath, whatever had caused it this time.
Why haven’t I heard any reports of the new flu?, he thought darkly. It had been four days since he’d given Christine the tainted bills. The new genetics of the virus would keep it viable for only five days without a host and time was running out. That Christine Tiggs and Trevor Monroe should ha
ve spent all that money by now and passed the virus around town! He was a decent judge of character and could tell she was shopper. What had gone wrong? Why wasn’t at least she and her boyfriend deathly ill? Maybe there was something wrong with the new batch of the virus he’d constructed. Maybe she was sick, too sick to see her doctor. Maybe he should call her.
He thought that was a good idea. His insane brain couldn’t see the folly of that.
***
“Miss Tiggs! Good evening, this is Dr. Hebert,” he said into the phone when she answered.
“What can I do for you, Dr. Herbert?” she asked cautiously.
“Oh, nothing, I was just wondering how you were doing. Are you feeling well?”
“I’m fine, why?”
“Oh, I was just curious. Did you enjoy your shopping spree?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Dr. Hebert, I think this phone call is totally inappropriate,” she said, and hung up.
“What was that all about?” Trevor asked, looking in the fridge for something to snack on. When she told him what Hebert had asked, Trevor froze. “Something is very wrong. Why would he say things like that? Where is the envelope he gave you?”
“It should still be in my coat pocket. I’d forgotten all about it until now.” Christine went to the hall closet to retrieve it. She pulled her coat out and hung it on the kitchen chair.
“Don’t touch it!” Trevor warned and Christine backed away. He slipped on a pair of gloves from the box Dr. Adams had given Christine when he was sick and picked up the envelope. Inside he found the bills and counted them. “Two hundred dollars for doing a couple of hours of questionnaires? I don’t like this. It’s as if he was hoping you would spread this money around. Wait a minute,” Trevor said. “What if he infected the bills with something?”
The Journal: Fault Line (The Journal Book 5) Page 15
