After the Cure

by Deirdre Gould

Nella woke up in the early morning hours and slipped quietly out of the bed. She padded to the bathroom to relieve herself and soak in the shower. She pressed the small tab in the center of the knob without even glancing at it. More second nature than modesty, she didn't even think about it. Twenty minutes later, she changed the bandage on her wound gingerly and then turned the doorknob. The automatic click of the lock releasing was minuscule, but in her brain it was as loud as a gunshot. She looked down at the knob half turned in her hand. She realized that Frank was already days ahead of her and she cursed her slow thought process. How could she have missed it? It must have been on the video- how had she not seen it? Even if not, common sense should have told her. Even her fevered unconscious had made the connection. Closets don't lock with a key from the inside. They lock with a button or a knob. The key only opens it from the outside.

  Nella flung the door open and paced naked from the bathroom to the bed and back, wondering if she should wake Frank. Threads of questions shuttled by her so quickly she couldn't grasp any of them for long. Was it an odd lock? Had she seen it? Would he have had the mental capacity to open the door if it didn't need the key? Yes. She could answer that one with certainty. The Infected could turn doorhandles, could probably even remember to turn the lock knob. Nothing more complicated. In fact, the revolving door at Dr. Carton's lab would probably, had probably, defeated them unless they stopped pushing at the right spot by mere chance. Keys were definitely out. The thought of Dr. Carton brought the next thought crashing down on her like ice water on her shoulders. Had Dr. Pazzo even been sick at all? Was there a person keeping him and Anne alive or had it just been him the entire time?

  Nella sat on the foot of the bed and bit her nails without realizing it. She jumped up and shook Frank awake, rather more roughly than she intended. He sat up, but he rubbed his eyes and looked ready to slump back. "What's going on?" he asked.

  "The lock wasn't a key lock was it?"

  "Huh?"

  "The lock on Dr. Pazzo's side of the closet. It was a push button wasn't it?"

  Frank's eyes snapped open and he stared at her. "You know? Did I-"

  "No, you didn't talk in your sleep or anything. I realized it just now, in the bathroom."

  Frank sagged with relief. "I wanted to tell you, but I have to protect my client-"

  "Never mind that," interrupted Nella, "I know why you didn't tell me. It's not important now. What is important is whether or not that door lock was weird and locked from the inside with a key. That's what you were looking for in your notes wasn't it?"

  "Yes, but I need the video. It's not in the notes, I never thought it was important. I'm still not entirely sure that it is. He was ill when he finally found out about the resistant strain. We saw the infection take over. There's no way he could have gone to steal the samples at that point. Besides, they found him and Ann locked in the lab still."

  Nella raked a hand through her hair. She was shaking and her lungs threatened to close in the thick panic of the room. "Frank, he wasn't sick."

  "What are you talking about? We saw it happen."

  "No Frank," her voice was razor thin and insistent, "he wasn't sick. He was pretending. Just like Dr. Carton. Except he didn't need to go as far."

  "Nella, calm down. You can't possibly know that." He pulled her onto the bed and wrapped the warm blanket around her shoulders.

  "Remember the food system of his? We agreed that an Infected wouldn't think to open packaged food, even if they were starving. And it couldn't slide through the ramshackle tubes he made without clogging somewhere else- you said that."

  "I remember."

  "So either someone was feeding him and Ann, or he was. He wasn't sick."

  Frank rubbed his forehead and Nella knew he was convinced despite himself. "Why would he do all that though? Why the elaborate set up, the tube system, the key sliding underneath the door? Why the complete breakdown on camera? Why lock Dr. Schneider up? What could he possibly have hoped would happen?"

  Nella was silent for a moment, torn between panic and confusion. She felt stupid and slow, as if she were in a bad dream where she could never reach her destination no matter how long she walked.

  "He knew. He knew before they locked themselves in. He knew about the samples, he knew about the severity and communicability of the original, he knew that millions were going to be infected. We just assumed he didn't know until the day Dr. Schneider broke out because that's what he showed us. But Ann said he watched all the tapes. He had to have seen Dr. Carton. He had to know. We just took it for granted that he found out at the end. Just the way we assumed he was safely sealed away because he made a point of showing us the key to the door and how he put it beyond his reach. He distracted us just enough."

  "Why film it in the first place?"

  "For exactly this sort of situation. What is it they used to call it? Plausible deniability."

  "There's no way he could have known what would happen. Assuming he knew about the incurable strain and the severity of the original Plague, the way that you say, he would have believed the world would be destroyed completely. That there would be no one left who cared how it started or no one left with the technical know how to discover how it started. He's just not that smart. No one is."

  "Yes, he is, Frank. Maybe he didn't know he'd be facing a world tribunal, but he had to know that in the end, someone's head was going to roll, and he was going to make damn sure it wasn't his. He might not have believed that anyone would survive after seeing the violence and lack of self care that Ann showed and that probably came through the news reports in the lab, but he probably would have hoped that someone would stop it, that something would be left. I would have, if it were me. I believe him, still, when he says that he never meant the original strain to harm anyone. I believe that it really was an accident. But he knew he had to get Dr. Schneider to admit she was responsible and to tell him the location of the resistant strain. So he locked her up and recorded her. It was all a setup." She rubbed her sore shoulder gently and her face twisted as if she had tasted something sour and sad. "He knew the samples were missing, because he was the one that took them. He let us see the video because he knew we would run after Dr. Schneider. We played right into his hands. This whole thing was about holding her responsible."

  Frank's face relaxed and he even looked cheerful. "Then maybe he's already destroyed the samples. Maybe they aren't even a threat."

  "No," Nella said, as grim as before, "He wouldn't have destroyed them. He needed them as evidence. And as leverage against Dr. Schneider. In fact, he'd probably want them as close by as possible. In his control."

  "How would he have gotten them in? Prisoners are searched when they are booked. Everything is taken from them."

  "Everything?"

  "As far as I know."

  "Maybe he got someone else to bring it to him. Or send it to him."

  "He doesn't have anyone, Nella. No matter what else he may have lied about, I believe him when he says we are the closest things to friends that he has. Besides, all packages- anything delivered to prisoners would be checked."

  "Checked how? We're only talking about small vials here."

  "I'm not sure." Frank ran his hands slowly over his head in frustration. He looked up at her suddenly. "But I bet Stan Kembrey would be able to tell us. I need to get the video from the Warden's office anyway, and I want to talk to Dr. Pazzo about all this-"

  "No! No Frank, he can't know that we've found him out." She gripped his arm so hard that he winced.

  "Ow. Why not? We've done what he wanted, we brought Dr. Schneider back for trial. Why would he bother trying to hide it now?"

  "If he doesn't want to hide it, he'll turn over the samples when you tell him we didn't find them. It will help his defense. You don't have to tell him you know that he has them."

  "I don't know that he has them. This is all guesswork.
And you still haven't answered my question, why is it important to act as if I don't think it's him? I'm angry that he used me. Especially that he used you. You've been hurt because of him. He needs to answer for that."

  She put a gentle hand on either side of his face. "Because I'm not entirely certain that's all that he wanted. What if there is something else? Something we are both missing? If he intends to use the samples, then telling him we know he has them would force his hand, he'd release them immediately. I need time to find them before he finds out we know, and before whatever deadline he's set has passed. If he turns them over of his own free will, then wonderful, we can all relax. But if you go to your next meeting with him and he says nothing when you tell him the samples have been stolen, then we'll know he's not done with them yet."

  "Nella, this is assuming way more than I'm comfortable with."

  "This is how I work. This is what I get paid for, what I do every day. You need evidence because of what you do every day. I'm not asking you to do anything, except to go on acting the same way, treating him the same way as you have all this time. I can do the rest, probably with less suspicion than you can. Please trust me. Let me do my job."

  He closed a warm hand around hers. "I do trust you. Just tell me what you need me to do. If I can do it without compromising the case, I will."

  "Judge Hawkins is holding a copy of the video right? We need to tell him the result of our search. We also need to ask him to keep it quiet for a little while longer. You can pick up that copy and we can check it without anyone knowing we accessed the evidence cache at the prison. When is your next meeting with Dr. Pazzo?"

  "Normally, it would be any time between now and court on Monday."

  "Would it be odd or out of the ordinary to schedule a meeting with him this afternoon?"

  "A meeting with you too?"

  "No, just the two of you, to discuss court strategy."

  "Then it wouldn't seem odd, that would be pretty normal."

  "Did you tell him where we were going before we left?"

  "No, but given Dr. Schneider's presence in the prison last night, he's going to know."

  "Good. When he asks, tell him everything about the trip. Give him a chance to turn over the samples or give him enough rope to hang himself. Either way, we'll know."

  "Nella, you are ignoring the possibility that someone else took them."

  "Because the possibility is so small. Look, Frank, I've thought about this nonstop for days. There were only four people who knew about the resistant strain. I'm convinced we've eliminated three of them either through motive or capacity. Dr. Pazzo is the only one that's left."

  Frank sighed. "What are you going to be doing?"

  "I need to find out if anything was delivered or returned to Dr. Pazzo. I guess I'll start with Officer Kembrey. Do you think he can keep his mouth shut?"

  "Stan? I'd trust him with my life."

  "Okay then. I need some clothes."

  Frank grinned for the first time that day. Nella laughed. Frank swung his legs out of bed to begin the day.

  "Frank, one more thing." Frank turned toward her.

  "What's that?"

  "He can't know about this- about us. Don't give him any more power than he already has."

  No Good News