“She’s showing symptoms?”
“She came in a few minutes ago, just before you put out the call. She said she’s feeling cramps in her extremities and wanted to come in just to be safe,” Doctor Jackson’s full lips wavered, and Elizabeth found herself staring.
“She’s positive for the virus?”
“Yes,” Doctor Jackson turned to Elizabeth, her gaze was deep and penetrating in ways Elizabeth enjoyed immensely. “Hello.”
Elizabeth blinked a couple of times; despite the nap, she really was tired, and her reaction felt slow. “Hello,” she finally said. “Doctor Jackson?”
“Call me Ava,” she answered with a tight smile. She reached out her hand and Elizabeth took it. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or not, but it seemed like Ava lingered on that touch for just a touch longer than would be professional.
“Of course, Ava,” Elizabeth said. “Doctor Elizabeth Grant, call me Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth, well, um…” Ava seemed flustered for a second, but quickly recovered. “We’ve put Yasmine on the antiviral and Baclofen, but I don’t know how well these treatments are working.”
“Yasmine the first responder?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes, she’s a paramedic. She was the first on the scene when it was called in,” Ava explained.
“And the others?” Elizabeth raised her eyebrows.
“They’re just starting to arrive; we will have them tested as quickly as possible,” Ava said.
“Doctor Jackson, do you want to take Doctor Grant up to the lab and walk her through what we know so far?” Doctor Mars asked, though it didn’t sound like a request.
“Of course,” Ava answered and turned to Elizabeth. “The lab is on the top floor.” She gestured toward the elevator and Elizabeth followed her toward it, leaving Dr. Mars to attend to her own business.
They stepped onto the elevator and Ava pressed the button for the third floor. She took a step back and looked toward the ceiling. Elizabeth felt her pulse quicken but tried to dismiss it. Finally, she spoke.
“I’m sorry, you may have to blame my exhaustion, but you are really very beautiful,” Elizabeth said. Her eyes went wide at her own statement. This was not something you should say to a doctor you’ve only just met.
Elizabeth screwed up her face. What a dumb thing to say, reducing this talented doctor to no more than a pretty face.
Ava blinked a couple of times in surprise before responding. “Um, thank you.” Ava looked away.
Elizabeth had to press her lips together to keep from laughing at the absurdity of the conversation. “I’m sorry, let’s just call this jet lag. You are indeed very beautiful. I also highly respect your medical expertise- I watched you speak at the NPA conference last year.”
“I understand,” Ava said, and the tension seemed to fall away with her smile.
“Anyway,” Elizabeth pulled herself together as the elevator doors opened. “I look forward to working with you to solve this mystery we are faced with. Show me to the labs.”
Ava led Elizabeth into the lab and walked her through everything and the timeline, but Elizabeth was struggling to focus. When Ava had finished and Elizabeth had seen the slides for herself, she pulled in a deep breath.
“So the hospital staff doesn’t seem to be picking up the virus, but the paramedics are?” Elizabeth asked. One of the other two had come in and tested positive for the virus since they had been talking.
“It seems that way,” Ava answered. “We started protocol of having the staff who interacted with the patients tested every six hours, and so far none have come back positive, but I’m not sure how to interpret that—there’s only been one set of numbers so far.” Ava wet her lips, and Elizabeth noticed. “Kellie runs the nursing staff like a machine, so it could be that they just didn’t make any mistakes, but at least it indicates that the pathogen probably isn’t airborne.”
“Why didn’t you think it was rabies from the onset?” Elizabeth asked, curiosity finally getting the best of her.
Ava opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally answering. “Because I know Sandra, and she wouldn’t let something like that happen. If there were any infected animals Sandra would have known it, and she certainly wouldn’t have been bitten herself. Plus there were no signs of bites, or reports of them from the witnesses.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at Ava. She couldn’t help but admire the woman’s conviction, though the evidence would have led her to believe otherwise. “You tried the rabies treatments?”
“They didn’t do much,” Ava said with a shake of her head. “We’ve been running all through the spectrum of antivirals, but only a couple seem to even slow it down.”
“We should go to the campsite,” Elizabeth said.
“I was thinking the same thing, but I wanted to wait for you,” Ava answered. “When do you want to go?”
