Greg smiled. “Small talk just doesn’t come naturally to you, Dr. Rucker; but no, it stopped a couple of hours ago.” Greg settled into the uncomfortable straight-backed chair that faced Phil’s unnaturally clean and organized desk. A wild thought crossed his mind, and he wondered how Phil would react if he suddenly reached up and knocked over the pencil case that sat neatly next to the empty in-box.
“At our last meeting, I mentioned that we had found a new virus in the brain of a man who shot his neighbor,” Phil said, and Greg nodded his understanding. “I think it may be related to the epidemic of violent behavior you spoke of.” Phil’s tone conveyed no emotion, no fear, and no concern.
Greg didn’t react. “Actually, I already knew that. I wanted to see you today so I could share with you what I know about this virus.”
“I suspected you knew more than you indicated. It is somewhat unusual for a police detective to query a pathologist about general autopsy findings without some specific concerns.”
“My daughter-in-law Amanda was infected with a virus seven years ago in Honduras. Everyone except Amanda died, but only a handful actually died from the virus. She said that the majority of the deaths were from suicide or murder. The federal government knows about this. They held Amanda for weeks after she was returned to the States, and they’ve been covering it up ever since.” Greg paused, but Phil’s neutral expression never wavered.
“When you say the federal government, do you mean the Centers for Disease Control?”
Greg nodded. “I have a name: Nathan Martin. He’s one of the department heads at the CDC. He tried to have Amanda killed.” Phil finally reacted by leaning forward in his chair ever so slightly.
“That’s a strange reaction to a patient,” Phil said slowly. “Why would Dr. Martin try to have Amanda killed?”
“Do you know Martin?” Greg asked suspiciously.
“I know of him, but I have never met him. His office contacted us this morning, asking for more information on this patient.” Phil tapped the notes on his desk. “We had sent them samples a month ago, and apparently they want to do some follow-up tests. It is somewhat of an unusual request.”
“So he knew already,” Greg said with disappointment. “Amanda exposed herself for nothing,” he added to himself.
“You still haven’t explained why Martin would want your daughter-in-law killed.”
“Perhaps I wasn’t being completely accurate or fair. The truth of the matter is that I don’t think he ever wanted her dead, but he did initiate a series of actions that spun out of control. Now she is wanted for the deaths of two people.” Greg’s voice communicated both regret and anger.
“So, did Dr. Martin believe that her violent behavior was a result of her infection?” Phil asked.
For a moment, Greg looked at him blankly. “No, you’ve got it all wrong. Amanda has never been violent, or even sick.”
“So she survived the infection without any ill effects. That would make her very interesting to Dr. Martin. If there’s a connection between her infection and this case, she’s even more interesting today. Do you know where she is?”
Greg Flynn stared at the inscrutable Phillip Rucker and didn’t answer.
“I can assure you, Detective, that you can trust me.”
“That may be the problem; I do trust you to do the very thing that you’re supposed to do, which would mean calling the FBI and the CDC. So, for now, let’s just say that I haven’t seen her in over a year.”
“At some point, it may be necessary to see her.”
“Perhaps under the right circumstances,” Greg said.
Neither said a word for a moment, both comfortable that all that needed to be said had been said.
“Was there anything else, Detective?” Phil asked after a reasonable pause.
“Actually, I was hoping you had a theory as to how this virus caused so many people to go mad.”
“I don’t have enough information yet to make any definitive statements, but it is possible. There are a number of infections, viral, bacterial, even parasitic, that are characterized by personality changes. The most obvious is tertiary syphilis, but even the ubiquitous herpes simplex virus has the ability to destroy the medial temporal lobes of the brain, causing any number of bizarre behaviors.” Phil felt a little uncomfortable discussing bizarre behavior, but the small voice inside his own mind stayed quiet and didn’t offer any rebuttal statements.
“I see.” Greg shifted uncomfortably in the state-issued straight-backed chair that faced Phil’s desk. “So the virus destroys a part of the brain, and the person suddenly becomes unstable. That makes sense.” Greg shifted again. “How about the opposite? Are there places in the brain that if destroyed, or even damaged, would make the person more stable, or perhaps smarter?” he asked casually.
“There are certain neurologic conditions that respond to extremely well-placed lesions in the brain, but these are only used to control abnormal symptoms, not to improve a normal person beyond their baseline.” Curiosity began to creep back into Phil’s mind. “That’s a very unusual question, Detective, and somewhat leading.”
“I know a man, a priest, actually, who I think got sick, I’m guessing with this virus, and then he got better. I don’t mean he recovered from the infection — he actually got physically better. His heart became stronger, his body became stronger, and so did his mind. Do you think there might be a connection?”
Before Rucker could answer, his pager began to beep loudly. Greg jumped, but Phil didn’t react. “No,” Phil said simply, but he studied Greg very closely. The detective was obviously holding something back, and he didn’t think it involved a priest. “I don’t know of any infection that has the ability to improve the mind or the body.” Phil didn’t check his pager, since he knew who it was and what it was about. Instead, he scrutinized the detective a little longer. The pause stretched to several seconds, and Phil waited for Greg to say something more, or for his own Monsters to demand that he check his pager.
Greg abruptly stood, and Phil followed suit. “Thank you, Dr. Rucker. I know you are very busy, especially with all that’s happened. I’m sorry for your loss.” Greg didn’t offer his hand; Phillip Rucker didn’t shake anyone’s hand.
“Thank you,” Phil said awkwardly, not entirely certain of the appropriate response. “If your daughter-in-law does contact you, I would like to have the opportunity to meet with her.”
“I would have to ask her,” Greg said almost defensively.
Phil held Greg’s gaze as the curiosity that had been tickling his mind grew into an imperative. “May I ask you a question, Detective?”
Greg’s face became suspicious. “Go on,” he finally said.
“Did she do it?”
“She was responsible,” Greg said, staring directly into Rucker’s eyes.
“That left you with a conflict of interest, didn’t it?” Phil had no clear idea why he was indulging his curiosity like this, but suddenly the fact that Amanda was a murderer and Greg a police detective fascinated him. He was in uncharted territory, pursuing an answer to a question that had no impact on him personally, merely because he found it curious.
“You don’t know the whole story,” Greg said so definitively that even the notoriously dense Phillip Rucker picked up on the social cue. “Thank you again, Doctor, but we both must be going.”
Phil watched as Greg Flynn left, wondering more about his own sudden burst of inquisitiveness than Greg’s obvious discomfort. He finally checked his pager and wasn’t surprised to find that Peter Bilsky’s body had at long last arrived. He was surprised by the unnatural silence of his ever-present Monsters.