‘At the height of the SNor epidemic, the Center for Disease Control in Washington issued cleaning guidelines. They focused on schools, prisons, retirement homes, cruise ships and hotels, because those were the places where the biggest outbreaks were happening. The HHD gave strict guidelines on how hotel rooms had to be cleaned, from towels being laundered at higher temperatures, strong chlorine bleach being used in all cleaning sprays, UV sterilisation, disposable gloves and masks for staff, disposable toilet brushes for each room and so forth.’

‘Right,’ Harry said. ‘I remember all the hotels on the strip had to close their buffets, and there was no traffic in town, even Friday and Saturday.’

‘The Hotel Hygiene Directive wasn’t legally binding, but every big hotel operator agreed to follow the procedure, including the four Janssen Corp casinos that have hotel rooms. It was expensive to implement, but it was a way to rebuild customer confidence.

‘HHD doubled the time it took to clean a hotel room. And you can imagine how hard it was trying to recruit minimum-wage hotel cleaners to do the dirty work during a virus outbreak. The Janssens had empty hotels and casinos losing money, while their cleaning and laundry costs spiralled. Their solution was to bend the rules.’

‘Sounds like Janssen Corp,’ Harry said, intrigued but not terribly excited. ‘Trouble is, there have been a ton of stories about stuff like this, Earl. The corporations put it down to teething problems with new procedures, and say that they’ve got things sorted now. Plus, people have lost interest in SNor scare stories. Once you’ve had a dose you’re immune and everyone has had their week on the toilet now.’

Earl sounded irritated. ‘Seventeen people died after being infected at Janssen Island Casino in Fremont street. I’ve spoken to a few people who worked there. The hygiene was horrible. Cleaning staff quit. The rooms haven’t been refurbished in twenty years and they keep Janssen Island busy on weekdays by offering twenty-dollar rooms and free bus rides to seniors from California.

‘They were old and vulnerable, and they dropped like flies. The Island should have been shut down for two weeks and deep cleaned, but Janssen kept bussing seniors in. Because they were mostly one-night stays, most of them were home before they got sick. Cleaning staff who could see what was going on were scared to speak up because the Janssens are thugs. Quite a few people did wind up dying or getting seriously ill while they were still in Vegas, but the source of all the cases was never identified.’

‘Why not?’ Harry asked.

‘Hospitals and doctors must notify every fatal case of SNor to the Center for Disease Control, including the likely source of infection. But not a single case was registered as being picked up at Janssen Island. The patients’ hospital records were accurate, but when the hospital data got uploaded to the CDC, all reference to Janssen Island vanished.’