“So he needs a guinea pig,” Marino said.

“Yes. And let’s suppose he has a neighbor, a relative, someone elderly and not well. Maybe he even takes care of her. What better way to test the virus than on that person? And if it works, you kill her and stage her death to look like something else. After all, he certainly can’t have her die of smallpox. Not if there is a connection between him and her. We might figure out who he is. So he shoots her in the head, dismembers her so we’ll think it’s the serial killings again.”

“Then how do you get from that to the lady on Tangier?”

“She was exposed,” I simply said.

“How? Was something delivered to her? Did she get something in the mail? Was it carried on the air? Was she pricked in her sleep?”

“I don’t know how.”

“You think deadoc lives on Tangier?” Marino then asked.

“No, I don’t,” I said. “I think he picked it because the island is the perfect place to start an epidemic. Small, self-contained. Also easy to quarantine, meaning the killer doesn’t intend to annihilate all of society with one blow. He’s trying a little bit at a time, cutting us up in small pieces.”

“Yeah. Like he did the old lady, if you’re right.”

“He wants something,” I said. “Tangier is an attention-getter.”

“No offense, Doc, but I hope you’re wrong about all of this.”

“I’m heading to Atlanta in the morning. How about checking with Vander, see if he’s had any luck with the thumbprint.”

“So far he hasn’t. It’s looking like the victim doesn’t have any prints on file. Anything comes up, I’ll call your pager.”

“Damn,” I muttered, for the nurse had taken that, too.

The rest of the day moved interminably slowly, and it wasn’t until after supper that Fujitsubo came to say good-bye. Although the act of releasing me implied I was neither infected nor infectious, he was in a blue suit, which he plugged into an air line.

“I should keep you longer,” he said right off, filling my heart with dread. “Incubation, on average, is twelve to thirteen days. But it can be as long as twenty-one. What I’m saying to you is that you could still get sick.”

“I understand that,” I said, reaching for my water.

“The revaccination may or may not help depending on what stage you were in when I gave it to you.”

I nodded. “And I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave if you would just take this on instead of sending me to CDC.”

“Kay, I can’t.” His voice was muffled through plastic. “You know it has nothing to do with what I feel like doing. But I can no more pull something out from under CDC than you can grab a case that isn’t your jurisdiction. I’ve talked to them. They are most concerned over a possible outbreak and will begin testing the moment you arrive with the samples.”