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"Nanobe" Excerpt Continued

 

The newscaster, Joanie Bashir, was a familiar news anchor on this station.

 

"This is breaking news," she said. "As viewers know, we're following the story of the unexplained patient deaths at Bard Memorial Hospital. We previously reported that an investigation is underway, led by none other than detective Harry Grouch, of Polly Marlowe fame. But there's been no news from Bard officials lately, so we don't know where that investigation stands. Meanwhile, the families of the deceased are running out of patience and they call us every day.

 

"Well, now we have something to tell them. We received some welcome news today, but not from Harry Grouch. Our hard working Medical Examiner, Dr. Ilsa Horne, has gone public with her take on this heart-rending story. I had a private session with her about an hour ago and I'll run the interview right after the break. So stay tuned."

The image faded into an ad for some new wonder drug claiming to cure bladder malfunction. The images promised relief and happiness with smiling faces and beach scenes, while the rapid narration warned against horrid side effects.

"You're famous, Harry," Judy said with a sly smile.

Harry smirked. "Who needs such fame?"

Judy laughed out loud. "Well, you must, you glory hound you. Joanie Bashir never mentioned me. I thought I had something to do with solving the Witch of Maple Park case. You'd never know it from the media."

Harry glared at her. "Very cute, but I'm not in the mood for cuteness. I didn't like the sound of Bashir's set-up piece and I'm dreading the Horne interview. She's trouble, but hold on. They're back."

Joanie Bashir was back on screen sitting face to face with the Medical Examiner. She spent about five minutes summarizing the details of the Bard case, and then she addressed Dr. Horne.

"Welcome, Dr. Horne. I've told our viewers you have some important news to give us about Bard's RPD deaths. We can't wait to hear about it."

Ilsa Horne was in her glory. As Toby Katz had said, she seemed to love the limelight. She was all smiles. 

"I thank you for inviting me here to wake up your viewers."

Bashir looked confused. "Wake up my viewers? What do you mean?"

The ME turned and looked directly at the camera. "Here's why I say that. Many weeks have gone by since seven innocent patients, with relatively uncomplicated surgical problems, died in tragic circumstances following a fast decline into dementia. The poor souls lost everything as they sank into confusion and failures of body and mind. And why? Who, besides me, is asking why? Your public should be howling, but I hear nothing. Maybe now, when I tell what I know, they'll wake up and demand that the authorities at Bard be held to account."

"They're not asleep." Bashir said.

 

Harry thought the news anchor sounded annoyed, but she continued, "I think everyone's just waiting for the results of the Harry Grouch investigation. What about that?"

"What about it?" snapped Dr. Horne. "It's just window dressing to stall the inevitable falling apart of the hospital's cover up."

"Sheeez!" Harry said. "She's really out of control."

Judy shushed him. "I know it's awful, but let's listen."

"Those are strong accusations," Bashir said. "Can you back them up?"

Ilsa Horne beamed. It was the question she was waiting for.

"Can I? Well, I believe I found a 'gotcha' in the lies we keep hearing from Bard. I can now prove the hospital's been behaving badly. They've yet to tell the public what caused all those deaths. Why not? I know the cause, so they must know it also. I believe they're hiding something incriminating."

The news anchor shifted in her chair and crossed her legs. To Harry, she seemed uncomfortable with the ME's comments. "Can you be specific?" Bashir asked.

Horne was absolutely gleeful. "I can. Let me start with the reports I just received from the national forensics laboratory in Washington. I sent samples of tissue there from the deceased patients' brains.  It was a tricky test as the organism I suspected is so darn hard to find, but they found it."

Joanie Bashir's eyes widened. Even on the small TV screen it was noticeable. "That's fantastic. What is it?"

Ilsa Horne adopted a very professional scientific tone. "Every test showed the same organism.  Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, also known as CJD. It's a progressively degenerative brain disease. According to the Mayo Clinic, 'CJD leads to dementia and, ultimately, death. Symptoms of CJD sometimes resemble those of other dementia-like brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's, but Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease usually progresses much more rapidly.' Spongy holes, visible under a microscope, can develop in affected brain tissue. I found such holes in all the autopsies I did."

"Sounds horrible," Bashir said. "Can you tell our viewers how the victims contracted this Sporadic CJD you speak of?"

Horne looked at the camera lens again. "It's caused by a minuscule protein known as a prion. There's a paper in the medical literature about some people who developed Sporadic CJD after undergoing surgery with instruments contaminated by this pathogen. I think that's what occurred at Bard."

Bashir frowned. "How could such an awful thing happen? Don't they sterilize their used instruments?"

Horne turned her eyes away from the camera and looked at the news anchor. "They claim to. All I can say is that each situation is different. In this case, I've heard an accusation from an anonymous hospital source that a disgruntled employee may have had something to do with the deaths."

Bashir's jaw dropped. "My God! Are you sure? Do you mean deliberately?"

"That's what the informer is saying."

Horne was smiling. She's really enjoying this, Harry thought.

"That would be homicide wouldn't it?" asked Bashir. "Can you tell us who is being accused?"

Ilsa Horne shook her head. "That's the one thing I cannot say on public television. But rest assured that I've informed Toby Katz, the Maple Park Police Chief and, even as we speak, the suspect is being arrested. You'll know the rest in less than 24 hours. Now I have to leave you. I have appointments with all the other local TV stations and the newspapers."

"Thank you, Dr. Horne." Joanie Bashir again looked directly at the camera and signed off with, "I'm Joanie Bashir and you've been watching WJBK where you always see the news as it happens."

The screen morphed into another ad and Judy shut the TV.

 

Excerpted from Nanobe, Copyright © 2014 by Robert Tell, All Rights reserved.

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