Resurrection (28 page)

There were no names or entryphone tags outside the common entrance to number 37 but on the other hand, there was no lock on the front door either. It was propped open with a wooden wedge. Dewar entered and found that there was no lighting. He figured this was why the door had been jammed open - to let some light from the lamppost outside filter into the passageway. There was enough light to see that neither of the names on the two ground floor doors was the one he was looking for so he climbed the stairs to the first landing. ‘Hannan’ was on the second door. It was written in biro pen on a piece of white card and sellotaped to the wood. Dewar pushed the buzzer.

‘
Who is it?’ asked a female voice from inside.

‘
My name’s Dr Dewar. I’m from the hospital. It’s about Michael Kelly,’ he lied although it was only a white lie.

The rattle of a chain guard gave way to a creak as the door opened against hinges that needed some attention. ‘Mike? What about him. What’s the problem?’ asked a short woman with spiky hair, wearing jeans and a tight white top.

‘
Can I speak to Tommy?’ said Dewar.

‘
He’s ill. Tell me instead.’

‘
Ill? What’s wrong with him?’

‘
None o’ your bloody business. Now, what the hell do you want?’ retorted the woman angrily.

‘
If Tommy has the same problem as Mike, he’s in serious trouble. He could die. Is he here?’

‘
Who wants to know? Here, are you polis?’

‘
No, I’m a doctor. All I’m interested in is saving his life,’ insisted Dewar.

‘
It’s just a bad trip, that’s all,’ said the woman. ‘He’ll get over it. It’s no’ the first.’

‘
Can I see him?’

The woman considered for a moment then stood back slightly to allow Dewar inside. The flat smelt of onions.

‘
He’s in here.’

Dewar entered a small bedroom where the bed, an old fashioned double bed with polished wood headboard and bottom panel, took up 90 percent of the floor space. The woman clicked on the light. It got a groan of protest from the man lying there. His well-muscled upper body was naked, white and had a film of sweat on it even though the room was cold. He put up his hand to shield his eyes from the light but Dewar could see enough of the eruption on his face to recognise the rash.

‘
He’s very ill,’ he said. ‘He’s got to go to hospital right now. You may be in danger too.’

‘
Danger?’ exclaimed the woman. ‘I don’t even take the bloody stuff. As for this silly bugger, he promised me he was coming off too and then what does he go and do to himself? Stupid bastard!’

Dewar called the hospital; on his mobile phone and arranged for one of the special ambulances assigned to the Wellcome Trust Suite to come for Hannan.

‘
Is he going to die?’ asked the woman, suddenly regretting her outburst of temper.

‘
Are you his wife?’ Dewar asked.

‘
Aye, God help me. Three years.’

‘
Mrs Hannan …’

‘
Don’t remind me. My name’s Sharon.’

‘
Sharon, this isn’t a drug reaction. Tommy’s very ill. You might be affected too. The people at the Western will do their best for him but we need your co-operation Will you come with us?’

The woman fetched a jacket and put it on without saying anything.

‘
Maybe you could pack a few things for yourself? Night-dress, toothbrush, that sort of thing.’

Sharon looked at Dewar directly and suddenly he saw the fear and vulnerability in her eyes. All earlier feistiness and bravado had gone.

‘
Right.’

As they waited for the ambulance to come, Dewar noticed that Sharon’s hands were shaking. ‘It shouldn’t be much longer. Are you okay?’ he asked kindly.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she put both hands between clenched knees and hung her head. ‘God, I’m scared,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do if Tommy dies.’

Dewar put his hand on her shoulder as somewhere outside, the wail of a siren started to get louder.

‘
Well done,’ said George Finlay to Dewar as they met up in Finlay’s office after admitting Tommy Hannan and seeing Sharon settled for the night.

‘
A bit of luck,’ said Dewar. ‘And a few whiskies. Apparently Kelly and Hannan were great friends.’

‘
Why did you want to keep Sharon and Denise apart?’ asked Finlay. Dewar had made this request when he arrived in the ambulance with Tommy and Sharon.

‘
I think Sharon trusts me. I hope she might tell us more about the movements of Kelly and her husband. She might not if Denise Banyon gets to work on her.’

‘
Good point,’ said Finlay.

‘
You know, it’s interesting, said Dewar thoughtfully. ‘Sharon Hannan though her husband’s condition was some kind of drug reaction too.’

‘
Bizarre,’ said Finlay.

‘
But interesting.’

SEVENTEEN

DAY THREE

Dewar was wakened at four in the morning. It took him a few moments to register the phone ringing and adjust to his surroundings. He’d forgotten where he was. Finlay’s voice brought him quickly back to reality.

‘
Bad news. It looks like the lull is over. We’ve had seven admissions to the unit during the night. I’m pretty certain they’ve all got it.’

‘
Shit,’ murmured Dewar. ‘All from Muirhouse?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
That’s something I suppose.’

‘
Not unless we get the vaccine very soon. Mary says there’s still no sign of it. She thinks she’s being fobbed off every time she inquires. What are these people playing at?’

‘
I’ll try again to find out,’ Dewar assured him.

Dewar went next door to wake Hector Wright and tell him the news. Wright sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He cursed, ‘God damn it, I was hoping we might have got through one more day before this happened. We’re now too far behind on vaccination schedules. Chances are we could completely lose any possibility of control unless the vaccine comes today.’

‘
I’ve told Finlay I’ll try and find out what the problem is. Mary Martin feelss she’s being given the run-around.’

Wright got out of bed to get dressed while Dewar returned to his room and called Sci-Med in London. He spoke to the duty officer on the night desk. ‘Any idea why the WHO vaccine hasn’t reached Edinburgh yet?’ he asked.

‘
I don’t have details but I know Mr Macmillan spoke to Geneva earlier this evening. He was worried about that himself.’

‘
What did they say?’

‘
Mr Macmillan didn’t say exactly but he was in a foul mood after he’d finished the call, something about being fobbed off with an office boy.’

Dewar looked at his watch and said, ‘I’ll call him when he comes in at nine.’

‘
I’ll leave a note for him,’ said the man.

Dewar found Hector Wright downstairs. He was sitting at a table with his city street map spread out in front of him, tapping his pen nervously on the table while apparently deep in thought.

‘
Seven more means things have changed,’ he said. ‘I think we may be forced to admit that it’s smallpox we’re dealing with. If one gets you seven, seven will get you forty-nine.’

‘
Actually, one got us eight,’ said Dewar. ‘You’re forgetting about Tommy Hannan.

‘
We’re going to have to open up a second centre before the end of the week and come clean with the relatives. I don’t see how we can avoid it.’

‘
I’ve got an awful feeling the vaccine isn’t going to be here today,’ Dewar confided. ‘I haven’t spoken to Macmillan yet but something’s wrong, I know it is.’ We can’t tell people anything if we haven’t anything to offer them. They’ll panic. Contacts could spread faster than bad news.’

‘
If you’re really serious about the vaccine not coming then we’ll have to go for physical containment,’ said Wright. ‘There’s no other way.’

‘
You mean seal the whole area off?’ asked Dewar almost agog at the notion of isolating an entire housing estate with thousands of residents.

Wright nodded slowly. ‘I can’t see any other way of stopping it spreading if we don’t have the vaccine and stop it, we must. If we just admit that it’s smallpox that people have been going down with there will be a pause of about two days while people talk about it and come to terms with the news then they’ll start moving out of the affected area. Trains, planes and automobiles will do the rest. Smallpox will be back to roam the planet just like the old times when it regularly killed two million a year.’

‘
Well, you can try putting that to the team,’ said Dewar sounding less than confident of a positive outcome.

‘
Will you back me up?’

‘
Yes,’ replied Dewar. ‘Not because I think it’s an attractive idea but because I think you’re right, there’s no other way. The big question will be, can the police manage it on their own or are we talking military help here?’

‘
We’ll see what Tulloch has to say.’

‘
What time’s the meeting this morning?’

‘
Finlay said he’d try to get everyone here for nine thirty.’

There was no point in going back to bed. Sleep would be impossible and the dawn wasn’t that far away. Dewar decided he would go over to the isolation unit at the Western General at eight.He wanted to talk to Sharon Hannan. He called a taxi at seven thirty.

George Finlay looked exhausted. He’d been up all night with the new admissions. Grey stubble showed on his chin and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

‘
There were too many relatives and close contacts to put up in the unit so the Public Health people sent out decontamination teams to their houses and apartments; they’ve taken them back there and given them strict instructions that they were to remain indoors until further notice.’

‘
Sounds sensible,’ said Dewar. ‘But will it work?’

‘
There will be problems,’ conceded Finlay. ‘Social Services are going to contact them today to provide help and support during a period equal to the incubation time of the disease.’

‘
Do they know what the disease is?’ asked Dewar.

Finlay shook his head and said, ‘I thought up a suitably complicated medical term for the condition which, so far, people have been accepting. They’re assuming it’s some awful new disease.’

‘
You need sleep,’ said Dewar.

‘
I’ll get my head down for a few hours after the meeting,’ said Finlay. ‘What are you doing here anyway at this time?’

Dewar told him about wanting to speak to Sharon Hannan. ‘How’s her husband doing?’

‘
On a downhill slide,’ said Finlay. ‘Kelly will die soon and Hannan won’t be that far behind by the look of him.’

Sharon was eating cornflakes when Dewar knocked on her door and entered.

She smiled, pleased to see a familiar face, albeit one that had only recently become familiar. ‘How’s Tommy?’ she asked. ‘You won’t bullshit me like the nurses.’

‘
He’s pretty ill,’ admitted Dewar. ‘But at least he’s in the right place. The doctors and nurses will do all they can for him.’

‘
Can I see him?’

‘
Maybe later. Could I ask you some questions, Sharon? It won’t take long and it might help a lot.’

‘
What sort of questions?’ Sharon replied, looking suspicious.

‘
First let me say, my only interest is in stopping this awful thing happening to anyone else. I’m not concerned with guilt or blame or criminal charges. I really don’t give a damn if any laws have been broken. I just have to get at the truth. I have to understand what happened. Okay?’

Sharon nodded.

‘
I promise you that anything you tell me will go no further than this room. ‘Have you ever heard of a place called, the Institute of Molecular Sciences?’

Sharon shook her head. ‘No, never.’

‘
It’s part of the university.’

Another shake of the head.

Tommy never mentioned it? Or anything about being at the university with Michael Kelly?’

‘
Never.’

‘
I know they’re no angels. Have either of them broken into any place in the last month?’

Sharon’s eyes grew sharp.

‘
I meant what I said,’ Dewar reminded her. This is between you and me, nobody else.’

‘
A newsagent’s shop. They did it about three weeks ago. Do you want to know where?’

‘
No,’ replied Dewar quickly. ‘Tommy told you about this?’

‘
He had lots of fags in the flat. He was getting rid of them down the pub. I asked him about it. He told me.’

‘
Anything else?’

Sharon hesitated. Dewar suspected there was more to come. He waited patiently, not wishing to pressurise her.

‘
Before he got the sack from his job, Mike Kelly helped some guy recover drugs from a stash he had hidden away somewhere. He stole some from the guy when his back was turned. He gave Tommy some.’

‘
Kelly stole drugs from a dealer?’