Resigned for the moment, Jack assumed the most comfortable position. It was lying on his back on the rag rug. He listened to Terese and Richard, who for the moment had gotten past their attempts to blame each other for the present catastrophe. They were now being more rational. They knew they had to make some decisions.

Jack’s position on his back made his nasal discharge run down the back of his throat. His coughing jags returned, as did a round of violent sneezes. When he finally got himself under control he found himself looking up into Terese’s and Richard’s faces.

“We have to know how you found out about Frazer Labs,” Richard said, gun once again in hand.

Jack feared that if they found out he was the only person who knew about Frazer Labs, they’d probably kill him then and there.

“It was easy,” Jack said.

“Give us an idea how easy,” Terese said.

“I just called up National Biologicals and asked if anyone had recently ordered plague bacteria. They told me Frazer Labs had.”

Terese reacted as if she’d been slapped. Angrily she turned to Richard. “Don’t tell me you ordered the stuff,” she said with disbelief. “I thought you had all these bugs in your so-called collection.”

“I didn’t have plague,” Richard said. “And I thought plague would make the biggest media impact. But what difference does it make? They can’t trace where the bacteria came from.”

“That’s where you are wrong,” Jack said. “National Biologicals tags their cultures. We all found out about it at the medical examiner’s office when we did the autopsy.”

“You idiot!” Terese shouted. “You’ve left a goddamn trail right to your door.”

“I didn’t know they tagged their cultures,” Richard said meekly.

“Oh, God!” Terese said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “That means everybody at the ME’s office knows the plague episode was artificial.”

“What should we do?” Richard asked nervously.

“Wait a second,” Terese said. She looked down at Jack. “I’m not sure he’s telling the truth. I don’t think that fits with what Colleen said. Hang on. Let me call her.”

Terese’s conversation with Colleen was short. Terese told her underling that she was worried about Jack and asked if Colleen could call Chet to inquire about Jack’s conspiracy theory. Terese wanted to know if anyone else at the medical examiner’s office subscribed to it. Terese concluded by telling Colleen that she was unreachable but would call back in fifteen minutes.

During the interim, there was little conversation except for Terese asking Richard if he was sure he’d disposed of all the cultures. Richard assured her that he’d flushed everything down the toilet.

When the fifteen minutes was up, Terese redialed Colleen as promised. At the end of their brief conversation Terese thanked Colleen and hung up.

“That’s the first good news tonight,” Terese said to Richard. “No one else at the ME’s office gives any credence to Jack’s theory. Chet told Colleen that everyone chalks it up to Jack’s grudge against AmeriCare.”

“So no one else must know about Frazer Labs and the tagged bacteria,” Richard said.

“Exactly,” Terese said. “And that simplifies things dramatically. Now all we have to do is get rid of Jack.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Richard asked.

“First you are going to go out and dig a hole,” Terese said. “I think the best spot would be on the other side of the barn by the blueberry patch.”

“Now?” Richard questioned.

“This isn’t something we can blithely put off, you idiot,” Terese said.

“The ground’s probably frozen,” Richard complained. “It will be like digging in granite.”

“You should have thought of that when you dreamed up this catastrophe,” Terese said. “Get out there and get it done. There should be a shovel and a pick in the barn.”

Richard grumbled as he pulled on his parka. He took the flashlight and went out the front door.

“Terese,” Jack called out. “Don’t you think you’ve taken this a bit too far?”

Terese got off the couch and came into the kitchen. She leaned against the cabinet and eyed Jack.

“Don’t try to make me feel sorry for you,” she said. “If I warned you once, I warned you a dozen times to leave well enough alone. You’ve only yourself to blame.”

“I can’t believe your career can be this important to you,” Jack said. “People have died, and more people can die still. Not just me.”

“I never intended that anybody die,” Terese said. “That only happened thanks to my harebrained brother, who’s had this love affair with microbes ever since he was in high school. He’s collected bacteria the way a survivalist collects guns. Just having them around was a weird turn-on for him. Maybe I should have known he’d do something crazy sometime; I don’t know. Right now I’m just trying to get us out of this mess.”

“You’re rationalizing,” Jack said. “You’re an accomplice, just as guilty as he is.”

“You know something, Jack?” Terese said. “At this moment I couldn’t care less what you think.”

Terese walked back to the fire. Jack could hear more logs being added. He rested his head on his forearm and closed his eyes. He was miserable, both sick and frightened. He felt like a condemned man vainly waiting for a reprieve.

When the door burst open an hour later Jack jumped. He’d fallen asleep again. He also noticed a new symptom: now his eyes hurt when he looked from side to side.

“Digging the hole was easier than I thought,” Richard reported. He peeled off his coat. “Wasn’t any frost at all. It must have been a bog in that area at one time, because there weren’t even any rocks.”

“I hope you made it deep enough,” Terese said, tossing aside a book. “I don’t want any more screwups, like having him wash up in the spring rain.”

“It’s plenty deep enough,” Richard said. He disappeared into the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came out Terese was putting on her coat. “Where are you going?”

“Out,” Terese said. She headed for the door. “I’ll go for a walk while you kill Jack.”

“Wait a second,” Richard said. “Why me?”

“You’re the man,” Terese said with a scornful smile. “That’s a man’s work.”

“The hell it is,” Richard said. “I’m not going to kill him. I couldn’t. I couldn’t shoot someone while he’s handcuffed.”

“I don’t believe you,” Terese yelled. “You’re not making sense. You had no compunction about putting lethal bacteria into defenseless people’s humidifiers, which sure as hell killed them.”

“It was the bacteria that killed them,” Richard said. “It was a fight between the bacteria and the person’s immune system. I didn’t do the killing directly. They had a chance.”

“Give me patience!” Terese cried, rolling her eyes heavenward. She collected herself and took a breath. “Okay, fine. With the patients it wasn’t you, it was the bacteria. In this case it will be the bullet, not you. How’s that? Does that satisfy this weird sense of responsibility of yours?”

“This is different,” Richard said. “It’s not the same at all.”

“Richard, we don’t have any choice. Otherwise you’ll go to jail for the rest of your life.”

Richard hesitantly looked over at the gun on the coffee table.

“Get it!” Terese commanded when she saw him eyeing the pistol.

Richard wavered.

“Come on, Richard,” Terese urged.

Richard went over and irresolutely picked up the gun. Holding it by the barrel as well as the handle, he cocked it.

“Good!” Terese said encouragingly. “Now go over there and do it.”

“Maybe if we take off the handcuffs, and he tries to run, I can…” Richard began. But he stopped in midsentence when Terese strode over to him with her eyes blazing. Without warning she slapped him. Richard recoiled from the blow, and his own anger flared.

“Don’t even talk like that, you fool,” Terese spat. “We are not taking any more chances. Understand?”

Richard put a hand to his face and then looked at it as if he expected to see blood. His initial fury quickly abated. He realized that Terese was right. Slowly he nodded.