“You needn’t worry. If Mrs. Harrington was exposed, then so was I,” Travis interrupted.

Perhaps it was his size or his tone, regardless of the reason, after a brief look from Travis to me, and back to Travis, the nurse sighed and reluctantly led both of us through some doors and down a long hallway. After a few turns and a few more doors we came to a door with a lovely picture of three incomplete circles and a sign warning us to not enter without proper safety equipment.

“You both may enter here.”

I looked to Travis and raised my brows. Silently he nodded and we entered. Once inside, we were met by Trish and other members of the Craven and Knowles staff. “Trish,” I asked, “where is Mrs. Craven?”

“She’s with Mr. Craven.” Trish’s eyes were red.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, feigning concern.

She nodded as she swallowed. “I’m fine. We all seem to be fine.” She assessed me. “And you?”

I nodded.

“I knew… yesterday… I just knew…” Trish’s words trailed away as another woman hugged her and led her away. Travis and I found two chairs. We sat as time crawled. Through a series of text messages with my sister, I learned that Parker had the hospital in an uproar. Whatever he had was progressing extremely fast. The good news was that no one else had gotten ill.

As I was nearly asleep from boredom, the door opened and Senator Robert Keene entered. Immediately, his beady eyes found mine. Unconsciously, I reached for Travis who too had been lulled into a false sense of serenity. He sat taller as I offered sarcastically, “Senator, welcome to our party.”

“Mrs. Harrington,” he acknowledged with a nod.

“Senator, will your lovely wife be joining us?”

“No, fortunately for her, it was only I who had a brief meeting with Parker yesterday afternoon. She wasn’t present.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I would assume a man of your importance has a lot of meetings without your wife, or even perhaps without her knowledge.”

He moved to the chair beside me and lowered his voice. “Mrs. Harrington, you would be wise to keep your knowledge to yourself. Parker told me about a new agreement—a new contract. It’s my understanding that once he’s well, certain business situations will be nullified.” He stared for a moment, moving only his eyes from my face to my breasts and back. “I must say, I’m also pleased to hear that your husband’s other obligations will continue to be met. Word is, the rules have changed.” He furrowed his forehead knowingly. “Are you comfortable sitting? Or would you rather stand?”

It wasn’t only his words that made my skin crawl: it was his breath. I fought the urge to retch, not because I didn’t like the image of him covered in my vomit, but because I didn’t want the doctors to misconstrue my symptoms. Instead, I smiled appealingly, and leaned closer. With a whisper, I said, “It seems that Parker misinformed you. I have no idea what you’re talking about. And as for business, my husband’s business dealings will continue as he planned.”

“Mrs. Harrington…” with each word his ruddy cheeks grew more and more red. “…I’m certain you don’t understand the connections—”

I placed my hand on his. “Apparently, you don’t understand mine.” I tilted my head to the side and used my sweetest voice. “However, if you push me again, I will use them. Senator, as I’m sure you’re aware, blood is thicker than water.”

“And I am—”

“Water, Senator. Sheila is blood. I know more than you think. Don’t push me.”

As he was about to respond, a woman entered our room wearing something that looked more like a space suit. “I need to take all of your vitals. Is anyone feeling ill?”

“No,” a woman I didn’t know said. “This is silly. We’re all fine. When can we go?”

“I would have said soon, but there’s been another case. I’m afraid everyone from Craven and Knowles is considered infected.”

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m not from Craven and Knowles.”

“Neither am I,” Senator Keene interjected. “Who else is infected?”

“I’m sorry. I’m not at liberty—”

Trish began to cry. “It’s Mr. Phillips. Isn’t it?”

My heart stopped.

Before I could speak, Trish went on. “I couldn’t reach him this morning. Everyone else answered their phones. Not him. He was with Mr. Craven yesterday afternoon. I bet it was him.”

“What do you mean he was with him?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Mr. Craven had a meeting, and Mr. Phillips had a follow-up meeting. They used to do it all the time.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from changing my expression. My imagination was running wild. I told myself that it couldn’t be… it had nothing to do with the warehouse. I knew it didn’t. Brody didn’t know about that.

A few hours later, still symptom-free, Travis and I were released. When we made it to the main information desk I asked, “Excuse me, I’m here to see Brody Phillips.”

The woman searched her computer screen. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, Mr. Phillips can’t have visitors.”

He was there. Oh my God!

“Ma’am, are you friends or family?”

“I’m a friend.” The word stuck in my throat.