Read With Every Breath for Free Online Page B

chairs, a sofa, and a small table filled the cozy space. Beneath the window were a set of bookshelves crammed with reading material. Cotton drapes on either side of the window billowed forward in a gentle breeze.
    “Tuberculosis spreads in cramped, poorly ventilated quarters,” Trevor explained. “The more fresh air we can keep in the ward, the better. It will get chilly in the winter, but the fresh air is good for the patients. Here’s a mask. Keep it with you from now on and always wear it in the wards.”
    The other side of the reception area had a nurses’ station with a single desk and filing cabinets, all behind an oak counter. The nurse at the desk was a dark-haired matron wearing a starched uniform with one of those funny little caps. Kate nodded and smiled to her, but Trevor didn’t bother to introduce Kate as he strode down the hallway.
    Kate scurried to keep up. “It would be nice to be introduced to people. I’m new here, and it seems a basic courtesy.”
    Trevor shrugged as he opened the door to the ward and gestured her inside. It was a spacious room with huge windows on one wall and rows of beds on the opposite side, all filled with patients. They were all women, and a few turned to look as Kate entered the room. Others were reading, and some still slept.
    “Everyone, this is Kate Livingston. She will be helping me to gather data.” Trevor looked at her. “Happy?”
    She smiled. “You are as warm and friendly as I remember.”
    A thin girl in the bed nearest to Kate started snickering. “You tell it to him, ma’am,” she said with approval in her voice. Kate thought the girl was going to laugh, but instead the child was racked with a deep, scratchy fit of coughing.
    Trevor tied a mask over his face and motioned for Kate to do the same. The heat of her breath felt strange against her face as she tied it on. The damp warmth was uncomfortable, but she dared not take the mask off.
    The girl struggled to heave in a lungful of air while she reached for a mask on the small metal table beside her bed. It sounded like she had gravel rattling in her lungs.
    Trevor took a seat on the chair beside the girl’s bed, then motioned for Kate to come closer. Seeing him with the lower half of his face covered by the white cotton mask underscored the danger of her new position. Had the Russian diplomat’s wife been right to run screaming from the room at the mere mention of the disease?
    Trevor shot her an impatient glower and beckoned her again. She took a tiny step forward but couldn’t make her other leg move. It was as if her feet had taken root in the cold linoleum floor. That poor, sweet child . . . but Kate dared not get any closer. An invisible weight kept her frozen in place.
    “It’s all right,” Trevor said. “This patient is not currently contagious, but I insist all coughing patients use a mask until the seizures pass, whether they’re contagious or not.”
    He went on to explain that patients were not usually contagious, that only when the bacillus morphed into a particular stage did it have the ability to infect others, and he carefully monitored each patient’s health daily. The employees always knew which patients were contagious.
    She could see little of Trevor’s expression behind his mask, but his voice was typically clinical. He motioned again for herto draw closer. Kate forced her legs to move, praying that Trevor was right about what he said. She was unable to meet the girl’s eyes. What must the child think of her?
    “My name is Kate,” she said, silently asking the girl’s forgiveness for her hesitation.
    “Hi, Kate. I’m Hannah Wexler.” If the girl resented the way Kate behaved, she gave no indication. Kate looked directly at the girl. Beneath Hannah’s chalk-white skin, a tracery of blue veins fanned across her face.
    “Pull up a chair, Kate. I’ll show you how I gather data and track the results.”
    Curiosity nudged away the fear as Kate took a seat in a plain