Body of Proof 2.18: "Going Viral Part 1"

“That is exactly what is wrong with you. Nothing is personal. It’s all error rates and body counts.”
- Megan

We find Dani out at a club waiting for Peter. Marcel, the guy sitting next to her at the bar hits on her and offers a drink. She tries to show him she’s not interested but he’s a persistent creep. She takes a couple sips of the beer he gives her and it’s obvious something is wrong. She’s sweating and off balance. Things unfortunately go from bad to worse as she stumbles outside and is hit by a car She has a seizure and Peter ties to perform CPR but it’s not use. She’s dead. I have to say I wasn’t expecting that at all. Megan is performing the external exam and finds a rash on Dani’s stomach. Whatever drug the guy gave her was attacking her. Bud and Sam bring Marcel in for questioning but don’t get far before Peter bursts in and tries to rough Marcel up. Marcel starts foaming at the mouth and seizing, just like Dani. They manage to get him to the hospital but he’s now comatose. Megan checks his blood work and finds that the symptoms aren’t you typical date rape drug. Megan thinks maybe it’s an infection and Dani could have gotten it from Marcel. And then a whole bunch of people are rushed into the hospital with similar symptoms. They’ve got what appears to be an outbreak on their hands.

Back at the morgue, the team is going over the four bodies they have, including Dani. They’re trying to figure out what connected all of the victims and what their last hours of life entailed. They don’t get far because the CDC, led by Dr. Stafford, come barging in to take over the investigation. Megan is none too pleased to see them and it’s clear she and Stafford are going to come to blows. Kate called them in because she thought they could help. Everyone at the lab (and a chunk of the police department including Bud and Sam) have to go through decontamination before they can go home. Megan is still pretty surly about the whole thing and tells Stafford that he needs their help. He seems to at least be open to the idea when she walks away with a smug little look on her face.

Peter is having a really hard time dealing. He calls Dani’s mom and has to leave a voice mail, hoping she’ll call back. Ethan tries to offer help but Peter shoos him away. Megan gets back to lab in her scrubs and finds that Stafford has reset their timeline. She rearranges things to show the mistakes he’s already made and after snarking at him over Dani, he agrees to let her bring the rest of her team in. The body count is still rising. Twenty six people have died now and pretty soon the news is going to get out. One of their victims, John Kim, appears to have all kinds of symptoms including sepsis. That’s not all they have to worry about. Bud waves Megan and Stafford into a meeting to show them a video YouTube forwarded to them. A masked man is ranting about overpopulation and how he’s going to kill a lot of people to fix the problem. Looks like they’ve got a domestic terrorist on their hands.

There’s a rather large pow wow happening (thanks to the CDC guys being present) and they’re trying to figure out what the next step should be. Megan thinks the first question that needs answering is how the victims are getting infected. A rather pompous Fed storms in and takes over the meeting. He doesn’t give a crap about introductions to the ME crew (which really sets Peter off when Agent Johnson picks Dani as person to point out on the map). Bud and Sam end up interviewing the families of some of the victims but it doesn’t seem to be all that helpful. Bud finally manages to get a little information out of Marcel (he’s no longer in a coma) just as the news plays and suggests that the outbreak is the work of a possible terrorist. Ethan freaks out when some of the tape he has on his hazmat suit rips. But he shouldn’t be worried. He’s okay. Meanwhile, there’s more drama between him and Peter. Peter managed to find out Dani’s schedule for a couple of days during the week before she died but still doesn’t know what happened the rest of the time. He’s clearly frustrated that he didn’t know her as well as he thought. Peter storms off and Ethan notices that in one patient that have meningitis. So Agent Johnson is going to tell the public that’s what’s wrong. Megan is furious that he’s lying and gets into an argument with Kate while Kate is stitching up a body. Kate gets distracted and stabs herself with a needle (through two layers of glove). That clearly doesn’t bode well for Kate.

Bud and Sam have a lead on someone who fits their domestic terrorist profile and take a team of FBI guys with them. It turns out the terrorist is a 17-year-old kid (I’m pretty sure he was in an episode of Law & Order: SVU). At the same time, Agent Johnson goes with the meningitis theory and uses Peter and Dani as the “face” of the epidemic. This infuriates both Megan and Kate, especially since they haven’t even been able to read Dani’s family yet. Later, Megan is talking to Lacey via their phones and is instructing her on how to properly wear a mask to cover her mouth. Lacey starts to freak out and when she says that her mom works for the ME a bunch of kids crowd around trying to ask questions. Megan unfortunately has to end the conversation. She schools Agent Johnson during the interrogation of the kid. I have to say I wanted smack the kid. He was so arrogant and rude. But he did help Megan prove a point about how if Johnson can’t even fool a kid, how does he expect to fool the entire city. Back in the lab, Megan makes a convincing argument that the disease isn’t airborne and that the only mode of transmission is by blood contact.

They’re now up to 50 dead and they are still no closer to finding answers. Megan really wants Peter’s picture off the news but Johnson says it’s creating trust with the public. He makes some digs at Peter, saying he’s the last person to give up any useful information. Stafford tries to defend Peter by saying it’s hard sometimes with medical histories. Meanwhile, Peter meets with a girl that Dani was sort of a Big Sister to. Just one more part of Dani’s life Peter didn’t know about. Bud has a little argument with Jeannie about getting her out of town but eventually she agrees. Sam is rewatching the video from the terrorist and spots that there’s some gang graffiti on the wall behind the guy and the lack of ambient noise means it’s a quiet location. They take a team and find the place and a bunch of dead bodies with syringes all over the place. Agent Johnson is being his usual arrogant self and saying that since there were needle marks on some of the victims (Megan points out it was only 3) that the terrorist must be going around sticking people with needles. He really doesn’t have a clue as to what’s going on. Megan and Peter point out that the terrorist has jaundiced and bloodshot eyes. He’s patient zero.

Things are starting to look up a little bit. The patients who aren’t dead seem to be stabilizing and responding to the antibiotics. And Johnson wants to put a new face on the issue; Kate. Unfortunately, Kate is starting to display symptoms of the disease. She’s not really happy with what she has to say at the press conference since it’s largely not the truth. Megan gets a call from Ethan that the patients didn’t actually respond to the drugs. They’re all dead. And just as Kate tries to tell the truth about what’s happening, she collapses.