Panic in the Streets

What starts out as a routine autopsy for the New Orleans Medical Examiner, the person on the table being a John Doe found shot dead on the docks probably by some criminal element, turns into something more serious when he finds that the victim was also suffering with pneumonic plague which would have killed him in hours regardless. Lt. Commander Clinton Reed with the Public Health Service, leading the case, has to convince those in authority of the seriousness of the situation as those who came in contact with the dead man, most specifically those who killed him, will be infectious with the plague after forty-eight hours. Reed also knows that although it may assist in discovering the identities of the victim and who killed him, they cannot issue a public warning both not to ensue panic and not to have the killer(s) escape which would spread the plague uncontrollably if they are able. Capt. Tom Warren with the NOPD, he assigned the lead investigator for the police, is among the ranks of the unconvinced, he doing his job regardless. As Reed and Warren follow whatever scant leads they, Reed on the medical science side and Warren from the police procedural side, they have to decide how far they will go outside their authority to apprehend the criminal(s) and contain the plague. Their task may be made even more difficult as reporters see what the police are up to and may not want to suppress the information if they find out what's going on. Meanwhile, three men were involved in the man's death, he, Kolchak, a sailor having just arrived in town. Blackie, the leader of the three men, he seeing that the police are making monumental efforts to find Kolchak's killer, has other self-interested thoughts beyond just evading the police.