TARASHA Episode 19 Pt 4 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
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Not too long after, Dr Tobi started hearing noises of someone coming up the stairs again. This time, he decided not to waste the opportunity, he went to the door and started calling for help immediately. The footsteps got closer and someone stopped at the door.
‘Dr Williams,’ the person called.
‘No, it’s Dr Tobi who’s inside,’ Dr Tobi shouted back.
There was silence for some seconds, then the door opened. The head of security staffs entered into the office, giving Dr Tobi a questioning look.
‘How did you get locked in here,’ the security man asked.
‘That’s not important now sir, I have to be on my way to the theatre.’ Dr Tobi replied and tried to walk past the man.
The security man blocked his way, ‘you have to explain how you got here.’
‘I was locked in by a nurse,’ Dr Tobi replied with a loud frustrated tone. ‘Can I pass now? I was in the middle of an operation before being deceived here.’
The security man stepped away for Dr Tobi to pass. He moved out too and locked back the door before following after Dr Tobi.
‘Where is Dr Williams?’ The security man asked as he trotted down the stairs with Dr Tobi.
‘I don’t know, no one has come up there since I was locked in.’
‘Dr Williams have been searching everywhere for his access card, a cleaner found it in a female ward toilet.’
Dr Tobi kept walking with speed, he wasn’t listening to the security man anymore. As they got down the stairs, he ran into inspector Ken.
‘Doctor!’ Inspector Ken exclaimed in surprise.
‘Officer,’ Dr Tobi called back but kept on walking. Inspector Ken followed at the same pace.
‘That lab scientist has poisoned the patient,’ Inspector Ken announced in a kind of accusing manner, making the doctor stop abruptly.
Dr Tobi turned and gave the inspector an awful look, then he continued to walk with speed.
In five minutes they got to the theatre, all the Doctors there had already left and some cleaners were already cleaning the theatre, the patient had also been moved away.
‘What happened here?’ Dr Tobi asked the people cleaning in an aggressive manner.
‘I don’t know,’ one of the cleaners replied him. ‘They’ve moved the patient away already.’
Dr Tobi placed his hands on his waist and stopped to think for a while, then he began to walk again, increasing his speed this time.
Ken followed with the motive of watching where the doctor was going and ensure that the doctor does not escape, Dr Tobi was now a suspect also.
In another three minutes, they got to the previous ward from were Henry was moved to the theatre. The older doctor who was in charge of treating Henry before the case was transferred to Dr Tobi was found in the ward with two officers.
‘Doctor sir, where’s my patient?’ Dr Tobi asked as he barged in.
The older doctor turned slowly to confirm who’s voice he heard and he paused on seeing three people walk in, he adjusted his lenses and placed a stern look on Dr Tobi. ‘Tobi, where have you been? How could you leave a patient in the theatre and walk away?’ The Doctor said in a reprimanding tone.
‘I didn’t leave him like that sir, I was told that Dr Williams was calling for me.’
‘Dr Williams never called for you,’ the older doctor shouted. ‘For God’s sake, how would he call you when you are in the theatre?’
‘I didn’t believe at first; but the nurse…ermm, I mean the lady told me that he was calling for me in respect of the operation and that the officers were waiting for me too.’
‘A lady?’.
‘Yes, she was dressed in a nurse’ uniform, so I thought she was a nurse.’ Dr Tobi replied. While they conversed, inspector Ken moved closer and stood by the side listening to them.
‘That lab scientist has injected the patient with an unknown substance, the patient’s blood and liquid injected are being tested in the lab now,’ the doctor said, taking a step forward towards Dr Tobi at the mention of each word.
Dr Tobi’s face turned remorseful, his heart was broken and his mind dejected. He wondered why he hadn’t been suspicious of the lab scientist like agent Dakolo was.
‘And what in the world went wrong with you? Why did you talk to the media about the patient’s case?’ the older doctor questioned as he stood at his front.
‘I didn’t… I didn’t talk to anyone,’ Dr Tobi replied in low tones.
‘The Journalists mentioned your name.’
‘I didn’t talk to anyone about the patient, not even my colleague here at work.’ Dr Tobi replied, surprised at the accusation.
‘Where were you all through? Why didn’t you return to the theatre when you didn’t find Dr Williams?’
‘I was locked in, I was locked in Dr Williams’ office,’ Dr Tobi replied, looking back at the security man for support.
‘Locked in? That’s impossible,’ the older doctor disbelieved Tobi. ‘Dr Williams’ entrance card is nowhere to be found.’
‘She locked me…’
‘Here’s the card sir,’ the security man joined in, raising up the card to display.
‘Where did you find it?’
‘In a female ward Toilet, a cleaner brought it to me.’
The older Doctor moved closer to the security man and collected the card, he confirmed that it was real and returned it. He turned to Dr Tobi, ‘how did she lock you in without the card?’
‘She was with the card, she opened the door to Dr Williams’ office and I walked in with her thinking that the doctor was inside. It was later that she brought out a gun and disconnected the landline so I wouldn’t be able to call anyone outside.’
‘Can you recognize that nurse?’ Inspector Ken cut in from behind. He walked from where he was and stood in between the doctors, turning to face Dr Tobi.
‘She wasn’t a nurse but I can recognize her, she had a low hair cut and was putting on a wig to cover her hair,’ Dr Tobi replied.
‘Hmm…’
‘Please, I have to get to the lab now.’ Dr Tobi said and began to walk away.
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‘Evelyn, I’ve been waiting all day for you.’ Mr Sylvester said as she walked into his office.
‘I know sir, I’m sorry for taking so long. It’s just that I had to do some per time job to help raise some money for my family.’ She replied as she proceeded to his table.
Mr Sylvester stared at her face in disbelief, ‘but why didn’t you tell me you needed some money? How much were you paid for the job?’
‘I’m used to it sir,’ Evelyn replied with a pleasant smile. ‘Things have not been rosy for my family since I finished schooling in Canada and my father’s illness has also caused us a lot. So as the first child, I have to man up and make things work.’
‘Hmm, that’s sad. What’s the nature of your father’s illness?’
‘Stroke, he’s down with Stroke,’ she replied after placing the laptop on the table and sitting down. ‘And now that my mother is ill also, I have to spend more time with both of them.’
Mr Sylvester heaved a sigh, he stretched out his hand and held her palm in his, squeezing it as a sign of friendship. Evelyn looked up at his face and smiled at the gesture. ‘You can always count on me when you have any problem, I’m ready to assist you in anyway I can.’ he said with an assuring look.
‘Thank you sir,’ she smiled broadly. He released her hand and she was about to open up the laptop when he stopped her.
‘Oh no, Evelyn. You don’t need to do that,’ he said with a wave of his hand. ‘It’s late already, who else did you meet while coming up here?’
‘Ermm… Only the security men and your secretary,’ she answered.
‘That should tell you that everyone has closed for the day already, so you don’t need the laptop, we are not about to work now, besides there has been no information from the police, neither did the number call again,’ he said. She closed back the laptop before he continued, ‘the Vice President was here today.’ he stated and paused to see if he had her full attention or if she would be excited at the news, she was listening but not with so much interest.
‘He asked of you and wanted to meet and speak with you.’ he continued, now he got her full attention. ‘I explained to him that you’ve not yet resumed fully but he asked that I should make you resume as soon as possible; this Monday preferably.’
Evelyn gave a light smile, which showed her indecision. She took her gaze away from Mr Sylvester who was staring at her face, waiting for a response.
‘I’ll resume on Monday,’ she replied, after thinking for less than a minute.
‘Good,’ Mr Sylvester smiled, ‘we’ll be paying you one hundred thousand naira for a start, is that okay?’
‘Yeah, nice.’
‘Cool,’ Mr Sylvester pulled out his drawer and picked out an envelope. ‘Here’s your appointment letter,’ he said and handed it over to her.
‘Thank you sir,’ she replied as she received the envelope.
‘I hope to have a great time working with you,’ Mr Sylvester said and adjusted his seating position.
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‘This doesn’t look so poisoned, contrary to the report’ one of the doctors in the lab said. All of them were behind a desk, observing some cells under the microscope.
‘But it wasn’t the ampoule containing the cure that the doctor administered,’ another doctor said.
‘We’ve not confirmed that yet,’ Dr Williams countered. ‘We need to confirm by testing the contents of the two ampoules.’
‘I have some documents describing the constituents of the liquid which was used to manufacture the cure,’ the Senior lab scientist said.
‘Do you also have the details of what they extracted from the liquid to make the cure?’ Dr Williams asked.
‘No sir, only Dr Tobi should have that.’ The lab scientist replied.
‘And who knows where in the world Doctor Tobi is right now?’
‘I’m right here sir,’ a younger voice said from behind, they all turned to look. Dr Tobi was approaching them with Inspector Ken.
The Doctors staring at Dr Tobi like people who had just seen a ghost made way for him to access the desk and observe the cell under the microscope.
‘Sir, is this the patient’s blood?’ Dr Tobi asked after a minute of careful observation.
‘Yes of course,’ the lab scientist was the one who replied.
‘Who administered the cure to him?’ Dr Tobi asked another question. The senior doctors kept staring at him awkwardly as they considered the question to be a stupid one.
‘No one administered the cure to him, that lab scientist was the one who injected him from an unknown ampoule and left after attacking the nurses.’
Dr Tobi stared blankly for a while, he bent to observe the cell again. He rose up after another minute, ‘the cure was what was administered,’ he stated.
‘Here,’ the lab scientist handed him an ampoule, ‘he was injected with this mixture.’
Dr Tobi stared at the ampoule, he tightened the cap and then turned it upside down to check the bottom. ‘This is the cure we made, I marked the ampoule under.’
‘And this is the other mixture, the one that was on the tray. The nurse said you were supposed to use this,’ another doctor said, handing to Tobi the ampoule full of a different mixture.
‘Where did they get this from? This is unnamed, I don’t know what is there. The cure was what was used, but it was administered the wrong way.’
There was complete silence for a moment, Dr Tobi went back to observing the cells under the microscope.
‘I have to go back to my patients now,’ the Doctor who had handed over the other ampoule to Dr Tobi broke the silence.
‘It’s okay doc, thank you.’ Dr Williams said. ‘I have to find a solution to my office door also.’
‘Your door has been opened,’ the Inspector cut in, ‘Dr Tobi was caught in there,’ Ken said in an accusing manner, giving Dr Tobi a cold stare, as if challenging him to deny.
‘I was locked inside your office,’ Dr Tobi said to Dr Williams. ‘A lady dressed in the renal department nurses’ uniform came to tell me you were calling me, she lied that it was urgent and about the operation.’
‘She wasn’t a nurse but was dressed in the renal nurses’ uniform?’ Dr Williams questioned.
‘Yes.’
‘How did you know that she wasn’t one of the nurses?’
‘She was with a gun, disguised with a wig on her hair too.’ Dr Tobi explained, ‘I don’t know how she got your access card but I believe she was sent to deceive me out of the theatre and she succeeded.’
‘Deceive you, but what for?’
‘To ki*ll the patient of course, that lab scientist, the disguised nurse all must be from Samantha Osman’s group.’ Ken cut in again.
‘But I don’t really get it,’ Dr Tobi said with confusion written all over his face, ‘why would they plot all that just to administer the cure to the patient?’
‘That you would help us in answering, that’s why I’ve been following you around. The police would need to ask you some questions. Let’s just pray and hope that it was really the cure that was administered and that nothing else was done to him.’
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‘So you never knew them right? Why didn’t you ask for the name of their organization?’ Dakolo questioned. Two of the journalists were seated in front of him under a tree in the hospital compound but far away from the main building.
‘We were more interested in the news and strategy that he and his colleague were sharing with us, that was of more import to us.’ the same journalist who tackled Dakolo earlier answered.
‘So did he tell you how he got the information?’
‘He said it was from a Doctor friend in this hospital.’
‘Dr Tobi right?’
‘He didn’t mention anything to us until he called that name here when we were questioning the senior doctor.’
‘And how did you guys get the information that there were officers here guarding Henry E.G?’
‘He told us all of that, part of the strategy was that we should request to see the police officer in charge when we get here and also request to see the most senior doctor and he knew that you were going to come, he told us that immediately you show up, we should all rush you like we did.’
‘Hmm… Did you ask him why he had this strategy?’
‘No, it sounded intelligent to us, so there was no need for questioning.’
‘So they gave you the strategy of gaining entrance, strategy of who to ask questions and also to come and meet me but they absconded during the process?’ Dakolo asked without expecting why reply, nodding his head gently and thoughtfully. He knew now how it was all planned. The lab scientist was the one behind it all.
He took out his phone, planning to place a call to the office and ask them to reach Government City Hospital in Capetown and collect more information about the lab scientist, now that he was a major suspect in a crime.
Inspector Clem’s call entered before he could dial the office number. ‘Inspector Clem,’ Dakolo said into the phone.
‘Sir, Henry E.G is safe. It was the cure that was administered to him and Dr Tobi has also been found.’
