++++
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.
++++
'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.
++++
'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 kill 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.'
__________
'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.'