Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Part Seven

Top secret

Classified information.

Chapter Seventeen

February 2008

(somewhere around the University of Lagos Campus)

Akoka,Lagos.

"Doc, I heard you wanted to see me" Darrell said the minute he entered the office of his employer, He looked at the grey haired man with wary eyes. 'What did he want this time?'

The man's eyes crinkled when he saw the wariness in the Darrell 's house.

"Miller, sit down. Where have you been all day, I've been asking your colleagues about your whereabouts all day. No one knew where you'd wandered off to, up to no good I guess" Doctor Mead said teasing Darrell.

Darrell sighed "I was working, I took on a third job yesterday. Stressful, but at least I get paid" Darrell answered the man who had now become more of a father figure to him than an employer.

"I guessed as much, you have dark circles under your eyes. I'm guessing you were awake all night" Doctor Mead observed.

"My second job at the bar takes up my sleep time, do you want me to do something for you Doc?" he asked rubbing his eyes sleepily. He wanted to go over to his apartment and sink into his bed, he'd been awake and working for almost twenty four hours now.

Doctor Mead took in his tired state again and wondered how one person could work so many jobs just to make ends meet. He noticed Darrell's impatience caused by his tired state and decided not to waste any more of his time. He cleared his throat and replied Darrell "Yes Miller, I need to discuss something with you. Have you at least had lunch?" he asked.

"Nope, I plan to do that when I get home" He said hoping Daria was at the apartment. These days he barely saw her, she was probably hanging out with her course mates. Daria almost never came home when Halal was absent, when he asked why, she simply said he worked too much and she didn't want to be alone in the apartment.

"I bet that girlfriend of yours has cooked up something special for you so I won't delay you , speaking of girlfriend...I haven't seen her in a while now. I thought she was done serving at Port Harcourt, what's that her name again Hallelujah?" Doctor Mead continued frustrating Darrell with his small talks.

"Her name is Halal" Darrell said a little harshly. "Isn't Hallelujah gotten from Halal?" Doctor Mead asked.

"Yes, but her name is Halal not Hallelujah" Darrell argued. "You're so stubborn Miller, it's practically the same thing" Doctor Mead argued.

Darrell didn't have the strength to protest so he nodded in agreement. "I'm really tired Doc, what do you want me to do?" Darrell asked.

"I need a representative" Doctor Mead said. He tilted his head to the side eyeing Darrell before he spoke again. "My friend in the states offered me a position at his hospital last week" he said.

"That's good, if you want someone to handle things over here while you're there, you know you can count on me" Darrell offered instantly.

"No that's not it Darrell, actually my wife doesn't want to leave Nigeria and I don't want to leave my wife. Look at me, I'm an old man, who will look after me if she's not there?" Doctor Mead asked rhetorically.

Darrell held his breath and waited for him to speak. "I trust you Darrell and I know I can count on you. If you remain in Nigeria, you will waste away. You won't even have enough money to marry that your pretty girlfriend by the time you're forty at this rate, you're better than those meagre job you get. That's why I'm sending you over there to represent me" Doctor Mead said.

"What?" Darrell started incredulously. "Is that a good 'what', or a bad 'what'?" Doctor Mead asked a smile playing on his lips.

If he wasn't speaking to Doctor Mead, he would have assumed it was a prank. He was going to the States?!

"That's not all, your accommodation and your travel arrangements will be taken care of. The invitation was extended to my wife and I so I told my friend that you were married. If you plan to marry Hallelujah, I suggest you do everything before July" Doctor Mead said.

"Wait, what?" Darrell asked still shocked. Everything seemed surreal, like it was his imagination coming to life.

"I said if you plan to marry Hallelujah, you have to do before July because you'll be travelling by July" Doctor Mead said.

"Halal, her name is Halal. And yes I plan on making her my wife" Darrell said trying not to show much excitement but he couldn't help it.

Everything was suddenly falling into place, he could marry Halal, secure a good job, a better apartment and he wouldn't have to work so much to pay Daria's school fees amongst other things.

"Make me proud Miller" Doctor Mead said and dismissed Darrell.

Halal was the first person he called immediately he left Doctor Mead's office but she kept rejecting his calls. He assumed she was busy and tried Daria's phone but hers was switched off.

He quickly raced over to the house in hopes of meeting Daria there, Halal was in Port Harcourt rounding up a couple of things and she wouldn't be back till Weekend. He simply couldn't wait to share the good news with someone. All his hard work was finally paying off, he still couldn't believe it.

The first thing Darrell noticed the minute he entered the one room apartment were the bits and bits of everything everywhere.

"Daria" he called wondering why the house looked so untidy. "It's not Daria" Halal said coldly entering the living room.

Halal's appearance was a surprise, she only dropped in on weekends and that was only if she had enough money to spare. Transport from port Harcourt to Lagos was quite expensive.

"Babe, I wasn't expecting you till Saturday" Darrell moved to her and pulled her into a hug. "How was your trip from Port Harcourt, did you take the night bus?" Darrell asked planting a kiss on her lips.

Halal pulled away nervously "I thought you were at work" Halal said. "No, I had an early shift in the morning , so I'm free now. I missed you" Darrell pulled her in for another kiss.

This time Halal pushed him away gently. "Are you okay? " Darrell concerned. "Yes, you just surprised me" Halal replied. Her entire mood was suspicious and Darrell briefly wondered what she was hiding.

He didn't wonder for long because when he got into the bedroom, he saw Halal's suitcase by the door. He eyed the suitcase for a while wondering why she'd taken it out of the wardrobe, seriously she was so odd today and cold but that didn't matter now. She was here and he could share the good news with her.

"Halal, you won't believe what..." Halal cut off his announcement with her next words. "Darrell, I'm leaving" she said. "Leaving to where? you only just got here"Darrell responded confused.

"No, I'm leaving for good. I'm leaving you" Halal said stiffly. Darrell walked over to her still confused, he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

"What do you mean?" Darrell asked his face mirroring his confusion. "I mean I'm breaking up with you and I'm leaving. That's why I came, I came to get my things" Halal said not meeting his eyes.

"You're breaking up with...Halal did I do something, is something wrong? I don't understand" Darrell tried to hold her but she moved back as if he burned her.

"What don't you understand? We've been doing the same thing for nine years, I'm tired and I'm bored. I want some excitement in my life" Halal said indifferently.

"Halal, wait let's talk about this. Let's not make a mistake here. I love you, I'll do anything for you, anything to make you happy. Just tell me what you want, what kind of excitement?" Darrell asked searching her face for something, anything.

He didn't understand why she was acting this way, why she wanted to leave him, why she was suddenly tired of him.

"Darrell you can't give me what I want, honestly you can't make me happy. I thought I was happy with the kind life that we lived, I thought I loved you but I was wrong. I'm in love with someone else now, I think going to port Harcourt has made me realize one thing. I was never in love with you, we were a mistake" Halal said.

Darrell felt like he'd been stabbed in the back "You're seeing another man?" he asked.

"Yes, I am and he's the one I love. I've been wasting my time with you, I can't continue pretending. I'm sorry" She said taking her suitcase.

"How long have you been seeing this man?" Darrell asked, he was seeing her in a whole new light now. He couldn't believe that Halal of all people could cheat or lie to him.

"Does it matter?" she asked breathlessly. Darrell's expression hardened "I want to know how long you've been cheating on me" Darrell said stoically.

"Well if you must know, I've been seeing him for a year now, we've been living together in Port Harcourt. Now that I'm done with my youth service, we plan to relocate to Lagos and get married" Halal said expressionless.

"You're going to throw away our relationship of nine years for a man you met last year?" Darrell asked trying not to sound hurt but he failed woefully. The hurt was evident in his voice, evident in his expression.

"He's given me everything you couldn't give me for the past nine years. Darrell, let's be real, this isn't working. I can't continue living like this" Halal said, her voice was cold, it was hard to believe she was the one speaking.

"Just stop beating around the bush and hit the nail already, I'm poor and he's rich that's it. You can go to your already made man, I won't stop you. I won't forget what you've said Halal, all these while you've been cheating on me" Darrell said harshly.

"Don't act like you haven't been busy yourself, I'm sure you're sleeping with other women after all you're not getting any from me" Halal threw at him.

Darrell scowled at her "Speak for yourself Halal, I haven't looked at any other woman since we started dating. Leave, if that's what you want, leave. Stay away from my sister, stay away from anything related to me. I don't want to see you Halal, I don't even want to smell you, just go" Darrell said angrily.

Halal sighed "Tell Daria I said good bye" she said. She picked up her suitcase and walked out of the room without a backward glance.

As Darrell watched her retreating figure, he wondered if he was still dreaming and nothing that he'd seen or heard today was real.

The Present

"That's what happened?" Daria asked searching her brother's face for hidden answers. "I know...it's hard to believe" Darrell said. Daria shook her head "No, I don't believe Halal would abandon you for money" Daria said shaking her head vehemently.

"I know it's hard to believe but it did happen, the funny thing is she actually left when things were starting to get better. I told her I was going to go abroad hoping she'd come back, I was willing to forgive her but she ignored every message" Darrell said.

Daria shook her head, "Okay, I've known Halal for years. I practically grew up with her and I believe there is no way Halal would abandon you because of your monetary status. I don't care what you say Darrell, Halal is not a gold digger" Daria said strongly.

"I didn't say she was a gold digger" Darrell frowned at his sister. "Well that's what you were implying. She didn't leave you because you were broke, Halal would never do that" Daria snapped.

Darrell sighed "It doesn't matter, I've moved on from that. There is something else I'd like to tell you about Halal" Darrell said focusing on the important matter.

"What's that?" Daria said curiously, Darrell seemed shaken and that worried her.

"The other day at the hospital, I was talking with Halal and she mentioned taking fertility pills, I felt it was ineffective because she could have been pregnant by now right? So I asked her for the pills and decided to send them to the lab" Darrell was saying when he noticed that Daria was looking a little uncomfortable.

"What?" Darrell asked impatiently.

"Ah...well, I'm not supposed to tell you" Daria said looking away from him. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything about my patients too, yet here we are. Spill it" Darrell said using his commanding tone.

"The fertility pills aren't effective because Halal and her husband haven't had sex since her miscarriage" Daria said playing with her wedding band.

"She mentioned that her husband was not always around, I just assumed that she meant they only had sex once in a while. She should have told me, I'm her doctor. How am I supposed to help when she's keeping secrets? I'm not making any progress here. If she and her husband are not having sex then what the hell am I doing? all my efforts are going into the trash" Darrell said livid.

Daria sighed "Darrell relax, I know you're her doctor but you're also her ex. There are some things she wouldn't feel comfortable mentioning to you" Daria reasoned.

"Well, the truth is even if she and her husband had been trying for a baby, they probably wouldn't have been successful" Darrell's shoulder slumped.

"What do you mean?" Daria asked curiously. "Halal has been taking fertility pills for eight years now, Conceive Plus but in reality it's not actually Conceive Plus, they are contraceptives" Darrell revealed.

"What? I don't understand, if she wants a baby desperately why is she taking contraceptives?" Daria asked.

Darrell took out two containers of Conceive Plus and handed it to Daria. "Open these, check the pills in it and tell them apart" he said and waited for Daria to open the containers and check out their contents.

"They're the same" Daria said comparing both pills. "Whoever did this knew that too, one of these containers contains the original Conceive Plus and the other is a brand of contraceptives that looks exactly like the pills in the Conceive Plus containers" Darrell explained.

Realization dawned on Daria followed by a large helping of sadness. "She doesn't know, she's been taking contraceptives because she thinks they're fertility pills. Whoever is doing this has been frustrating all her efforts" Daria said feeling tears well up in her eyes.

"Who could do something so terrible, who would do something like that to Halal?" Daria asked sniffing.

"Someone close to her, probably the husband or someone who has a beef with her at the hospital. I would say Victoria, but I don't think Victoria is smart enough to do that. It could be anyone, anyone who is jealous of her at the hospital, maybe her husband is dating someone at the hospital and the person is trying to get her out of the picture. I'm not a detective but I know whatever Halal's problem is, it's from the hospital or her husband and not from her" Darrell said moving closer to his sister.

He rubbed her back in hopes to comfort her but she wouldn't stop crying, he wondered how she would take the next one.

He'd been heartbroken when he'd found out too, the secret had been right under his nose. Well in his office actually, and if it hadn't been for that rat problem he'd had some weeks ago, he wouldn't have been able to find the evidence Doctor Femi had gathered before his death which from the looks of it now, could have been murder.

*

Some weeks ago, while he'd been on a night shift at the hospital, he'd heard a rat squeaking from behind one of the cabinets in his office. Darrell wasn't one to tolerate rats, so he'd proceeded to hunt down the rat with a sulfur spray. He'd almost turned down the office searching for the rat and had even almost gotten the rat when his elbow came in contact with a shaky rack of files that immediately tumbled down like a pack of cards.

He'd cussed long and hard and vowed that he was going to have his entire office fumigated the next day since he was unable to get the rat. Giving up his rat chase, Darrell had squatted and proceeded to pick up the files.

As he picked up the files, he realized most of them were Doctor Femi's personal research and he'd been wondering why he'd never seen these files before. The rack had been behind the cabinet, as if the late Doctor had been hiding them.

His eyes had finally narrowed down on one of the files, 'HALAL' had been written in bold, red letters on this one. He'd immediately remembered that Halal had mentioned something about Doctor Femi calling to tell her he'd found the cure for her problem before he died.

Curiosity had gripped him and he'd immediately gone through the contents of the file, the results had been heartbreaking.

*

"Oh my God, all these while she thought there was something wrong with her but it was those pills" Daria sobbed harder.

Darrell sighed and nodded "That's not all Daria, Halal's babies would have been perfectly fine if they had not been killed" Darrell said dropping the bomb.

Daria's head whipped up instantly "Killed, what do you mean?" Daria asked looking horrified.

Darrell took the brown file and opened it. "I've been thinking about it for the past few days and I've come to one conclusion. Doctor Femi had recommended those pills but she had gone to the hospital's pharmacy to buy the drugs, so it could be one of the attendants at the pharmacy. But Halal got pregnant eventually, so the person had to come up with another plan to get rid of the baby, which was to kill the baby immediately it was born" Darrell said.

Daria stiffened feeling goosebumps rise all over her body. "What? How's that possible, how did the said pharmacy attendant known the exact person to give the fake pills too?" Daria asked confused. The whole revelation was almost driving her insane, she couldn't imagine what it would do Halal.

"I wasn't at the hospital when Halal had both babies but from what I read in this file, the baby didn't die immediately. Her first baby was a girl and she died about fifty five minutes after she was born. When the baby was born, she was administered Amlodipine to slow down her heart rate till she stopped breathing. Halal wouldn't have known that because she was sedated, her husband probably was also oblivious because he wasn't with who ever had attended to the baby. So immediately she woke up, she was handed a dead baby" Darrell explained trying to put it gently to his emotional sister.

"The same thing happened with her second child, that one was a boy. The third one, that was miscarried was no accident at all. Doctor Femi wrote here that she had complained of not being able to sleep at night, so he prescribed some mild sleeping tablets for her but instead she was sold Mifepristone for inducing abortion disguised as sleeping pills at the same hospital pharmacy. Doctor Femi didn't write down the names of the people he suspected, that would have helped a lot. He was going to give this file to Halal, that's why he called her that night, not because he discovered she had a problem, but this. Someone must've heard his phone call, panicked and killed him. Quite skillfully, his autopsy report showed that he had a heart attack. What if it was induced? his snooping was noticed and he was murdered" Darrell said dropping the brown envelope on the coffee table.

Daria got up from the chair feeling light headed, "Darrell, don't you see? Who ever is doing this isn't a common nurse, or pharmacy attendant. Not even just a midwife, it must be some one with authority, maybe the owner of the hospital. Darrell if any one finds out what you know, you will be killed" Daria said wrapping her arms around her brother.

"I can't lose you, so for now just shut up and do your job. Recommend a different hospital to Halal, cook up some excuse. Just make sure she doesn't know this yet, she could go crazy. Darrell you have to make sure she doesn't go to that hospital for anything again, do you realize they could kill her too? I'm surprised that they haven't already. I can't lose you two" Daria sobbed.

"I wasn't going to tell her or anyone else, I have to find out who is responsible for the killings without putting anyone in danger. That's why I need you to be closer to Halal more than ever, I want you to help me find out if it's the husband. I'll deal with the hospital part. I trust Felicity but I don't want to endanger her and have her killed like Doctor Femi. And you're right, the person responsible for this is someone who has authority in the hospital. I tried to check the names of the people who were signed in at the hospital on the night of Doctor Femi's death but that night and that date has been removed off the register, I also tried to check the hospital records for those in the labour room with Halal during her last delivery but I found nothing" Darrell said.

Who ever was responsible for this had the right connections, the person was skillful but Darrell couldn't fathom the person's motives.

"Just stop snooping please, let's get Halal to safety first" Daria begged.

Darrell nodded, he wanted to protect Halal too but how could he protect her when he didn't know the real source of the threat?