TARASHA
EPISODE 20 A
**05.12.2030**
‘I don’t remember her name’ Dr. Hammed stated
for the umpteenth time
He was sweating in the air conditioned room
though he was putting on very light clothes, the
endless sessions of interrogation which started
on Saturday had begun to wear him out.
At first, it was the EFCC who started questioning
him on Saturday, their lists of questions never
seemed to end. Several of the officials would
come asking questions, most which he didn’t
have answers to, they would leave after they had
threatened him and didn’t get results, only for a
superior to to show up in a space of two to three
hours with another set of questions when he
thought the session had ended.
He had already sworn to return all the monies he
had stolen and kept in both foreign and Nigerian
banks after the officials at the EFCC cracked
him, so that his judgment in the court would be
tendered with mercy. He now wondered why the
police were after him again, he returned to his
house from the EFCC’s headquarters only to be
welcomed by a letter from the police criminal
investigation department inviting him for another
session of interrogation.
‘We heard that you had an unusual experience on
Friday after the Unilag girl visited’ An Inspector
whose name he found out to be James asked,
another dark skinned inspector was standing
close to him.
‘I didn’t have any unusual experience’ the man
countered.
‘But you slept off during working hours’ James
focused his eyes on him and smiled mockingly.
‘Or is that how you sleep off lazily at work?’
James pushed a button with his statement and it
was visible on Dr. Hammed’s face, he wished he
could land a heavy punch on James’ face but his
situation would only worsen if he acted stupidly.
‘Sorry sir’ James apologized calmly, ‘but we only
want to help you, if you just tell us the truth , it
would make our investigations easier and we
would stop disturbing you’
‘I slept off truly’ Dr Hammed finally gave in. ‘I
think I took something poisonous that day’
‘Did you found out what it was you took?’
‘No, I didn’t have the time. I’ve been very busy’
‘But was sleep the only effect it had on you?’
‘No’ the doctor stuttered for a while. ‘It came
with loss of memory, I didn’t remember some of
the things I did before I slept off’
‘Like two hours before you slept?’
‘Yes’ the doctor glanced at his face suddenly.
‘How did you know the duration of time?’
‘Calm down sir’ James said and stood from the
table he was sitting on. ‘Some of our men had a
similar experience like that recently. For how
long did you sleep that day?’
‘I don’t really remember, but I slept until
someone woke me when it was almost closing
hours’ He paused, licked his lips and continued.
‘But my eyes were still very heavy when I got
home that day, I slept off without even taking
dinner till morning the next day’
‘Hmm, maybe you were poisoned with the same
substance as our men’ James stated, he
returned to his former position on the table.
‘They slept from evening till early the next
morning when they were found’
‘Incredible! Someone must have played far on
me’ the doctor exclaimed, covering his lips with
his two hands.
‘You said you slept off after she visited?’ James
pushed further immediately, taking advantage of
the man’s new mood.
‘I don’t know when she visited, but everyone said
I didn’t come out of the office for several hours
after I went in with her’
‘You see, you need to remember her name so
that we can trace her, she might just be a very
dangerous criminal’ James emphasized.
Dr Hammed remained silent for some minutes, he
cracked his brain furiously for answers. ‘I saw
her name on a notepad she left in my office on
Thursday, I don’t really remember but I know her
first name was not a Nigerian native name’
‘Try harder sir, you can remember’
‘ I’m trying, I don’t just know what happened to
me. Since then I’ve been forgetting things very
quickly’
‘Well, our only hope for now is her name’
The doctor scratched his head, looking at James’
face, a feeling of regret suddenly took over him. He regretted the day he submitted his application to Derl pharmacy, the day he was promoted and started to work closely with Dr. Daniel Umaru and the day he succumbed to doing dubious deals with Dr. Umaru.
Now, he was going to lose all he had gathered all his life, both the ones gotten legally and illegally. The case had prompted EFCC to investigate deeper and they dug out several other dubious deals that Dr. Umaru had done, including his name in the ones he didn't evrn know about. There's no way out for him, the only thing he could get was a very short prison sentence and that was why he decided to give up all his assets.
'Her name is Samantha Osman, she's a 300level pharmacy student of university of lagos' Dr. Hammed recited suddenly, his face glowed as he spoke.
'Samantha Osman, 300level pharmacy student of Unilag' James repeated scribbling it into his notepad..
Tbc..
Previously on Tarasha Season1 Episode19b