THE STORY 2 EP.2

 

EPISODE TWO

THE STORY 2

BY UMORU PRAISE

*(Flashback)*

(The first mention of plan A)

(Jeremy)

“Let’s make a deal then” Quinn sounded so bold like her deal could convince him for sure into giving in to their request

Tony allowed Quinn do most of the talking, as she always had her way when she was determined into getting what she wanted. And if Quinn said she would make Jeremy give in into having an interview with them, then he should just relax.

Being an only child of two wealthy parents, she was used to having her way and hers was accompanied with a whole lot of determination, so if his best friend had a goal, there was no turning back.

“I am a doctor, I don’t make deals. You can go meet the lawyer” Jeremy responded into a hostile tone

“I would have if I could, but I guess we are stuck with each other aren’t we” Quinn responded back with Jeremy’s tone “but for us not to get on each other’s neck more quickly than this, why don’t we just help ourselves out here and then vanish from each other’s faces”

Jeremy could read her determinant expression explicitly. She was just going to keep coming back if he doesn’t give her his audience

Quinn noticed his tensed up face eased off a bit so she continued but in a soft tone this time “my deal is pretty simple. Just give us your time in exchange for whatever you want in return, we will give it to you” Quinn said with a sense of pride in her tone noticing his raised brow “as far as its moral” she decided instead to finish up with the last sentence.

Jeremy scoffed, hesitating a bit

“Quinn right… I don’t need your deal, but there is a condition. I’ll talk at my ease, when I don’t want to talk at any moment, you respect that, and I’ll call you when I want to talk.”

“Fine”

“But you would give us answers when we get curious or ask questions” Tony clarified

Jeremy only raised a shoulder without a word nonchalantly

(Malia)

“Malia I have a proposal”

Eli beckoned on Malia to give her a listening ear, When she left the two standing at the front of the law edifice

“Just hear us out please” Alex spoke also as Malia halted

Malia signaled for them to go on with a facial expression

“Whatever you want, whatever you need that would ease you up to have a seat with us, we will do it

Malia was surprised at their kind of proposal. 

“You want me to mention anything, so you could have an interview with me...?” Malia repeated the words in a rhetorically mocking manner again “You are ready to give anything, because you are curious about my life?”

It sounded absurd to Malia but not to the two that stood in front of her

“Yes” Alex responded plainly

Malia bursted into a soft laugh “wow”

Eli felt a bit of shame with the way Malia laughed at them but she calmed her rage and decided to talk it out “if we want to be journalist, in our case, we have to go out there and get information as quickly as possible, so that other teams won’t beat us to it, therefore we give what we have in exchange for info but in your case, you just seat under an air conditioner and people come running to you pleading for you to hear them out, giving what they have just for your audience and defense.”

“You benefit from people like us, how different are you” Eli decided to stop talking as Malia’s expression changed

“I can ask for anything right… fine” she hesitated and continued “I want you guys to help me find someone. A lady to be specific.”

“Okay…”Alex lit up, “any info about her that would help us trace her for you?” he asked

“During our interviews, I know there would be some point I would have to talk about her, so when we get there. I’ll tell you”

*****

It was easy for the crew to trace down the doctor’s abode at the center, but they couldn’t all go because it was a flight’s journey. Although Quinn’s parents were rich, but their wealth had a bit of limitation.

 The crew sent off Quinn to the doctor’s home alone, but Quinn’s parents paid for two flight tickets unknown to the crew…

*****

The next day the crew assembled together at the center awaiting Quinn’s report on her travel.

After every member settled down with either a drink or snack in their hands, Quinn began

“Let me just cut the long story short before Eli, start complaining like before” Quinn gave her the suspicious look

Eli chuckled “you better”

“To be honest, the doctor didn’t look quite devastated like I imagined him to be with everything going on, he seemed to have accepted things the way they were.”

“You know people like that, could have more than one source of income” Jeremy said from his corner “the expression he might have given you doesn’t mean the down fall of his hospital didn’t affect him, it might have even been his main source of income, but these days, people no longer depend on one source of income, they extend their hands. And it’s a good thing” he stocked a snack into his mouth

“Very true” Tony concurred

“Well… he welcomed me into his home after introducing myself. I went straight ahead and talked about Frank

*****

“Frank Ambrose, he was a good kid. Although he seemed to live a sad life, but I could see that sense of humor in him” Dr. Badmus said sitting on his couch.

The house seemed quiet to Quinn and her companion. It seemed no one was home except the doctor. Probably his kids were at school and his wife at work. Quinn assumed.

“I regret not doing that autopsy myself. My workers…” Dr, Badmus tried to figure out something in his thoughts “they came to me personally and told me they could handle things. I had confidence in them, it wasn’t their first time regardless. My daughter was not feeling well that day, so I took the opportunity and went home and left them in charge.

“What made you conduct another autopsy test since you were sure the first one was a verified one?”

His parents said they wanted to give him a calm and quiet burial. But regardless of how they tried to hide the death of their son, the news had already escalated. I don’t know why they still decided to keep the burial on a hold, since a lot of people knew already but before the burial commenced, I felt like taking a look at the body. It did hurt me to see him die, I never knew about his illness, probably because he was never home as much as the other”

At first, I thought the skin irritation on his body was that of the many symptoms of Melanoma, but when I saw it for the second time, the difference was explicit. His body had swollen into a reddish…a reddish” Dr. Badmus drew symbols on thin air trying to describe what he saw but he couldn’t find the words to use. “It wasn’t a good sight to behold. They were like boils that would pop at any minute…” the doctor decided to stop his description after realizing the facial disgust and discomfort the young ones had

“How was he poisoned?”

“Have you heard of the poisonous hemlock plant?”

He asked them both, waiting for a response but they both nodded negatively

“Well that’s the source of the poisoning. I don’t know how he came across it. Those plants are rare, at least to me, I have never seen one, although, I came across it in the pages of a book once and they are said to grow in the commonest areas”

Quinn gazed at her companion with a troubled expression

“Oh God!” the doctor exclaimed as he glanced through the wall clock “I have to go pick my kids”

“You want to go out” Quinn’s companion finally spoke up

“I don’t care, because regardless of what happens, I am a father, and regardless of what people think about me out there, I have a responsibility and my family matters more to me than anything”

To be continued…

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