The Alternative Temperament -2

CONTINUED FROM PART 1….

“How much do you know about Dr. Donald?” Detective Albert asked him, scanning the papers & handing them to Dr. Alexei for studying.

“I only know that he is a very good doctor having a good hand in Botanical Chemicals. Actually he was in the team that discovered the new fungi.” Dr. Alexei answered, as he scanned the papers. They were forensic reports, indicating the presence of a certain poisonous compound found in the body of the death patient & traces of the same compound were found on the surgical gloves of Dr. Donald, indicating that he had committed the crime of killing both the deceased patients.

Dr. Alexei couldn’t believe what he was reading. How could Donald do it? And for what reason? He reached in his pocket and took out the tablets.

“Did he say anything why he did that?” Dr. Alexei asked, as he gulped down the medicines with water. While doing that, he accidentally dropped another tablet from the blister packing.

“His past is actually a bit troubled with this organisation, doctor,” Detective Albert replied while observing Dr. Alexei, “Dr. Donald was not in good relations with Dr. Boris. He was detained and suspended a couple of times by the medicinal council almost 23 years back for falsely adding extra dosage in the medicines of some patients & for also altering the given type of treatment. Upon enquiry, he had told that this would heal them faster, but it affected their health, making them more critical.” The Detective showed him the past enquiry documents dated more than 20 years back. “However, Dr. Dmitry Zakharov intervened & solved the matter, but Dr. Boris was always against Dr. Donald’s presence in the organisation. He never wanted to appoint Donald on this project, but on Dr. Dmitry’s request, he was finally kept on this panel. He has lot of personal reasons to go against this organisation. Adding on, Dr. Donald did confess that he had threatened Dr. Boris a few times while working. Also,” the detective continued, “we have found traces of the altered compounds that were added in the plant samples in his medicine cabinets. All the evidences we have are totally against him.” As the Detective narrated events from the past, Dr. Alexei recalled an event during his early twenties where Dr. Boris was complaining to Dr.Dimtry regarding Dr. Donald’s actions.

“I need to speak to him….I don't know why he would do it. It’s quite shocking for us.” Shivering, Dr. Alexei said as he moved inside the enquiry room to speak to Dr. Donald.

Detective Albert was closely observing Dr. Alexei & his movements. Thinking something, he picked the tablet that Dr. Alexei had accidentally dropped, wrapped it in a paper & left.

“Dr. Alexei…now is the time to show that I have always conquered you, every time…!” limping on his left leg, he came inside & again injected the toxins inside the other patient’s syringes. Looking around carefully with his left eye blinking & limping, he exited slowly in darkness outside the medical observation room. He had cleverly switched out all the CCTV cameras in the vicinity.

However, the one on the far left of the exit corridor enabled with night vision caught his moments.

Detective Albert came out of the Psychiatrist’s cabin, engrossed deep in his thoughts. As he walked in the corridor thinking about his next move, he got a call on his cell phone. He answered it & as expected, his colleague was on the line, explaining him about the homicide of the other patient as well.

The Detective directly went to the D.Z.C.O.R., where a huge army of reporters were present, creating a breaking news about the failure of the recent discovery of medicines & how it caused the death of two innocent persons, who could have been treated well using the current medicine options available. As soon as Detective Albert entered, all the reporters surrounded him, firing questions one after the other. Detective Albert & his men walked past through them, pushing everyone & headed straight to the main conference room where all the panel of doctors were present excluding Dr. Donald, who was still detained by the police.

“Who could be the killer, detective?” Dr. Alexei asked the detective as soon as he entered. The whole meeting room silenced at this question.

“Our prime suspect, Dr. Donald is still detained. So who could do this?” Dr. Alexei continued.

“I’ll answer the questions. But before that, I would like to share some important information. “Turning to Dr. Alexei, he said, “Doctor, can you please tell us something about your past?”

Alarmed, as everyone in the conference turned towards him, Dr. Alexei never knew what to say. Without waiting for his answer, Detective Albert continued, “The current head of the panel of doctors at Dmitry Zakharov’s Centre for Organic Research, Dr. Alexei, had a very bad past. Orphaned at a very early age, he was staying at his uncle’s place. Tortured by him for every single matter physically & emotionally, the young Alexei started missing his parents. Continuous mental abuse & resultant trauma started causing panic attacks, anxiety & many other mental problems. Finally, one day…”

“May I know why is my past being announced publicly & how is it related to all the killings happening around…?” Dr. Alexei, agitated by the drama happening, interrupted the Detective.

“ I am sorry,doctor,but I need to explain many things before we proceed ahead on this case.” Detective Albert continued, "Finally one day, Alexei escaped out from his uncle's home and was roaming around on the streets. Deteriorating in health, he was admitted to a nursing home where Dr. Dmitry found him. Alone and ill, Dr Dmitry adopted him and trained him to be a good doctor. However, all the past mental abuse & all the torture that Alexei had suffered started taking a toll on his mental health.” As he explained this, he switched on a CCTV footage taken on a couple of days before the main presentation. All the cameras were not working, except the one which was located at the far left side of the corridor. It showed a person, limping and coming out of the medical room & then using a remote to start all the cameras.

“Can anyone present here tell me how was Dr.Dmitry Zakharov in physical appearance?”

“He was limping with his left leg & his left eye was not working…” one of the senior doctors answered.

Before anyone could cross question, Detective Albert almost screamed, “Do you want to know who committed all the crimes? Dr. Alexei did this….!” Pointing at him, the detective screamed, “Since the past 20 years, Dr Alexei has been inducing the altered compounds inside the plants. He modified all of the samples that were created in the past 20 years…! He not only induced poison in the plants, but also in the bodies of the two deceased patients….causing them to die….! He cleverly framed Dr Donald in this..but he is the real killer…!”

The entire conference room fell silent.

“You need evidences, right?” The Detective then removed a set of files from his bag. “I just met Dr. Samuels, a renowned psychiatrist in the city. Dr. Alexei has a serious mental problem. Upon enquiry, I found that he is under treatment with Dr. Samuels. You know what…Dr. Alexei is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder….!”

The entire conference room was shocked, including Dr. Alexei, who never knew about his illness.

“Since his childhood, Dr Alexei was adopted by Dr. Dmitry. Dr. Dmitry had suffered a stroke and his left side was paralysed. Dr. Alexei always considered him as the real icon & so he adopted all of his style of working. However, his mind could not forget all the mental abuse that he had gone through. Time & again, he had to fight all the bad thoughts away. Eventually, his mind then created another personality of his own, to escape away from all the bad thoughts & all the past mental torture. Dr. Alexei had this disorder since his early teens. Dr. Dmitry knew of it, but he kept it hidden from him & also instructed Dr. Samuel’s to provide medication. At first, this disorder was in control. However, the other personality soon started considering itself more superior than Dr. Alexei himself. After the death of Dr. Dmitry, the other personality became much stronger. It adopted the walking, writing & blinking style of Dr. Dmitry, as it observing him since childhood. It considered Dr. Dmitry as his guru & started considering itself more superior than all the others.”

“That’s absolutely Right…!” Dr. Alexei stood up. All the doctors were so engrossed in listening to the Detective that no one ever observed Dr. Alexei. Now he stood up, but his appearance was totally different. Limping with his left leg & blinking with his left eye, he started speaking , “I always considered myself more superior than anyone, even Dr. Alexei.20 years ago, Dr. Boris wanted all the credit of the experiment on him. The only option? I disengaged the brakes of his car. Dr. Donald was a good person to be framed, so I just used all his compounds to create the altered mixtures in the plants. Well…..” every time using his left hand, he pointed towards his left eye, “Damn this left eye…I couldn’t see the left side camera. Anyways, Dr. Donald was framed …but my main enemy is still Dr. Alexei.” Pointing towards himself, he replied, “He is still trying to dominate me. He is nothing compared to me. I destroyed his experiment, I killed those two people, I tried everything to defeat him, but still he is never accepting defeat. So……” he removed a syringe filled with a colourless liquid, “It’s better I finish him…Right now…!”

Saying this, with his left hand, he pierced the syringe straight on the left side of his neck. All the people present rushed to help him, but he had already collapsed on ground. Dr Alexei was immediately rushed to the medical centre & urgent treatment was started .

The news slowly spread in the entire city about Dr. Alexei & his disorder. The experiment was again restarted, this time using more advanced elements as compared to the ones used 20 years ago. This caused the time for fermentation to be reduced to 5 years. Dr. Donald was appointed as the lead doctor to look after the experiment.

“He’ll be fine….” Dr Donald assured the detective. “Sometimes our mid plays games with us & we ourselves never know that we are the players.”