Chapter 27
“It’s great to hear from you”, Sandeep said on the loud speaker when he received Brad’s phone call, “I could meet you anytime today, but let me try to reach Wilhelm before we set a time. I think it would be helpful to have him there, I’ll call you back shortly”. And he did just a few minutes later, telling us to bring our samples in the afternoon.
When we got into the lobby of the Cross Cancer Institute my attention was attracted by a trim looking fellow talking with the lady at the front desk.
“I am from the press”, I heard him say, “And I would like to speak with a doctor to ask few questions about your center”.
Then Brad tugged my arm and told me we should get going, and I lost part of the conversation. Whatever the guy had said had bothered the lady at the front-desk, who was clearly alarmed now.
“No, this is absolutely impossible”, she was saying.
“There have been quite few deaths lately, perhaps more than usual”, the fellow insisted, “and all I want to do is have few words with the doctors who were in charge of the patients who passed away recently”.
At this point Brad had also noticed the dispute, and we were both listening when the elevator’s door opened and a doctor walked out.
“Good afternoon doctor, I am from the press”, the journalist began, “I am wondering if you would have the time for few questions”.
The doctor looked at the guy with a perplexed expression, but before we could hear the rest of the conversation Sandeep walked towards us,
“Sorry I kept you waiting”, he apologized, “I wasn’t sure if you would come upstairs or if you would wait for me here”.
“Oh, we just came and were about to come up and find you”, I assured him.
“So, you tried the polymer on other samples and they are also swelling”, Sandeep said once the elevator started moving up.
“Yes”, I confirmed, and then explained that the strange behaviour the unknown bacteria seemed to have was common to all the samples to which the polymer was added.
“Ehm, this is very intriguing”, he commented pensively, “Let’s have a chat with Wilhelm, he’s upstairs waiting for us”.
Wilhelm was a man who gave out the feeling of dryness. He was bold with little reddish-white hair on the sides of his head, and he looked at us with blue myopic eyes through a pair of rounded glasses balanced on his bony face. He shook hands with us without smiling.
“Sandeep told me about your case”, he started, “I think we can analyze all your samples and compare the compounds with find. I also understand that you found unknown bacteria, the presence of which is interesting and can shed light on the results we obtained last time”.
His voice was professional and calm, and shaded the uncanny feeling his appearance conveyed without completely dissolving it.
“You mean the presence of compounds which resembled the metabolic activity of bacteria?”, Brad asked.
“Yes, for instance”, he replied.
“And what about the toxins Sandeep mentioned last time?”, I asked.
Wilhelm was silent for a moment, and I had the impression his features were perturbed by my question for the shortest moment.
“We cannot say much about that yet, the concentrations were too low. If you leave the samples with me I will investigate further and call you as soon as I complete the tests”, he said, then asked, “Do you have some more polymer with you? I would care to duplicate the analyses on it, to ensure that the results are reliable. I would be able to complete the analyses in a couple of days”.
I said we did and thanked him and Sandeep profusely for their help.
When we got downstairs the journalist was gone, and I wondered if someone had decided to take him somewhere to answer his questions after all or if they just kicked him out.
“It was weird, no?”, I told Brad.
“The journalist, you mean?”, he asked.
“Yeah, what he was saying about the fact that there had been a number of dead patients…I’m going to keep an eye on the local news in the next days, maybe they’ll say something about it”, I said.
“I must admit the episode was odd”, Brad replied.
“And what about Wilhelm?”, I asked
“What about him?”, Brad echoed.
“I don’t know, he is a bit spooky”, I said.
He shrugged, “Don’t be so sensitive, he’s just a guy and all we want from him are some results”.
“Ok”, I conceded, comforted and annoyed at once that Brad was as always matter of fact and chill about everybody.