"I didn't understand a word of that, " Derila said impatiently. "My snake bit him while he was in the middle of drawing blood. As the poison did not enter into the bloodstream right away, I assume that it wouldn't show up in his toxicology report."
"That's not important." Zayn waved a hand impatiently. "Didn't you say that the symptoms will appear tonight? Will he die?"
"No, he wouldn't. As members of the medical profession, we have a code of conduct to save lives, not end them. Otherwise, I would have done away with him the day your house was set on fire. Eliminate loose ends, you know."
"What will the symptoms be?" Zayn persisted.
"It'll look like the flu at first, then as it gets worse, it'll…" Derila's eyes narrowed with suspicion all of a sudden. "Why do you ask?"
"Help me dial a number, will you?"
"Pay me first!"
In Yavawi, Carla frowned as she pressed the phone to her ear. "What? Boris took a blood test, you say?"
"That's right, " Naya replied. "I had him watched closely. The report came back clean."
"Of course, it would." Carla began to panic. "It was a ploy between me, Thompson, and Jamal to falsify his report to see how he would react if he thought he had been poisoned. It's the only way that
Thompson would be able to see that he's a fraud. I did that to drive a wedge between him and Newton. Last night I had even left a smudge of green dye on his brow and made him think it was a symptom of his poisoning. He was frightened enough to head straight for the hospital in Fairlake to get tested, but Newton stopped him. It didn't take long for him to try again, only a day after."
"So that's what happened, " Naya said. "I had thought that Newton really did poison him."
"I'm sure that Newton would have already found out by now that Boris went and got himself tested. He must have let him go to let Boris see for himself. My instigation has failed, it seems."
"Not necessarily, " Naya said mysteriously. "What if he really is poisoned?"
"What do you mean?" Carla asked dubiously.
"Somebody ran into him at the clinic, " Naya said carefully, "and had their snake give him a little nip, so…"
"Could that be Derilo?" Carla asked, shocked.
Naya merely coughed in response.
"Has Derilo contacted you?" Carla demanded.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Lierger. I'm not at liberty to say. All I can tell you is that things are looking better. Rest assured."
"Could it be Zac-"
"I have another incoming call, Ms. Lierger. We'll talk later."
Before Carla could complete her question, Naya had already hung up on her.
Carla thought hard about the news she had just heard. Derila is too proud to have contacted Naya to inform her. It is more likely that Zayn was the one to have ordered the call to be made.
At that thought, her heart leaped with joy.
Zayn must be feeling a lot better to have been able to make that call. He'll be home very soon.
Without delay, Carla began to analyze the next stage of the plan. Now that Boris has been poisoned by Derilo, the poison would set in soon enough. I should poke at their already tense relationship.
Cheered up by that thought, Carla sent Boris a text: The toxins will start acting up tonight. Be warned.
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