GIDEON TELPAZ
49
"No! Don't send me away! They'll finish me off just as they did
the-"
She sank back, her hand over her mouth.
"Go on," 1 said.
"You don't know." She spoke faintly, and 1 had to lean closer.
"You arrived later."
"What did 1 miss?"
"After the flight of the doctors and nurses, only the severely
wounded remained. When the soldiers came in, 1 was hiding. They
didn't see me. They didn't know 1 was watching-" Her voice cracked,
and she broke off.
"What did you watch?" 1 pressed on.
She grasped my hand. "Please, don't let them take me away!
Please!" She grew hysterical.
1 injected a sedative and she quieted down. Suddenly her nose
began to bleed. She lost a lot of blood. 1 had to give her a transfusion.
1 went into my office and sent for Sergeant Bashan.
"You told me you were among the first to arrive here."
"Check."
"You told me you saw thirteen dead."
"Check."
"All of them were dead?"
"Very dead."
"What did they die of?"
"I told you. The Egyptian staff made off. All the doctors and
nurses. Nobody stayed to attend to them." He looked at me puzzled.
"How did it happen they all died the same night?"
Sergeant Bashan scratched the back of his curly head.
"Search me.
If
I'd been to medical school for six years, maybe 1
could give you an answer." Then, raising his voice, he said, "Besides,
who said they all died the same night? Not all of them. Some popped
off before. They needed urgent treatment. They didn't get it and
that was that. What's the problem?"
"Maybe it was the other way around?"
"How do you mean the other way around?"
"Maybe they died because of the treatment? Maybe' it was the
urgent treatment that finished them off?"
He glared at me. "Did that Arab girl put such crap into your
head? You believe her? She is delirious most of the time! What do
you expect after stuffing her with all those drugs!"
