The mysterious woman bent over the papers, her eyes tracing each line with unwavering focus.
"That's it!" She whispered. "I'm beginning to see the truth!"
Though she was no physician, she understood enough to recognise that the records spoke of a life ended by chronic gastric disease.
The first sheet revealed the inpatient medical record, the principal diagnosis written in stark clarity, Acute Chronic Gastritis with Complications of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding.
Beneath it lay the code, ICD-10: K29.5.
Her gaze sharpened as she read the clinical notes :
- Severe epigastric pain, worsening after meals
- Persistent nausea and vomiting
- A marked loss of appetite
- Significant weight loss, six kilograms within a single month
- Haematemesis, the vomiting of blood
- Melena, stools black and tarry
She turned to the laboratory results, each figure a fragment of the puzzle :
- Haemoglobin: 7.2 g/dL, perilously low, a sign of anaemia from bleeding
- Haematocrit: 25%, below the threshold of normality
- Leucocytes: 13,000 /µL, raised, pointing to inflammation
- Platelets: 320,000 /µL, steady within the normal range
- ESR: 40 mm/hour, heightened, the mark of chronic inflammation
- Urea: 55 mg/dL, slightly raised, perhaps from dehydration
- Creatinine: 1.2 mg/dL, at the upper limit of normal
- Albumin: 2.8 g/dL, low, betraying malnutrition or long-standing inflammation
- Helicobacter pylori IgG: Positive, the bacterial culprit of chronic gastritis
- Faecal occult blood test: Positive (++), hidden blood within the stool
Meanwhile, the report of the gastric endoscopy lay stark upon the page.
The mucosa was described as hyperaemic, reddened and inflamed, with erosion spread across its surface.
An ulcer was noted upon the minor curvature of the stomach, measuring precisely 2.1 centimetres, with clear signs of active bleeding.
No evidence of tumour or foreign mass was found.
A biopsy had been taken, and the histopathology declared chronic active gastritis, marked by a dominant infiltration of lymphocytic and eosinophilic inflammatory cells.
The mysterious woman read on with unwavering attention, each line deepening the weight upon her chest.
She drew a slow breath, the tension pressing against her ribs.
The medical evidence was far too precise to have been contrived, and it spoke with undeniable clarity, Angelique had perished from the complications of chronic gastritis, left cruelly untreated.
Her brow furrowed. Though the records were meticulous, something jarred within them, the note concerning the prolonged use of NSAIDs without supervision.
"Why would it be written like this?!" She murmured. "Wasn't my husband a doctor?! How could it be without supervision?! That's most strange!"
She returned to the beginning, reading every word once more, before whispering her conclusion.
"It seems my husband never examined this part at all! He simply accepted the findings! His grief clouded his mind!" Her voice trembled with jealousy.
"Has he loved this second wife of his so deeply that he has forgotten me?! If I were in Angelique's place, if I died from such a disease, would he grieve for me as well?!" She continued, her words heavy with doubt, her anger unspoken yet burning beneath the surface.
The woman steadied herself, allowing the storm of anger and jealousy to subside.
From her small rucksack she drew forth a curious device, rectangular in form, resembling a tablet, and set it against the written record.
It was no ordinary instrument, but one fashioned to detect the slightest alteration in letters, every hidden trace within the text.
The device employed advanced technology, scanning and analysing each word, each line, uncovering inconsistencies in the structure of letters, the order of words, even the ink itself, all that might betray a falsification.
At the very passage she had found peculiar. The phrase 'use of NSAIDs without supervision', the device gave a sudden cry.
[BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!]
She started, then smiled, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
"My husband… At last I've discovered what you never knew!" She whispered, her voice rich with triumph.
She pressed the hidden button, and upon the screen appeared the original data concealed behind the phrase 'use of NSAIDs without supervision'.
"Here's the truth!" She murmured. "I'm uncovering what lies beneath the surface!"
The revelation was startling. The phrase itself was no genuine record, but the product of high level digital manipulation.
The words had been layered with nano letter encryption, a modern art of forgery in medical documents, so subtle that only such a device could expose it.
The technology worked by embedding a microscopic layer of text, superimposed upon the original words, using thermochromic ink and nano photonic particles.
To the naked eye the writing appeared perfectly ordinary, yet when scanned with a multi layer optical spectrum reader such as the one the woman possessed, the hidden layer became fully legible.
The words now displayed upon the device's screen were :
"Patient under the name Angelique Verania tested positive for a toxic substance at high concentration, not yet chemically identified!"
"Biological reactions indicate the presence of a synthetic poison based on experimental organophosphate compounds, resulting in systemic failure of the stomach and surrounding tissues!"
The woman stared at the screen, her eyes sharp and unyielding, "So… It means Angelique was… murdered!" She whispered slowly.
The poison detected belonged to the category known as Substance Zeta‑09, the code name for an experimental toxin once studied in secret laboratories, forbidden for its fatal effects within mere hours and its elusiveness, leaving no standard trace in conventional medical toxicology.
She was shaken, pity rising within her for Angelique.
Though jealousy had clouded her thoughts, she knew such a death.
Murder by poison was a violation of law and a transgression against divine command, condemned by every faith.
"My husband must know this truth!" She resolved, before carefully placing the crucial documents into her small rucksack.
She closed the little safe once more, choosing to ignore the long wooden chest that had earlier caught her attention.
With deliberate care, the woman left the warehouse and shut the door behind her.
Yet the mysterious woman remained unaware of the great wooden chest that lay in the shadowed corner of the warehouse.
She did not know that within it rested Zein's creation, a machine named after his wife, The Robot named Angelique, which had been listening silently to her every word.
Though dormant, Zein had designed the robot with an automatic recording system.
Its audio sensors remained passively awake, storing fragments of conversation into its hidden memory.
The technology, known as Auto Active Recorder, was embedded deep within its core.
It detected key words, 'murdered', 'poison', 'Zein's wife', and at once the emergency protocol was engaged.
The robot's eyes flared green, twin lenses glowing like watchful sentinels.
The system began its boot sequence.
"BEEP… BOOTING COMPLETE! MEMORY UPDATE DETECTED!"
Then, with a voice identical to the late Angelique, the robot spoke.
Its tone was flat, yet it carried a resonance that unsettled the silence.
"So… I was murdered???!!!"
The sound was sharp, filled with artificial emotion that mimicked anger and shock.
The Robot named Angelique turned its gaze towards the warehouse door, though it remained sealed within the chest.
"And that woman said I was my husband's second wife?! Then… is she his first?!"
A deeper expression formed upon its metallic face.
The green light in its eyes burned brighter as it spoke again, "I must discover everything! I must meet my beloved!"