Chapter 2

Doctor Chester and his family live in the neighbourhood of Chelsea, a wealthy neighbourhood in New York City.

Daphne and Fred parked outside the address they were given for Chester, they climbed out of the car and looked up at the townhouse in front of them and Daphne realised how much she preferred her and Fred's apartment in the Upper West Side.

They climbed the steps and Fred knocked on the big red door.

The door opened just after he had knocked on it like someone was already on the other side. It was a woman – most likely Chester's wife – she looked as if she were about to leave the house. A young girl stood behind her.

'Hello, sorry but this is a bad time I'm about to take my daughter to school.' The woman said hurriedly.

'Sorry Mrs Chester, but this is important.' Daphne spoke and she and Fred showed Mrs Chester their badges.

'Oh, what is it now?' She asked, her voice quickly growing smaller.

'It's about your husband, can we come in?' Fred asked.

Mrs Chester nodded, 'Come in.'

She pushed the door open wider and allowed the detectives into her house, she told her daughter to go upstairs and find her gym shoes.

'But I couldn't find them earlier.' The girl protested.

'Go!' Mrs Chester exclaimed.

Daphne and Fred exchanged looks. It was suspicious, it seemed that Mrs Chester had expected something bad, obviously, two detectives in her house isn't good, but they felt like she knew what they were going to tell her.

'Sit down.' Mrs Chester smiled as she led them into the living room.

The house was amazingly well kept, it was organised, tidy and the furniture all matched. The walls were plain cream walls and with little decoration on them, though some ornaments stood on the mantelpiece and some of the shelves. There was a large bookcase filled with books, all organised alphabetically by the author.

'What is this about?' Mrs Chester asked.

'Mrs Chester, I'm sorry to tell you but your husband is dead.' Fred said, 'There is no easy way to say it, but he was murdered in the parking lot of his clinic last night.'

Mrs Chester took in a shaky breath. Fred watched her body tense, and her hands shook as she pressed them firmly onto her thighs.

'He didn't come home last night, did he?' Daphne asked. Mrs Chester gulped, and she shook her head, 'No, he didn't.'

'Why didn't you report it when didn't come home?' Fred asked.

'I don't need this right now.' Mrs Chester spoke, and they all heard movement above them as the girl was looking for her shoes upstairs.

'Mrs Chester, please.' Fred said firmly.

And she sighed, 'I knew he didn't come home last night, and I didn't report it because it's not unlike him not to come home.'

'What do you mean?' Daphne asked.

'Were there problems in the marriage?' Fred asked.

Mrs Chester nodded.

'You don't seem upset as I thought you would have.' Fred spoke.

Mrs Chester cleared her throat, 'Peter would sometimes be violent to me and my daughter, most of the time he would raise his voice at us, but it was not nice to deal with. We had nowhere else to go, my parents died in a car crash a few years ago and I have no brothers or sister. My only choice was to stay with Peter. He wasn't violent all the time, but there were times when he was pleasant to be around.'

'Is that why you didn't report it when he didn't come home?' Daphne asked.

Mrs Chester shook her head, 'No, it wasn't unusual for Peter not to come home, he would sometimes go to the bar after work where he would meet single women.'

'And he would go into work the next day?' Daphne asked, Mrs Chester, nodded, 'I don't know who would want to kill him, but whoever it was-' She didn't finish her sentence. Daphne and Fred just watched her as she stopped herself, but it sounded like she was going to praise the killer.

'Would you come to the station to give a statement?' Fred asked he was surprised when Mrs Chester nodded, 'I will.'

'Mom, I found my shoes.' The girl said she was stood in the doorway with a pair of white shoes in her hand, nobody knew how long she had been standing there.

Mrs Chester smiled and she stood up quickly and went to her daughter, she put her arm around her shoulder, 'Thank you detectives, but I need to get Moriah to school.'

Daphne and Fred stood up, 'Thank you, Mrs Chester, we'll be in touch regarding a date for the statement.' Fred spoke.

'Please, call me Lily.'

Fred and Daphne sat in their office with Garrett.

Fred sat at his desk explaining the meeting with Mrs Chester to Garrett whilst Daphne stood looking out the window.

'Well, we searched the clinic, no sign of a break-in. Jessie Hancock said it was just as it was when she left last night.' Garrett spoke.

'You got the files we needed though?' Fred asked. Garrett nodded, 'They are being logged by evidence right now and I'll pick them up when they call, along with the clock in clock out sheet.'

'I wonder if Lily Chester hired a hitman.' Daphne spoke.

'Say what?' Garrett asked.

Daphne looked away from the window and faced the detectives, 'I said what if she hired a hitman. She was sure she didn't kill him, and she was almost about to praise the killer when we were there.'

'It's possible.' Fred spoke, 'She has a motive, and she has the money.'

'But does she have an alibi?' Garrett asked, 'You say she's got a kid? Would she want to be linked to murder if it meant losing her kid?'

Daphne hummed, 'Yeah she does, I'd like to think that she is not involved in this at all for the sake of her kid, but at the same time, I think she should be on our suspect list.'

The phone rang, Fred grabbed it, 'Detective Jones.' He spoke. He suddenly sat up and grabbed a pen before scribbling something onto the paper in front of him. Garrett leaned across the desk to see what it was, and Daphne looked over Fred's shoulder.

'Thank you, doctor.' Fred put the phone down, 'That was Green from the morgue, he found something, we need to get down there.'

'What did he find?' Daphne asked.

'He didn't say but he said it's important.' Fred said, 'Come on.'

He grabbed his car keys, and his jacket and Daphne and Garrett followed him out of the office.

'Detective Garrett!' A voice exclaimed as they walked through the corridor. Garrett turned around, 'Jennifer!' Garrett exclaimed, 'We're on our way to the morgue to see Green.'

'I found something interesting.' Jennifer said, she worked in filing and storing evidence, she was a short woman with light hair and big glasses.

'What is it?' Fred asked.

She presented Garrett with a sheet of paper, Daphne and Fred looked over his shoulders, 'It's the names of the patients who were seen by Chester. Highlighted in yellow are the ones who filed complaints against him, the ones highlighted in pink are the ones who requested to be seen by the other doctor – doctor Akin – and the one at the bottom highlighted in green is someone I thought you could check out.' Jennifer explained.

'Why?' Daphne asked.

'Her name is Rose Coller, last saw Chester back in March when she went to talk about abortion, her boyfriend Damian Wood went in a few days later and apparently was asked to leave the clinic. There are no notes in there as to why, but I thought you should know.' Jennifer smiled.

'Gee that's great work, Jennifer, thanks.' Garrett beamed, Jennifer smiled and blushed a little, 'My pleasure detective. Detectives.'

She turned away and quickly returned to the evidence room.

'Wow that was nice of her, 'Garrett spoke as he folded the paper in half and tucked it into his pocket.

'I think someone has a little crush.' Daphne smiled.

'What? I don't have a crush on Jennifer, I just said that it was nice for her to bring this information.' Garrett spoke.

'Dude, she has a crush on you.' Fred said. 'Oh.' Garrett said.