Chapter 4

'Do I really need to be here?' Lillian Chester asked.

She had agreed to come into the police station, after arranging for one of the other mothers to pick up her daughter, Moriah.

She sat opposite Detective Garrett in the interview room.

'Yes, you do, Mrs Ch-Lillian.' Garrett spoke. Lillian Chester had asked that she not be called Mrs Chester and to only be called Lillian or Lily.

'Let's get this over with then.' She sighed, sitting back in the chair, and crossing her arms over her chest.

'I am aware that two of my colleagues spoke to you briefly yesterday morning?' He asked.

'Yes, they did.' Lillian replied, her eyes quickly flashed to the red light on the recording device before she looked back at Garrett.

'Relax, you're not in any trouble, I just want to know more about your husband.' Garrett spoke carefully. Lillian seemed to relax at this, and she laid her hands flat on the table.

'Are you aware of any allegations against your late husband?' Garrett asked, immediately knowing the answer to this as Lillian narrowed her eyes. He recognised this look, it was the look of someone caught up with someone who was in big trouble, and the person currently being interviewed knew nothing about it.

'I am aware that Peter would have one-night stands with women he met in bars.' Lillian spoke, 'What are the allegations?'

Garrett cleared his throat, 'According to his receptionist, he was inappropriate to his patients…his female patients.'

Garrett felt a pang of guilt as Lillian's face turned white as a sheet.

'He did what?' She asked, a tremble in her voice and Garrett noticed her hands shake a little.

Garrett nodded, 'At the moment we don't know the extent, but apparently some of the patients asked to be seen by another doctor whilst the others left the clinic.'

'Why didn't they just go to the police?' Lillian asked.

Garrett shrugged, 'I guess they were too scared that they wouldn't be believed, or he would deny it and make up an excuse.'

Lillian took a shaky breath.

'You said Peter wasn't the best husband?' Garrett asked.

Lillian gave a small laugh, and she shook her head, 'God no he wasn't.'

'Lily, do you know anyone who would want to hurt your husband? I mean we are looking at the list of female patients in his clinic and we'll be checking them out, but is there anyone you think could have killed Peter?' Garrett asked.

Lillian shook her head, 'No. We knew the same friends, I had my friends, and he had his friends…but I didn't meet any of his friends.'

'You say you shared the same friends?' Garrett asked.

Lillian nodded, 'Yes we did, they were lawyers, dentists, doctors…I can't believe he's done this.'

'Did he ever hurt you or your daughter?' Garrett asked.

Lillian nodded, her eyes became glossy, a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

Garrett looked at her sadly.

'Thank you for coming Rose.' Daphne spoke.

The red light shone on the recording device, Fred had just switched it on and began the interview.

Rose Coller sat opposite Fred and Daphne. She had dark hair and green eyes. She was of average height and thin. And she looked terribly nervous.

'I assume you are aware of what happened yesterday morning?' Fred asked.

Rose nodded, 'Yes, I know.'

'We just want to ask you a few questions, regarding Doctor Chester.' Fred spoke.

Rose shivered, 'Ok.'

'If you don't feel comfortable with the questions, you don't have to answer them.' Daphne spoke. Rose nodded, giving Daphne a small smile.

'It has been brought to our attention that Peter Chester behaved inappropriately towards his female patients.' Fred began, 'And we are aware of an incident regarding yourself.'

Rose nodded, 'Yes.'

'Can you explain it to us?' Daphne asked.

Rose shivered again, but she nodded, 'I…Damian and I have been together for a few years and we both agreed that we would have kids after we were married, but we had plans to travel first. We want to see the world. But we had a few drinks one night and ended up having unprotected sex, I got pregnant. We didn't want it. Is that wrong to say?'

Daphne shook her head, 'Of course not.' She said softly.

Rose continued, 'So I arrange an appointment at the clinic to get an abortion. I was seen by Peter. At the time I didn't care whether I had a female doctor or a male doctor, a doctor is a doctor in my eyes and as long as I get the help that I need, I don't care…I didn't care.'

'What happened?' Daphne asked.

Fred took notes this time. The two had agreed that Daphne would ask Rose the questions in case she didn't want to speak to Fred.

'I went into his office and I suddenly felt awkward. The way he looked at me just made me feel uncomfortable. He kept asking me questions that I never thought a doctor would ask me. He put his hand on my leg and he got too close to me, and when I pulled away he gave me a look and then began to make up excuses as to why he couldn't help me.'

'What did he say?'

'He told me "this is God's gift to you, and you should accept it", but I didn't want it! I was getting upset and he said if I really wanted an abortion, I would have to book an appointment in a few weeks, but I didn't want to wait that long. I asked him to just help me, he put his hand on my shoulder and asked what was in it for him.'

Fred stared at Rose. He had interviewed women in similar situations, he had interviewed men who had been threatened too. But he had never interviewed someone who had been blackmailed by their doctor. His mind was telling him it was hard to believe…he didn't want to believe it, but his heart knew it was true. He slid a box of tissue over to her and she took one gratefully, giving him an appreciative smile.

'I left. I ran out of his office. I'm surprised the door wasn't locked. I jumped into my car and went home. Damian was at home, he was supposed to be working the night shift that night so he was asleep during the day, but I told him what had happened and he was raging.'

Rose gulped, 'He snatched my car keys and left the apartment. I knew he had gone to confront Chester, the truth is I didn't want to stop him but I knew that if I didn't Damian would do something he'd regret. He came home about two hours later and said that he had "words" with Chester, and he had booked an appointment for me at another clinic in the city. I had an abortion the next day.'

'Rose-'

'I know you're going to ask me where Damian and I were the night Chester died, why else would you call me here? I can tell you that Damian was working nights at the museum, you can ring them if need to, Damian clocks in when he arrived and he rings me to let me know I am at work. I was at home with a couple of my friends, we were having a little party.' She held up her hand to the detectives, 'Damian proposed to me.' She smiled a little. 'After our wedding, we're going to begin our world tour.'

'Congratulations.' Daphne spoke.

'Thank you.'

Daphne looked at Fred and down at his notepad, there was nothing else she needed to ask Rose, but she knew that she would need to speak to Damian.

They let Rose go and called Damian in. He said the same thing as Rose and had proof that he had in fact been at work the night of Chester's murder.

And after the couple left, Fred contacted the museum and they told him that Damian had been at work the night of the murder.

Fred and Daphne returned to their office and spoke with Garrett regarding his interview with Lillian Chester, when there was a rapid knock on the door – Captain Silverman quickly pushed open the door, he looked angry.

'Did one o'you leak Chester's behaviour to the press?' He demanded.

The three exchanged looks, 'No.' Fred spoke.

'Why?' Garrett asked.

Silverman growled, 'Well someone has!' He pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed it to the three detectives.

The article the headline read MURDERED DOCTOR ABUSED PATIENTS

It was all over the news. When Fred and Daphne returned to their apartment later that evening, and Fred turned the TV on, CBS reporter Jane Brock was outside Chester's clinic, 'We have been informed of some very damming information against Doctor Peter Chester, we've had a report from someone who asked for their identity to not be revealed, that Peter Chester had been abusing some of his patients, and possibly his own wife and daughter.'

'How did they find out?' Fred asked, laying back onto the couch.

'Someone knows something, Fred.' Daphne spoke. She stepped away from the couch and went over to the kitchen where she pulled two glasses out of the cupboard, along with a bottle of whisky.

'And I'm gonna call Jane Brock in the morning and find out who that anonymous person is.'

'What if they don't have a name?' Fred asked.

'What if he or she gave a name, but asked that it not be shared?'

Fred considered that was a possibility. He went over to the kitchen and picked up his glass, downing the whisky.

'What do you want for dinner?' Daphne asked.

Fred shrugged, 'I dunno.' Then he smirked, 'We could-'

He was interrupted by a phone vibrating loudly on the table, it was Daphne's and she grabbed it, 'It's Silverman.'

She answered the call and put it on loudspeaker, 'Captain?' She asked.

'You two better get down to city hall!' Silverman exclaimed, 'There's been another murder!'