Chapter 10

Daphne stood with her back against the wall.

The guard had died.

Fred sat on the bench opposite her.

Were they really about to do this?

Were they about to question a former police officer over the murders of three people?

Officer Danvers had been a member of the NYPD for so many years. He was there when Fred and Daphne joined as crime scene analysts, and when they became detectives.

He was Garrett's partner, back when Garrett was an officer, long before he became a detective.

Danvers had done an incredible job as a police officer up until a few years ago when he was fired.

He had taken the credit for the capture of a criminal, but really it had been Garrett who had caught the bad guy. Someone got it on a phone video, Danvers showed up minutes after Garrett pinned the guy down, after chasing him multiple blocks through the city and tackled him to the ground in front of loads of New Yorkers.

Then Danvers showed up, breathless. He took some of the credit for Garrett arresting the criminal.

When the video footage was leaked, he was forced to admit he lied and eventually the media attention became too much and so he was fired.

The higher-ups decided it looked bad to have a "lying cop", so they did what they thought was best.

Now they have a former cop, now a serial killer on their hands. How do they deal with that?

'Ok, so…ok…we just act as if this is just another criminal.'

'He is a criminal, Fred.'

Fred sighed.

Neither of them could get their heads around this. Officer Danvers, a serial killer?

It shocked them to find out he had lied about the arrest years ago. But a killer?

Garrett had been the one to arrive at George Blake's building and arrest Danvers along with several other officers who were all gobsmacked by the revelation that the murderer had been one of their own.

George Blake was taken back to the prison. He'd be questioned about the events at a later date – not by Daphne but another detective.

But right now, Fred and Daphne were getting ready to question former Officer Danvers about the murder of the guard, the "zookeeper", the First Mayor Deputy, and the doctor.

They were in a different room to when they had interviewed the doctor's wife, his receptionist and one of his patients.

This room felt more like a cell. It white walls – which could do with a splash of paint – a large two-way mirror, and a bright white light hanging above a metal table where Adam Danvers at handcuffed to the table.

Detective Garrett stood on the opposite side of the two-way mirror with Captain Silverman, a technician, and a criminal analyst.

Danvers slumped back into the chair as best he could when Fred and Daphne walked into the room, Fred held a file under his arm.

They sat at the table, Fred placed the file in front of him.

Thanks to the technician, they didn't need to have a recorder on the table with them. The recorder in the room would have been playing for a few minutes now, watching Danvers before Fred and Daphne had come in.

'Get on with it then.' Danvers spoke bitterly.

Daphne and Fred exchanged looks.

Garrett shifted uncomfortable as he watched the interrogation begin, Danvers was after all his former partner.

'Adam Danvers, you have been arrested for the murder of,' Fred quickly looked at the first page of the file, 'Officer Jasper Krystal, we will also be questioning you of the murder of First Mayor Deputy Jeremy Erikson, Frank Gleeson, and Doctor Peter Chester.'

'I did all of it.' Danvers spoke bluntly.

Daphne stared at him, she wasn't expecting him to admit it. She had wondered if he'd try and play innocent and come up with an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the first two murders, but now she realised that he wanted to take the credit for what he had done.

'You admit to that?' Fred asked.

Danvers rolled his eyes, 'I just said that didn't I, Jones. Yes, I admit it, I killed Chester, Gleeson, Erikson and Krystal.'

'Why?' Daphne asked.

'Ok, I'll admit, Krystal wasn't intended, but he was in the way. He was protecting a criminal.' Danvers eyed Daphne, 'Your daddy, Blake.'

Daphne moved uncomfortably, there had always been something about Danvers that creeped her out a bit.

'I wanted to kill George Blake for what he did to his employees, I suppose you could also thank me, Daphne, I was also doing it for what he did to your mother.'

'My mother's fine.'

'Oh, she is now, but she wasn't, was she? How long was she in the hospital? What was the dosage of her painkillers? I know he's your father, but there's a line that one just doesn't cross.'

Daphne cleared her throat.

Danvers was right.

Daphne recalled the night she sat in the hospital with her mother. Thalia had gone home to her baby, and Daphne stayed at the bedside until the nurse told her visiting hours were over. Daphne had given the nurse her number and told her to keep her updated, "anything happens, call me, I don't care what time it is", she recalled what she had said to the nurse, who she had probably frightened a little.

But the nurse called her at 2 AM and said that her mother had woken up in the night and asked where her daughters were.

Thalia went back the next day and she sent Daphne a text saying that her mother was drowsy, trying to keep herself awake and failing.

Daphne thought for a second that if her father had not been in police custody, would she have killed him?

'As for the other two, Erikson started a fire, demolished houses and built a moneymaker on top of it, and he covered the whole thing up. Frank Gleeson illegally bought exotic animals from the black market and charged people to see them in his "zoo". And Chester was a pervert, he also got away with his crimes.' Danvers explained.

Then he leaned forward, 'I have a list.' He hissed.

'A list?' Daphne asked.

'All the "bad guys" in the city that need to be dealt with.'

'You're not a cop anymore, Danvers.' Fred spoke.

'Which is probably a good thing. I used my resources to track down these guys' bad history and do a job that cops won't do.'

'We're cops, not murderers.' Daphne added.

'No, but Chester had been allowed to get away with what he did, so did Erikson. Your father could have killed your mother, but thanks to his money he could have walked away.'

Daphne didn't say anything.

But Fred spoke up, 'How did you do it?'

'I watched Chester, he was always the last one to leave and lock up the clinic. I watched him, watched him and watched him until one night I finally did it. He wasn't expecting it.'

'Who else is on your list?' Fred asked.

Danvers shrugged, 'Like you'd do anything about it anyway.' He muttered.

'Who else is on your list?' Fred asked again, his voice firmer this time.

'It's at my apartment.' Danvers spoke.

Fred narrowed his eyes at them. As soon as he was brought into the police station, Silverman sent a team out to search his apartment, they'd find the list.

Fred pressed no more about the list but decided to continue to question Danvers.

'You were a cop, how have you gone from that to wanting to kill people?'

'I didn't want to kill them, I had to kill them. This city is full of thieves and murderers, billionaires who think they can treat people the way they do and get away with it. Politicians are the same, this feels more like Gotham City than New York City. I saw what wasn't getting done, I saw what people were getting away with.'

'You killed people. You took the law into your own hands.' Daphne spoke.

'I did what needed to be done.' Danvers replied, 'What still needs doing.'

'We'll handle all of that. As a cop, you should know better.' Fred spoke.

'I'm not a cop anymore.'

'That doesn't mean you can do what you did.'

'Adam, what about the dolls?' Daphne asked.

The little dolls he had stuffed inside his victims' bodies.

'My calling card.' Danvers replied, 'I wanted you to know that it was the same person each time.'

'You wanted to be responsible for the murders?' Fred asked.

Danvers nodded, 'I was planning on turning myself in you know. After every name on my list was crossed off, I had no reason to continue killing.'

Daphne glanced at Fred as he took a deep breath.

'Ok, we'll take a ten-minute break, but I want to ask you more questions.' Fred said.

Danvers shrugged, 'I know how it works Jones.'

'They found the list he was talking about.' Garrett spoke.

Daphne sat on the bench outside the interrogation room, a bottle of water to her lips. Fred sat next to her with his head in his hands, he looked up when Garrett spoke.

'It was inside a book on his bedside cabinet. Chester and Erikson's names crossed off, George Blake was near the bottom of the list.'

'Anyone else on the list?' Fred asked.

'They didn't say, but we'll see it soon.' Garrett replied.

'You ok, Garrett?' Daphne asked.

Garrett shrugged, 'I dunno. He was my partner for years before he got fired, but we didn't stay in touch after he left the force, I haven't spoken to him a long time.'

Daphne nodded.

Captain Silverman came out of the room behind the interrogation room, he looked as tired as the others did.

'Your plan worked, Blake, I forgot to congratulate you on that.' Silverman spoke.

'Thanks.' Daphne replied with a small smile.

Silverman bowed his head, spoke again, 'Chapman from forensics called, they found the list along with various other items. They're taking all the photographs now and once they've categorized all the evidence they'll be back.'

'What other things did they find?' Fred asked.

'Weapons and other stuff. Along with a box of those dolls, Danvers hid inside the victims.'