Eli Posted February 22, 2008 Report Posted February 22, 2008 Chapter 11 As he sat down across the table from Robbie, Peter couldn’t help thinking about Clare and Dr. Jacobsen. For all he knew she could be talking to Eve’s brother or sister right now. ”Your story has been confirmed, Robbie,” he said to the still scared and confused man in front of him, ”And we will be charging you with stealing drugs from a hospital.” Robbie nodded. ”I understand,” he said, ”But you no longer think I killed Tash and Josie?” ”You never had a status as a suspect,” Peter said, ”But it is correct that any reason we had to believe that you were the one to perform the lethal injection is now weakened. However, we would still like to know why you stole morphine.” ”I already told you it was for Tash,” he replied a little too fast. ”Why would you do that when Tash had all the morphine she needed, Robbie?” Peter asked, and he could see from the look on Robbie’s face that he knew they didn’t believe him, ”We know the morphine wasn’t for Tasha.” Robbie swallowed, and Peter could tell he was about to crack and tell him the real reason. ”I... I can’t tell you,” Robbie slowly said, ”It was for... personal purposes.” ”Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you say earlier that you had never consumed a substance that wasn’t prescribed to you?” Peter said, feeling they were getting closer to an explanation, ”You know lying to the police is concidered a criminal offence?” Robbie nodded. ”I never used it,” Robbie said, ”I didn’t steal the morphine with the intention of consuming it... Well...” ”Please continue,” Peter instructed him, ”The longer you wait, the more it will be to use against you when the question of punishment for stealing the drugs is brought up.” Robbie swallowed again, and he had tears in his eyes now. ”I stole the morphine with the intention of having a way out if I couldn’t bring myself to telling Tash I wanted to leave her,” he said, and tears were streaming down his face now, ”It was selfish, it was cowardly, but I did it. I wanted to have the morphine in case I couldn’t live with myself for what I was about to do.” Peter was shocked, of all things he hadn’t expected this. ”You stole the morphine with the intention of... Of committing suicide?” ”Possibly, yes,” Robbie replied, and he was struggling to control his voice as he said it, ”Is this going to go on much longer?” ”I just have a few more questions for you if you are up for it?” ”Sure,” Robbie nodded, ”A few more.” Peter looked down at his notes, he felt numb from Robbie’s shocking confession, but knew the interview had to go on. ”Do you still have the morphine?” he finally asked when he managed to pull himself together. ”Yes, it’s hidden in an old fireplace that hasn’t been used for years, in my home outside Canberra.” ”Did Josie Russell keep any of Tasha’s medication when you came back to Summer Bay?” Peter continued, and he knew this could be their breakthrough. ”No,” Robbie replied, ”All of Tasha’s medication was in a bag in the suitcase we shared.” ”Thank you, that will be all for now,” Peter said, and turned to the recorder again, ”It’s now 3.45 PM, Monday June 23rd 2010.” *** Dr. Jacobsen stared at her, like he didn’t understand. ”Patient information is confidental, Miss Brown,” he said, softly, ”I can’t tell you whether Josie Russell is a patient of mine or not.” ”Firstly it’s Detective Brody,” Clare replied coldly, she didn’t like the tone of the doctor, ”And secondly we are investigating Ms. Russell’s death, if you don’t tell me erything you know I could have you charged with sabotaging our investigation. You could lose your job and go to jail.” The way she made it sound like she was talking about grocery shopping obviously scared Dr. Jacobsen. ”Josie Russell is an old friend of mine,” Dr. Jacobsen said, ”She was never a patient of mine until she unexpectedly dropped by four months ago.” ”What did she want?” Clare asked, and enjoyed how scared the doctor seemed to be of her. ”She wanted me to do an unofficial test of her to find out why she was feeling tired and had a loss of apetite,” Dr. Jacobsen replied, ”But she wanted me to assure her the test results wouldn’t go in to any medical record.” ”Why would she do that?” Detective Brody asked, but she thought she already knew the answer. ”She said she didn’t want anyone to find out if something was wrong with her.” Clare nodded. ”Did she pay you?” she asked. ”1000 dollars,” Dr. Jacobsen said, ”But there is no way I would have done it if she hadn’t been an old friend.” ”So, what did you find when you tested her?” Clare asked, skipping the lecture about abusing his license to perform medicine. ”I found that she was sick,” Dr. Jacobsen began, ”I told her the diagnose would officially have been ALL.” ”ALL?” Clare repeated, ”And that is...?” ”Acute lymphoctic leukemia,” Dr. Jacobsen replied, ”Josie had leukemia.” ”She had cancer...” The detective muttered to herself, ”How bad was it?” ”ALL mostly happens to children,” the doctor explained, ”But it can happen to adults as well. I told Josie that with chemo and radiation she could have between a year and fifteen months left to live. But she refused to take the treatment.” ”How long left to live did that leave her with?” Clare asked. ”I estimated between eight months and a year,” he replied, ”And I prescribed her morphine as she refused to take the treatment.” ”How much morphine did you prescribe?” The doctor took a deep breath. ”As much as I could without anyone asking questions,” he said and paused, ”...And then I gave her twice that prescription, I gave her everything I had in my office as well.” Clare couldn’t believe what she was hearing; even though she had threatened to charge him he sat here and told her how he had broken pretty much every single rule in the book. Did he really expect her to just let him get away with this because he told the truth? ”I have one more question,” she said, ”What is your relationship with Eve Jacobsen?” ”I have never heard of her,” Dr. Jacobsen replied. Clare’s phone rang, and she picked up. ”Clare, I have checked Dr. Jacobsen, and I can’t find anything to indicate that there is a connection between him and Eve,” Pia’s voice said, ”They’re not related, and I can’t find anything they have in common other than the name.” ”Thanks, Pia,” Clare replied, ”That’s what he’s claiming as well.” She hung up, and quickly opened the door before she turned back to Dr. Jacobsen. ”Dr. Adam Evan Jacobsen, you are under arrest for abusing your license to perform medicine and violation of your restrictions as a doctor,” she said as two male officers entered the room, and handcuffed Dr. Jacobsen, ”You have the right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you. Now if you would be so kind, please let my team escort you out of here.”
Eli Posted February 25, 2008 Report Posted February 25, 2008 The chapter after this one is the last one. Chapter 12 Even Pia had to admit Clare had done some pretty good work with Dr. Jacobsen, but still no one really understood what had happened to Josie and Tasha. ”Is there any chance that any of the other guests attending the party would have had time to go upstairs between Robbie and Martha?” Clare asked as they were reviewing the evidence they had so far, ”There could be more than 50 possible suspects we haven’t even looked at yet.” ”No one knew what room they were in,” Peter replied, ”So it’s not likely, even though Robbie left the door unlocked when he went back to the party.” ”I’m sorry, but I still find it hard to believe that Robbie had nothing to do with this,” Clare said, ”He was obviously very close to both the victims, and he was in that room only minutes before they were found. He even argued with Josie right before he went up there!” ”Well, I am arguing with you right now,” Pia replied, ”That doesn’t mean I’m going to kill you and Peter afterwards! What’s more a discussion than an argument with one of the victims, doesn’t prove that Robbie Hunter killed two women, one of them his wife! There is no history of drug abuse, no history of domestic violence, and if Robbie wanted to get his hands on Sodium Thiopental he could easily have done that. We already know he took the risk of stealing from the hospital.” Clare muttered something to herself. ”What did you say?” Pia asked sharply, ”I’d prefer it if you’d say things to my face instead of muttering them to yourself, thank you very much.” For a small, skinny woman, Pia could be pretty scary, even for the brave Detective Brody. ”I just said that I think you give up too easily. Just because Robbie Hunter didn’t lie about what he stole doesn’t mean he couldn’t have stolen Sodium Thiopental earlier,” Clare replied stubbornly, ”For all we know he could have gotten it from a cabinet only he and a few other nurses and doctors –” She suddenly froze like she was a DVD and someone had hit the pause button. ”Dr. Jacobsen,” she suddenly said, looking pale and shocked by her own words, ”Dr. Jacobsen had access to Sodium Thiopental.” Pia gasped and Peter closed his eyes for a second. ”He gave it to Josie,” he said, ”I bet if you ask him, he will tell you Josie paid him to get her Sodium Thiopental.” ”I...” Clare began, she was obviously still numb from realizing what major detail they had missed, ”I need to speak to Martha Holden...” *** Nervously Martha sat down and looked at the detective in front of her. Clare hit record and read out the date and time as well as their names. ”Martha,” she then said, hoping this would be the key to everything, ”You showed us a letter Tasha wrote to you where she said her only reasons for living was Josie and Robbie, how did this make you feel?” ”A... A bit relieved I suppose,” Martha replied, obviously she had expected a different question, ”At first I thought it was horrible that she spoke like she wanted to die, but really all she said was that she finally realized she had something to live for.” Clare nodded, so far everything seemed good. ”Did it make you jealous that Tasha didn’t mention you as a reason to live?” ”Not really,” Martha said, ”We hadn’t seen each other more than two times since she left Summer Bay four years ago, and I knew that Robbie and Josie had been there for her every day since that.” ”What do you think Tasha would do if she lost Robbie and Josie?” Clare asked, and she could see the question made Martha uncomfortable, ”Do you really think she would have killed herself?” ”I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s impossible,” Martha admitted and swallowed, ”She was really depressed after losing Ella, and her life was turned upside down. I... I think she meant what she wrote.” Clare nodded, the answers were exactly what she had been hoping they would be. ”And Josie knew this?” Martha nodded. ”Yes, Tasha told it to her like she wrote in the letter, I’m sure of that,” she said, ”Tasha would never lie about something like that.” ”Thank you for your time,” Clare said, with a short nod and a smile, ”We’ll be in contact if there is anything else.” *** ”I have good news for you,” Pia said as soon as they came out of the room they had been monitoring the interview from, ”I missed the beginning of your interview.” Clare raised an eyebrow. ”Why is that good news?” she asked. ”Because I had just been to talk to Dr. Jacobsen,” Pia said with a smile, ”He admits to selling Josie Sodium Thiopental, and he says there is a box missing from his office to prove it.” Clare couldn’t help smiling. ”This means we’re only one small interview away from calling a press conference,” she said, ”Am I right, Peter?” Peter smiled as well. ”I’ll tell Stella to make sure the conference room is ready,” he said.
Eli Posted February 28, 2008 Report Posted February 28, 2008 This is the last chapter, so thanks for reading this, it means a lot to have readers Chapter 13 ”In the light of the recent investigation we would like to inform you that no one will be charged with murder,” Detective Brody read out from the sheet she had prepared for the press conference, ”Is that an okay way to start?” ”Yeah, seems fine to me,” Peter said, ”What else are you planning to tell them?” ”We tell them exactly what happened,” Pia said, ”There is no one or nothing in the case we need to protect now that we know Josie was the murderer.” ”I’m still not sure if I understand why she did it though,” Clare shrugged, ”Seems like an extreme thing to do.” ”Not really,” Pia said, ”She didn’t want Tasha to go through any more pain than she already had. Josie knew Robbie was planning to leave her, and she knew she was dying.” ”She could have just told Robbie she was dying, and he might have stayed though,” Clare suggested. ”Not really,” Peter said, ”How could she know that Robbie wouldn’t leave Tasha after Josie was dead? Her passing away sure wouldn’t have made things any easier for her.” ”So basically she killed Tasha to spare her from any more pain, and then she killed herself to get it over with,” Clare summed up to herself, ”I bet she didn’t want to let the cancer get her.” ”And she had probably been staying off morphine for some time,” Peter said, ”It wouldn’t take more than a few days for it to get out of her system, and that’s why we were unable to find any traces of it in her blood test.” ”We were probably wrong about the crime scene as well,” Pia added, ”I bet Tasha died on that bed and the scene wasn’t rearranged at all. Josie could easily have given her the injection and told her it was morphine.” ”There is one thing that still doesn’t make any sense to me though,” Pia said as Peter grabbed his bag and was ready to leave, ”Why wouldn’t she give us any clue of what happened? Why wouldn’t she just give us the truth, it wouldn’t matter to her when she was dead anyway?” ”That I guess we will never know,” Peter said and opened the door, ”It could be she never thought about it, but personally I think that maybe she wanted to punish Robbie for wanting to leave Tasha. She probably had this planned for months if you ask me; she probably decided to go see Dr. Jacobsen because she had just found out that she was one of the only reasons Tasha wanted to stay alive.” Pia nodded. ”I guess you are right,” she said. ”Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Peter said, ”I can’t wait to be done with the press conference so we can move on from this case.” *** Robbie had no idea how he had ended up back home. The last thing he remembered was sitting in that empty, plain room with Detective Brody staring at him with her cold, hard, but yet encouraging look. "Did you know anything about Josie being diagnosed with anything that would affect her everyday health?" he remembered her asking, and he remembered not understanding what she was talking about. "I... I'm sorry," he had replied, completely lost, "What do you mean?" Detective Brody had looked at the recording device, and for a moment Robbie could have sworn she was about to smile. "Robbie," she had said calmly, "Did you know Josie had cancer?" After that it was pretty much a blur. He had finished the interview, but he had no idea what he had told her, or how it had ended. All he knew was that the killer was dead, and it had been the one person besides himself Tasha had trusted. Robbie sat down and sighed. The feeling of emptiness and loneliness had never been stronger, but at the same time it was a relief. And maybe, he thought to himself as he buried his face in his hands, maybe this was how peace felt. *** ”So, I guess we should be opening the champagne shouldn’t we?” Clare asked, with a weird smile, after Peter had left, ”Now that we’ve officially solved our first crime together as a team.” Pia laughed. ”Yeah, I guess so,” she said. ”Look, I’m sorry I accused you of protecting Robbie Hunter and trying to sabotage me,” Clare said, and sat down on the desk, ”I tend to get a little carried away in cases like these.” ”You’re only human,” Pia replied with a smile, ”And in the end we were both wrong, so I probably shouldn’t have been so determined to prove you wrong all the time.” ”Maybe that’s what makes us such a good team?” Clare asked, ”The fact that we always try to eliminate each other? After all that was how we managed to eliminate all the theories that didn’t make sense.” ”Yeah, I guess you could be right about that,” Pia laughed, ”Maybe we’re both horrible detectives alone, and great together?” Clare laughed as well. ”I just wish we could get along as well,” she said, ”I know we don’t always agree on stuff...” ”Try never,” Pia muttered, and Clare smiled. ”I want you to know I really like you though,” she said, ”You’re very passionate about what you’re doing, and I admire that.” ”That’s what I admire in you too,” Pia replied and got her keys from the bag as they started to walk out of the office, ”I don’t always agree with you when it comes to our jobs, but I admire how you always stick to your theory until it’s proven to be wrong.” Pia closed the door behind them and locked it. ”Speaking of champagne...” she said as Clare was about to head for her car, ”I was going to ask you earlier, but I forgot. My fiancé and I decided to have a small comittment ceremony instead of a big wedding, it’s next Saturday... I just wanted to know if you and Peter wanted to come?” ”A comittment ceremony?” Clare asked, sounding like she was very unsure what to say to this, ”It’s not a suicide pact, is it?” Pia laughed and looked at Clare’s dorky expression and innocent smile as she tried not to laugh as well. ”No,” she replied, still laughing at Clare’s question, ”It’s definitely not a suicide pact!” Comments
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