The Diamond Syndicate

“Yes.”

“What type of medicine did the doctor practice, Ms. Brown?”

“He was a chiropractor.”

“How did the doctor’s patients feel about him?” Prosecutor Swartz walked back over to the table and faced Estelle.

“Everybody loved him.”

“Did he have many patients?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How many would you say?”

“I . . . ” Estelle hesitated as she tried to gather a number in her head. “I don’t rightfully know.”

“You kept the doctor’s books and handled all of his important paperwork, and you don’t know how many patients he had? OK, just give me a figure off the top of your head. It doesn’t have to be exact.”

“OK. Um . . . maybe about sixty.”

Prosecutor Swartz picked up a piece of paper and looked at it. She then looked at Estelle. “Dr. Ricci had ninety-three patients, according to the files confiscated from his office.”

There was a buzz in the courtroom, and reporters continued to jot down notes on their pads.

Estelle was nervous. She’d known the number of patients the doctor had. She just couldn’t think right. She looked around at the sea of faces in the courtroom and became giddy. She looked into Diamond’s face for the first time and suddenly felt like she no longer wanted to testify. She remembered Diamond’s threat.

“With that number of patients, I would say the doctor was well liked. Would you say that the doctor deserved to lose his life?”

“Objection, Your—!”

“Sustained!” Judge Fritz said before Kyle could give his

reason for the objection.

Judge Fritz knew Prosecutor Swartz well. He was on a couple of court cases with her before and knew how she operated.

“How did you feel when Diamond Reed came to work for Dr. Ricci?” Prosecutor Swartz asked.

“I felt fine.”

“Did you like her?”

“I didn’t have any reason not to like her.”

“When did you first realize that illegal activities were taking place in the doctor’s office?”

“I didn’t.”

“So are you stating that you never told anyone that you had a feeling something wrong was going on and that you didn’t trust Diamond Reed?”

“No, ma’am.” Estelle shook her head.

“Ms. Brown, are you telling me that you didn’t give a statement to the police stating such?”

“I never said that.”

Prosecutor Swartz walked over to the table and shuffled through a few papers. After finding the papers she needed, she approached the bench.