“Would you confirm Mrs. Florist sought counseling for a miscarriage?” Evie asked.
His expression turned grave. “I can’t answer that. But, hypothetically, it’s an area in which I have years of clinical experience. My wife and I have suffered three miscarriages during our marriage, so she’ll occasionally join me for a conversation should that be helpful in a particular situation.”
“Did Susan and Scott Florist ever meet your wife?”
A slight smile. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that either.”
“Did Joe Florist ever play video games while here, using one of the computers on these premises?”
Richard looked surprised at the question, but nodded. “Yes, both as a reward for his participation and as a diversion when one or both parents needed to be otherwise engaged.”
“In your twenty-plus years as a counselor, you have met with numerous couples. Would you consider Scott and Susan to have had a solid marriage? Communication was good between them, the marriage stable enough to go the distance?”
“I can’t answer that in particular, although I can say in general I found them less in need of counseling for marriage issues than most.”
A tap on the door heralded lunch. Evie pressed the pause button on the recorder and didn’t resume questions until they had begun the meal and pleasantries about the food were behind them.
Evie turned on the recorder again and asked a softball question. “When did they first come to you as clients?”
“Scott Florist had been a client since considering a job change to become a police officer, and he saw me on various occasions for other matters. Some of those visits were in accordance with the professional requirements of his workplace, as you would be aware, Sheriff. Susan Florist was a client since shortly before they were married and seeing me on various occasions for matters mostly of a personal nature. Their son, Joe, was a client since age four, seeing me also on various occasions for a variety of matters. I believe I can say without violating patient privilege that death is hard for a child to understand, and that his grandmother, as a matter of public record, passed away when he was four.”
Evie nodded at the lengthy answer, gave Gabriel a look he easily interpreted. Too much information could be as informative to a cop as hearing a “no comment.”
“Will you confirm all three family members were here at your office the Wednesday before they disappeared?”
The doctor hesitated briefly. “Yes. And before you ask the next question regarding why I didn’t call the police with that information, let me first add a caveat and a caution.
“Please don’t assume that on any particular night when they were at my office that they were necessarily here for a session themselves. The Florist family had friends among others who are also my clients. The partner of a cop, a best friend, even an ex-wife are all relationships that can have clinical significance. It’s not uncommon for such individuals to be invited to join a conversation. One or more of the Florist family were here when it was not specifically an appointment for them.”
Evie smiled, nodded. “Right, understood and appreciated. And now, why didn’t you inform the police they were here the evening before they disappeared?”
He spun his fork a couple of times, watching it turn, then looked back at her and answered with obvious care, “I believed at the time of their disappearance the information about this appointment was listed in both Scott and Susan’s calendar, and the authorities would be in touch in due course during their investigation. When time passed and I was not contacted, I came to believe Scott and Susan had concealed these sessions and the trail was not apparent in their records. It was a dilemma I chose to resolve by honoring my clients’ wishes as defined by their own actions. If they didn’t choose to tell someone about the sessions, they had reasons, which I had to deem valid. I admit to having wrestled with that decision many times since.”
Gabriel decided to ask the next obvious question himself. “Do you believe you have information relevant to the Florist family’s disappearance?”
The doctor looked over at him, laid down his silverware, and steepled his fingers. In a rather overdramatic way, the man could convey significant gravitas merely with his body language. Gabriel found it useful also to realize the man couldn’t lie any better than a child. For an instant it looked like the doctor was going to attempt to sell them a no, but he clearly changed his mind and simply thought for a while before proceeding.
He gave a rueful smile, then replied, “Patient confidentiality severely restricts my answer, but I do wish to be as helpful as I can. It won’t do either of us any good if I say no at this point. Allow me to attempt a reply in a broad way. I know of events that occurred, which affected this family and caused them to seek my help. I don’t know if those events had any bearing on their disappearance. I want to say they did not, but the fact is I would not be surprised to learn they did.” Like a professor in a lecture hall, he held up a restraining finger when Evie started to respond.
“I’m willing to say this: I have closely followed the news regarding the search to locate the Florist family. I have read newspaper articles and seen television coverage. I can say with some certainty that the names of individuals which came up in conversations with the Florist family are known to the police. Names I heard referred to during our sessions I have read about in the newspaper.” Another pause. “A caveat that this would be adult individuals. Names of children which might have come up, friends of Joe, for example, would be more… nebulous, shall we say?” He turned to Evie. “Now, please, your question.”
She cleared her throat. “Are the events they discussed with you-which led to them coming to see you, or which they otherwise brought to your attention as being of concern to them-also known to the police?”
He considered her question for a good long while before answering. “In broad parameters, based on newspaper accounts, I would say yes. The details discussed might be different from the news account, or might not have been mentioned in the news account, but the events themselves were in the news. The private matters I am aware of affecting this family have not become public, and I am severely restricted in what I can say about those.”
“A two-hour-plus session every week seems like a significant amount of time, even for a family. Wouldn’t one hour be more standard?”
“They traveled a distance. If it’s not practical to see a patient two or three times a week, then adding time to a single session is more efficient than trying to make clinical progress in simply one hour a week.”
Evie tilted her head slightly, pondered that, and began to lead him with how she worded her next question. “You believed clinical treatment in this instance required a two-hour block of time every week?”
“Yes.”
“In your clinical opinion, was two hours a week still necessary after two years?”
“Yes.”
She looked over her list of questions, then at the doctor. “Did you then, or do you now when looking back in light of events, consider any member of the Florist family a danger to themselves or to others?”
He hesitated. “Let me answer it this way. The law requires I report someone who is a present danger to himself or to others. I did not report anyone.”
“Do you have knowledge of a member of the Florist family committing a crime?”