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"Whatever the doctor says. Take some Tylenol, get plenty of rest, and, by the
way, lay off the buckets of champagne. They don't mix well with formaldehyde."
Mona was trying to keep Briggs calm, so I asked Ross Kehoe, "What did the
nurse say about Mr. Berk's death?"
"Only that she checked on him at about eleven a.m. He was complaining of a
headache and she put him back in bed for a nap. When she went in to bring him
some food an hour later, she couldn't wake him up."
"Did his physician "
"Yes, of course. The nurse called nine-one-one. EMTs arrived first but it was
all over. Joe's personal physician was here within the hour."
"You and Mona?"
Kehoe held up his hands. "Hey. Briggs called Mona to tell us about it and we
came over because of how Mona feels about Briggs. Joe and Mona in the same
room would have been a recipe for disaster."
"How'd you get along with Joe?" I asked.
Kehoe put his hands in the rear pockets of his jeans. "Which day of the week?"
"Didn't you work for him once?" Mike asked.
"That's right. I had no beef with Joe. He was good to me back then. No
surprise he didn't like to think of me marrying into the bloodline, but he
treated me fine."
Of all the people in the room and all those we had met in the course of the
investigation Mike seemed to get the most out of Ross Kehoe. Something about
his blue-collar background, the rough edges of his city accent, reduced what
Mike liked to call the bullshit factor. I imagine his appearance had changed
once Mona came into his life finer clothes, expensive suede loafers that he
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sported today, a stylish haircut but the basic bones looked as much like a
cop's as did Mike's.
"What'd you do for Berk?" I asked.
"Everything. Met him in one of his theaters. My old man was in the union you
know the way this business is. Joe thought I could do things I don't want to
blow my own horn but I was kind of a jack-of-all-trades, and I could deal with
his temper better than most."
"What did you do for him, exactly?"
"Stage crew kind of stuff, originally. A couple of years back, before I met
Mona, I was his driver. That's when we got kind of friendly. He even put me
into some investments. Some good deals that I scored on. Mona likes bling and
it got to the point I could buy it for her myself."
"Joe fire you?"
"Nah. I just left. It wasn't gonna work with me getting so close to Mona."
While we were talking, I saw Mona Berk walk away from Briggs and start back up
the staircase, nodding to Rinaldo Vicci to join her.
I elbowed Mike, who followed after them.
Mona paused on the fourth step and turned to face him. "Once again, it's time
for me to tell you to get out of here, if you and your girlfriend don't mind."
Mike kept jogging up the stairs.
"Detective, where do you think you're going?"
"I just need to check out something in Mr. Berk's room."
She raised her voice. "Where's your warrant, detective?"
"Where's your standing?" he said to her as she tried to catch up with him.
"What do you mean, standing?"
Mike was at the top of the stairs. "This is Joe Berk's place. And since Uncle
Joe has gone to meet his maker, you haven't got any more legal right to tell
me to get out of here than Houdini does. You got no standing."
"Ross, is that true?"
Kehoe shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not getting into this one. I'm not a
lawyer, babe. I don't know who's right here."
"Briggs? Say something, goddamn it," Mona screamed to her cousin.
I dashed up the stairs to try to broker a deal but Mona raced past Mike into
Joe's bedroom and pulled the door shut behind her.
"Wait a minute, detective, will you? What do you want? What are you looking
for?" Briggs trudged to the bottom of the steps and held on to the banister.
"I want to be there when you're looking around my dad's stuff, okay? Don't you
think that's fair?"
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"Fairisn't in my vocabulary for you or for anyone else in your family for this
whole cast of characters. You're all so used to dealing with make-believe that
you don't know when to wake up and tell the truth."
Mike walked to the bedroom door and turned the knob. Neither one of us should
have been surprised that Mona had locked it when she went inside.
Mike kicked and pushed against it, but the heavy oak panels didn't budge.
Briggs climbed the staircase while Ross called out to Mona to be reasonable
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