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Well, said Robin, who had been Louis Markowitz s attorney as well as a friend, Helen went back and paid for those, so technically
Never mind, said Edward. Pull up your chairs, gentlemen. Robin, tell him what else you did to the place.
The four were seated around the card table, picking up the dealt cards and swapping mustard for mayonnaise, passing around meats and pickles,
slices of white bread and slices of rye. The caps of beer bottles were pinging off the table top as Robin delivered a lecture on the technical
intricacies of electronic lighting devices.
I bought timer lights for the lamps in all the rooms, he said as he threw down one card in hopes of drawing a better one. The lights go off and on
automatically at different times. I rigged the kitchen light to go off at 7:45. That s when Helen usually finished cleaning up.
Robin s really into this, said the medical examiner, dealing out Robin s card and two for the rabbi. The Harvard Law School graduate finally found
a set of timer lights with directions he could understand.
My favorite is the light that goes on in Louis s den after the evening news is over. It s that window under the gable, said Robin, pointing his beer
bottle toward the picture window of his living room to indicate the dark gable of the house beyond the glass. Now he picked up his new card and fit
it into his hand.
Charles had no way to know if Robin had bettered his hand any. The man s face gave away nothing. Yet everyone seemed to know what was in his
own hand. Edward laughed out loud when he raised the ante on a bluff. Folding his cards in humiliation, Charles stared out the window at the row of
blinking colored lights which trimmed the porch roof of Louis Markowitz s house. You know, for a moment, I thought Mallory had done it.
The lights? You mean as a gesture of sentiment? Edward was studying Charles s face over the tops of his cards, perhaps checking for signs of a
fever.
Charles nodded, and Edward looked to the ceiling. Charles, I m telling you this as a friend you ve got to let go of this strange idea of the
gunslinger with a heart of gold. I m a doctor, you can trust me on this one. She has no detectable heartbeat.
She loved Helen. Rabbi Kaplan perused his cards, and his sweet smile dissolved into the mask of the veteran poker player.
Okay, you got me there. She even loved Louis in her bizarre way. Edward folded his cards.
This speaks well for a heart, said the rabbi, laying down his cards next to Robin s splayed hand, and simultaneously raking in the first pot of the
evening. Robin, the electric menorah in the window was a nice touch.
Robin was dealing the next round of cards as Charles was asking, Was she raised in both religions?
Kathy has no religion, said Edward as he gathered up his cards. We think she works for the opposition.
The way you talk about her, said the rabbi. She s not a criminal.
The hell she isn t. Edward slammed his cards down on the table. Now she thinks I m going to steal for her. She wanted me to raid my
investigator s personal notes and give them to Charles. Too many leaks in the department, she says. You know she s just bypassing Jack Coffey.
Coffey should be grateful she works around him, said Robin. If he learned anything from Markowitz, he d never want to know what she was doing.
You re doing him a favor.
Edward pulled a fold of papers out of his back pocket and pushed the wad across the table to Charles. These are the investigator s notes. No
police request would have turned them up. If an investigator gives his notes to a case detective, he can wind up spending a few days in court
defending things that were just idle thoughts and speculations. It s a bit like reading a diary.
Charles was looking down on a straight flush. The other players followed Edward s suit and folded. How did they always know? The four quarters in
the pot might represent his only win of the evening. Did you find anything interesting?
Not really. She wanted a report on the death of Judge Heart s mother. I told her we don t send ME investigators for a natural death if a doctor s in
attendance. She said, look again. Turns out we did send a man out, but it was the mistake of an inexperienced dispatcher. I also found ER hospital
records for injuries to the old woman. Two broken bones were set in a one-year period. Old bones break easily. There s nothing solid there. Tell her
I m not going to move for an exhumation on Judge Heart s mother until she gets real evidence of foul play. You tell her that, Charles.
Robin Duffy put an envelope on the table by Charles s hand. That s the dirt on Eric Franz. It s a transcript of the court session for the traffic accident
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