Read Boystown 7: Bloodlines for Free Online

Levine-Berkson was a lot of things but she was not a lesbian.” The distain she threw onto the word lesbian suggested she thought sapphic affection was a far worse crime than killing your husband.
    “People have friendships. People have business relationships. People even have relatives. Was this Emily woman any of those?”
    “I’m sure I don’t know.”
    “All right. Is Kimmy Crete there? I’d like to talk to her.”
    “Kimmy doesn’t work here anymore. And that’s it. I’m not saying anything else. Goodbye Mister… I’ve forgotten your name. Don’t call back.” And with that she hung up on me. I was left with an unsettling thought. How exactly had Madeline hurt the people she worked with?  
    I smoked a couple of cigarettes, finished my very cold coffee, and dialed Nan Dotson. According to Melody she was a neighbor of her sister’s in Skokie where the Levine-Berksons lived. The phone was answered and someone said “Hello.” I thought it must be a child since the voice was high pitched so I said, “Hello. I’m calling for Mrs. Dotson.”
    “Speaking,” the child said.
    I forged on. “Mrs. Dotson, this is Nick Nowak, I’m working with Cooke, Babcock and Lackerby on Madeline Levine-Berkson’s case.” That was a mouthful.
    “Yes.”
    “I understand that you’re going to testify in support of Ms. Levine-Berkson.”
    “Yes, I am. Absolutely.”
    “So you know her well?”
    “Well? I wouldn’t say well . I mean, our kids know each other. She’s a good neighbor.” Madeline was going to need more help than someone saying she’s a good neighbor.
    “And her husband? Was he a good neighbor?”
    “I guess. He was…” She hesitated. I could almost hear her thinking that she’d gotten in over her head.
    “He was what?”
    “Sneaky. He was always coming and going at strange hours. Not that that means anything. It was just…different.”
    “Do you know anything about the woman he was having an affair with?”
    “I thought I just had to say that Madeline was nice.” Somehow her voice managed to sound even younger.
    “So you do know who Wes was having an affair with?”
    “No. I don’t. I mean, I might. I’m not sure. I think I saw her. Once. I have an image of him with a very tall, very thin, dark-haired woman. But I can’t really remember when I saw them together.”
    “You’re sure it wasn’t Madeline. Doesn’t she have dark hair?”
    “Yes, I know her hair is dark. Underneath. She always dyes it blond. Besides, she’s short and a little, well, chubby around the hips. This woman was rail thin.” Then she added, “My husband is going to be so mad at me.”
    “Why is that?”
    “This has been really hard on him.”
    “Has it?” I could see how it was hard on Madeline. How it was hard on her kids. How it was hard on her family. And especially how it was hard on Wes. But I didn’t exactly see how it was hard on their insurance agent. “Your husband sold them a policy?”
    “He feels bad about the things he had to say. They were true. But he felt bad anyway.”
    “I wasn’t at the trial.”
    “Oh, God. They made it look all wrong. Madeline and Wes just wanted to protect their children. That’s why people buy insurance, isn’t it?”
    I had no idea why people bought insurance. I had none. Still, I made a reassuring sound, “Mmhhmm.”
    “Anyway, I’m hoping that I can make up for what he said. At least a little.”
    “But your husband’s mad about that?”
    “He just wants it to be over.”
    “Did Madeline ever mention someone named Emily Fante?”
    “Who’s that?”
    “No one important. So, Wes Berkson came and went at odd hours. Can you tell me more than that?”
    “I don’t know what you’re asking, exactly.”
    Neither did I. I was fishing. “You heard a noise late at night and looked out the window and saw Berkson coming home late. Is that the kind of thing you mean?”
    “Sometimes late at night, sometimes in the middle of the day. It never made any