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“You think she’ll back him up?” Beau asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Even if she thinks he killed John?”

Archie said, “She won’t believe he killed John.”

“Now, there, you’re probably right.”

“Would you mind removing your T-shirt?” Swenson said in the next room.

“Why should I?”

“Why should you mind removing your shirt?”

Archie glanced at Beau who sighed.

“No, detective,” Monig said with exaggerated patience. “Why the fuck should I remove my T-shirt for you? What are you looking for? This feels like entrapment.”

“I think you know what we’re looking for Mr. Monig.”

Monig got that smirky look again. “Like I said, I fell on my ass going down the steps on Sunday morning so, yes, I have bruises. If that’s what you’re hoping for. They don’t mean anything given that I got them before whatever happened whenever.”

The back and forth went on for a few minutes with Swenson lobbing routine questions and Monig batting them back easily. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

Archie, not so much. Swenson was inadvertently revealing more information than he was gaining.

“Jesus.” He massaged the mounting ache between his eyes.

“Okay. Calm down,” Beau muttered. He opened the door, stepped into the hall, and a moment later, opened the door to the interview room.

The energy in the room changed instantly.

“Oh look, it’s the varsity team!” Monig exclaimed to Swenson.

Archie couldn’t tell much from Swenson’s profile as he stared up at Beau, but Beau gave him an approving nice job nod, and Swenson’s body language seemed to relax.

Beau pulled a chair out and sat catty-corner to Monig. “Afternoon, Jon. How’re you doing?”

“Considering that I just got dragged down to the police station for questioning?”

Beau’s smile was cheerful, his tone unruffled. “We know this is inconvenient and we appreciate your cooperation. We just want to verify a couple of points in your original statement. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Verify away.” Monig folded his arms.

He was an actor, so he had to be conscious of body language. Monig didn’t care if they thought he was guilty. In fact, Archie couldn’t help thinking that he sort of hoped they did. Monig’s resentments seemed to run deeper than being brought in for a follow-up interview, Was it just arrogance? Monig definitely thought he was the smartest guy in the room.

“Thanks,” Beau said briskly. “So, in your statement, you reiterated a couple of times that John Perry was your mother’s friend and that you’ve had little to no contact with him in the past few years.”

“Correct.”

“You weren’t invited to the Ghost Walk this year, unlike previous years, because you no longer travel in the same social circles?”

Monig rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to play games. I wasn’t invited to the Ghost Walk because I filed a paternity suit against him last year. The case was dismissed, as I’m sure you know.”

“On what grounds?”

“John supposedly took a DNA test which appeared to eliminate him from being my father.”