This Old Murder

“You know, excited. Frankly, I thought it was this place.”

“The trailer?”

“Yeah, she’d been wanting a customized trailer for years and years. She’d pla

“It meant that much to her?” Josie asked.

“Yes. This type of stuff meant the world to Courtney.”

“So you were talking about the job or whatever,” Sam prompted again.

“Yes, and somehow the conversation turned to people dying.”

“Like accidents on the job?”

“No. Maybe. I really don’t remember. I was surprised.”

“I should hope so. After all, Courtney was accusing Josie of a future murder, after all,” Sam said.

“Well, that’s true, of course. But I was surprised that she knew Josie Pigeon. It was the first I’d heard of a co

“Really? She didn’t mention knowing Josie when this whole thing began?”

“No way.”

“Do you happen to remember when you first heard about Island Contracting?”

“A few months ago.”

“From whom?”

“Courtney, I think.”

“Do you think she could have known about Josie for a while without mentioning her?”

“Definitely. Courtney only told me what she wanted to tell me.”

“And who did Courtney hear about Josie from?”

“No one seems to know the answer to that one.” Josie answered Sam’s question.

“Maybe we could go through her papers and find out?” Sam suggested.

“Ha. You didn’t know Courtney. She was a disaster when it came to keeping records. Drove me nuts,” Bobby Valentine said.

“Josie has the same problem. Must have been something in the water when they were growing up,” Sam said with a smile.

Bobby Valentine looked as though he didn’t believe it. “You two don’t seem to have all that much in common. That librarian lady said you’ve always been different.”

Josie frowned. She had just had a thought that seemed significant. But the idea of Naomi Van Ripper talking about her like that had driven it right out of her mind.

Everyone stood around without saying anything for a few minutes. Then Sam asked another question.

“Do people ever pay or give things to get on the show?”

“No way. We’re not a sleazy operation. If that has happened, I can promise you that I knew nothing about it.” He looked over at Josie. “You didn’t offer anyone anything to be on the air, did you?”

“Of course not! I wouldn’t do that even if I could afford to, which I can’t.” She yawned. The adrenaline was subsiding and she was begi

“God, I had no idea it was so late,” Bobby Valentine said, looking down at his Swiss watch.

“I gather that wig is significant,” Sam said.

“Courtney never appeared without one of them on.”

“If no one objects, I’ll just take it home with me,” Sam said, using one finger to pick up the wig.

“Fine with me-” Josie’s comment was interrupted by a yawn. “Sorry.”

“Are you awake enough to drive home?”

“I’ll be fine. And I’ll be home in less than ten minutes.”

In fact, with a little late-night speeding, ten minutes later she was in bed. She fell asleep wondering what had been said tonight that had seemed fleetingly significant.

She woke up with a horrible ringing in her ears. She really had to find the time to replace the doorbell. By the time her feet hit the floor, Tyler was doing his bit to increase the noise level.

“Ma! You’ve got company.”

Josie grabbed a robe and pulled it over the T-shirt she slept in. She ran her hands through her hair to smooth it down, vaguely expecting Sam. But A

“Hi.”

“We’re here too early,” A

“We wanted to talk to you before work started,” Chad explained.

“It’s important,” A

“Let me get dressed,” Josie said, and hurried back to her bedroom.

When she returned to her guests a few minutes later, the room smelled deliciously of coffee. “Who…?” She spied her son near the coffeemaker watching the fresh brew drip into the pot. “Oh, Tyler, thank you so much. That’s just what I need.” She reached for a mug and then remembered her ma

“Tyler already offered us some, thanks,” Chad answered. He and A

“Come in and sit down,” Josie suggested. “I know Tyler is going to leave in just a few minutes. He… runs a couple of miles every morning,” she lied, inspired. “Thanks for making the coffee, but we don’t want to keep you, sweetie.”

“Sweetie’s just leaving. Nice meeting you two,” he said to Chad and A

“Does he run in plastic flipflops?” Chad asked.

“His ru

“We need to talk to you,” Chad explained again.

“We’re here to tell you the truth,” A

Josie sipped her coffee. “About what?”

“We…” A

“We were together on the property next to the house you’re remodeling.” The young man spoke up.

“Together? You mean you were… making love? Outside? On the ground? In the middle of the day?”

“No, of course not. We had only known each other then for a day or two,” Chad explained.

“And we wouldn’t do something like that outside… in the middle of the day…” A

“No.” He took her hand again.

Josie thought they were charming, but it was taking quite a bit of time to tell their story. “So what were you doing? What did Cheryl and Howard have to complain about?”

“It wasn’t what we were doing, Ms. Pigeon. We were just kissing. Really. It was perfectly i

“And yesterday we checked, and… we were. Josie, we’re really sorry. When we told you we hadn’t been there, we really didn’t think we were lying!”

“I believe you.” Josie took another sip of coffee. “I hope Cheryl and Howard didn’t see you on their property again.”

“We were very careful,” A

“Well, actually they may have seen me the day before yesterday,” Chad admitted. “Remember I told you I was going to check it out?” He looked at A

“When did you go?” A

Josie seemed a bit preoccupied.

“In the afternoon sometime. I wanted to check it out before we went to di

“And that’s why you told me we should look at it yesterday morning!” A

“Exactly.”

Josie realized they were expecting a comment from her. “So you went back together yesterday morning.” She suspected that Howard and Cheryl had been given a perfectly adequate excuse to complain about all this trekking back and forth across their property line, but she appreciated that Chad and A

“Yes. And Chad was right. Where we were sitting was right over the property line! Josie, do you think we should go over and apologize to them?”

“For what?”

“Trespassing!”

“I wouldn’t bother. Every time we see or speak to them, they just find something else to complain about,” Josie said.

“But we’re really here to apologize to you. For putting you in such an uncomfortable position,” Chad asserted.