“I love it!” Annette jumped up and down, causing the whole dock to shake. “House of Jill Repute! That’s a good one!” She seemed to notice a lack of enthusiasm in Jill’s response. “Don’t you get it? Jill Repute. Like Ill Repute. Like a whorehouse.”

“I get it. I get it.” Jill sounded weary, and Josie jumped in to rescue the moment.

“How about Jill’s Joints? It can go on the air right after Dottie’s Dumps. We’ll create a new Saturday-night lineup for PBS. Dottie’s Dumps, Jill’s Joints, Annette’s Adobes, and then… ta da…” Josie took a deep bow before continuing. “ Pigeon’s Palaces. Who needs Courtney Castle and her dumb show?”

“Yeah, you’re better than that snob any day of the week,” Annette said enthusiastically. “They should give you a show. And we could all be on it! We’d knock Courtney Castle dead!”

“I’m afraid someone’s beaten you to it.”

The women turned to see who was speaking.

Two men, their regulation police uniforms covered with international orange vests, stood together, arms crossed, serious expressions on their closely shaven faces. Josie recognized one of them. “Mike, did you say something?” she asked Mike Rodney, police officer, son of the island’s police chief, and all-around pain in the ass as far as she was concerned.

“Well, I guess I did, didn’t I, Mark?” he asked the man standing by his side.

“You sure did, Mike. You said-”

But Mike Rodney apparently wanted to offer the information himself.

“I said I was afraid someone had beaten her to it and that’s what I meant.”

“Beaten who to what? What are you talking about?” Josie was pulling the leaves from her hair as she spoke. She was becoming nervous. Mike was an idiot, but she had seen that expression on his face before. “What’s going on? Has something happened?”

“I’ll say something’s happened. Tell them, Mikey.”

That distracted Josie. She had never heard anyone call Mike Rodney “Mikey” and she had known him ever since she came to the island. “Who are you?”

“I’m Mikey’s cousin. My name’s Mark.”

“Mark Rodney?” Josie asked, slightly incredulous.

“Mark Stern. He doesn’t have to have the same last name to be my cousin. Mark’s father is my mother’s brother,” Mike explained. “And don’t call me Mikey,” he told Mark.

“So why are you two here? Why aren’t you out doing crowd control? What’s going on?” Dottie asked.

“We have a bigger problem than crowds,” Mike said.

Mark looked as though he might burst if he didn’t speak up. “Yeah, somebody may have killed Courtney Castle!” he blurted out.

“Killed?”

“Don’t talk to these guys. They’re idiots,” Dottie ordered the women under her breath.

Josie ignored the good advice. “Where? When? Who says?”

“He doesn’t know anything. And he should learn to keep his mouth shut,” Mike answered, scowling at his cousin.

Despite the seriousness of Mark’s statement, Josie found that she wanted to smile. Mike sounded just like his father. “Where is your father?” she asked. “Is he with the body?”

“There is no body,” Mike answered.

“I thought you said Courtney had been murdered.” Jill joined the conversation.

“It’s all those rice cakes,” Dottie said. “She just wasted away. Poor thing.”

“Mike, what the hell is going on?” Josie asked. This was turning into a very long lunch hour. Little had been accomplished this morning. They needed to make up for it this afternoon. “We have to get back to work. Has there been a murder or not?”

“That Bobby Valentine… he’s the show’s director, right?”

“He’s the producer,” Josie said. “What about him?”

“He found a note in Courtney Castle’s dressing room.”

“And it said she was killed!” Mark sounded excited.

“What is this? Some sort of game?” Dottie asked.

“We really don’t have time for this!” Josie insisted. “Do you think you could start at the beginning? What exactly did the note say?”

“And did anyone think to ask Courtney who killed her?” Dottie’s question was sarcastic.

“The note said ‘Kill Courtney Castle,’ ” Mike answered. “And Courtney Castle has disappeared.”

“Disappeared? You mean she’s just vanished?” Annette asked.

“How could she have disappeared?” Josie added.

“She’s not in her trailer, which is where her producer says she should be. And she’s not anywhere on the property,” Mike answered seriously.

“So maybe she went for a drive,” Josie suggested.

“Her truck is still parked out front,” Mark explained.

That diverted Josie. “Since when does she drive a truck? What happened to the silver Porsche?”

“Apparently she drives a truck for the show-” Mike began.

“You mean that truck is just a prop?”

“I don’t know what you’d call it. I just know what that Valentine guy told us. She came in the truck, and if the truck is still here, she is, too.”

“You just said she isn’t here,” Dottie reminded him.

“Or maybe she hasn’t left of her own accord,” Jill suggested, lowering her voice and opening her eyes wide. “Maybe someone killed her and took the body away.”

“Nope. Not a chance. We’ve had a police line around the block since early this morning. No way anyone got through with Courtney Castle-or with her body. Dad is double-checking with all the guys, but I can tell you that our line was-and is-impenetrable.”

“And Mikey… Mike… and I have searched every square inch of this property as well as all the vans and trucks out front. She’s not here,” Mark asserted.

“Then she’s not dead,” Josie suggested.

“Yeah, it’s a hot day. Maybe she went for a swim,” Dottie said.

“Or maybe she got into a boat and rowed off for a bit,” Annette said.

“Yeah, there have been lots of kayakers around all morning. Maybe that’s what she did,” Jill added.

Josie knew they were trying to be helpful, but she was aware of the logistics of what the women were suggesting. “You’re sure she didn’t drive away or go for a jog on the street? She loves attention. That’s just the type of thing she would do.”

“Nope. If she left the property, she did it back here.” Mike Rodney had a grin on his face.

“You mean she had to pass us if she left,” Dottie said slowly, folding her arms across her ample chest.

“When did this happen?” Josie asked loudly. “How can we possibly know where Courtney might or might not have been?”

“We…” Bobby Valentine appeared in the open doorway at the back of the house, his appearance in uncharacteristic disarray. His hair was standing on end, his shirttail half in and half out of his slacks. But he was, as usual, clutching his cell phone.

“Let this guy tell you,” Mike continued, waving the producer over.

“Have you found her?” Bobby Valentine asked immediately, putting his hand over the mouthpiece, his face brightening at the possibility.

“No-”

“Nope, not yet.” Bobby Valentine relayed the message to his unseen caller. “Gotta go. I’ll keep you informed.” He flipped off his phone. “So did they see her?” he asked the police officers.

“Why should we have seen her?” Josie asked.

“You see a helicopter around here?” Mike asked. “Because she either left by air or walked by you girls.”

“Maybe she walked by and swam off during a time when no one was here,” Dottie suggested.

Josie thought she knew what was coming.

“You girls were working back here taking down the deck and marking out the… whatever it is that you’re all marking out, right?” Mark asked.

“We’re not girls,” Josie stated flatly.

“Ms. Pigeon is one of those women’s libbers,” Mike said sarcastically. “She doesn’t like the term girls. Call them women.”

“Courtney is the same way,” Bobby Valentine said, ending that part of the conversation.

“So tell us, women. Was there ever a time when you were all out of the backyard?”

“This morning-” Dottie began.

“Let’s pin it down a bit more,” Mike said. “Was there ever a time when fewer than two of you were back here after Courtney ended her opening interview with Josie?”