“Cut!” There was a scowl forming on Bobby Valentine’s usually happy face. “Look, half of this stuff will end up on the cutting-room floor. But Courtney wanted these questions asked for background information and we’re going to do it. And I don’t know about you, but I’d sure like to get it over with.”

“Fine. Take… whatever.”

“Scene two. Take two. I’ll ask the next question on this sheet. How many years ago did you begin your career as a carpenter?”

Well, that one was easy. “Almost sixteen years, Courtney.”

“There are a fair amount of women in the building trades these days, Josie, but that wasn’t true back then-”

“No, it wasn’t. Oh, you hadn’t asked the question, had you? Sorry. Cut.”

“Keep rolling, we’ll edit later. There are a fair number of women in the building trades these days, Josie, but that wasn’t true back then. What did your family think of your decision to pursue such an unusual career?”

“I… They… I had an infant son at the time and he just loved hanging around construction sites. In fact, the crew I was working on then got together at lunchtime and made him the most wonderful set of blocks out of leftover hardwoods. He still has them and he’s a teenager now.”

“Cut! Look, that’s all very interesting, but I don’t think it’s the way Courtney expected you to answer her question.”

“Why?”

“She has lots of questions here about high school.”

“Like what?”

“Whether you took shop classes.”

“No. That’s not a very interesting answer, is it?”

“Let’s try the next one. Did you take home economics?”

“It was a required course when I was in high school.”

“And did you do well?”

“Not really.”

“What happened? Did the hems you sewed fall apart? Did you burn the hot chocolate? Stuff like that?”

“It’s almost as though you were there to see it, Courtney.” Josie tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice. After all, Courtney was dead. It was stupid to be angry at her. But she couldn’t seem to help herself. “Just because I didn’t get all A’s like you did-” She realized what she was saying and stopped speaking.

Bobby Valentine was looking at her with a strange expression on his face. “So it’s true. You and Courtney do have a past in common.”

“I…” The camera rolled on, but she had no idea what to say.

“Let me ask you one more question, Josie. Do you know what happened to Courtney?”

“I…”

“Because she said you would.”

“She said what?”

“She said if something happened to her, I should ask you about it.”

Josie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. And the camera rolled on.

SEVENTEEN

"TURN OFF THAT damn camera!” Josie glared over Bobby Valentine’s shoulder at the cameraman.

“Yeah, cut! Why don’t we all take a coffee break? We can continue this later.”

Josie wasn’t accustomed to taking breaks before work had even begun, but she didn’t see that she had any choice. “Just let me get my crew back in here working and we can find someplace more private to talk.” She didn’t wait for him to argue; she had a responsibility to the homeowners and her employees. She hurried out the back door to where the women were waiting for her. She had expected to find them idle. To her delight, they were prefabricating new frames for all the windows. She had a twinge of guilt; she should be working alongside her crew.

“How’s it going?” Dottie asked, standing.

“Not well,” Josie admitted. “Bobby Valentine knows that I grew up with Courtney.”

Annette gasped, and Josie realized she had just explained more than she had planned to. “I… I can’t imagine that my past has anything, anything at all, to do with Courtney’s murder. I know I’m asking you to take my word for it, but-”

“Who else knows she’s dead?” Dottie interrupted to ask.

“I… I didn’t tell anyone. As far as I know, no one else knows.”

“You should keep it that way,” Dottie stated flatly. “And maybe we should all get together later to talk.”

Josie stared at the other woman for a moment, taking her time to decide. “You’re right.” Annette’s and Jill’s faces also displayed concern. “I have to talk to Bobby Valentine and I won’t tell him about… Courtney, but I hate to lose more work time. Would it be possible for us to meet for dinner tonight at the office? Pizza and beer? My treat.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me, too.”

“Count me in.”

Annette and Jill agreed with Dottie.

“Good. I’d better get going then. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll go ahead and demo the south wall and then we can start framing in the second-floor addition.”

“Great.” With a new crew, there was always a moment when Josie realized that either she had hired the right people or she hadn’t. This was the moment. And she had.

She left to find Bobby Valentine, knowing that she could depend upon these women to keep going.

Chad was near the front deck. “Mr. Valentine said he would be waiting for you in Courtney’s trailer. It’s the one with the show’s logo stenciled on the doors.”

“Thanks.” She started toward the street and then turned back to the young man. “I hear you and Annette are dating.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I don’t want to be a busybody, but I think it’s nice. I mean, that you two are seeing each other. You’re both new on the island and it can be lonely.” She realized she sounded like an idiot and changed the subject. “Courtney’s trailer is the one with the logo on the doors? Is that what you said?”

Chad looked at her as if he thought she had lost her mind. “Yeah. That’s the one. I… I’ll see you.”

“Yes. Sure.” Why didn’t she shut up? Her father had said she babbled like a brook when she was nervous-and after all these years she could still feel the sting of his comments. Well, she had more important things to worry about now. She continued on her way.

There were two trailers on the street, but only one carried the gold castle with COURTNEY CASTLE printed in a circle around it, and that one also displayed an open door. Josie climbed the two steps that hung from its side and called out, “Hello. Bobby?”

“Josie. Come on in. Close the door behind you.”

She did as he ordered, again amazed by the interior of Courtney’s trailer. But apparently she wasn’t going to have a lot of time to look around.

“Sit down. I think we need to have an honest talk.”

Josie sat on the edge of the plush chintz-covered couch. She wasn’t going to get comfortable until she found out exactly how much he knew about Courtney’s past-and hers.

But it seemed that he was the one who was going to ask the questions. “So, Josie Pigeon, how much do you know about all this?”

“I… To be honest, I have no idea what you’re asking me. What do I know about the show? About why you’re here? How you all found Island Contracting? I don’t know anything. And I think I should be the one asking the questions and you should be providing the answers.” She leaned back and felt something stabbing at her spine. Glad to have something to do in the awkward silence that seemed to be forming, she pulled out a pillow and examined it carefully.

“A gift from a fan. Courtney gets hundreds, thousands, every year.”

Josie stared down at the pillow in her lap. She didn’t know much about handwork, but this elaborately embroidered throw pillow displayed dozens of different (and complicated-looking) stitches in even more hues of threads. The part that had stabbed her was worked in metallic threads. It was Courtney’s castle. But the words around the logo were different. “ ‘Courtney Castle’s Crewel Work?’ ” she read, then turned and picked up another pillow. This one was needlepoint- that much she knew from the endless floral monstrosities her mother had worked on for years and years. The castle was the same (although slightly tilted), but the script around the seal read “Stencil with Courtney Castle.” She looked up at Bobby Valentine. “This isn’t Courtney’s first show?”