Josie thought for a minute. “Five most of the time. Bobby Valentine, of course. And a cameraman-no, two cameramen although one is a woman. Someone is always running around setting up some sort of equipment-I suppose he could be a third cameraman-and there’s the intern. The one Annette has a crush on.”

“Anyone else? Deliverymen or the like?”

“I don’t think so. No one I remember.”

“Okay. Tell me about the rest of the day.”

“There’s nothing much to tell. We worked. The camera crew worked-”

“Doing what?”

“Actually, I don’t know. But they seem to stay very busy.”

“Did they do any more taping? More interviews?”

“No. Is that odd?”

“Frankly, I don’t know. I once dated”-he glanced up at Josie, who had frequently accused him of having dated someone in every possible profession-“a television producer. But she worked for a major public television station and that may be different from freelancing for public television, but all I know is that she seemed to always be busy.”

“Really.” Josie was jealous. She was always busy, too, but wearing dirty overalls and T-shirts, not wearing Armani and lunching at 21. “Oh, the Rodneys stopped by.”

“Why?”

“I haven’t the foggiest.”

“Did you get the impression that they knew about Courtney?”

“No. They didn’t say anything about it.”

“And I think we can be sure they’d mention your hiding a murder victim. Which leads us back to my first question. How did you know she was murdered? Is it just because of the place you found her? Or did you see a wound?”

“I didn’t see anything. In fact, she looked wonderful.”

Sam squinted at her. “Wonderful? You’re sure she was dead?”

“I’m sure.”

“And she wasn’t pale or anything?”

“Actually, she looked like she was wearing makeup.” Josie thought for a minute. “You know, I think she was. She had on eye shadow. And probably blush and lipstick.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Courtney probably hasn’t been seen without makeup in public since she was in eighth grade.”

“Unlike some women we know and love.” Basil appeared at their table, a small plate in his hand. “I hope you two are enjoying your meal.”

“Definitely.”

“It’s wonderful.” Josie agreed with what Sam said.

“The chef is still experimenting with new things. Try these, a variation on shrimp toast. And, if you don’t mind, I’ll get myself a drink and join you.”

“Have a glass of our wine and sit down,” Sam said.

“Let me say good evening to my most famous guests, then I’ll get a glass and be right back.”

“Your most famous guests?”

“Yes. The staff of the Courtney Castle show. I want to talk to you about them and I’d rather they didn’t overhear anything.”

Josie almost choked on her food. This was what she had been hoping for!

TWENTY-TWO

THE DAY’S EVENTS and two dinners had taken their toll; Josie was exhausted by the time she arrived home.

“I’ll give you a call tomorrow,” Sam said, glancing up at the lights burning in the windows on the second floor. “Looks like Tyler is still awake.”

“I think he said something this morning about having a friend stay over.” It seemed like years ago. She looked up at Sam. “I figure if he has friends over they’ll reciprocate and he will stay with them. I love having him home, but…” She didn’t have to finish the sentence. They had agreed that Tyler should remain ignorant of their sex life and thus it was impossible for them to spend the night together while he was home. It had only been a few weeks, but she missed their closeness.

“Good thought.” Sam leaned over and kissed her good night. “I’ll stop by early tomorrow. I want to think about this evening. Your story was incredible enough, but I sure don’t know how it fits in with what Basil said.”

“So I’ll see you early tomorrow?”

“Yup. I’ll bring doughnuts.”

“Make that crumb cake.”

“You got it.” A few more kisses, then he returned to his car. Josie heard the engine start as she opened the door and climbed the stairs to her home.

Her apartment door was locked-a pleasant surprise. She had asked Tyler repeatedly to lock it if he planned on falling asleep or showering before she arrived home. He usually ridiculed her suggestion (“Ma, you’re paranoid. I’m not a small kid. What do you think is going to happen? Are you worried that someone will walk in the door and abduct me?”). Since that was just one of the scenarios that kept her awake at night, she only smiled stiffly and repeated her request. And, son of a gun, he had remembered.

Of course, she always had trouble finding her key. She dropped her bag on the floor with a loud clunk, but before she could find it, the door opened.

“Hi! Mom! Hi!” Her son and a boy she didn’t recognize were standing before her, foolish smiles on their faces.

“Hi, sweetie,” she answered, too tired to remember how much her son hated her calling him that.

But tonight Tyler seemed genuinely happy to see her. “Mom, this is Eric Swanson. His uncle owns Family Video.”

Josie offered her hand to the young man. “Nice to meet you, Eric.” She turned back to Tyler. “It’s been long day and if you two don’t need anything, I’d really like to get to bed.”

The young men assured her that she was extraneous, and she headed off to her bedroom. She showered and fell into bed, too exhausted to worry about Courtney’s death and where her body had gone.

But she woke up worried about Tyler. The summer wasn’t turning out as she had planned. She always worked hard, year round when she could get the contracts, but spring and summer were Island Contracting’s busiest months and working from sunup to sunset was normal. Tyler, though always busy with some project or part-time job, had been home in the evening, ready to spend time with his mother. This year things were different. Tyler was working many evenings, and when he wasn’t, there always seemed to be a friend of his around. He thought he was grown up, but she knew better. He still needed a mother. She had to find a way for them to spend more time together.

She drove up to the work site and hopped out of her truck. The television vans were still there, but there was no sign of Sam’s little sports car. Oh, well, he was probably at the bakery, picking up crumb cake and coffee. At least that’s what she hoped.

Still thinking about Tyler, she was startled by a loud voice calling her name. “Hey! You! Pigeon!”

It was a man’s voice. And he sounded angry.

Josie turned around, trying to find its source. “I don’t see… Oh, there you are. I didn’t know who was talking.”

“What’s wrong with her, Howard? She on drugs or something?”

The couple next door stood on their front deck. By the expressions on their faces, Josie guessed they weren’t there to enjoy the beautiful morning. Oh, lord, as if she didn’t have enough troubles… Josie put a smile on her face and walked toward them. “Good morning,” she started hopefully, trying to remember whether any of the work scheduled for today was noisier or dirtier than usual.

“We need to talk.” Howard didn’t return her smile.

“Right this minute.” His wife ditto.

“I’m sorry about the noise-”

“We’re not concerned with undue noise,” Howard stated.

“Although they could keep it down a bit, Howard,” his wife added.

Josie tried again. “The dirt. There’s always lots of dust during the demolition phase, but I assure you that’s almost over-”

“It’s not the dust,” Howard informed her.

“The windowsills have been filthy, Howard. Just filthy. We don’t come to the beach to breathe dirty air.”

“The trucks-”

This time his wife spoke up first. “They make a lot of noise and their exhaust is awful, just awful, Howard. There’s no reason such a small job should require so many trucks-”