Chief Rodney grunted, and from the expression on his face, Josie got the impression that keeping his promise not to interrupt was causing him some pain. She continued the tale.

“We knew the body was gone right away. The canoe was on the floor, but the blanket that had been covering her was still there. We… um… we didn’t know what to do.”

Chief Rodney made a sound that could have been a gulp or an expletive.

“So we didn’t do anything. And Bobby Valentine said that Courtney was always going off and doing things and suddenly no one seemed to care that she wasn’t around. So… well… Look, the truth is that I knew you would suspect my crew members if you knew Courtney had been murdered. None of them had any reason to kill her, but some of them are especially vulnerable, so I thought if I figured out who killed her myself, I would tell you about it and… and that would be that.” She glanced at Sam, who was staring intently at the police chief.

“You thought I would arrest Dorothy Evans,” Chief Rodney said flatly.

“I thought it was a good possibility. And so did she. You see, Dottie-”

“Josie, he knows about Dottie’s record,” Sam said. “It’s one of the terms of her release and her parole.”

“Oh. Dottie’s a wonderful person,” Josie assured him.

“I realize that, Miss Pigeon. I realize that.”

“The chief was telling me earlier that he introduced Dottie to one of his officers, a relative, and he asked her out on a date,” Sam explained.

Josie was momentarily diverted. “And she refused, right?”

“Yes. But the Rodney men do not take no for an answer. At least not until it’s been said at least a half-dozen times,” Chief Rodney added with a surprising amount of self-deprecating humor.

“Go on with your story, Josie,” Sam prompted. “What happened next?”

“I guess the next thing that actually happened was that I got a call from Bobby Valentine. But that’s not… I’m leaving out things.”

“Well, we sure don’t want you to do that,” Chief Rodney said as the beeper on his belt began to squawk. “Goddamn. Someone better have a real good reason for bothering me now.” He read the message. “Mind if I use your phone, Sam?”

“Feel free.”

Josie moved over to Sam as the police chief headed to the phone on the checkout counter. “How am I doing?” she asked.

“Frankly, not well. I know more of the whole story than the chief and I have no idea what the hell you’re getting at-or who you think killed Courtney.”

“Sam, I thought you’d figured it out. Howard and Cheryl- well, I suppose only one of them actually killed her, but certainly they were both involved in the coverup and in moving her from place to place… Where’s he going?” she added as the police officer bounded for the front door.

“Got to go. That call was from one of your workers, Miss Pigeon. Seems Bobby Valentine and some man from the neighborhood are trying to kill each other on the lawn in front of the house you’re working on.”

“I still don’t get it,” Sam said, getting into the driver’s seat of his car while Josie plunked herself into the passenger seat.

“What don’t you get?”

“Why Howard and Cheryl? And, more important, how did you figure it out?”

“Think, Sam, from the very beginning of this project, some unknown neighbor was involved. It was someone from the island, a neighbor, who told Courtney about the house-and about Island Contracting.”

“And Howard and Cheryl are those neighbors?”

“Yup, and I’ll bet if we look into it, we’ll find that Howard and Cheryl are the owners of that damn house. I was stupid. I should have insisted on speaking with the owners. I guess the job just fell into our laps and I was so thrilled to be asked to be on television… Funny, I thought I was immune to that sort of thing,” she mused, interrupting herself.

“What sort of thing?”

“Oh, believing that being a celebrity-even if only for a day-was important. You know, believing that the parents at Tyler’s school would think more of me if I’d been on television.”

“Well, as long as the show you’re on isn’t America’s Most Wanted or Cops, you were probably right. We are living in a culture that values celebrity.”

“I know. That’s probably what motivated poor Howard and Cheryl-that, and greed, of course.”

Sam yanked on the steering wheel and directed the car into a space at the curb. “Why don’t you tell me about this before we get to the house?” he suggested.

“Sure. It won’t take very long. You see, Cheryl and Howard wanted to be famous. So they got in touch with Courtney Castle and told her about the house they owned on the island. They were smart enough to realize that they needed to provide an added inducement for Courtney to choose their project. This isn’t the Bahamas; there’s no reason to come here to do a show because of the weather. So they hired Island Contracting. We’re unique enough to interest viewers.”

“Good point.” Sam nodded.

But Josie was still putting together the pieces. “Come to think of it, I’ll bet anything that, once we look into it, we’ll find out that the convenient schedule change of our other early-summer job had something to do with Cheryl and Howard.”

“Sounds likely.”

“Okay, so as I was saying, Cheryl and Howard told Courtney about this interesting house and the company that was going to remodel it. And then to clinch the deal they offered Courtney a customized trailer-the trailer of her dreams-if she would use their project for her television series.”

“So the trailer was a bribe.”

“Yes. And since they had bought the house under a corporate name rather than their own, Public Broadcasting wouldn’t make the connection. Because it must have been unethical for them to give her the trailer in exchange for getting their house on the air.”

“Definitely. And it must have cost them a fortune,” Sam said, thinking of the laws that governed the giving of gifts.

“They were going to sell their house for an inflated price and be on television as well. I guess it was really important to them.”

“Being on television?”

“Yes, the first time I met them, Howard talked about Cheryl getting ready for her television appearance-picking out the right clothes and everything. I didn’t think it was significant at the time. I figured she would just wander over and expect to be on television. And I didn’t think that would happen.” She grimaced. “The truth is that I was busy worrying about what I was going to look like on television and not thinking much about anyone else.”

“So what went wrong?”

“I suspect Courtney had never seen them before. Cheryl and Howard are one of the tackiest couples you would ever want to meet. I’ll never forget the shocked expression on Courtney’s face when she met them for the first time. I think Courtney either refused to give them airtime or else suggested they change their style. It all fits together, Sam. Cheryl and Howard were going to be segment three of the show, the segment about the neighborhood. But Courtney met them and decided no way.”

“And wrote the note that said ‘Kill Courtney Castle’s Castles segment three,’ ” he added.

“Exactly. The murder must have happened when she told them she was canceling their appearance. They were furious.”

“Of course.”

“And one of them picked up something heavy, slugged her with it, and killed her. Probably a piece of that damn sculpture.” She pulled on a lock of unruly hair. “I doubt if they actually meant to kill her.”

“And then they hid the body in the canoe?”

“Yes. Probably hoping we would find her and get blamed. They had already bragged to me about their connections on the island. If they know the island, they know the Rodneys aren’t awfully likely to arrest the correct person for any crime other than speeding.”

“But why did they move the body from the canoe? They were the ones who moved it, am I right?”