Read Death at a Premium Online
Authors: Valerie Wolzien
“Leslie Coyne is being questioned down at the station right now, so we’ll know more about all of this in just a bit,” Officer Petric added. “But I think you can assume that he won’t be on this project any longer.”
“He’s an excellent electrician and carpenter,” Josie said sadly. “And he may have broken Vicki’s heart.”
“Hearts do not break. Not really,” Risa said. “And sometimes the hurt heart is a good lesson.”
Josie thought about the wonderful summer job she was in the process of losing. She wasn’t sure whether or not Risa’s statement was true. Her own heart felt like it might be splitting at that very moment.
“What about Seymour’s first wife? Did she have something to do with the bride who ran away? Or was the bride just a myth?” Carol asked when Josie was silent for a moment.
“I’m the person who has something to do with the runaway bride,” Trish Petric spoke up. “And she was a real woman. In fact, she was my grandmother, and she’s the reason I’m working here this summer. My family used to vacation on the island when I was growing up, and I heard the stories about the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast over and over. Of course, my family knew the bride’s secret—that she had fallen in love with another man.”
“So there’s no ghost,” Sam said.
“I knew ghost not real,” Risa pointed out.
“No, but my grandmother was very real. She died only a year ago. She never returned here after her marriage to my grandfather, but she loved this island and raised me to love it as well. And although my grandfather never publicly took credit for the building he designed, I was always secretly proud of my connection to the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast. When the possibility of a summer job here came up, I couldn’t resist applying for it. I have a lot of good memories of summers spent here.”
Josie smiled. She had ended up here for the same reason.
“I’ll be damned! You do look like the woman in the painting that used to hang in the hallway,” Sam said.
Trish turned toward him. “I don’t suppose you saw that painting among the things Leslie has been flogging on eBay,” she said. “I’ve searched all over the Bride’s Secret for it.” She turned to Josie. “In fact, I was looking for it when you discovered me there the other night.”
“You must have been surprised when I showed up,” Josie said.
“I sure was. I even grabbed one of your dropcloths and tried to hide under it.”
Josie chuckled. “Which is why you scared the hell out of me—you looked like the runaway bride holding it in your arms.”
“And it’s why I was so upset when you found the dead man dressed as the bride. We were exposed to murder victims during my training, but none of them were dressed up to resemble my grandmother.”
“But why didn’t you tell me who you were and just ask me about the painting?”
“When I heard about the money Seymour Higgins was donating to the police department, and I’ve known about it for weeks, I assumed it was a double bribe—to Chief Rodney, of course, but to you, too.”
“I don’t understand,” Carol said.
“Josie always need money, but she would never take bribe,” Risa insisted.
“Because Island Contracting was going to be hired to build the forensic center,” Josie said, nodding. “That’s why you thought it was a bribe to me.”
“Yes. I didn’t know exactly why Seymour Higgins would bribe you, but I couldn’t trust you after I learned that Island Contracting was going to benefit from that man’s supposed generosity.”
“But why did he offer to build that stupid forensic center anyway?” Sam asked.
“I suppose he felt that it would pretty much guarantee the Rodney rats doing whatever he asked them to do. He made sure Leslie was brought down to the police station twice. Everyone assumed Leslie was going to be arrested for murder and no one was really looking for other suspects,” Josie answered. Then, realizing what she had said, she slapped her hand across her mouth.
“The Rodney rats? That’s what you call them?” Trish asked, sounding thrilled.
“I used to . . .” Josie admitted.
“How appropriate!”
THIRTY-TWO
“WHAT A FABULOUS wedding! There’s never been anything like it on the island.”
“Yes, but I’ve gained at least five pounds in the past twenty-four hours!”
“You know the rehearsal dinner was cooked by Josie’s landlady.”
“Really? I spent two years studying art in Tuscany and I’ve never had better Italian food.”
“And this is the best lobster quiche I’ve ever had.”
“And the crab . . . fabulous. Of course, with Basil Tilby catering, no one would expect anything but fabulous food and drink.”
“Well, save some space in your stomach. Sam’s mother is inviting everyone here to breakfast tomorrow morning. I hear most of the meal is coming directly from the best bakery on the island. Except for the homemade sour-cream coffee cake—apparently Carol has been baking and freezing dozens of cakes for the past few months.”
“I haven’t seen Carol yet, but I hope I do. I wanted to ask her about Josie’s dress. I heard that she went all the way to New York City to buy it.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s possible. How could she afford to buy a dress in the city? After all, Island Contracting’s client was arrested for murder only a few months ago.”
“I know, but how lucky for her. I’ll bet Josie never, ever thought she would end up remodeling her own home.”
Josie slipped behind the two women who were happily discussing her wedding, her life, and her expectations while stuffing themselves full of Basil’s best seafood and champagne. They seemed to be having a wonderful time.
Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time at her wonderful wedding.
The guest list had included most of the island’s full-time residents, many people who had worked on Island Contracting’s crews in the past, old friends from Sam’s years in New York City, and, of course, Josie’s family. Too many had accepted for the service to be held in any church on the island, so Josie and Sam had crossed their fingers, prayed for good weather, and exchanged their vows on the beach. The sun had been shining since day-break, and even if Josie did wear flip flops with her gown, at least they were appropriate for the venue.
Josie looked down at her dress and smiled. Who would have thought that she would be married in the very gown her new mother-in-law had worn when she married Sam’s father? “That was before I joined Weight Watchers, my dear!” Carol had pointed out when she offered her the dress.
Josie looked around. And who would have thought that their wedding reception would be held in the newly remodeled Bride’s Secret, or that the Bride’s Secret was going to be her new home—a wedding present from Sam, who had paid her company to do the construction as well? The house looked beautiful, and if anyone noticed that the plaster on the top-floor walls was still damp, no one mentioned it.
Sam walked up and slipped an arm around Josie’s waist and kissed her earlobe. “Happy?”
“Of course.”
“You don’t look it.”
“I was thinking about Tilly Higgins,” Josie answered. “She’s probably still upset about her husband going to prison for murder.”
“And destroying most of their wealth in all the years since they were married,” Sam added.
“If Seymour Higgins had been able to collect the huge insurance payment for his partner’s death as he planned on doing, they might be sitting here instead of us,” she pointed out.
“Then we’d be together someplace else. This is a wonderful house, but it really doesn’t matter where we are just as long as we’re together, does it?”
Josie leaned her head on his shoulder. “No. You are absolutely, totally right about that.”
“And what do you think about Tyler’s wedding present to us?” Sam asked after taking a moment to kiss his bride.
Josie looked over at the long built-in buffet Island Contracting had constructed in the living room and the huge glass lamp that stood on it. “I think it’s hideous, but it really is the thought that counts, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It really, really is. And you know I plan to spend the rest of my life thinking about you and your son.”
She looked up at him and smiled. Living with that lamp was a small price to pay for so much happiness, she decided.
Death at a Premium
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Fawcett Books Mass Market Original
Copyright © 2005 by Valerie Wolzien
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Fawcett Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
FAWCETT BOOKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
eISBN : 978-0-307-41496-0
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