Valerie Wolzien - This Old Murder

Josie and Bobby Valentine both looked at her ripped sleeve. “Well, not exactly in shreds,” she said.

“You thought I was assaulting Josie?” Bobby Valentine sounded as though he could hardly believe it.

“You were grabbing her,” Sam stated stubbornly.

“He was upset. He thought I had put Courtney in a canoe and floated her out to sea,” Josie explained. Truth be told, she was thrilled. Sam had fought for her! He had been protecting her… well, her whatever!

Sam kicked a piece of broken glass across the room. “I guess this means you know Courtney is dead.” He looked up at Bobby Valentine.

“Yeah. Good thing, too, because if she was alive to see what we did to this place, she would have killed us.”

The oil was liberally splashed on both the flowered chintz armchair and couch; it was also forming a large patch on the Berber wool wall-to-wall carpeting. (Courtney had chosen these furnishings, Josie suddenly realized. They reminded her of her mother’s home.)

“It’s new and it’s something she’s always wanted. This trailer was Courtney’s pride and joy,” he continued.

Sam had been walking around, looking at everything. “It should be,” he commented. “I never thought public broadcasting paid well enough for people to afford things like this. It’s not a perk, is it?”

“A perk? You mean something that’s provided for her by the company? No way! We do everything on the cheap. The salaries are low, ridiculously low, in fact. And we survive on free work provided by our internship program.”

“Then who pays for this? Or is Courtney Castle independently wealthy?”

“It’s donated. Like the food we eat. Like the T-shirts the crew wears. Et cetera, et cetera.”

“You’re kidding!” Josie looked around. “Is stuff like this normally donated to public broadcasting people?”

“I can answer that one,” Sam said. “No. Not usually. Right?” He looked at the producer for confirmation.

“Never. At least not that I know about.”

“Who provided all this junk?” Sam asked.

“That I don’t know,” Bobby Valentine answered.

“I thought there was always on-screen credit for donated items,” Sam said.

“Sometimes. But it’s not required. We’re very careful to credit two groups of donors. First, of course, donations that are made because the donor is looking for an on-screen credit. You know, like those travel and accommodation credits you see on most of the shows on television. And we always credit anything that might look like a conflict of interest.”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

“Well, if we use a brand-name piece of equipment during a show-a donation, right-well, we make sure the credit goes out on the air because the viewer has seen the brand name and we want to be sure that it is understood that we’re not endorsing the brand but using it because it was free.”

Sam nodded.

Josie had another question. “What about publicity? Personal publicity? When brands are mentioned, does that mean those things were paid for? Not donated?”

“No way! Do you think actresses pay for those dresses they wear to the Academy Awards? Famous people are always being given things. That’s just the way it is.”

“Who paid for this trailer?” Sam asked.

“I really don’t know. We’re not putting up a trailer company credit at the end of the shows, so it must have been a private donation, that’s all I know.”

“Could you find out?”

“I could ask around. See what the scuttlebutt is.”

“Great.”

Josie didn’t see why Sam was so interested in who paid for the trailer. They had just discovered that Bobby Valentine knew Courtney was dead. There were, it seemed to her, a lot more important and immediate concerns. “So where did you see Courtney?”

“I thought you said he knew she was dead. You mean, you don’t have a body? Again?”

“Sam, you make it sound as though I’ve somehow been negligent in losing Courtney. I keep telling you it had nothing to do with me. I left her hanging in the canoe.”

“The canoe that is… that was… in the living room, the one we did the interview next to?”

“Yeah. In fact, she was in there when you were asking all those questions.”

“How long did she hang there?” Bobby Valentine asked.

“Less than forty-eight hours as far as I know.”

“You think she was moved from someplace else after she was killed?” Sam asked.

“I didn’t say that.” Josie thought for a moment. “But I see what you’re getting at. She disappeared two days before. I suppose she was probably up there until Jill found her.”

“Jill? She’s the pretty one with the chest, isn’t she? Why was she up there?” Bobby Valentine asked his second question before Josie had time to answer-or protest-the first.

“She was figuring out a way to get the canoe down without damaging it. She was doing her job, and I don’t think-”

“If you didn’t know the body was up there, then when- and where-did you see it?” Sam asked Bobby Valentine.

“Last night. It… was here.” He pointed at the oil-soaked chair. “Just sitting there…”

Sam nodded. “Sure, rigor would have started to wear off…” he mumbled to himself. “How was she killed?”

“I haven’t the foggiest. I mean, I didn’t see any blood or anything,” Josie said.

“How was she killed?” Sam directed the same question to the producer.

“I… I think she may have been hit on the head.” Bobby Valentine started to look a bit pale and sat down in the makeup chair before he continued. “I didn’t look as closely as I should have,” he admitted, his voice a bit shaky.

“You came in here and found her. It must have been a shock,” Sam said slowly.

“Not a shock. Not at first. You see, I didn’t know she was dead. I came in after work… I wanted to check her answering machine for messages. And I didn’t turn on the light or anything. I… She was in the chair. I was surprised… thrilled… relieved to see her, I guess. And then, almost immediately, I realized she wasn’t all right. Well, that she was dead.”

“How closely did you look at her?” Josie asked, remembering how reluctant she had been to do the same thing.

“I… I moved her. I didn’t mean to. I went up to her and… I guess I touched her on the shoulder. I don’t remember exactly.”

“You were in shock,” Sam said. “It’s completely understandable. Go on.”

“Well, I think I may have pushed her a bit. Anyway, she fell over and… I saw a large lump on her temple. No blood. But it was certainly ugly.”

“I didn’t see a bump,” Josie said. “But…” She looked across the room at the wig on the exercise bike. “It could have been hidden by the wig, couldn’t it?”

“It probably was,” Bobby Valentine said. “She loved that thick wave that came across her forehead. The injury was right underneath.”

Josie nodded.

“What are you thinking?” Sam asked her.

“When she was up in the canoe, one of the things I noticed was that she was made-up and her hair was in perfect order. Maybe that was to disguise the injury. Do you think that’s possible?”

“Well, whether that was the motivation or not, it seems to have been one of the end results. None of you touched her when she was up there?”

“I don’t think so,” Josie answered. “No one said they had. And it was a little creepy.”

“What did you do, run tours?” Bobby Valentine must have realized how he sounded. “Sorry, I’m a bit upset.”

“Not surprising,” Sam said.

“Everyone on the crew did look up there,” she explained. “But I don’t think anyone touched her.”

“Let’s go back to when you discovered the body here,” Sam asked Bobby Valentine. “After you found out that Courtney was dead, what did you do?”