This Old Murder Read Online Free

equipment standing around. There was an awful lot of stuff that was supposed to be hidden in the background with Wayne Wagner. Josie just hoped that someone knew how to go about doing it.

THREE
    JOSIE HAD MET Sam Richardson when he retired from his job as a prosecuting attorney in New York City and moved to the island to begin his new life as owner-manager of an upscale liquor store. That had been three years earlier. Most of the time she was wildly in love with him. And other times she wondered why they even bothered to speak to each other. This was one of those times.
    Sam had just admitted to being a fan of the Courtney Castle show.
    “If I was still living in my New York apartment, I wouldn’t even have glanced at those building shows, but we’ve done so much work on my house, and I’ve even gotten an idea or two from watching them. In fact, those indents in the shower walls, the ones we’re going to redo when Island Contracting has some free time, were an idea I got from watching Courtney.”
    “The idea isn’t original with her. Half the decorating magazines have been featuring them for years,” Josie said sullenly. Sam was almost twenty years older than she was and certainly more educated and experienced. Building and remodeling was the one—and only—area where she was the expert. It wasn’t as though she was competitive, but still . . .
    They were sitting in a booth at one of Basil Tilby’s restaurants that had opened near the end of last year’s season. A good friend, Basil had hired Island Contracting to remodel the place. Josie had come there expecting Sam to spend at least some of the meal admiring her work—and not spend any time talking about another woman.
    “I’ve never seen the show,” she admitted.
    “Josie, you should. You’re going to be working with this woman for the next few weeks. It’s on tonight at nine-thirty. We’ll skip dessert and go over to my house to watch it. I have a few pints of Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer,” he added when she didn’t answer.
    “I wasn’t worried about missing dessert,” she protested, somewhat dishonestly. “I was just thinking about Tyler. I told him he had to be home by ten-thirty, so I’d better be home to make sure he remembers.”
    “Josie, Tyler is a responsible kid—”
    “Sam, he’s sixteen years old.”
    “He does just fine away at school.”
    “Where there is a huge staff to keep an eye on the kids. And it’s not just that. There’s a lot to keep him busy at school. Tyler belongs to all sorts of clubs, he has to participate in a team sport each season, and he has piles of homework.”
    “Are you saying idle hands are the devil’s playground?”
    “Something like that. Tyler spent yesterday in his room in front of that damn computer.”
    “So?”
    “I don’t know. You hear so much about bad things on the computer. Sex and all . . .”
    “Josie, he probably checked out the sex available in cyberspace years and years ago.”
    “I know. I just worry.” She took a deep breath. “The truth is, I’m afraid I’m boring him. That he’s happier at school than he is at home.”
    “He sure looked happy at my house Sunday afternoon.”
    “He was stuffing his face with junk food. Of course he was happy. But unless you’re going to spend the entire summer on your deck grilling hot dogs for him, he’s going to need a bit more to stay busy.”
    “Well, once he starts working . . .”
    Josie leaned forward so quickly that she almost tipped over her glass of wine. “You know something, don’t you? You two were in the kitchen for a long time. Where has he applied for work? What does he want to do this summer?”
    “He hasn’t just applied for a job. He’s got one. But I think you should wait for him to tell you about it.”
    “I . . . Why . . .” Josie was rarely speechless and then it didn’t last for long. “My son has a job and he hasn’t even mentioned it to me! What’s going on, Sam?”
    “Josie, he just