“So what the . . .”
“Which is exactly what Seymour Higgins has been doing to me—to you—to all of us. And he’s managed to do it without even being on the island most of the time. Of course, he had other people do things for him. Rich people can do that.”
“Who did what?” Trish Petric asked.
Chief Rodney just glared.
“Well, first he sent his grandson to draw up plans to remodel the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast, and then he sent his decorator to worry about those plans, and then he sent his wife, and then finally came here himself . . .”
“To do what, Miss Pigeon?”
“To cause you—and everyone else—to look at Island Contracting’s crew for the killer.” She took a deep breath and continued. “You see, everyone was worried about storage. The Bride’s Secret is a huge place, and there was never going to be a shortage of storage despite the fact that it doesn’t have a basement. But, by sending Luigi the decorator to make sure we understood that storage was of utmost importance, Seymour Higgins made sure we would be looking for extra space behind the walls.”
“Which is when you found the body,” Trish said.
“And those stupid dummies,” Chief Rodney added.
“Exactly. They were stupid, but they served an important purpose. Their discovery meant that the police were at the site and interested in what Island Contracting was doing before the dead man was discovered.” Josie turned to Trish Petric. “Seymour Higgins wanted to be sure the police connected the body with my job and my crew before the identification was made. He thought the island police would find their suspects on the island.
“That’s also why he didn’t just dump the body in the ocean or the bay. If the tide brought it back to land, everyone on the island would be a potential suspect. As it was, no one was looking outside of my crew.”
Chief Rodney was scowling. “I don’t get it, Miss Pigeon.”
“Seymour Higgins is good at taking advantage of situations and when he came here in the spring he realized he had found something special—the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast, a contracting company insured by the company he owns, and . . .” She glanced over at Chief Rodney before continuing. “. . . And a police department that could be manipulated.”
THIRTY-ONE
“AND WHAT DID he say when you said that?” Sam asked, refilling Josie’s wineglass and pushing a plate of Risa’s homemade antipasto closer to her.
“I think if I’d been alone, he would have thrown me out of his office. But since Trish was there . . .” Josie paused and looked across the coffee table at Trish, who was enjoying Sam’s wine as she listened to Josie’s story for the second time that day. “He pretty much had to listen. There was a witness.”
“So go on,” Carol Birnbaum urged, entering the living room and putting a plate of freshly baked gougere on the table before sitting down. “Eat them while they’re hot, but keep talking, my dear. We all want to know what has been going on.”
“Okay. Well, to begin at the beginning, Seymour and Tilly Higgins visited the island last winter and they went to the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast. They met there when they were young, and she, at least, had a sentimental attachment to the place. She had also done a lot for her husband over the years—raised the children he had with his first wife, and more importantly, brought a lot of money into the family when they married. Her family was in the insurance business and as the result of their marriage, Seymour Higgins owns one of the largest insurance companies in the country.
“Anyway, when they discovered the place was for sale, she asked him to buy it, and he did—claiming it was a gift for her. She told Carol and me that she had always wanted a big beach home where the family could gather. But, in a very different way, the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast met her husband’s needs as well . . . as did the situation here on the island.
“You see, Seymour Higgins was stopped by the police for speeding when they visited the island last winter. And my guess is that it didn’t take long for him to realize what a self-important ass Chief Rodney is.”
“Josie put this a bit more diplomatically when she was back at the station,” Officer Petric interrupted.
“I should hope so,” Sam said.
“Yes, well, Seymour Higgins’s wife may have found the summer house of her dreams, but I think he thought he had found a place where he could do pretty much anything he wanted—and get away with it after spreading his money around a bit.”
“The Rodney Island Forensic Center,” Sam suggested.
“Exactly. So Seymour Higgins bought the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast to turn it into a vacation home for his family, but he had plans—private plans—to increase his worth at the same time.”
“But. . .” Sam began.
“Look, I know this doesn’t all make sense right now, but it will if you just listen to the entire story.”
“It really will,” Office Petric assured them, popping another gougere into her mouth.
“I certainly hope so,” Carol said.
“When you say ‘increase his worth,’ you’re talking about killing and hiding that man.” Sam said.
“Yes. You see, Seymour Higgins’s interests in the insurance industry meant he could insure his life and his partner’s life as well—standard business practice—but, in this case, the death benefits were to go to Seymour himself. And he hired Island Contracting because he thought the police would suspect me—or a member of my crew— and not him.
“Look, you’ll understand if you let me explain about the Bride’s Secret. You see, Seymour Higgins didn’t really care about the project at all. He hired my company without checking out our references, and then he allowed his grandson to draw the plans for the job. And Christopher, while a charming young man, is completely unqualified. I discovered that fact immediately. And then I realized Seymour Higgins had hired Island Contracting without thoroughly checking us out when he stopped by my office. All his research has been done at his office in the city, but that was enough for him to realize that our insurance situation gave him unusual power over Island Contracting. He was surprised by my collection of birdhouses because he had no idea that Island Contracting had done so much work. But our abilities didn’t matter to him, because he didn’t care how the house ended up. Seymour Higgins probably assumed the job wouldn’t even get finished.”
“What about his grandson’s work?” Carol asked. “Didn’t he care about the time and effort the boy had put into designing the remodeling job?”
“I don’t know how Seymour Higgins felt about Christopher’s work, but I know his grandmother was concerned about that very thing. She suspected something was wrong, which is why she spent so much time down at Island Contracting’s office. She wasn’t worried about storage—she told me that later—and she wasn’t really looking for sinks and the like, although that’s what she claimed at the time.”
Carol nodded. “She was looking for information about your company. Yes, that makes sense.”
“Exactly. She wanted Christopher’s project to be a success, and she wanted the big family summer home that her husband had promised her—and she knew neither would happen if Island Contracting was an incompetent fly-by-night sort of company. So she was checking us out in a rather devious fashion, because she didn’t want her husband—or me—to know what she was doing.
“But the real story starts when I hired Leslie, the second lucky break for Seymour Higgins.”
“What about Leslie?” Carol asked.
Josie glanced at Sam. “There’s something about Leslie that you don’t know, but that Seymour Higgins did: he’s uninsurable. He can’t get health insurance.”
“You have someone working on your crew who does not have health insurance? Do you know what sort of risk you’re taking?” Sam asked.
“I knew you would be worried, so I didn’t mention it to you,” Josie said.
“Josie, I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me about that.”
/> “I didn’t want to worry you,” she repeated.
“Just like you, Sammy, did not tell Josie that you’ve decided you can’t stay in this house once you’re married—because you don’t want her to worry,” his mother pointed out.
“You what?”
“I think you need to get on with your explanation,” Trish Petric suggested before Sam could reply. “I have to get back to the station fairly soon, and I assume you want me to tell you about my part in this story.”
“Yes. I’ll go on. The other thing you don’t know is that Seymour Higgins’s insurance company has insured Island Contracting for many years.”
“So presumably he had access to this information about Leslie.”
“Exactly. And knowing Leslie’s medical situation, he probably suspected that Leslie needed money. But I don’t think he would have realized that Leslie was willing to break the law to get it if he hadn’t discovered that Leslie was loaning—for a price—his driver’s license to minors wanting to buy beer.”
“How did he know that?” Carol asked.
“He discovered Christopher using it,” Josie answered. “He probably wasn’t surprised. The family knew Christopher had been in trouble in college for his drinking. His grandmother mentioned it to me the day we met.”
“I knew there was a drinking problem on the island after working here less than a week,” said Officer Petric, “but I didn’t know how much some young adults were contributing to the problem until I spent some time sitting in the parking lot at the Wawa, chatting with the kids there and checking IDs myself.”
“There certainly is,” Sam added. “I make sure everyone who works at my store checks and double-checks identification. In fact, I had a conversation about that very subject with Seymour Higgins in the spring. He was probably thinking about his grandson back then. I never thought it might be significant, to tell you the truth.”
Josie just took a deep breath and continued. “Anyway, Leslie Coyne is an important person in my story. First—he’s horrible. I don’t think I’ve ever hired anyone so completely unscrupulous. He lives off of women he claims to love. When I realized that, I told myself it wasn’t my problem, which is true, although it did make me awfully uncomfortable. But Sam discovered that Leslie was stealing from the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast and selling what he stole on the Internet—and that is my problem. Island Contracting cannot afford to be seen as hiring dishonest workers. Apparently that doesn’t matter to Leslie. Leslie cares about very little besides himself and money. I doubt if it was difficult for Seymour Higgins to convince Leslie that it would be in his interests to help him out.”
“And what exactly did Leslie do for Seymour Higgins?” Carol asked.
“In the first place, Leslie was present when all three bodies were found: the two dummies and the murdered man. I should have realized that immediately. In fact Officer Petric pointed it out to me, but I ignored her.”
“You think Leslie knew where they were hidden?” Sam asked.
“Yes. He may even have hidden the dummies. I don’t know about that, but Leslie certainly made sure they were found when they were.”
“And Seymour Higgins paid him to do this,” Sam continued.
“And to put his driver’s license on the dead man!” Carol added enthusiastically. “But why would he do that?”
“I doubt if he did. I think that came as a complete surprise to Leslie. But Seymour Higgins wanted Leslie connected with the dead man. He expected Leslie to be arrested for the murder. But of course, he didn’t realize we would be interested in Leslie for other reasons.”
“Stealing and selling the contents of the Bride’s Secret Bed and Breakfast on eBay,” Sam said.
“Exactly. No one would have known about that if you hadn’t been shopping for that furniture you love.”
“To furnish your new, bigger house that you can now tell Josie about,” Carol pointed out.
“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, sou
nding 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.
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