She remembered the last time she had spoken with her mother. She’d called right before leaving school, thinking that the announcement of her pregnancy would be easier on the phone, that they could use the night to get over the shock and then the three of them could sit down and talk it through once she arrived home. Looking back, she knew it had been a cowardly thing to do, but she had been young, scared, and, she had to admit, stupid.
Her mother’s response to the news she had blurted out abruptly had been straightforward-or so she thought at the time. She had said nothing. After a few minutes of silence on the other end of the line, Josie had asked to talk to her father.
Her mother had finally spoken. “I’m sorry, dear, but under the circumstances, your father will not-cannot-speak with you. I’m very sorry, dear, but you’re going to have to… take care of… yourself by yourself. Your father… I… Your father and I have a lot on our plates just now-”
Josie had hung up without listening to more. That was the last time she’d spoken with either of her parents. Over the years she had replayed the conversation again and again. She had wondered about each and every word of rejection. It had never occurred to her that the circumstances her mother was referring to were something that had happened at home, not her pregnancy.
“Josie, you’re becoming a bit absentminded, dear. It’s not an attractive trait.”
It was true. She was getting absentminded. She needed to find out more about Courtney. She needed to ask questions this woman might be able to answer. She took a deep breath and opened her sandwich again. She would think, worry, mourn her relationship with her parents later. Right now she had to find out who killed Courtney Castle before her murder damaged the life Josie had-whether prompted by necessity or a foolish misunderstanding-worked so hard to create.
TWENTY-EIGHT
"SO DID COURTNEY visit my parents the way she visited you at the library?” Josie asked.
“That’s a dreadfully imprecise question. Are you asking if she visited as frequently or, possibly, whether or not she talked as intimately to them as she does to me?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Naturally, there’s no way I can compare my visits with those Courtney paid to your parents, but I believe she saw them frequently.”
“And they talked about me.”
“I don’t know that.”
“You said Courtney told you I didn’t have any contact with my family,” Josie reminded her.
“Yes, that was recently, when she and I spoke here on the island. At home, I quite frankly don’t remember her mentioning you or your family. She talked mainly about the television shows she was on. She’s been very successful, you know.”
Josie thought about the tapes she had watched the night before. Not, she knew, so very successful until recently. But she wasn’t there to trash a dead woman. “She did a lot of different types of shows. Did she ask your advice about her career?”
“She asked my advice about everything.” It was obvious that Dr. Van Ripper was proud of this fact.
Through the open doorway Josie could see her crew picking up their tools and preparing to return to work on the addition. They were a great bunch of women, responsible and energetic; she owed it to them to solve this murder before it damaged the lives of innocent people. “Really?” she asked aloud. Talk, talk, talk, she chanted silently.
“Courtney worked very, very hard for her successes. But she made time to return home at least once-and sometimes twice-a year, and we always talked about how her career was going. She had things planned out from the time she graduated from college, you know.”
“Really?” Well, it had worked the last time.
“Yes. There were changes, of course. She had hoped to make it to a network and anchor a newscast, and I think a show like Today or Good Morning America would certainly have benefited from her talent. But she changed her mind after her first job in public television.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I remember how it happened. She had been working out west somewhere for about a year and she spent the first week of her annual vacation in New York City, visiting the networks and deciding if she wanted to work for one of them. She came home quite discouraged.”
“They didn’t want her?”
“Heavens, no! I can’t imagine such a thing!” came the indignant response. “But she was upset by the greed and self-importance she found there… Excuse me?”
“Nothing.” Josie had mumbled something about how it sounded like Courtney would fit right in, but on second thought she decided that silence was best.
“She knew then and there-talking with me in the library reference room-that she would dedicate her life to public broadcasting. She wanted to share herself with the public. That’s the way she put it.”
“Very generous of her.”
Dr. Van Ripper looked up sharply. “You always were jealous of Courtney.”
“I…” Why deny it? Josie just shrugged. “So Courtney decided to work for public broadcasting.”
“Yes, and, as the network of such shows as Masterpiece Theatre and Julia Child’s Kitchen, I certainly thought she was making an excellent decision. It is the correct place for her to be. And that’s important when you choose your career.”
“Definitely.”
Dr. Van Ripper looked around. “You think this is the correct place for a young woman who had all your advantages to end up?”
Josie took a deep breath. Her red hair began to become slightly static; people who knew her would be aware of her rising anger. “Yes, I do. I am a hard worker. I am successful. I have a useful trade and I use it to help people. I am proud of what I do and I believe that anyone would be. Including my family.” The last words came out of her mouth before she had thought them through. But she heard them and realized, surprised, that they might possibly be true. “This is an excellent place for a young woman who was brought up with many advantages to end up,” she concluded, smiling sincerely.
The librarian seemed startled. “Well, perhaps.”
“But let’s get back to Courtney. Did she talk to you about her personal life?”
“You mean men?”
“Yes.”
“No. Of course, I knew she had many admirers, many, many admirers, but she didn’t talk about them. We usually discussed her career.”
Josie frowned. “Do you know a lot about television?”
“Well, no, but I am very interested in the subject, and my sister happens to be very involved in charitable work, and the foundation she runs is a major donor of funds for public television.”
Bingo! She’d known it. Courtney was not the type of person to stay in touch with an elderly librarian just for old times’ sake. She had gotten Naomi Van Ripper to do much of her high school research many years ago. And she had used her-or her connection to her sister-to move up in public television. Suddenly, Josie felt tired and old and, above all, deeply sad. She folded the wrapping over the remainder of her sandwich and got up. “I’m glad we could talk, but I have to get back to work.”
“I hope, Josie, that I have given you something to think about. Perhaps you should reconsider some of your decisions. Your parents are getting old. And there might be other people in town who would be happy to see you.”
“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” Josie replied seriously and honestly. “Thank you very much.”
“Well, I’m glad. I’ll be seeing you around. Courtney invited me to visit the set anytime I please.”
“Do that.” Without another word, Josie turned and walked out of the house, back to her crew.
Tyler was asleep on the couch when Josie entered her apartment. She looked down at him and smiled. He was beginning to grow a beard, but she could still see the little kid he had been. She sat down in the chair across from the couch. Urchin, Tyler’s little brown Burmese cat, jumped into her lap and the two of them stared at her son. After years of worrying about the consequences of raising him without any family other than herself, it was possible that she would present him with grandparents sometime in the near future. Would that make him happy? Improve his life? She had no idea. It was the same problem she’d had for the last seventeen years of motherhood. She never knew if her decisions were right, if what she was doing was good for her son.