Page 72 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

“They aren’t allowed to check in his league.”

“But they will in high school.”

“No one told me that!”

“I can’t with you. I just cannot.”

“How in the world am I supposed to know how high school hockey works when I’ve never had a kid play high school hockey?”

“While I’ll acknowledge that’s a good question, you had to know the checking started at some point.”

“I figured they saved that for college.”

“Nope.”

“My husband and I will be having a conversation about that later.”

“I feel like I should warn him.”

“Don’t you dare. I need the upper hand on this.”

“That’s a fight you can’t win with your two hockey jocks.”

Sam would rather spend the rest of the day arguing about hockey with Freddie than tell Josie Ouellette that her husband had been having an affair with a woman who’d been murdered. “Ugh, this sucks so bad,” Sam said as she looked up at the front door that was festively decorated for the holidays.

“Sure does. Let’s get it over with.”

They trudged up the stairs and rang the rather normal-sounding doorbell. That neither of them commented on its normalness was indicative of how stressful this sort of thing was for both of them.

A blonde woman wearing a red sweater and a shocked expression answered the door. “Holy. Shit. It’s you! The first lady! At my door.”

Sam held up her gold shield. “Are you Josie Ouellette?”

“I am.”

“Lieutenant Holland, Detective Cruz. May we have a moment of your time, please?”

She stepped aside to let them in. “You work on murders, right? Oh, wait. We knew Pam Tappen. That’s why you’re here. We were so shocked to hear the news about her.” Josie led them to a warm, cozy kitchen in the back of the home. “Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea, hot chocolate? It’s so cold out there.”

“We’re fine, thank you,” Sam said, taking the seat she was offered at a round wooden table with six chairs.

“I just feel sick about Pam. It’s all I can think about. And poor Bob and the kids. They’re such a great family. We’ve known them for years.”

“How many years?”

“Oh, well… It has to be seven or eight since my Aidan started playing with their Lucas. They started at U8, which is the youngest group. They’re both standout players and have won several championships together.”

“How would you describe your relationship with Pam?”

“We were friends through our kids. When your children play at a highly competitive level, it takes over your life as well as theirs. We spent a lot of weekends away at tournaments, and the other families become like a football family of sorts. It wasn’t uncommon for all of us to help each other out with rides and stuff, too. When she traveled for work, I brought Lucas and later Justin to practices, and she gave my kids rides home when I had to pick up my others. It takes a village to raise an elite athlete.”

“Sounds like it. What was Pam’s relationship like with your husband?”

Josie’s brows furrowed with confusion. “With my husband? He’s one of the team coaches and she was the head of the boosters, so she helped out with lots of things. We spent time together at tournaments and games, had dinners afterward, tailgated here and there. That kind of thing.”

Dear God, Sam thought. The woman truly has no idea. In some ways, that was good news for Josie, as she didn’t appear to be a suspect in Pam’s murder. But in other ways…

“Why do you ask?”

---