Halloween in Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 6) (4 page)

“How about this?” Tj held up a package.

“That’s Sleeping Beauty. I need a blue one.”

“Blue. Gotcha.”

Tj began to sort through the pile of princess dresses that were piled haphazardly on the table in front of her. It appeared as if they had originally been organized by size and princess, but by this time of day the plastic packages, which included a dress and a crown, were simply tossed into a big pile.

“I thought it was you sorting through this mess,” a woman Tj had gone to high school with said from behind her.

Tj turned around. “Vicki Davis. How nice to see you. Are you in town for homecoming?”

She nodded. “I decided that as long as I was coming out west I’d get here a few days early to catch up with old friends. I’m here with Doreen Sullwold, who’s buying a costume for her kindergartener.”

Tj waved to Doreen, who was looking at a ladybug costume.

“Can you believe it’s been ten years since we graduated?” Vicki asked.

“Actually, I can’t. I work at the high school, but most days I still feel like a student.”

“Is this your daughter?” Vicki nodded toward Gracie, who had just handed her the dress she’d been looking for.

“This is my sister Gracie. Half sister, actually. Our mom died a couple of years ago, so Gracie and her sister Ashley came to live with me at the resort.”

“So you never settled down with Hunter Hanson and had a family of your own?” Vicki asked.

“No. Not yet, anyway.”

Tj had dated Hunter all through high school. Everyone, including Tj, had thought they’d marry, but they’d ended up breaking up while they were in college. After they’d both returned to Serenity to pursue their careers there, they’d reestablished their friendship, but they hadn’t started dating again until the previous winter.

“Will Hunter be at the reunion?”

“He will,” Tj confirmed.

“Awesome. It’ll be nice to see him. Did he end up being a doctor like he always talked about?”

“Yes. His dad retired, so he’s running the hospital.”

“Good for him. It seems like our graduating class turned out all kinds of successful adults. I can’t wait to catch up with everyone. I heard the reunion committee is expecting a good turnout.”

“We are,” Tj confirmed. “The entire resort has been reserved by alumni, and I know a good seventy percent of our graduating class have bought tickets for the dance.”

“I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone. Have you heard whether Brett Conrad is going to attend?” Vicki asked.

“Actually, he is. I guess you heard he married Jessie Baldwin.”

“No, I hadn’t.” Vicki sounded disappointed. She, along with half of the girls in their class, had had a thing for Brett. He’d not only helped their high school football team to win the state championship that year but had also gone on to play pro ball until he blew out a knee. He was now a sportscaster for one of the big networks.

“I guess I should go find my other sister before she gets into any trouble. Give me a call and we’ll grab lunch,” Tj suggested. “It would be fun to catch up. We can meet at Jenna’s restaurant, and maybe she can join us.”

“Please tell me that Jenna and Dennis ended up getting hitched.”

Like Tj and Hunter, their friends had dated all through high school.

“They did, and they’re very happy. They have two beautiful daughters who are about the same ages as my sisters.”

“It’s so odd to run into people who have kids who are almost in middle school when I haven’t even found my prince charming. I’m hoping to hook up with someone at the reunion. I dated a lot of guys in high school. One of them must still be single.”

Tj gave Vicki her cell number and said her good-byes, then gathered Gracie and her costume to go in search of Ashley.

“I changed my mind about the face paint,” Ashley informed Tj when she tracked her down at the back of the store. “I want this instead.”

Ashley held up a hideous mask.

“Sounds like an easy costume. What are you going to wear with it?”

“I’m going to see if either Papa or Grandpa have an old shirt I can rip up. I’ll just wear an old pair of jeans on the bottom.”

“Wonderful. Sounds like the easiest costume ever. The line to check out is a mile long. We should get going.”

“Can we go look at the window display while you’re in line?” Gracie asked.

Tj glanced at Ashley. “Will you go with your sister and will you behave?”

Ashley shrugged. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind looking at the decorations, and my friends left anyway.”

Ashley took Gracie’s hand and headed toward the front of the store while Tj got in line behind Doreen Sullwold.

“It’s going to be Halloween before we get through this line,” Doreen complained. “It’s moving so slowly that I sent Vicki next door for ice cream.”

“It does seem like they’d hire extra help for the holiday,” Tj agreed.

Doreen began transferring the items she was holding to a cart that had just become available. Luckily, all Tj had was a princess dress and a mask, so holding them while she waited wasn’t a problem.

“Did you hear that Jane Good has asked the reunion committee to consider electing an alumni king and queen in addition to the usual homecoming king and queen the students elect?”

Tj frowned. “I have to say I’m not a huge fan of the idea. For one thing, it would distract from the attention that should go to the seniors who are granted that honor, and for another, it seems a little silly. We aren’t kids anymore.”

“That’s what I thought, too. I’m glad you agree. I know Jane is planning to bring it up at this week’s meeting, but it seems like everyone I’ve spoken to so far is against it. Jane can be very persuasive, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t end up getting a few members of the committee to go along with her plan.”

Doreen began unloading her cart as she moved to the front of the line.

“I’m sure the committee will veto the idea,” Tj assured Doreen. “Besides, we wouldn’t have time to hold elections even if everyone loved the idea.”

“I think Jane wanted to hand out ballots at the welcome-back reception.”

“I’ll talk to Jane,” Tj offered as Doreen completed her transaction and the clerk began to ring Tj up. “I don’t know if it will do any good, but she might drop the idea if I can get her to see how awkward the whole thing would be for everyone.”

“Okay, great. Let me know how it goes.”

Tj watched Doreen walk away as she dug into her bag for her credit card. Halloween certainly had become an expensive holiday. She couldn’t believe Ashley’s mask cost more than Gracie’s dress. The thing was made of rubber, not titanium, for heaven’s sake.

Tj felt a sense of contentment as she turned onto the resort road. Her dad had displayed scarecrows and hay bales at the entrance and the staff had hung white lights in the aspen trees that lined the drive. It looked like a Halloween village all decked out to greet the many visitors who frequented the resort each fall as the hillsides turned red and yellow with fall color.

The interior of the resort was likewise decorated for the upcoming holiday. Tj had personally helped to decorate it, as well as the restaurant, early in the month. Maggie’s Hideaway was the largest resort on Paradise Lake. It featured a lodge with mountain-themed rooms, one- and two-bedroom cabins that hugged the lakeshore, and a seasonal campground. The resort also featured a full-service marina, horseback riding, an ice cream parlor, bike and ski rentals, and a two-pump gas station.

Tj and her family lived in a large private residence on the edge of the resort, providing them a degree of privacy while affording them the resources of the resort as a whole.

“Stop the car,” Gracie screamed as Tj turned into the driveway to their home from the resort road.

“What’s wrong?” Tj slammed on the brakes.

“I saw something.”

“Like what?”

“A dog. I think it was a dog. It ran under that big bush when you turned the corner.”

Tj looked around. She didn’t see anything. “It’s almost dark. It was probably a coyote.”

“It wasn’t a coyote. You have to go look.”

Tj sighed. She was willing to bet a week’s pay Gracie had seen a coyote, or maybe even a raccoon. The chances that there was a stray dog this far from town were remote, but Tj knew Gracie wasn’t going to let it go until she checked it out.

“You wait in the car in case it was a coyote,” Tj cautioned. Living at Paradise Lake, Tj was used to sharing her space with a lot of different types of wild animals, including bears and cougars, but the highest incidence of animal-to-people injuries seemed to come from the overly domesticated coyotes that roamed the area and weren’t in the least afraid of people.

Tj pulled all the way over to the side of the road, just in case another vehicle came in their direction. She took a flashlight from her glove box and opened the driver’s side door, then slid out onto the narrow private road and made her way over to the large shrub Gracie had pointed to. If it was a coyote it would most likely take off once she shone the light in its eyes. If it was a bear she was going to need to tread lightly. And if it was a cougar…well, Tj didn’t want to think about that. Luckily, cougar sightings in populated areas were rare.

Tj shone the light into the dense shrub while she moved a thick branch to the side. “Well, I’ll be.”

Gracie had been right after all. Crouched down beneath the thick foliage was a golden retriever puppy.

“What are you doing all the way out here all by yourself?”

The puppy whimpered.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. If you come with me I’ll take you home and get you some dinner. Does that sound good?”

The pup hesitated.

“We have other animals. A dog, three cats, six horses, and a cow, to be specific.”

The puppy just looked at her.

“The cow’s name is Bruiser,” Tj continued in a soft, soothing voice. “His arrival at the resort is really a funny story.” Tj knelt down on the ground and tried to coax the puppy out. He was shaking in fear. The poor thing must have been through a pretty horrible ordeal to be this frightened. “If you come with me I can tell you all about it.”

The pup scooted farther into the shrub. Tj was trying to decide what to do when suddenly the pup looked up and began wagging her tail.

“Come here, puppy.”

Tj turned around. Gracie was out of the car and standing behind her. She wanted to scold her for disobeying, but the puppy ran right over to her.

“Can we keep her?” Gracie laughed as the puppy wagged her whole body while she licked her face.

“I think we need to make sure she isn’t lost. We’ll take her home and give her some dinner. Then I’ll call Rosalie to come check her over.”

Rosalie Taylor was the town veterinarian and her dad’s girlfriend. She was also the one responsible for Bruiser living at the resort.

“We’ll call the shelter and if no one claims her, then maybe we can talk to Papa about keeping her,” Tj added.

“I think Echo wants to have a puppy to play with,” Gracie said persuasively. “We have four cats but only one dog.”

“If we don’t find the owner it will be up to Papa. I’m not sure Crissy is going to like having to share you with a puppy.”

Crissy was the cat Gracie had adopted when Tj’s friend Zachary died.

“She’ll get used to her. Crissy got used to Echo, and she didn’t like him at all when she first came to live with us.”

“That’s true,” Tj admitted.

“I’m going to name her Pumpkin because she’s orange and it’s Halloween,” Gracie decided. “Can she sleep with me?”

“We’ll see.”

By the time the group walked in through the kitchen door dinner was on the table. Tj slipped a collar on the puppy and attached a leash. Then she gave her some food and water and tied her up close enough to the family so she wouldn’t feel deserted in a strange environment, but far enough away so she wouldn’t get the idea it was okay to lay under the table while the family was eating. Once they’d all finished eating, Tj would take the puppy out for a bathroom break and then begin the process of introducing her to the family pets. It was already pretty late, so for this evening she’d just introduce Pumpkin to Echo and leave the socialization with the cats until the next day, when she had more time.

“Gracie made the finals for the spelling bee,” Tj announced when everyone had been served.

“That’s wonderful,” Tj’s father, Mike, exclaimed. “I knew all that practicing would pay off.”

Tj would forever be grateful to her dad and grandpa for welcoming the girls into their home and treating them like their own. They weren’t, after all, related to either of the men by blood, but Tj knew they wouldn’t have loved them any more if they had been.

“I even beat Julie the brain.” Gracie grinned. Julie often beat her in academic competitions. “She forgot the second S in misspell.” Gracie giggled.

“Oh, that is funny.” Tj laughed.

“She came in second, so she’ll still get to go to the final round, but it was fun to win for once. Trisha was absent or she probably would have won, but I think she’s going to be in the finals, too. My teacher said she was taking the top five spellers to the spell-off.”

“You’ll win,” Ashley said with confidence. “Just don’t overthink it. People tend to do that. Overthink things, I mean. The more you think about something you already know the more you might mess it up.”

“Thanks, Ashley.” Gracie smiled.

After Tj got the girls to bed she lit some pumpkin candles and curled up on the sofa in front of the fire. It had started to drizzle, and the long-range forecast called for rain for the next twenty-four hours at least. Hunter had said he’d call when he got off work, but although it was almost eleven o’clock he’d yet to check in. She knew he must be dealing with some sort of an emergency and would call if he could. One of the difficult things about dating a doctor was the unpredictability of his hours.

Echo had curled up on the floor beneath her feet and Cuervo, her big orange tomcat, was curled up in her lap. Pumpkin had been thrilled to sleep on Gracie’s bed and the other cats in residence had likewise found comfy places to settle in for the night.

The phone rang as Tj took a sip of her wine. It was Hunter.

“Hey, did you just get home?”

“Actually, I’m still at work,” Hunter answered.

“I heard there was an accident on the summit.”

“Yeah.” Hunter sighed. “There was. It was a bad one. I’m exhausted, but I wanted to call to say good night. I should have tomorrow night off if you want to do something.”

“That sounds fun as long as Samantha Colton doesn’t dig up something that has me cowering in my room.”

“Who’s Samantha Colton and why would she have you cowering?”

Tj explained.

Hunter let out a long breath. “I’m not sure how well that’s going to go over with our group, and it certainly will affect the weekend. Pretty much everyone who was at the party on the night Holly was murdered will be in town for the reunion.”

“I suspect that’s the reason Samantha Colton chose now to investigate this particular cold case,” Tj speculated. “I’d love to find Holly’s killer, but I agree that digging up the events surrounding the murder while everyone is in town is going to put a definite damper on the festivities. Still, I guess the woman is going to do what she’s going to do. Maybe I can convince her to take a soft approach to the investigation. If Roy is correct, her investigation is already responsible for Mia Monroe and Jada Jenkins’s bailing out.”

“They aren’t coming?”

Tj explained what Colton had said to Mia.

“And if that wasn’t bad enough, she came right out and accused Jada of cheating on her midterm exams the first quarter of her senior year.”

“What? Why would Jada cheat? She was the smartest student in the entire school next to Mackenzie Paulson.”

“And you,” Tj reminded Hunter. He had excelled academically, but he’d also played sports, which took up a lot of his time and prevented him from participating in some of the advanced classes that would have made him a contender for the coveted valedictorian spot.

“To be honest, when Roy first told me what Colton had accused Jada of doing, I outright insisted cheating wasn’t even a possibility,” Tj continued. “But then I remembered her mom and dad split up just as we began our senior year, and I seem to remember her missing a lot of school.”

“That’s right,” Hunter responded. “Now that you mention it, I seem to remember that too.”

“Yet she aced all her midterms.”

“Maybe she got extra tutoring or studied at home even though she skipped classes,” Hunter speculated.

“Maybe. But according to Roy, Colton accused Jada of cheating on her midterms in order to maintain her GPA, which she desperately needed to be accepted at MIT.”

Hunter didn’t say anything, but Tj was sure he was frowning. “Did Jada tell Roy that?”

“No, Colton did. She told Roy she believes Holly somehow found out Jada cheated and threatened to tell the administration unless she used her tech know-how to break into the e-mail accounts of some of our fellow students.”

“The whole thing sounds fishy to me,” Hunter declared. “First of all, how did Holly find out Jada cheated, if she really did? And second, why did Holly want access to the student accounts?”

“Roy said Colton didn’t know the answer to either of these questions but intended to find out.”

“Okay, then maybe a better question is, how did Colton find all of this out?” Hunter asked.

“Someone must be talking.”

“Yeah, but who would know any of this except Jada and Holly? Holly is dead and Jada would have no reason to bring it up herself.”

Tj thought about it. “The only person who comes to mind is Jessie. Jessie and Holly were best friends. It stands to reason that if Holly did have this information she would have shared it with Jessie. The thing I can’t figure out is why Jessie would share the information with Colton. And when would she have shared it? According to Roy, Colton was in LA yesterday, and he said I’m her first appointment in Serenity, so when could she have spoken to Jessie, or anyone else for that matter?”

Cuervo tried to knock the phone out of Tj’s hand. Apparently, he’d decided she’d ignored him long enough. Tj adjusted her position so the cat could climb into her lap while she waited for Hunter to respond.

“Holly was Jessie’s best friend,” Hunter reasoned after he’d taken a few seconds to think things through. “If I were Colton I’d start with the best friend. She’s most likely already interviewed her, and I’m betting Jessie shared what she knows. It stands to reason Jessie would want Holly’s killer found, no matter who it might be.”

“I guess that makes sense. I don’t want our reunion ruined, but I am sort of curious to find out what else Colton might have dug up. I’ve seen
Second Look
a couple of times. In most cases the investigators dig up as much evidence as they can before they show up on location. The show actually has a pretty good success rate. I’m betting Holly’s killer is going to be pretty nervous when he finds out who Samantha Colton is and what she’s doing in town.”