Bikinis in Paradise (Tj Jensen Pardise Lake Mysteries) (12 page)

“Yikes
.” Jenna laughed.

“And don’t even get me started on the diet she has me on.”

“Diet?” Tj asked. Kyle had the most amazing body she had ever seen. Underwear models would envy him. “You certainly don’t need to diet.”

“It’s not a weight
-loss diet as much as a health-food diet. She went through my cupboards and threw out all my junk food. She read about the danger of eating too much white sugar, so now the only sweet I’m allowed to have in my own house is fruit.”

“Oh
, man, you have a problem,” Tj sympathized. “A kitchen without chocolate is a kitchen without a heart.”

“You should talk to your mom about getting involved at the senior center,”
Jenna suggested. “It would give her something to do and help her make friends.”

“She’s not exactly old,” Kyle pointed out.

“No, but Mom and Bonnie hang out there, and they aren’t any older than your mother,” Jenna pointed out. “Although the facility is known as the senior center, they offer a wide range of options.”

“Grandpa loves it
,” Tj added. “And your mom already knows a few of the regulars. They play bingo on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You should have her try it once to see if she likes it.”

“I’m sure she can go with Mom and Bonnie,” Jenna offered. “I’ll have
Mom invite her.”

“Thanks
; that would be nice.”

Tj set
the fruit, cheese, olives, freshly baked baguettes, crackers, and sliced deli meats she’d brought from the house on a blanket. It was a perfect summer night. It was plenty warm by the fire, there were a million stars in the sky, and the band in the distance provided music while not being so close as to inhibit conversation. Tj loved sitting on the beach with the moonlight shimmering on the lake as she unwound and relaxed with her friends. It was probably one of her favorite summertime activities.

“This is really good
.” Kyle popped one of the green olives stuffed with blue cheese she’d brought into his mouth.

“Yeah, what’s with the fancy?’ Jenna asked. “When you said
wine and cheese, I figured canned cheddar on crackers would be the offering.”

“I can cook,” Tj argued.

“Did you actually cook?” Jenna laughed.

“No
, but I assembled. I have five kinds of cheese, three kinds of olives, and marinated tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella, as well as a delightful selection of meats and spreads.”

“I’m really impressed
.” Jenna smiled.

“Well
, don’t be. I was lying about the assembling. The chef at the Grill put this together for me,” Tj admitted.

“We’ll have to thank him
; this is delicious,” Kyle commented.

“I guess you’ve heard about the dead Tropical Tan employee,” Tj asked Kyle
as he helped himself to a second serving of everything.

“I’ve heard tidbit
s through the local gossip hotline, but it doesn’t seem like anyone knows much at this point, other than the fact that the woman was found floating in the lake.”

“It just happened yesterday and the sheriff
’s office was keeping it quiet until the Tropical Tan staff had a chance to tell the models,” Tj explained. “I’m sure by tomorrow the cat will be completely out of the bag.”

“So do we know what happened?” Kyle wondered.

“I found Tonya tied to an anchor in Secret Cove. Actually, Echo found her; I just followed along. I talked to Roy earlier and he didn’t seem to have any definitive leads, but he’s looking into some chatter about an affair gone bad between Tonya and the head of the Tropical Tan Corporation, Fenton Ridley. Boggs isn’t permitting Roy to formally interrogate Fenton, so I got him drunk and had a chat with him.”

“You got him drunk?” Jenna’s eyes widened
.

“I
tried
to get him drunk. It didn’t seem to work, even though he drank half a bottle of scotch. Anyway, the man claimed to be friends with Tonya but nothing more. I have to say I tend to believe him.”

“So what
’s going to happen next?” Kyle asked.

Tj shrugged. “
I imagine we’ll know more by tomorrow. Dylan was planning to go to Reno today to check out Tonya’s movements after she arrived on the flight from Miami while he was picking up his sister and nephew.”

“I wonder how that’s going
,” Jenna said.

“I wish I knew.” Tj sighed. “This is the first relationship I’ve had in which the outcome depends on the whim of a third party.”

“Yeah, I guess it is sort of an odd situation,” Kyle commented. “Is Dylan still planning to move if his sister won’t stay?”

“He says he is. Part of me thinks I should just move on. Dylan has indicated as much several times of late. He doesn’t want me waiting around for him when he knows we might not have a future. Even if he can convince his sister to stay, I don’t think there’s going to be room in his life for a romance.  The more I think about it, the more I realize that Dylan might not be available for anything more than a friendship for a long time, if ever. And I do get it. I know that Ashley and Gracie come first in my life
, so I can understand how Justin comes first for Dylan.”

“I guess I have to admire him for that,” Kyle said.

“It might be easier if he was being a jerk.”

“Speaking of jerks, guess who’s been hounding me about selling him an easement through my land?” Kyle asked.

“Lloyd Benson,” Tj said immediately. Lloyd had been trying to buy the property Kyle had inherited since before Zachary died. In fact, he’d been one of the prime suspects in Zachary’s death for that very reason. “The man never seems to give up.”

“Which is why he’s so successful, I imagine,” Kyle said.

“You’re not going to sell?” Tj asked.

“No. Zachary didn’t want to sell him the land, so I won’t consider it either. I’m trying to figure out a way to protect the property from being sold or developed in the future. The area really does have historical significance, and Zachary wanted it preserved. If anything were to happen to me, I’d like the assurance that Zachary’s legacy will be maintained.”

“You haven’t said what’s going on with the missing model,” Jenna said.

“Not a lot
.” Tj filled them in on her conversation with Nona, as well as her discussions with Hazel and Frannie.

“It does seem odd that the girl would just take off,” Kyle commented. “Especially if she knew her sister was here to meet her.”

“We don’t actually know that Kiara realized she was here. I suppose I should ask Annabeth about that if I see her again. Either way, after speaking to a few people about Kiara, it really doesn’t fit that she’d just take off with the guy she ran away from in the first place.”

“Maybe she changed her mind about getting married,” Jenna speculated. “
If her fiancé met her at the bus, he might have had a plan to win her back.”

“Seems unlikely,” Tj
said. “Besides, if she changed her mind, why wouldn’t she let anyone know that she was dropping out of the contest? The more I think about it, the more certain I am that something happened to her.”

“Something like what happened to Tonya Overton?” Kyle asked.

Tj decided to get up early the next morning and go for a jog along the beach. Although it was early in the season, the marina was already filled with boats of different shapes and sizes. During the summer months, sailboat races were held during the sunset hour on Wednesday and Friday nights. Families from both Serenity and Indulgence came to the beach to BBQ and watch the graceful boats with their beautiful sails compete for points that accumulated throughout the season, leading up to a grand finale over Labor Day weekend.

The resort was quiet since the only guests in residence
slept in well past sunrise. Echo chased the geese that were combing the beach for scraps left from the previous day’s picnickers. Most of the larger forest animals tended to stick to the woods, but every now and then Tj would come across a mama bear and her cubs out for a morning swim.

Tj
settled into a comfortable rhythm as she thought about their conversation with Nona. She was anxious to find out what information she might have gained when she returned to the compound. Nona seemed certain that Aaron didn’t have anything to do with Kiara’s disappearance, but Tj wasn’t so sure. She decided that if she hadn’t heard from the woman by the end of the day, she’d have her grandpa try to get hold of her.

And if Kiara’s disappearance weren’t enough to worry about, there was the fact that she seemed to be getting pulled into Tonya Overton’s murder investigation. Roy
had suggested that an affair between Tonya Overton and Fenton Ridley had occurred, although Fenton hadn’t said anything to indicate that he harbored ill will toward Tonya. But he had been in Serenity when the murder occurred, and he’d admitted to having dinners with the dead woman when they were home in Miami. He also indicated that he was close to all the employees he traveled with, and that his second wife wasn’t at home a lot. It seemed reasonable that he might indulge in an extramarital fling when she was away.

And then there was Fenton’s wife. Could she have found out about the affair and eliminated the competition? It would have been tough to anchor the body on her own
, but might she have brought her sister along to help out?

So many q
uestions, so few answers.

Tj wound her way through the forest
, taking advantage of the slight rise in perspective before circling back around to the beach for a final sprint to the large log structure she shared with the most important people in her life. She was just entering the house through the front door when her phone rang.

It was Dylan.

“Hey, Dylan,” Tj greeted him.

“Tonya Overton rented a car shortly after she landed in Reno,” Dylan
said, jumping right in.

“Good morning to you too.”

“Sorry.” Tj could hear Dylan take a deep breath. “My sister decided to take a later flight, so she didn’t come in yesterday as planned. I didn’t find that out until after I was already at the airport, which actually worked out okay because it gave me more time to look into Tonya’s movements from the time she got off the plane until she ended up under twenty feet of water in Secret Cove. If things go as planned, Allie and Justin are coming in this morning. I guess I’m in a bit of a rush to go pick them up.”

“I understand. So what did you find out?”

“According to the man who was working the car rental counter at the airport, Tonya was alone when she rented the car. When I informed the company that she was found dead several hours after leaving the airport, they accessed the GPS tracking system. The car was found in the marina parking lot in Serenity. Based on what I can put together, it looks like she rented a boat about three hours after she rented the car.”

“It’s only an hour from Reno to Serenity,” Tj pointed out. “Do we have any idea where she was for the other two hours?”

“Unfortunately, the system doesn’t have a memory, so we don’t have any way of knowing where she stopped before heading to the marina. The man at the boat rental said she had two men with her. He didn’t get a good look at their faces; they had on dark glasses and hooded sweatshirts, as well as jeans and heavy shoes. He stated that the men kept their distance and let Tonya take care of the paperwork and payment.”

Tj tucked the phone under her chin so that she could pour herself a glass of juice as she listened. Echo had already helped himself to the water in his dish and was napping on the cool surface of the kitchen floor. There was still a chill in the air
, but Tj was willing to bet it was going to be hot by afternoon.

She realized if two men
had rented the boat that eliminated Fenton’s wife as a suspect. “The men must have taken her to the cove, hit her on the head, and dumped her. Do you think she went with them willingly?” Tj asked.

“The man I spoke to indicated that she did
,” Dylan replied. “She had plenty of opportunity to call attention to herself or even escape, but she didn’t. I suppose it’s possible the men she was with weren’t responsible for her death, but at this point, I’d consider them to be prime suspects. If this was Chicago, I’d try to access traffic cams to see if I could determine where the vehicle might have come from, but as we both know, Serenity doesn’t have any.”

“How about the marina? It seems like they would have cameras
that would allow them to keep an eye on the boats. Many of them are docked there for the season, and a good percentage sit unattended a large portion of the time.”

“I already tried that. The cameras did pick up the
threesome getting into the boat, but they only showed the men from the back. Other than having a general idea of height and weight, we didn’t really get a whole lot to go on.”

“And the boat?” Tj wondered. “Did the men return it?”

“No. When the boat was late coming in, the marina sent out a team to look for it. They found it on the beach. We’ve been unable to find anyone who saw the men drop it there. And there are too many footprints in the area to be of any use. We’re having the boat dusted for prints, but it was a rental, and not a well-maintained one at that. There are a lot of prints. It’s going to take us a while to sort through them.”