Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (21 page)

“I’ve been meaning to come in
, but I’ve been really busy.” Tj decided to open with the small talk and meaningless banter portion of their anticipated conversation.

“I can imagine the resort has been packed,” Ellen answered politely as she wrapped a cape around Tj’s shoulder
s. “All the snow we’ve had this year has been nice, but it’s really played havoc with the traffic on the highway. I guess you heard about that big pileup over Thanksgiving?”

“I heard there was an accident but didn’t ever get all the facts.”

“Seven people were injured,” Ellen answered. “Should we take some of this length off? Maybe go a bit shorter?”

“No
, just a trim,” Tj specified. “And I suppose you heard about the murder we had at the resort on Thanksgiving.”

Tj realized that her segue to her main reason for being
there was just a tad abrupt, but if she knew Ellen, they could spend the entire hour of her appointment talking about weather and traffic.

Ellen paused for a moment but then continued to
snip away at Tj’s ends. “I did hear. It’s such a shame.”

“
Did you hear that the guy had different identities?”

Ellen stopped what she was doing and looked at Tj in the mirror. “You know about my dalliance with
Rupert Kingston.”

“Yeah,” Tj admitted. “I do.”

“So that’s the real reason for this sudden interest in your hair?”

“I did need a trim,” Tj defended
herself.

Ellen sighed. “What do you want to know?”

Tj looked into the mirror, attempting to make eye contact with Ellen, who was actually standing behind her. “You won’t chop off all my hair if I ask the wrong thing, will you?”

Ellen smiled. “I might.”

Tj laughed. She could tell Ellen was joking. Or at least she hoped she was joking.

“
Colin Welsh told me that he saw you leaving the victim’s room when he visited last summer. I’m not judging; I’m just trying to piece together his actions during both of his visits so I can help figure out who might have killed him.”

“You think
I
killed him?”

Tj eyed the scissors in Ellen’s hand. She would
n’t look good with a bob.

“No
, of course not. I just hoped you could give me some insight into the man.”

Ellen returned to her trimming. “I know everyone is saying that
Rupert Kingston and this Bob King are the same man, but I’m having a hard time reconciling that in my mind. According to the local gossip, this Bob King was a real snake, but the man I met was sweet and considerate and vulnerable.”

“Really?”

Ellen was the first person Tj had talked to who had had anything positive to say about the guy.

“Do you mind telling me how you met?” Tj asked.

“We met in the bar down by the river. Do you remember Pat West?”

“The guy you dated a while back?”

“That would be him.”

“
I hear he moved.”

“Pat and I dated for almost a year. I really thought he was the one. We got along great
, and he seemed to love me as much as I loved him,” Ellen shared. “And then last summer he got a job offer on the East Coast. When he told me that he planned to accept it, I hoped he’d ask me to go with him, but he didn’t. The night I hooked up with Rupert was the first time I’d come out of my house since Pat left. I was alone and depressed and he was alone and seemed depressed himself, so we started talking. It turned out that he was in town to try to rekindle things with a woman from his past. He never mentioned a name, but he told me that she had been the love of his life, the one he should never have let get away.”

Frannie, Tj realized.

“She’d made it clear that she never wanted to see him again and he was heartbroken. We both were hurting and had a lot to drink, one thing led to another, and . . . well, I guess you know the rest.”

“Did you see him after that?” Tj
asked.

“No, I never saw him again.”

“And once you got back to his room, did he continue to be sweet and vulnerable or did he turn into Mr. Hyde?”

Ellen looked at Tj in the mirror. “He was so sweet and so thoughtful and such a caring lover. When I heard that the man I spent that night with and the man who everyone seemed to love to hate were the same
person, I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t really come to terms with it. The man I was with didn’t seem to have a mean or spiteful bone in his body. I don’t know who killed Rupert, but I do hope you find them. The man I remember deserves to have justice for his untimely death.”

After Tj left Ellen’s she headed back toward the library. Something wasn’t adding up, and she hoped Frannie could help her make sense of it.

Frannie was busy at the desk
, so Tj decided to browse the section that featured new books. There were several cozy mysteries she’d been dying to read, but so far she hadn’t found the time to do much more than drool over the colorful book covers.

“Interested in a new cozy?” Frannie asked after the patrons she was helping
had left.

“I still haven’t read the books I checked out last time I was here,” Tj
said. “Things have been even busier than normal as of late.”

“How are things going with your investigation?”

“Nowhere,” Tj admitted. “I did have a couple more questions for you, if you have a moment.”

“Certainly, if it will help. Let’s have a seat in the back. I’ll need to listen for the door
, but it’s been slow today. Everyone must be busy getting ready for the holiday.”

Frannie poured cups of coffee for both of them and then indicated that they should sit down
at a small table in the corner of her office. “How can I help you?” Frannie asked.

Tj decided to begin with the question that had been lingering in her mind since her first visit.
“I know we’ve established that Arnie had no motive to kill Bob, but I wanted to ask about his reaction to Rupert showing up and trying to pick up where he left off after he hurt you so deeply.”

“He didn’t have any reaction because he didn’t know anything about Rupert’
s visit,” Frannie explained. “Arnie was out of town at the time, and I never told him Rupert had come to town.”

Frannie’s answer satisfied Tj that Arnie really didn’t have a motive to kill the man.

“I spoke to someone who also knew Bob as Rupert,” Tj added. “She indicated that the man she knew was sweet and kind and vulnerable. Does that sound at all like the man you knew?”

Frannie smiled a sad smile. “Actually
, it sounds exactly like the man I first fell in love with. He was so sweet and sort of shy. He really cared about my needs and went out of his way to make sure I was cared for and happy. I really thought we had a future.”

“So when did you notice a change?” Tj asked.

“It was toward the end of his senior year. He was under a lot of pressure from his family to make a decision about his future, and there were finals to get through and plans to make. He told me that he needed to go home to visit with his parents, but he never came back. It was, of course, devastating for me at the time and, to be honest, it’s continued to be difficult for me in the present.”

“Difficult in the present?” Tj asked.

“When he came to see me last summer he seemed like the same old Rupert. He was sweet and thoughtful. Part of me was sorry to see him go, but I wasn’t up for putting my heart out there to be stomped on again.”

“So you stomped on his flowers instead.”

“Flowers? What flowers?”

“So let me get this straight,” Jenna said later that evening. She was sitting next to Tj in the community center while the kids rehearsed the play, which would open the following Friday and run two nights. Tj had briefly explained Frannie’s prior association with Bob, the flowers, and the fact that said flowers had been smashed and then returned. “Bob has two old flames in Serenity?”

“I guess
.” Tj shrugged. “Rita told me this Rupert bought a very special bouquet for an old flame he really wanted to impress, but Frannie didn’t know anything about any flowers. The only explanation is that Bob had yet another old flame to look up.”

“What are the odds of that?”

“Pretty astronomical considering he isn’t even from here. There’s something really odd going on.”

“You think?” Jenna asked sarcastically.

“What I find the strangest of all is the inconsistency in the reports of Bob’s behavior with the different women I spoke to. How can one man run so hot and cold?”

“I guess it
’s just part of the role-playing he uses to snare women into his web. He’s all sweet and cuddly until he no longer has use for them and then bam: he turns into a monster.”

“That does seem to be what
’s happened. I need to talk to Bonnie. Do you think she’s ready to talk about things yet?”

“I don’t know
.” Jenna sighed. “She’s made it clear that this whole mess is off limits, but maybe she’d be willing to talk to you.”

“I’ll give her a call. Maybe I
’ll even go by tonight. By the way, have you talked to Nikki since she’s been gone?”

“No,” Jenna
said. “Have you?”

“I called her today.
Kallie mentioned she saw Nikki talking to Bob the day he died and I wanted to ask her about it.”

“Did she know anything?”

“No. She said she went out for some air and he came on to her, which she found disgusting since he was supposed to be engaged to Bonnie. She didn’t mention it because she didn’t want to hurt Bonnie by saying anything that would imply that the man she was engaged to was a total jerk.”

“I guess that makes sense
, but you’d think she would have said something after he died.”

“Yeah, you’d think. Anyway
, the really interesting news is that it looks like she’s made a love connection since she’s been home.”

“Really? With who?”

“Some guy named Joeystein.”

“Joeystein?” Jenna laughed. “Have you been dipping into your grandpa’s scotch again?”

“The guy’s name is actually Joe, but he earned the nickname Joeystein in high school because he was a star football player like Joe Montana and a brainiac like Einstein. Nikki told me she’d had a thing for him a long time ago. Seems they ran into each other and long-suppressed flames reignited.”

“
‘Long-suppressed flames’? Have you been reading romance novels again?”

“Maybe. The point is that I think she really likes this guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if she comes home engaged
, or at least seriously hooked up.”

“But they live in different states
,” Jenna pointed out.

“Nikki is a teacher. She
could probably get a job where this Joe lives.”

“Maybe, but it seems to me that if this guy is really into her
, he should move to where her job and her life are. I don’t see why the girl always has to be the one to move.”

Tj was surprised at Jenna’s declaration
, especially because she tended to be a bit more traditional in her approach to being a wife.

“Something wrong?” Tj asked.

“It’s just Dennis. He’s been driving me nuts since he’s been on leave. He’s moody and depressed and constantly underfoot. I need to talk to Captain Brown about letting him go back to work. This murder investigation could take months, and I may have to kill Dennis if I have to deal with his attitude for months.”

“How was your day with Jordan yesterday?” Tj asked Kallie. The two had been almost inseparable all week. Tj suspected there might be a romance of sorts going on, but their connection could also have to do with the fact that Jordan had all but taken over caring for Brady when Kallie was at work. Tj had to acknowledge that the guy was popular with all the kids. Maybe he
should
retire from his life at sea and consider settling down to raise a family.

“It was so nice
.” Kallie got a dreamy look on her face as she sat down across from Tj in the booth in the Grill where she’d been sipping coffee and doing paperwork. “He’s such a great guy, and the best thing of all, he almost has my mother-in-law talked into letting me keep Brady for Christmas.”

“He spoke to your mother-in-law?”

“He did. On a couple of occasions. Once he found out I wasn’t going to get to spend the holiday with my baby he called her up and, in that masterful way of his, demanded that they discuss the situation. Of course I wouldn’t expect you to let us stay with you that long. Jordan is willing to watch Brady while I’m at work, so I can go back to my apartment when I’m not working.”

Tj smiled. “I’m so happy Jordan was able to make some headway with your mother-in-law
, and of course you can stay with us through the holiday if it works out that Brady can stay in Serenity. I realize you chose your apartment based on what you could afford, but it really isn’t the best location for a child.”