Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (24 page)

“Rupert Kingston suffer
ed from a condition known as dissociative identity disorder.”

“Like the guy in that movie we saw last summer?” Tj asked.

“Sort of. Although it appears that Rupert Kingston had only two personalities, and that the new personality, Bob King, has been in almost total control for most of his life.”

Tj furrowed her brow. “What do you mean
, ‘in charge’?”

“Let me back up. Bob King was in an automobile accident last spring. He suffe
red from some pretty serious head injuries and spent several weeks in a medically induced coma. When he finally came out of it, he couldn’t remember the past thirty or so years of his life, and although his identification said that he was Bob King, he kept insisting he was Rupert Kingston. The hospital staff assigned him to a psychiatrist, Dr. Livingston, because they believed he was suffering from some sort of amnesia.”

“Wow, how odd.
Was
he suffering from amnesia?”

“In a way,” Hunter answered
, “but not for the reason they initially thought. During his therapy sessions the man assigned to Dr. Livingston said he had no idea who Bob King was. He insisted his name was Rupert Kingston. Dr. Livingston did some checking and found out that there actually was a Rupert Kingston and that the man in the hospital fit his description. After a bit of investigation he realized that Rupert Kingston and Bob King were in fact the same person.”

“So the man
literally became Bob King?” Tj clarified.

“It would seem so.”

“Why?”

“Dr. Livingston said he didn’t feel right divulging the specifics of Mr. Kingston’s personal history. All he would say was that
he suffered a personal trauma that seemed to activate the emergence of Bob King. King was a much stronger personality and managed to squelch out Rupert almost completely once he took hold. Rupert did share a few memories with the psychiatrist during which the King personality came to the surface for short periods of time throughout the years, but the memories seemed more like dreams.”

“But it was Rupert
who came to Serenity last summer,” Tj concluded.

“
Yes. It was Rupert’s identity that awoke from the coma, and he wanted very much to regain the life he’d left behind.”

“S
o he came to Serenity to look up Frannie.”

“He did
, although it was against Dr. Livingston’s advice.”

“
And what happened?”

“According to Dr. Livingston
, Rupert left a long, detailed message on his answering machine during his stay in Serenity, explaining that something had happened that had caused him a great amount of distress and confusion. He claimed he was beginning to experience lapses in memory, which was an indication that Bob was beginning to come through. By the time Dr. Livingston received the message and talked to Rupert that Monday, he suspected it was actually Bob he was speaking to. Dr. Livingston said he went ahead and called David to refill a prescription for the antipsychotic drug Rupert had been taking in the hope that it wasn’t too late.”

“Rupert must have called Dr. Livingston and left the message
on Sunday. When he couldn’t get through he must have called the medical hotline, which prompted the service to send Libby to see him.”

“That seems to make the most sense.
If what Libby says is true, it’s probable that Bob was already in charge by the time Libby arrived.”

“So it was Rupert who came to town in the first place and it was Rupert who met with Frannie and shared a night with Ellen.
And it was Rupert who ordered the flowers, but most likely Bob who returned them, and it must have been Bob who set up the scam to con Bonnie out of her money.”

“That would be my guess.”

“But it still doesn’t explain who killed him.”

“No, I’m afraid it doesn’t.”

Tj headed back into town later that afternoon
in response to an SOS from Kyle. She knew he planned to make his Santa deliveries that evening so she wasn’t surprised when he’d called in a panic and said he needed some additional help. He’d asked her if he could borrow a second sleigh and also asked if she would be willing to help out as a second elf. Tj wasn’t about to dress in green tights, but she did have a pair of green suede pants and a bright red sweater that should do the trick.

“Annabeth
, you look adorable,” Tj complimented the twelve-year-old elf when she arrived at Kyle’s lakefront estate. “I love the costume.”

“Thanks
. Jenna made it for me. She knew just what I’d want.”

“Where
’s Santa Kyle?” Tj asked.

“Inside
, gettin’ the rest of the stuff ready. We need to load everything before we can go. You gonna help?”

“I am,” Tj verified.

“Kyle went a little present crazy, but I think he has everything organized into groups. We should ask him before we start puttin’ stuff in the sleighs.”

Tj looked toward the house. “I’ll go check with him. Are you waiting for
someone?”

It was cold out
side, and Annabeth was sitting on the front porch wearing a short elf costume.

“A friend from school. Kyle said she could come with us.”

Tj smiled. She was glad Annabeth was making friends. “That’s great, but maybe you should wait inside where it’s warmer.”

Annabeth shrugged. “
’K.”

Annabeth was right
; Kyle really had gone a little present crazy. There were brightly wrapped gifts stacked in piles around the room. At least it did look like he had a method to his madness.

“Good
, you’re here.” Kyle hurried into the room. “I’m afraid I’m running just a bit behind schedule.”

“It’s going to take you until New Year
’s to deliver all of this stuff,” Tj commented.

“Don’t worry
; it isn’t as bad as it looks. I started with Dan’s list and then decided to add gifts for the kids in the play, which made me think about some of the kids in the choir, and one thing led to another. . . .”

Tj laughed. “Preachin
g to the choir. I brought the second sleigh and wore red and green as requested, but I think the kids are expecting Santa and I’m short one Santa outfit.”

“I have a
Santa, so I really just needed an extra sleigh and an additional elf.”

Tj shrugged. “Okay, I’m game. Who
’s this mystery Santa I’m going to be spending the evening with?”

“Hunter.”

Tj smiled. Suddenly this impromptu assignment seemed like a whole lot more fun.

“Only three houses to go.” Tj yawned as she snuggled next to Hunter in the sleigh. Echo sat on the seat behind them. After a bit of consideration Tj had decided he’d make the perfect doggy reindeer, so she’d strapped an antler headband she had onto his head. At first he wasn’t thrilled with the accessory, but once they started making deliveries to excited children who wanted to pet him, he quickly forgot he even had it on.

“I have to admit th
is has been a lot more work than I expected,” Hunter commented.

Tj didn’t say anything as she allowed the cozy rhythm of the sleigh bells and the warmth provided by the blanket she had wrapped around her
body to lull herself into a feeling of contentment.

“When Kyle asked me to do it I was picturing more kissing under the moonlight than lifting and hauling
the giant presents he bought,” Hunter added. “Do you have any idea what’s in those boxes?”

Tj la
y her head on Hunter’s shoulder. She was enjoying the holiday decorations most houses displayed. Normally, she wouldn’t have taken the time to drive around and look at them, but somehow the bright lights and striped candy canes seemed to give Serenity a Christmassy feel that brought a feeling of joy to her soul as they made their way through the quiet streets.

“Actually
, I don’t know what Kyle bought,” Tj answered. “I think there are different gifts for each kid based on what they asked for. Kyle went to a lot of trouble to make sure that everyone’s Christmas wish came true.”

“I know hi
s asking us to help out went a long way toward making my Christmas wish come true.” Hunter leaned his cheek against the top of Tj’s head, which was still on his shoulder.

“This really has been fun,” Tj agreed.

“Maybe after we finish we can take the sleigh into the woods and . . .” Hunter was cut off by the quacking of his phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the message. “I need to make a phone call.” He handed Tj the reins.

Tj
sat up straight and took over as sleigh driver while Hunter spoke to the hospital. Tj could only hear his side of the conversation, but it looked like their trip was going to be cut short by a duck emergency.

“Okay, thanks,” Hunter said before hanging up.

He turned and looked at Tj. “Mr. Partridge is complaining of chest pains. An ambulance has been called, but there was a big pileup on the highway going out of town, so all the emergency personnel are tied up. He lives close by, so I’m going to have you drop me at his house. I’ll wait with him until the ambulance arrives, which, based on what dispatch told me, should be within half an hour.”

“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Tj asked.

“Probably. He’s had incidents of chest pains before that turned out to be nothing, but he’s getting on in years and I don’t want to take any chances. If you want to drop me at his house, maybe you can make the last three deliveries and then come back to get me. Once the ambulance arrives I’ll let them take him to the hospital and the doctor on duty can look into it further.”

“
That sounds fine. He lives on Maple?”

“On the corner of Maple and Elm,” Hunter confirmed.

After dropping Hunter at Mr. Partridge’s, Tj continued on to the next house on her list. It was starting to snow lightly, and without the warmth from Hunter’s body next to hers, she was certain the trips to the last three houses were going to be a lot chillier. Luckily, it was getting late, so the children in each of the three homes had already gone to bed and Tj was able to quickly drop the gifts off with their appreciative parents.

“Looks like that’s it,” Tj said to Echo
, who had moved to the seat next to her once Hunter had vacated the spot.

Echo put a paw on her lap to let her know he was listening to her.

“I guess we’ll go and get . . .” Tj heard a loud bang. It seemed to have come from the end of the street, which dead-ended at the edge of the forest. “What the heck was that?” Tj wondered.

Echo barked once. Tj momentarily considered ignoring the sound and returning to Hunter as planned
, but some deep-seated instinct caused her to turn the wagon around and head toward the sound. By the time she’d made her way to the solitary house at the end of the lane she could see it was on fire. She reached for her phone, but it wasn’t in her pocket. She realized it must have fallen out at some point. She was preparing to rummage around on the floor of the sleigh when Echo jumped down and dashed toward the house.

“Echo
, wait,” Tj called.

Echo obeyed
, stopping immediately, but he began to whine as the flames began shooting from the back of the house.

“Is someone inside?” Tj asked.

Echo barked again.

“Okay, find.”

Tj followed Echo into the smoky house. The flames appeared to be the worst in the back bedrooms, but the heat and smoke at the front of the structure was almost intolerable. She was preparing to call Echo off and head back outside when she saw the dog stop and stand over a figure on the floor. Tj took off her sweatshirt and wrapped it around her nose and mouth. She tried to hold her breath as she made her way along the smoky floor toward the man she realized, as she neared, was none other than Captain Brown. He didn’t appear to be injured, and it was odd that a trained firefighter would so easily succumb to smoke. 

And then she noticed the bottle of tequila. The empty bottle of tequila. Was the man drunk?

Tj grabbed his arm and began to pull him toward the front of the house and the open door. Echo grabbed onto the sleeve on his other arm and pulled as well. Captain Brown was a big man and not easily moved, but Tj was able to make enough progress that she felt she’d be able to rescue the man until there was a loud explosion and everything went dark.

“What happened?” Tj asked as she squinted against the bright light that was causing her eyes to water. She was lying on the snow. Hunter was sitting next to her, shining a light into her eyes.

“You were hit by
falling debris and knocked out.”

“Debris?” Tj choked as she tried to get her bearings.
There was chaos all around her. Red and white lights flashed as men ran around with hoses, attempting to contain the flames that engulfed the house. It was loud, so loud as the fire raged and the men yelled back and forth to one another.