Halloween in Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 6) (7 page)

Tj was sorry to hear Brett and Jessie were having problems. They’d seemed like the perfect couple when they were all in high school.

“I have to wonder who might have brought Holly’s murder to the attention of
Second Look
in the first place,” Tj commented. “I’ve seen the show, and usually they do an investigation based on new evidence provided by someone familiar with the case, who requests that they take a second look. Don’t be mad, but I know you were Holly’s best friend, so I sort of thought you might be the one who got the ball rolling.”

“Me?” Jessie looked shocked. “No way. I’ve spent the past ten years trying to forget that horrible night. Why would I want to dredge it up at this point?”

“I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way. I don’t suppose you have any theories as to who might have been responsible for Holly’s death?” Tj asked.

A strange look came over Jessie’s face. “Holly wasn’t the sweet, innocent thing everyone thought she was. She had secrets. Big ones. In my opinion, there are at least a half dozen people who would have been much better off with her dead. I don’t have any proof that any of the people who come to mind are responsible for her death, but I’ll admit I wasn’t entirely shocked when they found her body.”

Tj frowned. “What do you mean? What secrets?”

“I really shouldn’t say. Given the circumstances, I wouldn’t want to cast suspicion on anyone. What’s done is done and it’s best just to move on.” Jessie looked toward the bar. “Is that Jenna Henderson?”

“Jenna Elston now, but yes.”

“I’m really too tired to make small talk, so I think I’ll split before she comes back. Tell her I said hi. If we don’t end up leaving when Brett finishes with his interview, we can catch up later.”

Tj watched Jessie hurry away. The entire conversation they’d just shared had been very odd. If Jessie hadn’t instigated the investigation and hadn’t provided the information to Samantha she seemed to have, who had?

By the time Tj got the girls home it was time to get them ready for bed. Hunter had mentioned stopping by that evening, so she built a fire in the living room and put soft jazz on the stereo. Her grandpa was in his room watching television and her dad was out for the evening with Rosalie. It was nice to spend a few minutes with just the animals for company while she waited for Hunter to arrive. Her life had been so hectic lately that she hadn’t had any time to simply unwind and sit with her own thoughts.

The sound of the rain hitting the side of the house could be heard over the soft music. It had rained steadily for most of the day and Tj knew that if the amount of precipitation they’d already seen continued into the following day there would be flooding along the streams and rivers in the area. Although the resort was nestled on the lakeshore, the only flooding they usually had to deal with was from the smaller seasonal streams that tended to dry up over the summer.

Tj pulled an afghan over her legs, one her grandmother had crocheted right before she died. Maggie had loved to nurture her home and her family, and she’d added personal touches to every room of the house. There was still a quilt on Tj’s bed that her grandmother had hand sewn, and the hand-painted planter boxes on the back deck had been her projects one summer.

Maggie had loved to cook as well as sew, and she’d maintained a garden so she could prepare her delicious meals using the freshest produce. Ben had tried to maintain the garden for a number of years, but eventually his back and his enthusiasm had given out and he’d replaced the plants with a lawn.

Tj pulled out her phone and began checking messages. Hunter was a little late and she wanted to be sure he hadn’t left a message while she was getting the girls to bed. There was nothing from Hunter, but there was a text from Jenna, saying that when she’d arrived home that evening Dennis had informed her that Samantha Colton had left a message on their home phone saying she wanted to meet with both her and Dennis the following day. From Jenna’s text, she seemed pretty freaked out about the whole thing.

Tj didn’t blame her. Neither Dennis nor Jenna had even a slight motive to want Holly dead, but the woman was brutal. Tj couldn’t help but worry that she’d say something upsetting to Jenna, who could be sensitive at times. Tj supposed if she were the one investigating the murder she’d be doing exactly what Colton was doing and speak to everyone who had been at the party that night, but most of them really had no connection to Holly, nor would they have motives for wanting her dead.

Tj thought back to what Jessie had said.
At least a half dozen people were better off with her dead.
That seemed like a bold statement coming from Holly’s best friend. Was it possible their very strange relationship was based on something other than affection and friendship? Could Jessie have been one of the people she’d referred to?

The more Tj thought about everything she’d learned that day, the more certain she was that lives could very well be destroyed by Colton’s digging into Holly’s murder. Yes, there was a killer responsible for a young girl’s death, and yes, that person should be brought to justice, but what of the innocent bystanders who would have their secrets revealed and dirty laundry aired in the process of tracking down the truth about what happened that night?

Tj thought about calling Jenna, but it was late and she could very well already have gone to bed. She decided to text back, figuring if Jenna was still awake she’d appreciate the sympathy, and if she’d gone to bed she wouldn’t wake her. Jenna immediately texted back, thanking her for the encouragement. Tj knew her best friend would most likely lay awake the entire night trying to second-guess what the reporter might ask her.

Tj yawned as the stress from the day began to leave her body and the relaxing effect of the fire and the soft music lulled her toward sleep. If Hunter didn’t show up soon he’d find her asleep on the sofa. Chances were he’d gotten held up at the hospital and she was forcing herself to stay awake for nothing. She was about to call him to see if he was on his way when her phone rang. The fact that he was calling her most likely indicated she’d be spending the remainder of the evening with only Echo and Cuervo, as she’d predicted.

“Hey,” she answered.

“I’m still at the hospital.”

“I figured.”

“We’ve had a rash of auto accidents today with all the rain. The last one was bad. I’m afraid she didn’t make it.”

“Oh, no. Was it anyone I know?”

“It was Samantha Colton.”

Tj’s heart stopped. “Samantha Colton, the woman I spoke to just this afternoon?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“What happened?” Tj asked.

“She was on Old Sawmill Road, which, as you know, is very windy and has steep drop-offs. It appears she swerved to avoid something and ended up rolling down a hill and hitting a tree. There’s also the possibility that she simply misread the road. It happens on nights like this, when the weather is bad and visitors to our area don’t know the roads.”

Tj stared into the fire. It crackled and snapped merrily as jazz played in the background. Somehow the setting seemed all wrong for the conversation.

“When did the accident occur?”

“She was brought in an hour ago. I think emergency personnel showed up pretty quickly because there was one of those alert systems in her vehicle. If I had to guess, the accident occurred no more than two hours ago. Probably less.”

“You don’t think…” Tj eventually said, thinking rapidly. She had been home for maybe ninety minutes. It had been at least three hours since she’d spoken to Jessie in Rob’s. She’d mentioned that Brett was upset. The question was, how upset?

“That she dug too deep and someone intentionally ran her off the road? The thought crossed my mind, although I spoke to one of the guys who brought her in and he said there were no obvious signs of there being a second vehicle involved in the accident. Of course it was dark and raining, so it could be hard to tell exactly what had occurred. I imagine we’ll know more after the vehicle is recovered.”

Tj tucked her legs up under her body as she tried to make sense out of what Hunter was telling her. For the accident to have been intentional, the person who caused it would have to have followed her. But from where? And where was she heading on that road during a storm? The more Tj thought about it, the more convinced she was that foul play had been involved. It didn’t make sense that she was on that road in the first place. Other than providing access to the handful of houses out there, it was rarely used now that they’d built the new highway.

“Have you spoken to Roy?” Tj asked.

“Briefly. He was as stumped as I was as to why she’d even be on that particular road, but he was going to see what he could dig up. I’m sure we’ll know more tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Tj stared into the fire. Hunter sounded tired.

“I know we planned to get together, but I really should go home. It’s late and I’m exhausted. Besides, Grandpa was in one of his moods when I left for work. I want to be sure he took his meds and ate the food I left for him rather than the crap he tends to eat when he thinks I’m too busy to notice.”

“He still fighting doctor’s orders?” Tj asked.

Hunter sighed. “He’s doing better than he was, but it seems like it’s always a struggle. I know he wants to feel better, but he seems unwilling to do what he needs to do in order to really get past this. He’s supposed to be on a very restricted diet, and I make sure he has all the healthy food he wants, but I still find him sneaking around behind my back.”

“It sounds like you’re talking about a child rather than a grandparent,” Tj pointed out.

“There are times I definitely feel like he’s the child and I’m the parent. I had to work late the other night, so I left everything he would need to have a healthy meal in the refrigerator. When I came home I found a pizza box in the trash and the food I had made for him was exactly where I’d left it.”

“I’m sorry. I know the situation frustrates you. Maybe I can talk to him.”

Hunter sighed. “Yeah, he seems to listen to you. He certainly isn’t listening to me. I’m being paged. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Tj felt bad for Hunter and for Jake. She knew the doctor in Hunter made him want Jake to stick to his diet all the time, but she also understood Jake’s need to cheat and do things his own way every now and then.

Hunter really did tend to treat Jake like a child since his stroke, but the reality was that Jake was not only an adult who was used to making his own decisions but a retired doctor capable of understanding the effects of his behavior. It would be hard for him to have someone decide that he was no longer capable of making decisions for himself after doing just that for eighty years.

But Hunter loved Jake, and he wasn’t ready to let him go. Tj knew in Hunter’s mind, a slice of pizza equated to less time with the man who meant so much to him.

Tj would do what she could. She’d worked out an agreement with Jake over his physical therapy sessions. At that time she’d thought the purpose of the agreement was to help Jake, but the reality was that Jake’s stubbornness had really helped her to admit her feelings for Hunter. On the surface, agreeing to make a commitment to someone’s grandson in exchange for them agreeing to the medical treatment they needed had seemed ridiculous, but in retrospect Jake had simply provided a means for Tj to do what she already wanted to do.

Tj decided to text Jenna. There was no use her worrying all night about an interview that was never going to happen.

No need to stress over your interview tomorrow. There isn’t going to be one.

Why not?

Colton was in an accident. She’s dead.

What? When?

A few hours ago. I just got off the phone with Hunter.

Tj’s phone rang as she waited for Jenna to text back. She supposed she should have just called her friend in the first place.

“What happened?” Jenna asked.

Tj shared what she knew, which wasn’t a lot. She also gave her opinion that the accident might not have been an accident at all.

“Dennis and I were talking about Samantha Colton earlier, after we learned she wanted to speak with both of us. He told me he’d spoken to Dalton, who warned him that she was going to ruin lives and needed to be dealt with one way or another.”

4 cups apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin

1 cup cranberries

½ cup white sugar

2 tbs. cinnamon

2 tsp. ground nutmeg

½ cup quick cooking oats

½ cup flour

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup butter, cut into pieces

1 cup chopped pecans

1 jar caramel sauce (the kind used for ice cream is fine)

In a large bowl, mix apples, cranberries, white sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Place in buttered 9 x 13 baking dish.

Combine oats, flour, and brown sugar.  With a fork, mix butter in until crumbly.

Stir in pecans.  Spread over apples.  Drizzle with caramel sauce. Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40–50 minutes or until apples are tender.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.