Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (10 page)

“Roy says she left with Tim
, who took her down to the station. Tim left her alone in his office to get her a cup of coffee. When he came back she was gone. No one saw her leave.”

“Why would she just leave like that?” Tj asked.

“Roy indicated that she got some disturbing news regarding Mr. King that really flipped her out.”

“What did she find out?”
Ben asked.

“Roy wouldn’t say,
” Tj told them.

“I think I might know,” Kyle, who was sitting at the computer,
said. “It appears Bob King is a small-time con artist who has swindled dozens of women out of their lives’ savings. He’s been married seven times in the past twenty years. In each case he convinced the women he married to open a joint savings account with him for the purpose of purchasing a dream home or a business for the couple to run together. Of course he would just disappear with the money and never complete the sale of the property.”

“Poor Bonnie
.” Doc shook his head.

“I knew there was something off about the guy
, but Jenna said Bonnie didn’t have any money,” Tj commented. “Or at least not enough to attract a swindler.”

“Maybe she had money Jenna didn’t know about
, or King just thought she did. Either way, it appears he was after something other than true love,” Kyle stated.

“We really need to find Bonnie,” Ben s
aid. “She must be beside herself.”

“And we need to get Jenna out of jail,” Tj added.

“I’ll get it,” Mike said when the house phone rang.

“How about I take you home
?” Hunter said to Jake. His grandfather had a sharp mind, but he was getting on in years and his health hadn’t been all that great as of late.

“As so
on as we hear from Judge Harper,” he promised. “I won’t be able to sleep, not knowing whether Jenna is going to be released. That poor girl. Any fool can see she should be home with her young daughters.”

“This entire situation really is
crazy,” Kyle agreed. “Maybe the call Mike went to answer was from Judge Harper. If Harper doesn’t have any luck getting Jenna released I’ll hire the best attorney I can find and try to approach things from a different direction. I doubt the borrowed deputy has enough to hold her for any length of time. Chances are he’s just trying to wear her down so she’ll implicate her husband.”

“
The question is, could an attorney, even a good one, do much tonight?” Tj asked.

“Probably not,” Kyle admitted.
“But a good attorney could get her released in the morning, not make her wait until the courts open on Monday.”

“That was Judge Harper
on the phone,” Mike confirmed as he returned to the room. “Both Dennis and Jenna have been released. Tim is taking them home.”

“They let Dennis go as well?” Tj asked. “Why?”

“Because someone else came in and confessed to the murder.”

“Someone else confessed?” Ben asked. “Who?”

“Bonnie,” Tj realized.

Once Tj confirmed that Dennis and Jenna were home safely, everyone said their good-byes and went home.

No one actually thought Bonnie
had killed the man she was engaged to, although everyone agreed she seemed to have a good motive to do so. Tj suspected Bonnie had simply confessed to the murder in order to get both Dennis and Jenna out of jail. Her intention might have been noble, but her confession gave the borrowed deputy a reason to consider the case closed, which, on one hand, was good because it sent him home to Indulgence; on the other hand, it was bad because now no one was looking for the real killer.

Once the courts opened on Monday, Kyle arranged for Bonnie to get out on bail, so everyone Tj loved was safe and accounted for
, at least for the time being. Roy had secretly told Tj that neither he nor Tim believed Bonnie had actually killed Bob King and would continue to dig around under the radar, even though the sheriff seemed content to let things be.

The Christmas tree lighting in the town square had been postponed
, partly due to the uproar caused by the murder and partly because of all the snow that had fallen the previous day. Once the sun had come out, much of the snow melted, so the new date had been set for Friday. So much had happened in just a few short days, yet the town seemed to be back to normal, its citizens refocused on Christmas and everything that went along with that magical time of year.

Tj had spent some time considering the situation and discussing options with both Jenna and Kyle, but there wasn’t much that could be done in the short term, so Tj went about her normal routine
, planning and implementing preholiday chores. The resort reopened as planned on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and with fresh snow on the slopes, they’d been booked to capacity ever since. She’d barely seen her dad since the masses arrived, and sightings of her grandpa were slim as well. Surprisingly, Jordan had jumped right in to help out where he could. He spent his days doing whatever seemed to need to be done, and when the girls came home after school and extracurricular activities, he all but took over their care and supervision. He really did seem to be cut out to be a dad. To some other child. Tj would never give up custody of Gracie without a fight, but if Jordan wanted to visit whenever he was in port, Tj was beginning to recognize that perhaps his presence in her sister’s life was a good thing rather than a bad one.

Jenna had clos
ed the Antiquery over the weekend but had reopened on Monday with both Helen and Bonnie’s help. Bren was working at the restaurant fewer hours than she once had given the fact that she seemed to have moved into the role of full-time nanny for Pastor Dan and Hannah. Dan tended to be home on weekday mornings, so Bren filled in at the Antiquery when she could.

Tj knew that Kyle had been at the high school that day
, working with the choir. Since the date of the tree lighting and choral recital had been changed, and there was no longer a conflict with the various Thanksgiving plans of her students’ families, the number of students willing to participate had almost doubled. Perhaps moving the tree lighting up a week on a permanent basis wouldn’t be a bad idea. Tj decided she’d talk to the new mayor about it, if they ever actually got around to choosing a new mayor.

“Seems like things are back to normal,” Tj commented
when Jenna took a break during play practice and sat down next to her in the audience, where Tj had been watching the town’s children rehearse their lines.

“If it weren’t for the fact that there
’s a murder trial looming over our heads at some as-yet-to-be-determined point in the future, I’d totally agree.”

“Have you made any headway with Bonnie?” Tj asked.

“Not really. We all know she didn’t kill Bob King. We also know Dennis didn’t do it, but the only reason Sheriff Boggs doesn’t have Dennis in jail at this very minute is because of Bonnie’s confession, so she won’t recant it. There’s really only one solution: we have to find the real killer.”

“I promised I wouldn’t interfere,” Tj reminded Jenna.

Jenna just looked at her.

“But of course I will.”

“Good.” Jenna sighed with relief. “Annabeth, move a little to the left, and make sure all the baby angels are sitting behind the line,” she directed from her seat.

“Maybe you should head back up since Kyle is tied up with the choir,” Tj suggested.

“Yeah, maybe I should. Dennis is on administrative leave all week. Captain Brown thought it was best, given the situation. Even though Bonnie confessed, I think that in most people’s minds Dennis is still the prime suspect.”

“Paid leave?”

“Thankfully yes. I don’t know what we’d do if the county refused to pay him. Anyway, he can watch the kids tonight if you want to meet after rehearsal to come up with a strategy. I spoke to Kyle, and he’s on board to meet us wherever we decide.”

“I’ll need to take the girls home.”

“Jordan is here,” Jenna informed Tj. “He came in while you were on the phone outside. He’s helping Kyle right now, but he said he’d be happy to give Ashley and Gracie a ride out to the resort. I guess he borrowed your dad’s old pickup.”

“Okay, I’m in. I haven’t eaten all day. How about Rob
’s?”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll call Dennis and have him come
to get Kristi and Kari and confirm with Kyle.” Jenna looked back toward the stage. “Do you think we should have Beth stand somewhere else? As the narrator, we don’t want her to upstage the others, but I feel like she’s too hidden in her current location.”

“Have her sit on the bench the baby angels use in the last scene. It will make it seem like she
’s part of the action and yet somewhat removed from it.”

“Good idea
.” Jenna stood up. “And thanks for helping me with the other.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

After rehearsal wrapped up and all the young actors had been picked up by their parents, Tj, Jenna, and Kyle headed over to Rob’s Pizza
, a comfy joint with vinyl booths, red-checkered tablecloths, team pictures on the walls, video games, and the best pizza west of the Rockies.

Like most of the establishments in Serenity, Rob
’s was decked out for the holiday season. A life-size mechanical Santa stood next to a huge Christmas tree that occupied one corner of the room. Freshly cut fir branches had been fashioned into wreaths that were tied up with red and green bows and hung around the room. Even the large river-rock fireplace, which created a cozy feel on a cold winter day, had been decorated with red-and-white-striped stockings and tall red and white candles. Tj considered the menu as seasonal carols played on the old-fashioned jukebox.

After ordering an extra-large
double combo pizza and a pitcher of beer, the trio dug right into the problem at hand.

“I’ve been doing some digging,” Kyle began.
“While there are large gaps in the history I’m putting together for our victim, it’s apparent that his pattern was to meet women who were both wealthy and vulnerable, romance the socks off of them, convince them in a short period of time that he was Prince Charming come to sweep them off their feet, gain access to their money, and then disappear. He never invested more than six months in any one woman.”

“He didn’t seem all that charming,” Tj pointed out. “I really can’t see how he got all of th
ose women to fall for him.”

“It does appear there was something different
going on on this occasion,” Kyle acknowledged. “For one thing, I can’t find any indication that Mr. King met the family of his other victims. He seemed to target women who were alone in the world and didn’t have anyone to watch out for them Of course, I’ve only put together part of the story at this point, so we may find that he used different patterns in differing circumstances.”

“How ha
d he managed to keep doing this for twenty years? Shouldn’t he have been in jail?” Tj asked.

Kyle pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket. “According to what I could find,
Bob King had been brought in for questioning quite a few times. In most cases he was let go, but I also found evidence that he served a few short sentences over the years. Several years ago he was involved in a hit-and-run accident while he was drunk. The arresting officer was new and made an error, so even though Bob was obviously guilty of killing a woman, who happened to be pregnant at the time, he was released after serving only a few short weeks behind bars.”

“And these women?” Jenna asked. “He marrie
d them, took their money, and then what?”

“He divorce
d them, or they divorced him after he took off. There are also a few women I found reference to who he never married. He was engaged to them, stole their money, and then disappeared before they actually tied the knot.”

“Do we know if he got any money from Bonnie?” Tj asked.

Kyle looked at Jenna.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “She
’s refusing to speak to either Dennis or me about the situation. We’ve tried to bring it up a few times and she completely shuts down. As long as we keep the subject matter focused on the kids or the upcoming holiday she seems fine, but the minute we mention the man she was engaged to, his murder, or her upcoming trial, she checks out completely.”

The conversation paused as the waitress brought their pizza.
“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was playing on the jukebox as the three friends consumed their first pieces. Based on the way Kyle and Jenna dug into the cheesy pie, Tj realized she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t eaten much that day. Between her classes, downhill practice with her team, play rehearsal, helping out at the resort, and making holiday plans, Tj felt like she was caught in some sort of endless vortex. She didn’t have time to investigate a murder, but she couldn’t let Bonnie go to prison for a crime she hadn’t committed either.

“Has Bonnie talk
ed to the lawyer you hired?” Tj asked Jenna as she picked at the toppings from her second piece of the fully loaded pie.