Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (16 page)

Tj really wanted to help the young mom
, but she also didn’t want to agree to a situation that would make Kallie ineffective as a manager. “Off the top of my head, I can say without hesitation that if you’re able to bring Brady to the resort, we can set you both up in one of the guest rooms in the lodge. I’d offer you a cabin, but they’re all booked for the entire week. When you’re at work, either I or one of my family can keep an eye on your little guy for you. That way you can have your visit and not miss work.”

“You would do that for us?” Kallie star
ted to cry. “That is so nice.”

“I understand how much a child can mean to you and am happy to help. Talk to your in
-laws and let me know if that works out for you.”

Kallie got up and hugged Tj. “Thank you. I
’ll call them right now.”

Tj drove through the town of Serenity on her way to pick up Ashley and Gracie from
the Antiquery. She had been at Angel Mountain Ski Resort, holding the last official downhill practice until after the holiday break. The girls had had play rehearsal after school, so Jenna had volunteered to take them back to the restaurant and have Tj pick them up there. Tj knew Jenna was busy baking cookies for the annual cookie exchange, which would be held at Helen’s house the following evening.

Now that school was out for the holiday
, it was beginning to really feel like Christmas. Tj listened to a radio station that played nonstop Christmas music as she slowly made her way along Main Street. The entire town was ablaze with colorful lights, creating the feel of a Christmas card. Flurries were drifting through the air, adding to the holiday atmosphere while not really impacting either the roads or the throngs of shoppers who were strolling among the festively decorated shops. Tj pulled off the main drag and into the alley behind the popular antique store and restaurant. She parked her car next to Jenna’s, then made her way up the short flight of stairs and into the back door, which opened directly into the kitchen.

“Something smells good,” Tj commented as she removed her hat, gloves, and scarf. She hung them
, along with her heavy down ski jacket, on a hook in the back storage room.

“I’m trying out a new cookie for the exchange,” Jenna
said. “Try one.”

Tj picked up one of the still warm cookies. It was soft
, with a chewy texture and an interesting flavor that made her think of hot chocolate in front of a fire after a day of building a snowman. “This is really good. It tastes just like hot cocoa; the good kind made with heavy cream.”

“Good
.” Jenna smiled. “That’s what I was going for. What kind of cookie are you bringing to the exchange this year?”

“Oreo
s?”

“The cookies are supposed to be homemade,” Jenna pointed out.

“I know, but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to come up with anything. I was going to have Grandpa make something for me, but he’s been helping Dad check in the new arrivals, so I hated to ask. The resort is going to be bursting at the seams for the next three weeks.”

“Why don’t you ask Kallie to make you some cookies? She’s a really good cook
, and I’m sure she’d make you something wonderful to bring.”

Tj took another bite of her cookie and then headed toward the walk
-in refrigerator for a pitcher of milk. She’d never gotten a chance to have lunch and was starving. “Kallie had to take her days off to go pick up her son.”

“I didn’t even know she had a son,” Jenna
said as she slipped two cookie sheets into the oven. “In fact, I didn’t even know she was married.”

“She’s not
.” Tj poured cold milk into a tall glass. “At least not anymore. It’s a long story.” Tj explained what had occurred and then added, “Her week with Brady starts on Sunday, so I let her leave early today and take tomorrow and Sunday off as her regular days so that she could drive to LA and pick him up. Both she and her son are going to stay with us for the week so that she can have her visit
and
work.”

Jenna slid the cookies that had been cooling off
from a cookie sheet and onto a plate. “Wow, that’s really terrible. I can’t imagine losing one of my children. Is she trying to regain custody?”

“She
said she was, but that she has to prove she can hold a job and maintain a stable environment. She works at the resort but lives in one of those little studios down by the river. I’m going to talk to Dad about helping her out with a nicer apartment. I can’t see a judge being thrilled with her current living arrangements since the in-laws are loaded and able to provide a mansion for the boy to live in.”

Jenna looked shocked. “The in-laws are loaded and they aren’t helping her out?”

Tj finished her milk and set her glass in the sink. “I got the impression that the in-laws wanted custody of their grandson and were willing to do whatever it took to make that happen. Kallie indicated that her ex-boss fired her because she wouldn’t sleep with him and then turned it around during the custody hearing to make it sound as if she came on to him so he had to let her go. The whole thing sounds like one big mess, if you ask me.”

“Apricot
amaretto or oatmeal crisp?” Jenna asked.

“Huh?” Tj asked.

“Which kind of cookie do you want to bring to the cookie exchange?”

“Oh, the oatmeal. Do you have all the ingredients?”

“I do.”

“Thanks
; I really appreciate it.” Tj looked at the clock on the wall. “I probably should get going. I have a ton of things to do once I get home. Are Ashley and Gracie up front?”

“Yeah
. They’re helping Mom in the shop.”

“
I’m anxious to see what your mom did with the display she’s been working on.”

“Her theme is Christmas in the
twenties. She has all sorts of antique decorations she found at an estate sale over the summer. She used some of the period pieces she had in the antique store to create a living room setting. It’s really pretty awesome. There’s even a glass Santa-and-reindeer set that was my great-grandmother’s. Mom usually displays it on the dining table in her house, but she decided to bring it here this year since it went so well in the display.”

“Isn’t she afraid it will get broken?” Tj asked.

“She says she’s not, but personally, I wish she’d left the heirloom at home.”

“My
grandma left behind a box of ornaments she had as a child,” Tj said. “Grandpa is always really careful about where they’re displayed. There are some things that just can’t be replaced.”

Jenna removed another batch of cookies from the oven using her Mr. and Mrs.
Claus oven mitts. Paired with her Santa’s workshop apron, Jenna looked like Mrs. Claus herself, although Mrs. Claus was usually pictured as short and heavy, with short graying hair, and Jenna was tall and slim, with long blond hair that brushed her waist when it wasn’t confined to a braid or hairnet.

“Bonnie has a box of stuff from Dennis’
s grandmother that she displays every year, but this year she hasn’t done a single thing to decorate her house,” Jenna added. “I guess I can see why she’s so distracted, but it seems like such a shame that she’s missing the holiday. I hope we can find the real killer and get this wrapped up in time for the entire Elston family to pull a little joy from the season.”

Tj felt bad for Jenna. With both Dennis and Bonnie under Sheriff Boggs
’s microscope, it was going to be hard for the family to fully embrace the joy of the holiday. Tj knew that Jenna was doing everything in her power to create a sense of normalcy but, truth be told, there were only so many cookies you could bake or decorations you could display.

“Kallie lost custody of her child?” Kyle asked later that evening. Tj and he were playing cards with Ben, Doc, and Bookman. The girls were in bed and Mike was out with Rosalie.

“Yup,” Tj confirmed as she discarded an unwanted eight. “
Her boss came on to her and when she said no, she was fired. She lost her job
and
her apartment. The mother-in-law sued for custody, claiming Kallie was an unfit mother, and won.”

“Do you think it’s possible the in-laws were in on it the entire time?” Bookman asked.

Tj frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Consider the sequence of events,” Bookman suggested after discarding a seven. “
Based on what you’ve shared, it sounds as if the husband’s parents are really only in the marriage for appearances. It sounds like the wife is home alone quite often, while her husband is away on business or courting other women. Her only child dies, leaving a hole in her life. I realize the woman had been estranged from the son, but I would be willing to bet that the estrangement was a direct result of a father wanting to control his offspring, rather than a mother not wanting a relationship with her son. Anyway, the mother-in-law is living with this huge void and she realizes she has a grandson who, I’m guessing, reminds her of her son when he was young. There’s a good chance her role as a mother was the only thing that really gave her life purpose, so she latches on to her grandchild and manipulates things so that she can have him as an everyday part of her life.”

“The woman
does sound like a cold witch,” Tj said. “It’s hard for me to see her as a sympathetic character.”

“Most cold witches have
a reason for being heartless,” Bookman proposed. “It’s hard to understand why the woman made the choices she did. She most likely blames Kallie for the loss of her son from her life, and it’s possible the woman might even blame Kallie for her son’s death in some twisted way. She realizes she wants to establish a relationship with the grandson now that her son is gone, but she still wants nothing to do with the woman her son left her for.”

“
‘Left her’?” Ben asked. “That makes it sound like Kallie is the other woman rather than her son’s wife.”

“Mother and son relationships can be complex,” Bookman
explained. “In order to understand why a person might act in a certain manner, you really need to know their story. My guess is that no woman would have been good enough for Kallie’s husband in his mother’s eyes. She most likely had a relationship with her son based on an obsession of some sort. It happens more often than you’d think.”

“So the mother arranges to get her daughter-in-law
fired?” Tj asked. “It seems sort of convoluted.”

“Most good
mysteries are,” Bookman said.

“Maybe
, but this isn’t one of your books.”

“You said Kallie’s ex-boss
testified on the grandmother’s behalf during the custody trial,” Bookman pointed out. “Doesn’t that make it seem likely he was working for her all along?”

“Why would he do
it?” Tj asked.

“Money,” Doc
proposed.

Tj thought about it. Bookman did have a point. If Kallie’s mother-in-law planned to gain custody of her grandson all along
, what better way to do so than to create a situation in which Kallie really couldn’t care for her child? Once the door was open . . .

“If that
’s true and the whole thing was a setup from the beginning, how do we prove it?” Tj asked.

“I’m not sure we can,” Kyle admitted.

“Or that we should,” Ben added. “Did Kallie ask for your help?”

“No,” Tj admitted.

“Then perhaps we should let her private life remain private.”

“I guess
.” Tj tossed her cards on the table. “I’m going to get a glass of wine. Would anyone like anything?”

“I could use some of that chocolate cake that
’s left from dinner. In fact, why don’t we take a break and we can all have some?”

“You guys can continue play
ing. I’ll bring the cake to you,” Tj offered.

“I’ll help you
.” Kyle tossed his cards on the table and followed Tj into the kitchen. She sliced the cake while he gathered plates.

“I wanted to ask you about a gift for Kiara,” Kyle
said. “I’ve asked her many times what she’d like for Christmas, but she refuses to say anything other than that I’ve already done so much for her and she doesn’t need a single thing. Annabeth was very forthcoming with several suggestions about what she might like, but Kiara is about as stubborn as they come.”

“Kiara took care of herself for a long time before you started looking after her
. I’m sure there’s a part of her that doesn’t want to lose that independence. Having said that, I know Kiara needs a car.”

“I offered to get her one when she started school
, but she pointed out that she doesn’t have a driver’s license and is fine riding the bus.”

“Again,
she doesn’t want to become dependent on you and doesn’t want to take advantage of your generosity. I have a feeling that if you happened to end up with a good used car you had no idea what you were going to do with, Kiara might be persuaded to get her license and take if off your hands.”