Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (8 page)

“I’m afraid I may have enjoyed too many of your appetizers to do justice to the fantastic dinner you prepared,” Nikki said to Jenna.

“You can always take home some leftovers and heat them up later,” Jenna suggested. “I have a feeling we’re going to have a ton of food left.”

“I had a bite of the turkey before you brought it out,” Kallie
said. “It really is delicious. Did you baste it in something other than its own juice?”

“Butter,” Jenna
told her. “Lots and lots of real butter.”

“My waistline might not appreciate that
, but my taste buds certainly do.”

After everyone
had filled their plates they returned to the table and ate in silence. Tj noticed that Jenna was picking at the food on her plate but not really eating it.

“Is something wrong?” Tj whispered.

“Not really. I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Re
lax,” Tj encouraged. “Nothing bad has happened so far, which means nothing bad is likely to happen.”

Jenna didn’t look up.

“Is something else wrong?”

Jenna
finally looked up and glanced around the table.

“Don’t worry
; the guys are all talking football, Kallie and Nikki are swapping recipes, and Frannie and her date went back for seconds. No one is paying any attention to our conversation.”

“It’s just that it’s Thanksgiving and I haven’t spent any time with my husband
,” Jenna said softly.

“So go talk to him.”

Jenna looked toward the bar and frowned. “Did you see where he went?”

Tj looked around the room.
“He’s talking to his mother.” Tj nodded toward the table where Dennis was sitting next to Bonnie. They appeared to be chatting politely. Bob had gotten up from his seat, most likely to refill his plate, although Tj didn’t see him at the buffet table either.

“I hate to interrupt his conversation with his mom. Maybe once
Bob gets back I’ll go over to see if he’s in the mood to spend some time with his wife.”

Tj couldn’t help but notice that Jenna sounded bitter.
The entire situation must be wearing on her more than she was letting on.

“Should we think about putting out the dessert
s?” Tj asked.

“Maybe. It looks like most people are finishing up.”

Frannie returned to the table minus her date and minus the food Tj had thought she’d gone to get. “I’m afraid Arnie and I have to leave. I’ve been battling a headache all day and even though I’ve taken aspirin, I can’t seem to shake it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Tj stood up. “Can we send you
off with a doggy bag? Maybe some pie?”

“Thanks
, but I really need to get going.” Frannie seemed almost frantic to leave, which was odd since she hadn’t said anything about having a headache earlier.

“
Hazel came with us and I hate to ask her to leave early. Can someone give her a ride?” Frannie asked.

“We’ll see that she gets home,”
said Kyle, who had just tuned into the conversation.

Kallie stood up
and hugged Frannie. “I’m going to run to the ladies’ room. If you’re gone by the time I get back, it was nice talking to you.”

“You too
, dear. And do remember to come by for that book we discussed.”

“I will. Drive safely.”

Jenna got up also. “Captain Brown just said something to Dennis. They both stepped outside. I think I’m going to try to intercept Dennis when he comes back in to see if he wants to talk. Is it okay if we go over to your house, where we can have some privacy?”

“Absolutely.
Go on, and I’ll start serving the pies.”

I
n all, there were twelve pies for thirty people. Not only had Jenna made eight, two each of the four types she had prepared, but several other guests had brought pies as well. There was one thing for certain: no one was going to leave hungry.

“Can I help?” Helen walked into the kitchen.

“Thanks. I’d appreciate it.”

“Where did Jenna go off to?”
her mother asked.

“She went to look for Dennis.”

“Captain Brown came in and told him that he needed to respond to a call,” Helen informed her. “Dennis walked him out, but I’m sure he planned to come right back in. He didn’t even take his jacket.”

“Did Josh go with him?”

“They both left,” Helen confirmed. “For a minute I thought Dennis might make an excuse to try to go with them, but he didn’t say that was his plan. He seems to be doing better now than he was yesterday. Of course, I think Josh managed to get a few drinks into him, which I’m sure helped, and Bob has made himself scarce for most of the day, although I think Bonnie feels put out that Bob hasn’t spent more time with her.”

“Did he indicate why he hadn’t
?” Tj asked. It did seem odd that he’d been away from the party for such long periods of time.

“No, not really. When we first arrived
at the resort he seemed happy to see Bonnie. We were walking from the parking area toward the activities room when Frannie pulled up with Arnie, Hazel, and Vicki. I went over to say hi to the new arrivals, and when I returned to where I’d left Bonnie and Bob, she informed me that Bob had gone back to get something he’d left in his room, so we continued on without him. It was over an hour before he finally showed up. He had dinner with us, excused himself to go to the men’s room, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Maybe he isn’t feeling well but doesn’t want to say so.”

“Maybe. Do you have serving utensils for this many pies?”

Tj opened a few drawers to take a quick inventory of what she had on hand.
“It looks like I didn’t bring enough over from the Grill, but I can run over to get a few more. Why don’t you go ahead and set out the pies we have servers for and I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Tj looked around the room as she made her way from the small kitchen in the activities room toward the back entrance
, which led to a path connecting the building to the Grill. She didn’t see either Dennis or Jenna, so she hoped they were at the house, working things out. She hated to see Jenna so miserable, especially during a dinner she’d worked so hard to provide for her friends and family. It was a shame that neither Elston had been able to enjoy the exquisite meal.

Tj
pulled on her heavy boots, down jacket, hat, and gloves before she plowed her way through the drifts, which were thigh-high in some places. It looked like she was going to be in for a good workout the next day. With the staff on vacation, it was up to her and her dad to keep the walkways clear, although she was sure if she asked, Kyle would help out as well.

She decided to cut across the forest since the walkways weren’t clear anyway and the forest trail was shorter. She
had almost reached the Grill when she tripped and fell over something buried in the snow.

“What the
. . .” She grabbed her ankle as she tried to make out what it was she’d snagged her foot on. “Oh God,” she groaned, just before she lost her dinner in the snow.

“Is that the new deputy?” Kyle whispered to Tj as they waited for the guests who were still at the resort to be interviewed.

The
something
Tj had tripped on had been a body; Bob King’s body, to be exact. Someone had buried the body in the snow, but the worst part was that the prime suspect was the man who would have been his son-in-law.

“He
’s a deputy from Indulgence, on loan for the holiday weekend,” Tj whispered back. “He certainly isn’t as sweet and cuddly as Dylan. Here I am, traumatized by tripping over a very dead body, and all he does is grill me as if I’d killed the guy. If Hunter hadn’t stepped in, I might have decked him, and then they would have had two inmates in the Serenity jail tonight.”

“You don’t think Dennis really
. . .” Kyle left the sentence unfinished.

“God
, I hope not, but Dennis
was
missing when Jenna and I looked for him after he spoke to Bonnie, which wasn’t all that long before Jenna went looking for him and I tripped over the body. I know he loathed the guy, but I can’t believe Dennis would kill anyone.”

“He
’s really protective of the women in his family,” Kyle pointed out.

“Yeah, he
is.”

Tj sat quietly
, dreading what was to come. It was going to take forever to interview everyone. Frannie and her date, Arnie, had already left by the time Tj called the sheriff, and Hazel had decided to go with them. Pastor Dan and Bren had taken Hannah home, and Kallie wasn’t around, so Tj assumed she’d left as well. Captain Brown and Josh had been called to respond to an emergency before she’d found the body, and Hunter had managed to talk the deputy into allowing the kids under twelve to return to the house, with Annabeth to supervise. They’d escorted Bonnie out and taken Dennis into custody. Jenna had never returned to the party. That still left thirteen adults to interview, including Tj. Judging by the rate with which the man was moving, they were in for a long, long night.

“Do you know where Jenna is?” Helen wandered over to where Tj and Kyle were sitting in the back of the room.

“I haven’t seen her. I know she was going to go find Dennis to try to talk to him. She was planning to go over to the house. I’m pretty sure that was where Dennis was found, but I don’t know what happened to Jenna. Roy took Dennis into town,” Tj said, referring to Roy Fisher, the acting lead detective until the sheriff could find a replacement for Dylan. “She might still be at the house, or I suppose Roy might have let her go into town with her husband. I doubt she’d leave without making sure the girls were okay, but she
did
know that we were here to see to them.”

“My poor, poor baby.”

“You don’t think Dennis . . .” Tj asked Helen the same question Kyle had asked her.

“No. Dennis loves his mother. I don’t think he would cause her this amount of pain
, no matter how much he disliked her new boyfriend.”

“Where is Bonnie anyway?”

“She left with Tim. I haven’t seen her since.”

Tim Mat
thews was the junior deputy assigned to the town of Serenity.

“At least they
’re letting people leave once they’ve been interviewed,” Helen commented.

“Yeah
, but it’s been two hours, and so far the only people who’ve been allowed to leave are Vicki Donovan and Nikki Weston. I guess they allowed Kiara to go to help Annabeth, which leaves ten of us. They’re talking to Rosalie right now and they’ve already talked to me, although they warned me to stay put. They seem to be listening to Hunter, so chances are they don’t suspect him, so his interview may go quickly. Why don’t you go next?” Tj suggested to Helen. “You can make sure Kristi and Kari get home.”

“Okay
. I’ll bring Ashley and Gracie with me and drop Vicki, Kiara, and Annabeth at home as well.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. If you hear from Jenna
, call me.”

“I will,” Helen promised. “And if you hear from her
, you call me.”

Although the interviews seemed to move along at a glacial speed, eventually there was just Tj, Kyle, and Hunter left. Mike and Ben had retired to the house, and Tj suspected that Doc, Bookman, and Jake were still waiting with them. Hunter and Kyle had both been interviewed, but they’d refused to leave until the deputy released Tj as well.

“
Tell me again how you happened across Mr. King’s body,” the borrowed deputy asked for the fourth time.

“I told you
: I was in the kitchen with Helen Henderson and we realized we needed additional utensils to serve the pies, so I volunteered to go over to the Grill to get some.”

“Helen
is the suspect’s mother-in-law?”

“Yes,” Tj groaned. “You know that. Why do you keep asking the same questions over and over?”

“And the suspect—where was he at that time?” the deputy asked, totally disregarding Tj’s complaint.

“I’m not really sure
, but I believe he was at the house. I know Jenna intended to track him down to take him over to the house so they could have a chat.”

“A chat about what?”
the man asked.

Tj wanted to say that it was none of his business
, but she realized that would only delay the interview. “Jenna was feeling sad that she hadn’t had much time to spend with her husband. It
is
a holiday.”

“And how long before you stumbled across Mr.
King’s body had Mrs. Elston left the building?”

Tj signed. Her headache was going to turn into a migraine if this annoying man didn’t wrap things up soon.
“I don’t know. Maybe half an hour. I was busy. There was a lot going on and I wasn’t watching the time.”