Halloween in Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 6) (14 page)

Tj explained about the photos and the unprocessed film.

“Yeah, I can develop it.”

“Take a look at this over here.” Tj pointed to the very blurry background in one of the photos. “What do you think that is?”

“I’m not sure. I can probably clean up the background a bit. Do you want me to do it right now?”

“As much as I want to watch the game, I really do want to do it now.”

“No problem. I’ll go back and let everyone know I have to leave.”

“Don’t tell them why. I don’t want to bring this to anyone’s attention, and you never know who might overhear a random comment.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make something up. Is your car here?”

“No. I came with Hunter and he got called to the hospital.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I’ll meet you at my car, then.”

Tj decided she would simply call Jenna rather than return to her own seat. She hadn’t left anything behind, so she didn’t have a reason to have to go back, and she didn’t want to have to look everyone in the eye while she made up some random lie. She never had been a convincing liar.

“Hey, Tj, where are you?” Jenna asked when she picked up.

“Just listen to what I say and don’t say anything other than what I tell you to say.”

Jenna remained silent.

“Say ‘oh, that’s too bad.’”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Jenna said.

“I found something in the photos Teddy brought me that might be relevant. I really want to check it out and Kyle has agreed to help me,” Tj continued. “We’re heading to his house now, so I won’t be back. I think it’s best if you stay to watch the game. I don’t want to tip anyone off that anything is up, and if you and Dennis suddenly leave, it might seem suspicious. Everyone knows Hunter got called away, so I want you to tell them that I partied a little too hard last night and have a massive headache. Tell them Hunter is going to drop me back at the resort to take a nap so I’ll feel good for the dance tonight. Say ‘I understand.’”

“I understand,” Jenna responded.

“I know you have a million questions, but don’t ask them right now. Just smile and roll your eyes, and when you hang up, make up some big joke about what a lightweight I am. I’ll call you to fill you in later, I promise. Now say, ‘I hope you feel better.’”

Jenna did so.

“That was perfect. I’ll talk to you later. And thanks for covering. If I found what I think I found, we might have a new angle to look at in regard to Holly’s murder.”

Tj thumbed through the photos as Kyle developed the film. These photos were different. They seemed to show more intent. They also spanned a number of days and seemed to all feature Holly as the main image.

The first photo was a photo of her standing in the hallway of the high school, looking at something in the distance. There were several others of her at various locations around the campus. Tj gasped when she came across a photo that showed Holly staring at Jessie and Nathan as they made out under the bleachers the day before homecoming. Tj hadn’t been aware that there was anyone else in the area, but someone had to have been to take the photo.

“These photos are different from the ones taken with the disposable cameras,” Kyle observed. “Not only is the subject matter different but it’s from a 35mm camera, and based on the images, I’d say a telephoto lens was used in at least some of the photos.”

“Someone was spying on Holly.”

“It appears that way,” Kyle confirmed.

Tj continued to thumb through the photos. There was one of Holly and Jessie alone, talking in a den. Based on the clothes they were wearing, Tj assumed it had been taken on the night of the party.”

“The photos from the party were taken from the interior of the house,” Tj realized, “which means whoever took them was with us.”

“Do you remember anyone with a real camera as opposed to a disposable?” Kyle asked.

Tj thought about it. People had been snapping photos the entire time. Tj really had had no reason to notice what type of camera anyone was using. She didn’t remember being focused on the flashes of light going off around her at all.

“No,” she said. “I don’t remember who had what type of camera.”

After studying the photos, Tj was able to verify that Coach Fremont
had
been at the party, at least for a short period of time. She focused on the photo of him staring at someone beyond the camera, but she couldn’t figure out what or who it was he was looking at. The more she concentrated on the photos, the more certain she was that she had seen him at the party that evening but simply hadn’t remembered it until now.

“Look at this one.” Kyle passed a photo to Tj.

It was a photo of Coach Fremont and Holly. They were alone in a bedroom. Tj couldn’t be certain, but it appeared to be one of the bedrooms in Brett’s house. The image looked like it had been taken from outside the window. It was an odd angle; while you couldn’t see the actual image of either subject, you could see their reflection in the bedroom window.

Tj frowned. “I remember this. I walked in on them. It was…” Tj paused. “Horrifying. Coach Fremont had his hands all over Holly and she looked like she wanted to puke, but when I started to enter the room in an attempt to help her, she waved me away. How could I have forgotten that?”

“You were drunk and it was disturbing,” Kyle suggested.

Tj frowned. “I guess.”

“Do you think the obnoxious coach killed Holly?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Tj furrowed her brow. “I can’t figure out why she was letting him do what he was doing to her. It doesn’t make any sense. Holly wasn’t the type to be a victim.”

“Yet she ended up being the ultimate victim.”

Kyle had a point.

“Do you think Holly and the coach had a thing going on?” Kyle asked.

“No. I can’t even remember why I went upstairs. I do remember Holly and Coach Fremont were fully dressed; it was just that he had his hands in inappropriate places. The coach’s back was to me, so I only saw Holly’s face, but she looked as if she was enduring and not enjoying the attention. I can’t believe I forgot that. I don’t think I drank that much. There must have been something in the punch other than alcohol.”

“You mean drugs?”

“It makes sense.” Tj continued to stare at the photo. “Are there others?”

“A few.”

She continued to sort through the prints while Kyle continued working with the film. There was a photo of Holly talking to Brett that caught her eye. It looked as if they were outside, near the split-rail fence that separated his parents’ property from the forest. Tj tried to decide when the photo might have been taken. Holly had on the same clothes she had been wearing during the party, so Tj had to assume the photo had been taken that same night.

“Look at this photo of Holly talking to Brett. It’s dark, so it’s hard to make out any details, but doesn’t that look like an image of a person?” Tj pointed to a dark spot among the distant trees.

Kyle squinted. “I’m not sure. I’ll scan the photo and then use my imaging software to see if I can enlarge and enhance the photo.”

Tj continued to peruse the photos while Kyle worked on the image. There were several of Holly in the background while Jada was talking to Nathan, and several of Holly sitting on the sofa next to Mia, who was talking to a guy Tj didn’t recognize. She frowned as she tried to figure out who that guy was. He looked familiar, but as hard as she tried, Tj couldn’t place him. He might have been new to the school that year. Tj knew most of the students who’d attended Serenity High while she went there had been in Serenity since she was in kindergarten, but there were a few students who’d transferred in for short periods of time who she never got to know. If Mia was talking to him, he was most likely from the drama or choir crowd.

“I think I’m going to try calling Jada,” Tj decided. “I don’t know if she knows anything, but if it’s true Holly was blackmailing her, maybe she can point us in a direction.”

Tj called Jada while Kyle continued to work on the computer. If anyone could clean up the image so that it could be identified it was Kyle.

“Hey, Jada; it’s Tj,” Tj greeted when Jada answered.

“Tj, how are you? Are you at the game?”

“Actually, I’m not. I got tied up, but I hope to make it to the dance tonight. I’m sorry you weren’t able to come.”

“I’m sorry too. I looked up the guy you were going to hook me up with and found out he’s a total babe. Why didn’t you tell me he was
so
good-looking?”

“I guess I figured that would be a pleasant surprise when you got here.”

Jada sighed. “I never should have let the
Second Look
lady get under my skin. When you have a secret you’ve been guarding for so long you find you become very defensive about anyone poking around too closely. I know the fact that I cheated on a couple of tests in high school is completely irrelevant at this point, but making sure no one
ever
found out what I’d done is so totally engrained in my mind that I went a little nuts when that nosy woman started probing.”

“Ms. Colton seemed to think Holly somehow found out that you had cheated and blackmailed you into hacking into some student accounts.”

“It’s true,” Jada admitted with a sigh. “I’ve regretted my decision to do what she asked every minute since then, but at the time I was really scared that I’d not only flunk my classes but I would lose my scholarship. I did what she asked to keep her quiet.”

“Do you mind telling me whose accounts you hacked in to, and what Holly did with the information?”

“Holly wanted access to e-mail records for Mackenzie Paulson and Mr. Hanover. I guess they had a thing going on and Holly wanted to find proof.”

“Mackenzie was sleeping with the math teacher?”

“I’m afraid so. Looking back, it isn’t as odd as it seems. Mackenzie was seventeen and Mr. Hanover was only twenty-four. The age difference wasn’t all that huge, yet it was still illegal and against school policy. Mr. Hanover would have lost his job for sure and might very well have been arrested, and Mackenzie might have lost the role of valedictorian and the scholarship that came with it. They were both motivated to keep their relationship a secret, so they did as Holly asked.”

“And what did Holly want?” Tj asked.

“She wanted Mr. Hanover to fix her grades so she was getting a B or higher in all her classes.”

“And Mackenzie?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure what she wanted from her. I guess you can ask her. Like me, I doubt her indiscretion in high school will make much of a difference to her life now. Of course Mr. Hanover still teaches at the high school, and he’s married with children, so I suppose he has more to lose.”

“Wow, that’s a lot to take in. I appreciate your being straight with me.”

“I’ve heard about your little sleuthing hobby. I think after all these years it’s time to figure out who killed Holly. I loathed her when she was alive and she really did hurt a lot of people, but she didn’t deserve to die the way she did.”

Tj had to agree with that. “I’ll admit that Ms. Colton opened Pandora’s box when she began snooping around. I can’t imagine how intense things might have gotten had she lived.”

“Ms. Colton is dead?”

“Yes, she was killed in an auto accident.”

“I hadn’t heard. I wasn’t happy that she was snooping around, but I’m sorry to hear she was killed. Do they know what happened?”

“Not really. At this point they suspect she misjudged the road while driving at night during a storm.”

“Sounds suspicious.”

Tj wasn’t about to disagree. She talked to Jada for a few more minutes before hanging up.

She turned and looked at Kyle. “Jim Hanover lives in a house off Old Sawmill Road.”

“Is that supposed to be a relevant statement?” Kyle asked.

“Samantha Colton was killed while driving on that road. There isn’t much out that way except for a few houses, so we’ve been wondering why she was on the road in the first place. Jada just told me Holly was blackmailing both Mackenzie Paulson and Jim Hanover, who were involved in an intimate relationship when she was a senior. My guess is that Colton was on her way out to speak to Jim when the accident occurred. The question remains whether her accident was really an accident. If Jim knew she was on her way to speak to him it would have been easy for him to cause her to veer off the road at an opportune time.”

“You think Jim killed Samantha Colton?”

“I think he had motive to if she found out what he’d done. I’m not sure exactly what the consequences would be at this point, but at the very least I’m sure that if the affair was made public it would have a negative effect on his family. He might lose his job as well.”

“Do you think he killed Holly to keep her quiet?” Kyle asked.

“I think he very well might have.”

Tj decided it was time to call Roy to fill him in. After she’d explained about the photos as well as her conversation with Jada, he promised to track Jim down to have a chat with him. Tj figured she’d done what she could on her own, so she texted Jenna to find out how the game was going. Jenna responded that it was all tied up and turning out to be the game of the decade.

Figured that the one game she’d miss would be the one everyone would talk about for years to come.

Tj chatted with Kyle as they waited for his software program to finish cleaning up the photos they had identified. Now that she’d passed the reins to Roy for the time being she found herself wishing she’d stayed at the game.

An hour later, Roy called her back.

“So?” Tj asked.

“Jim verified that Samantha Colton was on her way to speak to him when she had the auto accident, but he denied any involvement in causing the accident or having a relationship with Mackenzie Paulson.”

“Why would Jada lie?”

“I don’t know the answer to that. All I can say is that he isn’t admitting to the affair. I guess we’ll need to speak to Ms. Paulson to see what she has to say about it. Right now it’s simply Ms. Jenkins’s word against Jim’s.”

“She was at the game when I left. I’ll see if I can track her down,” Tj offered. “I don’t suppose Jim confessed to killing Holly?”

Roy laughed. “Hardly. In fact, he went so far as to accuse me of harassment for even suggesting such a thing.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think it was going to be that easy. I’ll talk to Mackenzie and you can take it from there. I hear we’re missing a heck of a game.”

“Yeah.” Roy groaned. “I heard the same thing. I was hoping Jim would be at the game so I’d have an excuse to head over there.”

Tj frowned. “It does seem odd he isn’t there.”

“Unless Ms. Jenkins’s lead is correct and he’s avoiding Ms. Paulson.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see that. I’ll call you back after I talk to Mac.”

Tj tried Mackenzie’s cell but she didn’t pick up, so she texted Jenna to ask her to have Mackenzie call her. When Tj had left the game Mackenzie had been sitting just a row in front of them. Jenna texted back to say that Mackenzie had left fifteen or twenty minutes earlier after receiving a text and hadn’t returned.

“I bet Jim got to her before we could,” Tj said to Kyle.

“You think she’d lie about it at this late date?”

“I don’t know. She might if she figured she had nothing to gain by telling us the truth. On the other hand, I can’t see how she has anything to lose by coming clean.”

“Did you happen to ask Jada if she had any proof that the affair really happened?” Kyle asked. “I suppose she might have saved a copy of the files she downloaded.”

“That’s true. I’ll call her back.”

Kyle continued to work on the photos while Tj called Jada, who told her she hadn’t saved any of the files she’d provided to Holly. She hadn’t wanted anything that was going on coming back around to her. She did confirm, though, that she’d read the e-mails, and there was no doubt in her mind that the affair had really happened.

“You don’t think Mackenzie is in any sort of danger, do you?” Tj said to Kyle after she hung up with Jada.

Kyle frowned. “Do you?”

“I don’t know. It occurred to me that if Holly is dead and Jada didn’t keep a record of the e-mails she discovered, Mackenzie would be the only threat to Jim. If he was motivated enough to kill Holly to keep her quiet, it stands to reason he might do the same to Mackenzie.”

“We don’t know for sure that Jim killed Holly,” Kyle pointed out.

“That’s true, but I have a funny feeling.”

“Try texting her,” Kyle suggested. “Maybe she isn’t picking up because she’s out of range. We both know that happens a lot more frequently than we’d like in this area. Texts usually have a better success rate for transmission even in places where the reception is spotty.”

Tj did as Kyle suggested. A few minutes later, she received a return text from Mackenzie, saying she wanted to meet. She asked Tj to come alone.

“Sounds like a setup,” Kyle said.

“It could be, but Mackenzie could be in real trouble. I need to see if I can find her.” Tj texted Mackenzie back to tell her she’d be happy to meet. She asked for a location, which Mackenzie provided.

“Call Roy before you go,” Kyle insisted.

“Of course.”

She called Roy, then headed out of town toward the deserted cabins Mackenzie had directed her to. Tj was familiar with the area and had known exactly where she was going when she received Mackenzie’s directions. Roy had agreed to hang back so Tj could talk to Mackenzie—and Jim, if he was with her—prior to his arrival.

When Tj turned onto the dirt road that led to the cabins she found Jim and Mackenzie standing in the middle of the road. Tj slowed to a stop before she noticed the gun in Jim’s hand. He opened the back door and shoved Mackenzie inside, then slipped into the passenger seat and instructed Tj to toss her phone out the window. Once she had, he told her to drive.

“I thought we were going to the cabins for our chat,” Tj said as Jim instructed her to turn onto a side road that led away from them.

“Did you really think I’d tell you ahead of time where we were going so you could send Roy after us?”

“No, I guess not.” Tj sighed. “What are you going to do with us?”

“I really have no idea.”

Tj tried to figure out what to do as they drove farther and farther away from the location she’d given Roy. She could run the vehicle into a tree and hope the impact gave her a chance to get away, but with her luck, the airbag would just trap her with the madman.

“Let Tj go,” Mackenzie tried. “This is between you and me. She has nothing to do with this.”

“I wish I could.” Jim sounded sincere. “But she knows too much and I have too much to lose.”

“I won’t tell. I promise,” Mackenzie tried.

“That’s not what you said an hour ago.”

“I know what I said. I was angry, so I wasn’t thinking clearly. Let’s just say I’ve had time to think things through.”

Jim grunted.

“What are you going to do? Kill us?” Tj demanded.

“Not directly.”

Tj had no idea what that meant, but she’d have to accept it for now.

Jim directed Tj to wind her way up the mountain via an overgrown logging road. When they got to a spot where the road was blocked by a huge rock formation he told her to pull over. He instructed both Tj and Mackenzie to get out of the vehicle. He tied their hands behind them and then tied them to a tree.

“What are you going to do, just leave us here until we starve to death?” Tj asked.

“I doubt you’ll make it long enough to starve to death,” Jim answered. “There’s a big mama cougar that lives up in those rocks. I’ve seen her when I’ve been out this way hunting.”

“Hunting in this area is illegal,” Tj pointed out.

“That’s the point you want to make?” Jim asked.

“I guess not. You really don’t have to do this.”

“I wish I didn’t have to, but you forced my hand.”

Tj realized this whole thing was her fault. If she hadn’t called Roy to tell him what Jada had shared with her, Mackenzie would be safe and sound at the football game. Her tendency to snoop had landed her in trouble on more than one occasion.

“Who knows, maybe some hikers will find you before the cougar does,” Jim said as he turned to head back to Tj’s car. “But I sort of doubt it.”

“I’m sorry I got you into this,” Mackenzie said after Jim drove away.

“It’s not your fault. I’m the one who decided to snoop. It’s my interference that created a situation where Jim felt forced to act. I’m kind of surprised he didn’t just shoot us.”

“Jim can’t stand the sight of blood.”

“He didn’t seem to mind it when he killed Holly,” Tj pointed out.

“Jim didn’t kill Holly.”

“What do you mean?” Tj asked.

“He was with me the entire night she died. I came to the party looking for him, but he’d already left, so I went to his apartment. We were together until after sunrise.”

“If Jim didn’t kill Holly why are we tied up and left for kitty food?”

“He doesn’t want his wife and kids to find out he had an affair with a student and he also doesn’t want to lose his job.”

“That’s crazy.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Do you think he killed Samantha Colton?” Tj asked.

“Maybe. He wouldn’t have had to actually come into contact with her to run her off the road. She was coming over to interview him, and I know he was frantic to stop her because his wife was home. He texted me and said he needed to figure a way out of the impossible situation we found ourselves in. If I had to guess I’d say he likely did run her off the road. Do you think you can work your hands loose?”

“Yeah. With enough time,” Tj answered.

“Let’s just hope it isn’t feeding time.”

“Yeah, let’s hope.”

There was a definite rustling in the bushes that Tj couldn’t ignore. Hopefully, it was just squirrels or rabbits, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for kitty cats to come looking for dinner at this time of day. Tj continued to talk as she and Mackenzie struggled to work the ropes. The sun would dip behind the mountain before long, and the biggest threat was going to be the cold rather than the cat on the mountain.

“So if Jim didn’t kill Holly, who do you think did?” Tj asked, more to get her mind off their predicament than because she really cared at that moment.

“I don’t know. Holly was odd. She made a lot of enemies. I don’t think Jim and I were the only two she was blackmailing.”

“What did she want from you?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse. She made me set up some video equipment in the girls’ shower.”

“Ew. Why?”

“I guess she was in a bad situation, and she told me the only way she could get herself out of it was to provide a person she refused to identify with the video feed.”

Tj though she might vomit when she realized it was most likely Coach Fremont who’d requested the feed.

“What’s that?” Mackenzie whispered.

Tj squinted in an effort to locate the source of the sound they’d both heard. There was something coming toward them from the other side of the dense brush. Tj held her breath as she realized it was the mama cat and she was looking right at them.

“What should we do?” Mackenzie whispered.

“Just stay calm. Animals can sense fear.”

“Calm? Are you kidding?”

“Hi, kitty. Where are your babies?” Tj said in a soothing voice.

The cat just looked at her.

“It might be a good thing we’re tied to this tree,” Tj stated.

“Why?”

“If you weren’t tied to the tree what would you do?”

“Run.”

“Running is the worst thing you can do. The cougar will identify you as prey. Just stay calm and maintain eye contact with the cat. Oh, and try to look big. Or maybe that’s just for bears. Maybe you’re supposed to look dead for cougars.”

“Great. We’re so gonna die.”

Tj tried to figure out what she should do. The reality was, there wasn’t a lot she
could
do. Should she shout? She tried to remember which behavior went with which type of wild animal. So far, the cat seemed more curious than anything, which was good, she supposed. The mama cat began to walk around the tree in a circle, but she didn’t look particularly aggressive. Maybe she’d had a big lunch.

Tj had experienced run-ins with bears and coyotes in the past, but this was her first up close and personal experience with a cougar. She found that she didn’t care for the experience at all.

“What’s that rumbling sound?” Mackenzie asked.

“It sounds like a car.”

“Maybe Jim had second thoughts and is coming back for us.”

Tj watched as Kyle’s SUV pulled into sight. He honked his horn and the cat took off running.

“What have you managed to get yourself into this time?” he asked as he climbed out of the vehicle.

“What does it look like? Hurry up and untie us before mama kitty decides she’s hungry after all. Oh, by the way, Kyle, this is Mackenzie; Mackenzie, Kyle.”

“We met in the bar last night,” Mackenzie reminded her.

“Oh, that’s right. How did you find us anyway?”

“I slipped a tracking device into your pocket.” Kyle reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small chip. “See.”

Tj let out a long sigh. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing? It might have spared me a little anxiety.”

“Because you’re tricky. You don’t always do what’s best for you. I didn’t want to give you the opportunity to argue, so I didn’t mention what I was doing.”

Mackenzie laughed. “You guys sound like an old married couple.”

Kyle freed Tj and Mackenzie, then offered to drive them both back to the resort.