Bikinis in Paradise (Tj Jensen Pardise Lake Mysteries) (8 page)

“
I ran into Bookman last night,” Dan informed her. “He’d been visiting with Mrs. Roberson and was just leaving as I arrived. He didn’t mention the matchmaking scheme, but he did say that he’s thinking of giving up his seat on the town council now that he has a new series to write.”

“He
’s brought up the idea to me as well,” Tj admitted. “I hope he reconsiders. I know he’s on a tight schedule with this new deadline, but he brings a certain easiness to the council. I keep thinking that once he gets his draft off to his editor, he’ll reconsider.”

“Seems like he’s running out of time to make up his mind,” Dan pointed out.

“The deadline to announce his resignation is a little over a month away. Kyle is thinking about running for the vacant seat, and I know he was looking forward to working with Bookman.”

“Judge Harper
told me that he planned to have a talk with him. Perhaps he can convince him to continue. Either way, the next election should be an interesting one. There are already three men running for the one seat. My bet is that if Bookman resigns and frees up a second seat, we may see a few others throw their hats in the ring.”

Tj looked at her watch. She had a lot to do
that day, so she really should head over to talk to Jenna before she totally freaked out about the incident the evening before. “I need to get going. It was nice talking to you. Can you let Connor and the kids know I was here, and they sound great?”

Like all the other storefronts on Main Street, the sidewalk space in front of the Antiquery was decked out with barrels of flowers in every color imaginable. The Antiquery was a popular establishment, combining home-style dining with antiques that Jenna’s mother, Helen, managed to dig up by attending estate sales in the area. Tj parked in the alley behind the eatery and went in through the back door, which led directly into the kitchen, where Jenna could normally be found between the hours of seven and two.

“I heard about the dispatch to the resort last night. W
hat happened?” Jenna, tall and thin, with light blue eyes and long blond hair twisted into a braid, greeted her. Jenna had been Tj’s best friend since preschool.

“Raccoon in the kitchen.”

Jenna began to laugh. “Since when have you been scared of raccoons?”

“I’m not. It was just a misunderstanding. I was on the phone with Hunter
.” Tj filled Jenna in on the entire fiasco.

“That’s hilarious. I’m glad you came by. I was getting worried
, although I guess you could have just called and saved yourself the trip.”

“I
ran into Dan at the community center and he told me that you’d talked. I figured I should head over to explain. Besides, I wanted to pick up the cookies you made for the snack bar, and I need to put up one of these on your bulletin board.” Tj held up the help-wanted flyer her grandpa had given her.

“There are tacks in the board,” Jenna informed her. “Just stick it wherever you want.”

“I’ll do it before I leave.” Tj slid onto one of the stools lining the counter. “What are you making?”

“It’s a new
cookie recipe I’m trying out. One of the mothers in Kristi’s class asked me if I could make cookies for her daughter’s birthday party. She said her daughter loves German chocolate cake, but she really wants to serve cookies rather than cake. She thinks it will be less messy.”

“So you
’re making German chocolate cookies,” Tj concluded.

“I figured out how to make the cookie out of
a German chocolate cake mix. I decided that I could use coconut, pecans, and melted chocolate as the frosting. I like the taste, but I need to adjust the consistency. The way they are now, they’re as messy as a piece of cake would be.”

“They look really good.”

“Here, taste one.” Jenna placed a cookie on a napkin and pushed it across the counter.

Tj picked up the cookie and took a bit
e. She chewed appreciatively. “These are really good. I mean
really
good. I see what you mean about the topping being messy, though. Maybe if they were going to be served to adults . . .”

“
It’s hard to make a good cookie for a kids’ party that will taste good but won’t lead to sticky hands. If I can’t get the topping right, I might just save these for the Women’s League meeting.”

“Maybe you can put the coconut, nuts, and chocolate inside the cookie for the kids,” Tj suggested.

“Maybe. Or maybe I can talk Kristi’s friend into another flavor altogether. I have a really good cookie that utilizes candy bars. They’re usually popular with kids.”

“How did the
cookies for the Friends of the Library luncheon turn out?” Tj asked. The last time she’d been in, Jenna had been experimenting with apple pie cookies for the women who ensured that a free library was available to all.

“They were a big hit. They liked them so much
, they wanted to try different flavors. I’m going to try blackberry pie cookies for the next luncheon.”

“Sounds delicious.
I haven’t had a blackberry pie in years. It used to be my favorite kind.”

“I’ll make you one and bring it over next time the girls and I come for mo
vie and pizza night,” Jenna promised.

“
Did Dennis and the girls leave on their trip yet?” Tj knew that Jenna’s firefighter husband had a long weekend off and planned to take their two daughters camping.

“Yeah, they left this morning. At first I was sorry it wasn’t going to work out for me to go with them
, but now I find that I’m looking forward to a few days to myself.”

“We have bands on the beach all weekend. I can have someone reserve one of the fir
e pits and we can drink wine, eat cheese, and listen to the music under the stars.” While open fires weren’t allowed in the area due to fire restrictions, fires built within a pit were permitted during all but the driest of years. The resort provided forest service–approved pits in both the campground and on the beach bordering the resort. The pits were generally considered to be first come, first served, but Tj could usually manage to have one of her staff reserve one if she made the request early enough in the day.

“Sounds perfect,” Jenna agreed. “
So how are things going at the resort with your dad out of town?”

“Except for the missing model and
the murdered Tropical Tan employee, not bad.”

“What?” Jenna stopped what sh
e was doing. “Murdered employee?”

“I really shouldn’t have said anything
, so you have to promise to keep this to yourself.”

“Yeah, no problem. What’s going on?”

Tj explained about looking for Kiara and finding Tonya’s body in the process.

“I can’t believe you found another body. What is that
, three in eight months?”

“I know. It’s like I’m cursed. There’s isn’t much I can do to help Tonya. Dylan is looking into her death. I would like to find Kiara
, however. It doesn’t make sense that she’d work so hard to make it to the final twenty-five and then just take off when her dream of winning the scholarship the other models tell me she was desperate to have was so close.”

“You think something happened to her?” Jenna asked.

“I think there’s a good possibility that foul play is involved in her disappearance. The girl is from Serenity. Or at least she listed Serenity as her hometown on her bio. Do you recognize her?”

Jenna wiped her hands on a dish towel and took the photo from Tj. “You know
, she does look familiar.” Jenna bit her lip as she continued to study the photo. “I’m trying to remember where I’ve seen her.”

“This
photo is a professionally snapped headshot, so you might need to picture her with less makeup and maybe more casual hair.”

“It seems like if she
’s from here, you’d know who she is. She looks like a teenager.”

“She’s eighteen,” Tj verified. “I’m certain she didn’t go through our school system. I’m guessing she was homeschooled. On the day she went missing
, a girl who I guess is twelve or thirteen came looking for her. She said she was Kiara’s half sister. Her name is Annabeth.”

“Doesn’t sound familiar. You know
, this girl could be the same one I used to see in the library from time to time. I never spoke to her, but I remember seeing a girl with similar features reading in a corner when I visited a time or two. Why don’t you ask Frannie if she knows who she is?”

Jenna’s suggestion that Frannie Edison might know Kiara was the only lead Tj had, so after she finished her conversation with Jenna, grabbed the cookies, and hung the flyer on the bulletin board, she headed down the street toward the town and county buildings. The library was one of Tj’s favorite places. Built as a bordello at the turn of the century, it had been converted into a library more than sixty years earlier, a few years after the town was incorporated. The downstairs, which at one time had served as a common room for entertaining, held a large wooden counter that was now used as a reference desk but originally had served as the bar on which girls had danced to entertain the men. Behind the counter were rows of bookshelves that held reference materials that could only be accessed with librarian supervision. In front of the counter was an open area in which round tables surrounded by chairs were provided for patrons. The upstairs was divided into smaller rooms, converted from bedrooms into bookrooms, each with its own subject matter. One room was decorated in nursery rhymes and held children’s books, another housed fiction, yet another reference and business books, and another self-help and religion. Each bookroom contained long sofas or cozy chairs for visitors who wished to preview a book before checking it out and taking it home.

“Afternoon
, Tj,” Frannie said when Tj walked through the front door. Frannie stood behind the counter, where she was checking in a new shipment of books. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”

“It really is,” Tj agreed. “In fact
, I think this is one of the nicest Junes we’ve had in quite a few years.”

“The timing
of the warm weather is perfect for the long weekend. How are you doing with the models this year?” Frannie asked.

“
I’m actually here because one of them never checked in,” Tj informed Frannie. “Do you know this girl?”

Frannie took the photo from Tj. “Yeah, I know her. Her name is Kiara Boswell. She used to come in to check out books every other day before she left the area.”

“Do you know if she has family in town?”

“Kiara didn’t live in Serenity. She lived in Vengeance.”

“Which would explain why she didn’t go to school in our system,” Tj realized. It made sense that Kiara listed Serenity rather than Vengeance as her hometown. Vengeance was a small village about five miles north of Paradise Lake. The area had been settled by isolationists who’d chosen to live off the grid. The only access to the small village was a rutted dirt road that wound up the mountain several miles after leaving the highway. Most children in the village were homeschooled, and exposure to the outside world was discouraged, if not forbidden, by many of the families who resided in the village.

“Did she ever talk about friends in town? Perhaps a boyfriend?”

Tj waited while Frannie considered her question. “No, not that I can remember. Kiara pretty much kept to herself. She loved to read. I think she found books to be the only friend she needed. I do know that she was unhappy living in such isolation and wanted very badly to go to college. I wasn’t surprised when she left.”

“Did you know she
entered the Ms. Tropical Tan contest?” Tj asked.

Frannie looked
both shocked and pleased, her bright green eyes lighting up as she answered. “No, I didn’t know. Good for her. You said she never checked in?”

“She’s missing.” Tj explained about the events
that occurred after the bus from Reno had arrived, leaving out the part about the dead woman in the cove since Dylan hadn’t given her the go-ahead to talk about that yet. “Do you recognize this man?” Tj handed her Doc’s sketch.

Frannie studied it. Her brows furrowed beneath
the medium brown bangs that framed her face. “No, I can’t say that I do. This is the man she left with?”

“According to the other models
, this is what he looked like. The sketch is a composite of the descriptions we received.”

“Do you think Kiara is in some kind of
trouble?” Frannie asked.

“We’re not sure. The girls reported that Kiara seemed to leave with the man willingly
, so at this point we’re operating under the assumption that she knew the man. Perhaps he was a boyfriend or even a brother.”

“Kiara never mentioned siblings or a boyfriend. Honestly
, in all the years I knew her, I never saw her speak to anyone other than her grandmother, who used to drop her off and then return for her an hour or so later. Do you think the man Kiara left with is from the village?”

“We don’t know at this point
,” Tj informed her. “I suppose I could go out to the compound to see what I can find out.”