by Kathi Daley
Tj laughed. “Well yeah, there was that. And she did cheat I just couldn’t prove it. But I promise I wouldn’t have killed her over our rivalry.”
“I know that but the men who investigated the case didn’t know you like I do. If I were you I’d be prepared for Ms. Colton to ask you about the controversy which resulted from the homecoming vote.”
“Yeah, I will.”
Tj looked down at the list. The party had been held at Brett Conrad’s home and it was well known that he didn’t get along with Holly, so it made sense he was a key suspect. Jessie Baldwin was Holly’s best friend. It did seem odd that she was on the list. Tj didn’t remember there being any real problems between Holly and Jessie. In fact, if anything they seemed oddly close.
Tj had no idea why Mackenzie Paulson, Nathan Fullerton, Mia Monroe, or Jada Jenkins might have been suspects, but Dalton Fowler was another case entirely. Dalton had been obsessed with Holly in high school and had followed her around everywhere she went, yet, as far as Tj knew, she never once gave him the time of day. Dalton still lived in Serenity and Tj knew him well. She couldn’t imagine him as a killer but she could see how the original investigators might have honed in on him.
“There’s a note at the bottom of the page,” Tj commented. “It just says Rebecca H.”
“Rebecca Heins. She did not attend the party and she was not considered at any point to be a suspect but she was a witness. Her witness statement is not public record because she was a minor and she came in voluntarily and asked not to be identified.”
“Can you get her statement?”
“Maybe. I’ll try.”
“You know she works at Tiz the Season. I promised the girls I’d take them to get their Halloween costumes today. I think they wanted to go to that new costume shop in the strip mall outside of town but I think I can talk them into shopping locally. If Rebecca is working today, I’ll see if she is willing to talk to me.”
“Okay, if you discover anything relevant call me.”
“I will. And I’ll call you either way after I meet with the Second Look woman tomorrow. This should be interesting.”
After Tj picked the girls up from The Antiquery, she headed toward Tiz the Season, a retail store specializing in seasonal inventory. The store was currently decked out with Halloween costumes and decorations, but Tj knew that once November first rolled around the Halloween items would be cleared out and Christmas gifts and decorations would take their place.
“Can I be a princess for Halloween?” Gracie asked.
“Haven’t you been a princess the last two years?” Tj reminded her.
“Yes, but I really like being a princess. This year I want to be Cinderella.”
“Being a princess is dumb,” Ashley teased her sister. “I’m going to be a zombie. Or maybe a vampire.”
“Zombies and vampires are scary,” Gracie said. “I don’t want to be scary. I want to be something pretty.”
“You were Cinderella when you were a baby. You can’t be Cinderella again,” Ashley insisted.
“Can so.”
“Cannot.”
“You can be whatever you want,” Tj told her youngest sibling. “And Ashley can be whatever she wants, as long as we can find costumes.”
“I don’t need a costume. I just need face paint,” Ashley informed her. “Only babies wear packaged costumes.”
“I’m not a baby,” Gracie whined.
“Are so.”
“Okay, that’s enough arguing. The town is really beginning to look like a Halloween wonderland,” Tj commented in an attempt to change the subject. The entire downtown section of the lakefront community was decorated for the upcoming Halloween festivities. Bright yellow aspen trees lining the sidewalks were draped with orange and white twinkle lights, while hundreds of scarecrows and huge orange pumpkins were displayed in front of brightly lit shops, inviting the casual passerby in from the crisp fall air. “The town really has pulled out all the stops. It will be fun to come down here on Halloween night and look at all the decorations. Maybe on our way back home from trick-or-treating.”
“Aspen Maplewood is having a Halloween party this year,” Ashley informed Tj. “Me and Kristi want to go to the party instead of trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating is for toddlers.”
“Is not,” Gracie countered.
“Is so.”
“I think a party sounds like fun,” TJ interrupted the argument. “I’ll talk to Aspen’s mom and work out the details.”
“Please don’t say anything to embarrass me when you talk to her,” Ashley said.
“Why would you think I would embarrass you?”
“It’s a coed party, so there’ll be boys there. I can just picture you going on and on about how little Ashley is growing up and how the years simply fly by. Knowing you, you’ll get all choked up and say something about how I’m becoming a woman right before your eyes.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Tj defended herself.
“You said that in pretty much those exact words when Jimmy’s mom called to see if it was okay if I went to the movies with him.”
“I guess I did do that,” Tj admitted.
“It was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me.” Ashley groaned.
“I’m sorry. I promise I won’t say anything embarrassing when I speak to Aspen’s mom.”
“Maybe Papa can talk to her. Or Aunt Jenna.”
“I said I wouldn’t embarrass you, and I won’t.”
Tj looked at Ashley in the rearview mirror. The look on her face indicated her life was over. Maybe she was becoming overly sentimental when it came to the girls. Ashley was right; she did tend to go on and on at times.
Pulling up in front of the seasonal store, Tj parked and turned off the engine. She reminded the girls to exit the vehicle on the sidewalk side.
“Let’s start by looking for Gracie’s Cinderella costume and then we can look for your spooky one after that,” Tj suggested to Ashley.
“Aspen and a couple of my other friends are in the back of the store near the masks. I’ll go hang out with them while you help Gracie.”
“Okay, but don’t leave the store and please stay out of trouble. I’ll come find you in a few minutes.”
Ashley called out to Aspen and then hurried away. When she’d first moved to Paradise Lake Ashley had been so angry over the death of her mother that she’d lashed out at everyone she came into contact with. The end result was that she’d had a difficult time making friends. Luckily, Jenna’s eldest daughter Kristi, had not only befriended her but been patient with her mood swings. Eventually, Ashley had learned what it meant to be a friend and had developed a nice network of relationships.
“How come Ashley is nice to her friends but so mean to me?” Gracie asked.
“She’s just getting to the age when she’s trying to act cooler than she really is, so she compensates by making everyone crazy.” Tj looked down at the adorable second grader beside her. “You aren’t going to stop being my sweet little cupcake, are you?”
Gracie shook her head. “I’m never going to be mean like Ashley.”
“Good.” Tj took Gracie’s hand in hers. “Let’s go find you the best princess costume the store has left at a reasonable price.”
Gracie skipped along beside her as she made her way to the princess aisle. As Gracie sorted through princess costumes, Tj looked around the store in the hope of spotting Rebecca. She supposed she could simply go up to the counter and ask if she was working today.
“Tj?” a woman Tj had gone to high school with said from behind her.
Tj turned around. “Vicki. How nice to see you. Are you in town for homecoming?”
She nodded. “I decided that as long as I was coming out west I’d get here a few days early to catch up with old friends. I’m here with Doreen Sullwold. She’s buyi
ng a costume for her kindergartener.”
Tj waved to Doreen, who was looking at a ladybug costume.
“Can you believe it’s been ten years since we graduated?” Vicki asked.
“Actually, I can’t. I work at the high school, but most days I still feel like a student.”
“Is this your daughter?” Vicki nodded toward Gracie, who had just handed her sister the dress she’d been looking for.
“This is my sister Gracie. Half-sister, actually. Our mom died a couple of years ago, so Gracie and her sister Ashley came to live with me at the resort.”
“So you never settled down with Hunter Hanson and had a family of your own?”
“No. Not yet, anyway.”
Tj had dated Hunter all through high school. Everyone, including Tj, had thought they’d marry, but they’d ended up breaking up while they were in college. After they’d both returned to Serenity to pursue their careers there, they’d reestablished their friendship, but they hadn’t started dating again until the previous winter.
“Will Hunter be at the reunion?”
“He will,” Tj confirmed.
“It’ll be nice to see him. Did he end up being a doctor like he always talked about?”
“Yes. His dad retired, so he’s running the hospital.”
“Good for him. It seems like our graduating class turned out all kinds of successful adults. I heard the reunion committee is expecting a good turnout.”
“We are,” Tj confirmed.
“I also heard there is a reporter in town asking a bunch of questions about the night Holly was murdered.”
“That is true as well.”
“It was such a horrible thing. I was questioned during the initial investigation. It was a terrifying experience. I was only seventeen at the time and the deputy who interviewed me was pretty terrifying, but luckily I had an alibi.”
“You did?”
“Noreen and I arrived at the party together, left at the same time, and spent the night together. I’m pretty sure we were removed from the suspect list.”
“I’m sure you were. And I’m really happy you are in town. It’ll be fun to catch up. I really should get going,” Tj said as she spotted Rebecca at the back of the store.
“Text me. We’ll do lunch.”
Tj looked down at Gracie. “Is this the dress you want?”
Gracie nodded. “I’ll need shoes.”
“I need to talk to a friend for a minute. I’m going to have you wait with Ashley for a few minutes and then we will look for your shoes.”
“K.”
Tj took Gracie’s hand and headed toward the back of the store where Ashley was looking at masks.
“I changed my mind about the face paint,” Ashley informed Tj when she arrived with Gracie. “I want this instead.”
Ashley held up a hideous mask.
“Looks like an easy costume. What are you going to wear with it?”
“I’m going to see if either Papa or Grandpa have an old shirt I can rip up. I’ll just wear an old pair of jeans on the bottom.”
“Wonderful. Sounds like the easiest costume ever. I need to talk to someone for a minute and I need you to watch Gracie.”
Ashley snarled at her sister but didn’t argue.
“I’ll only be a minute I promise.”
“Can we go look at the window display?” Gracie asked.
Tj glanced at Ashley. “Will you go with your sister and will you behave?”
Ashley shrugged. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind looking at the decorations.”
Ashley took Gracie’s hand and headed toward the front of the store while Tj headed toward the back of the store to find Rebecca.
“Just the woman I was looking for,” Tj greeted Rebecca who was sorting through opened and discarded costumes.
“Hi Tj. Do you need help finding something?”
“Actually, if you have a few minutes, I wanted to talk to you about something other than costumes.”
Rebecca handed Tj a witch’s costume. “If you can talk while we fold I’m more than willing.”
Tj folded the costume and added it to the stack before picking up another. “Have you heard that Second Look is coming to town to investigate Holly’s murder?”
Rebecca frowned. “Second Look as in the television show?”
“That’d be the one.”
“I hadn’t heard. When is this happening?”
“Tomorrow actually. I was just over at the sheriff’s office talking to Roy and he mentioned that you provided a witness statement back when the original investigation was going on.”
Rebecca hesitated. “That was supposed to be anonymous.”
“It was. I haven’t seen the statement. Neither has Roy. He just knew that the deputies spoke to you at the time. I know you must have had your reasons for being anonymous at the time but I was hoping you might be willing to share what you know with me now.”
“Why?”
“I’m being interviewed by the Second Look people tomorrow and I guess I just want to be as prepared as possible.”
“Are you a suspect?”
“It seems I might be along with a handful of other people. I can assure you that I didn’t kill Holly. I’d just like to help Roy. You know how shorthanded he is, and I have a feeling that things are about to get stirred up real fast.”
“I voluntarily went into the sheriff’s office ten years ago and gave an anonymous statement because I saw something no one knew that I saw. The deputies back then took my statement, but to be honest, it didn’t seem like they followed up. I guess I don’t know for certain that they didn’t follow up but they never bothered to call me or ask me any further questions.”
“Will you tell me what you saw?”
Rebecca hesitated. “Not here and not now. I’ll call you.”
“Okay, thanks. I’d appreciate that.”
Tj texted Rebecca her number and then went to find her sisters. She supposed that Rebecca had a point. The middle of a crowded store wasn’t the best place to share long buried secrets.
After the girls picked out their costumes and Tj paid for them they headed home. Tj felt a sense of contentment when she turned onto the resort road. It had been a productive afternoon and she’d managed to make a sizeable dent in her ‘to do’ list.
“Look at the lights,” Gracie gasped.
“It looks like the staff finished the decorations.” The staff had worked hard to make Maggie’s Hideaway appear as a Halloween Village. Scarecrows and hay bales were displayed at the entrance and white lights had been hung in the aspen trees that lined the drive. The interior of the resort was likewise decorated for the upcoming holiday.
Tj and her family lived in a large private residence on the edge of the resort, providing them a degree of privacy while affording them the resources of the resort as a whole.
“Stop the car,” Gracie screamed as Tj turned into the driveway to their home from the resort road.
Tj slammed on the brakes. “What’s wrong?”
“I saw something.”
“Like what?”
“A dog. I think it was a dog. It ran under that big bush when you turned the corner.”
Tj looked around. She didn’t see anything. “It’s almost dark. It was probably a coyote.”
“It wasn’t a coyote. You have to go look.”
She was willing to bet a week’s pay Gracie had seen a coyote, or maybe even a raccoon. The chances that there was a stray dog this far from town were remote, but Tj knew Gracie wasn’t going to let it go until she checked it out.
“You wait in the car in case it was a coyote,” Tj said. Living at Paradise Lake, Tj was used to sharing her space with a lot of different wild animals, including bears and cougars, but the highest incidence of animal-to-people injuries seemed to come from
the overly domesticated coyotes that roamed the area and weren’t in the least afraid of people.
Tj pulled over to the side of the road, just in case another vehicle came in their direction. She took a flashlight from her glove box and opened the driver’s side door, then slid out onto the narrow private road and made her way over to the large shrub Gracie had pointed to. If it was a coyote, it would most likely take off once she shone the light in its eyes. If it was a bear she was going to need to tread lightly. And if it was a cougar…well, Tj didn’t want to think about that. Luckily, cougar sightings in populated areas were rare.
Tj shone the light into the dense shrub while she moved a thick branch to the side. “Well, I’ll be.”
Gracie had been right after all. Crouched down beneath the thick foliage was a golden retriever puppy.
“What are you doing all the way out here by yourself?”
The puppy whimpered.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll take you home and get you some dinner. Does that sound good?”
The pup hesitated.
“We have other animals. A dog, four cats, six horses, and a cow, to be specific.”
The puppy just looked at her.
“The cow’s name is Bruiser,” Tj continued in a soft, soothing voice. “His arrival at the resort is really a funny story.” Tj knelt down on the ground and tried to coax the puppy out. He was shaking in fear. The poor thing must have been through a pretty horrible ordeal to be this frightened. “If you come with me I can tell you all about it.”
The pup scooted farther into the shrub. Tj was trying to decide what to do when suddenly the pup looked up and began wagging her tail.
“Come here, puppy.”
Tj turned around. Gracie was out of the car and standing behind her. She wanted to scold her for disobeying, but the puppy ran right over to her.
“Can we keep her?” Gracie laughed as the puppy wagged her whole body while she licked her face.
“I think we need to make sure she isn’t lost. We’ll take her home and give her some dinner. Then I’ll call Rosalie to come check her over.” Rosalie Taylor was the town veterinarian and her dad’s girlfriend. She was also the one responsible for Bruiser living at the resort. “We’ll call the shelter and if no one claims her, then maybe we can talk to Papa about keeping her.”