Tj Jensen Cozy Mystery Boxed Set 2: Books 6-10

by Kathi Daley

  “Like what kinds of things?”

  “Just things like the fact that he had a wandering eye or he didn’t treat me with the respect he should have. Stupid stuff really. I guess if I am honest the allegations that Holly constantly made about Brett were beginning to get to me, and I was so, so, tired of arguing with her. I promised Holly after one of our bigger arguments that I’d break up with Brett after the homecoming dance. I sure as heck wasn’t going to do it before the dance and risk not having a date. When we got to Brett’s house Holly reminded me of my promise but I was beginning to have second thoughts. Deep down I guess I knew that half the stuff Holly used to tell me about Brett were exaggerations. Anyway, after I told Holly that I was reconsidering my promise to break up with Brett, she went crazy. I’d never seen her so mad. She was making a scene so I convinced her to come upstairs with me so we could talk without everyone at the party overhearing our conversation.”

  “And after you got upstairs?”

  “We argued for a while, but eventually Holly left. I was tired and emotionally drained, so I climbed into Brett’s bed and went to sleep. Brett eventually joined me and we slept in until noon the next day. I never saw Holly again.”

  Jessie looked grieved by the thought. “Wow that must have been really tragic for you.”

  “It was. I was a total mess for months. Poor Brett didn’t know how to help me and my parents were about at the end of their rope with my depression and bouts of crying. But as odd as this is going to seem, a part of me felt relief. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want Holly to die, but she had become so possessive of me. When I first met her she was fun and carefree. We had a lot of fun together and really became close, but toward the end she seemed to want to control every aspect of my life.”

  “Holly was alone at the party but she went to the dance with Dusty Baker. Do you know why he didn’t come to the party with her?”

  “Holly only went to the dance with Dusty because she needed a date. She was the homecoming queen and it wouldn’t be right for her to go alone, but she hadn’t originally planned to go so she hadn’t thought about a date. Holly didn’t even like Dusty, but he was cute and popular so she used him.”

  “So Holly didn’t have a boyfriend?”

  “No. At least not one that she admitted to. Although, I think she might have had a guy on the side. Someone she kept secret from everyone even me.”

  Tj hadn’t seen that coming. “A secret guy? Why do you say that?”

  Jessie frowned. “It’s not like she ever said anything about a guy and I never saw her with a guy, but she seemed different toward the end. We’d have plans to hang out and she’d cancel at the last minute. She never would say why she cancelled or where she had gone, if she had indeed gone anywhere. She was really secretive, and one time I went over to her house when we hadn’t made specific plans. Her mom let me in so I headed up to her room. When I let myself in she was sitting on her bed writing in a journal. She closed it real quick when she saw me and put it in a trunk she had at the foot of the bed. There was a padlock on the trunk which she made sure to lock. I asked her what she was doing but she just mumbled something about homework. I know I never kept my homework in a locked trunk. Did you?”

  “No. And Holly never mentioned anything that would identify this guy, if there even was a guy?”

  “No. It was really kind of odd. Although the more I think about it the oddness of her behavior was widespread I just didn’t realize it at the time.”

  “What do you mean by oddness?”

  A slight breeze had come up so Jessie scooted closer to the fire. “For one thing there was the whole situation with the homecoming dance. Holly was pretty and popular but sort of a loner. She never cared about things like homecoming and then out of the blue she tells me she is going to run and she is going to win. I was as shocked as everyone else when she announced her intent to run. And then when she actually won? I thought she’d be thrilled but she didn’t even seem to care all that much about the dance. I tried to convince her to go with one of the many guys who asked her and actually wanted to go with her, but she decided to strong-arm Dusty into going with her instead.”

  “Dusty didn’t want to go with her?”

  “No. He even had another date but I guess she fell down some stairs at the last minute and broke her leg so she wasn’t able to attend the dance. Of course the minute the crowning ceremony was over Holly left both the dance and her date firmly in the dust. It was really very odd.”

  Odd seemed like an understatement.

  “So she left the dance and came to the party with you. Did she talk to anyone or seem to spend time with anyone specifically once she got to the party?”

  “Other than me no.”

  “Do you remember anything at all from that night that could help narrow down who Holly’s killer might be? Someone acting odd or maybe someone out of place?”

  “Honestly, I was drunk and totally absorbed with how I was going to handle the situation with Brett. I can’t even remember who all was at the party. I really do hope you figure out who did this. Holly wasn’t the sweet person she pretended to be but she didn’t deserve to die.”

  “You mentioned before that there were at least a half dozen people better off with Holly dead. What did you mean by that?”

  “Holly was blackmailing people. I don’t want to point fingers at anyone since I really don’t know what Holly had on these individuals, but you might want to talk to both Jada and Mackenzie.”

  “Okay, I will. And thanks for talking to me.”

  “I guess I’ll head in and see if I can salvage what is left of this reunion.”

  “Okay, have a good night.”

  After Tj finished talking to Jessie she went in search of Hunter. It would be interesting to see if Brett’s story matched up with Jessie’s.

  “Brett said Jessie was in ‘one of her moods’ the night of the party,” Hunter jumped right in before Tj had a chance to share. “They got into a fight and Jessie and Holly went upstairs. He stayed downstairs and partied with the rest of us until the early hours of the morning. When he went upstairs, Jessie was in his bed and Holly was gone. He crawled in bed with her and they slept until noon the next day.”

  “Jessie said something similar, only she said it was Holly and she who argued, not she and Brett. She told me she’d promised Holly she’d break up with Brett after homecoming, but at the party she started having second thoughts. When she told Holly as much, Holly went berserk. Jessie claimed she took Holly upstairs so they could talk without everyone overhearing. They argued for a while, and Holly got mad and left. Jessie climbed into Brett’s bed, went to sleep, and never saw Holly again.”

  “So unless they are both lying it looks like neither of them did it.”

  “Jessie didn’t seem like she was lying although Brett’s parents’ house had that back staircase. It’s possible Jessie could have followed Holly outside when she left, killed her, and then returned and crawled into bed.”

  “And it’s possible Brett could have seen Holly leave, followed and killed her, and then returned to the party.”

  Tj sighed. “In other words we haven’t eliminated anyone, although Jessie suggested I speak to both Jada and Mackenzie.”

  “Jada isn’t here and we already talked about the fact that she hadn’t called you back, but Mackenzie is.” Hunter pointed out. “I can strike up a conversation with her if you’d like.”

  “I’ll talk to her. Why don’t you try to talk to Dalton? The fact that Dalton was basically stalking Holly makes me think he might know more than even he thinks he knows. Maybe we can stimulate a memory.”

  “Okay. He’s with a large group at the bar and he’s had a few drinks but I’ll try.”

  “Did you happen to see Teddy this evening?” Tj asked Hunter.

  “No. Why?”

  “He said he’d bring some pho
tos that had been taken at the party. I’ll have to track him down tomorrow if he doesn’t show.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

  Tj headed into the throng to look for Mackenzie. It looked like everyone including Jenna and Dennis were having a good time. Jenna and Dennis had been through a few rough patches as of late and she was happy to see that they seemed to be relaxed and smiling. She was about to stop by and say hi when her phone buzzed. It was Roy.

  “Hey Roy. What’s up?” Tj greeted as she retreated to the hallway where there weren’t so many people standing around.

  “I managed to obtain the witness report Rebecca Heins provided to the sheriff’s office ten years ago.”

  “And.”

  “Rebecca saw Holly push Lori Jeffries down a flight of stairs.”

  “Let me guess. She broke her leg and was unable to attend the homecoming dance with her date, Dusty Baker.”

  “How’d you know?”

  “I’ve been working the case too,” Tj reminded him. “Did the deputies at the time suspect either Lori or Dusty of killing Holly?”

  Tj could hear Roy rustling the paperwork she imagined he held. “Lori was still in the hospital following surgery on her leg when Holly was killed, but they did question Dusty. It seems that Dusty did not want to take Holly to the dance, but she knew he’d been doing steroids and she threatened to out him if he didn’t take her. He told her he already had a date, and the next thing he knew his date was in the hospital.”

  “Sounds like he had a motive.”

  “It does, but he had an alibi. When Holly left the dance, he went to the hospital to visit Lori. After he left the hospital, he went home. At the time of the original interview ten years ago, his parents were around to verify this. I guess they were killed in a car accident a few years later.”

  “And Dusty. Where is he now?”

  “Dallas, Texas.”

  “So unless his parents lied to protect him it doesn’t sound like Dusty is our guy. I did get a new lead. Jessie said that she thought that Holly had a secret guy on the side. Someone even she didn’t know the identity of.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Yeah, it is but I don’t know what we can do with that information now. If Holly was the only one to know the identity of her mystery guy, provided she actually had one and Jessie wasn’t just imagining things, her secret died with her.

  “So it would seem. I’ll let you get back to your party. I knew you were trying to get ahold of Rebecca and didn’t want you to waste your time. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Goodnight.”

  After Tj hung up she went back into the restaurant and looked for Mackenzie. She saw her standing near the bar.

  “Nice party,” Mackenzie complimented Tj when she joined her.

  “Thank you. I think it turned out well.”

  “I can see that the reunion committee has worked hard on the entire weekend. Too bad the whole thing has been marred by Ms. Colton’s investigation, not to mention her death.”

  “At first I was really upset that the reunion might be ruined with talk of Holly’s murder, but I have to admit that there have been some interesting questions that have come from Samantha’s investigation.”

  “I suppose.”

  “The way Brett’s party unfolded was kind of odd if you think about it.”

  Mackenzie looked toward the ground. “I don’t really remember much at all. I only showed up at the party because I was looking for someone who wasn’t there. I left after a few minutes.”

  “Really who were you looking for?”

  Mackenzie looked at Tj and shrugged. “Just a guy I was interested in.”

  “I guess that explains why you were there. I don’t remember you hanging around with Holly in high school,” Tj commented, watching Mackenzie’s face for a reaction to her questions.

  “I didn’t. We were definitely not in the same social group.”

  “I do remember someone mentioning that you had some sort of a grudge against her.”

  “Grudge? I barely knew her. I really can’t imagine what this person was talking about. I think I’m going to get another drink. It was nice talking to you.”

  By the time Tj finished speaking to Mackenzie, Hunter had wandered out onto the deck so she grabbed a drink from the bar and joined him.

  “Any luck?” Hunter asked.

  “Mackenzie said she only showed up at the party because she was looking for someone, although she refused to say who. When the individual didn’t show up she left. I do remember seeing her leave while we were still there and it did seem that she was only there for a few minutes. She didn’t know Holly all that well and I can’t imagine what motive she might have had to kill her. She did seem to be hiding something when I spoke to her at the decorating party though.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “She made a comment about everyone having secrets.”

  “A lot of people have secrets.”

  “Do you have secrets?” Tj asked.

  Hunter looked surprised by her question. “Why are you asking me that now? You don’t think I killed Holly, do you?”

  “No, silly. Jenna said she and Dennis confessed all the lies they’d told each other and all the secrets they’d kept before they got married so they could start with a clean slate. Do you think we should do that?”

  “Probably not,” Hunter said. “Not that I have any big, dark secrets, but we were apart for several years and we both had other relationships during that time. I’m not sure I see the wisdom in opening that can of worms.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Tj agreed. “Did you find out anything from Dalton?”

  “Marianne was glued to his side, so I couldn’t really bring up that night. Besides, he’s smashed so I doubt I would have gotten anything coherent out of him anyway. I’m glad that Dalton and Marianne decided to rent a cabin for the night even though they live in town. Neither of them are fit to drive.”

  “I’ll try talking to him again tomorrow. As for the other suspects, Mia and Jada aren’t here and don’t plan to attend, so I don’t see how we can confirm or eliminate them as suspects tonight unless someone we do speak to can verify their movements that night. I don’t know what’s up with Nathan. I know he’s in town, but I have yet to actually see him.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be at the game tomorrow; we can talk to him then.”

  “So is that it?” Tj asked. “Have we done what we can for tonight?”

  “I think we have,” Hunter confirmed.

  “So about that totally empty cabin waiting just down the walkway.”

  “It would be a shame to let it go to waste.”

  Chapter 14

  Friday, October 30

  Friday turned out to be the perfect day for football. It was sunny and warm with a light breeze that prevented it from becoming hot even for those sitting on the crowded bleachers. The mountains surrounding the football stadium were painted in fall colors that provided a contrast to the deep blue of the crystal-clear sky. Tj let the enthusiasm of the crowd wash over her as she cheered and chanted for the boys who had come out to give it their all.

  Nathan had finally made an appearance, which seemed to provide an added element of excitement for the slightly hungover alumni. He was probably the most famous member of their graduating class next to Mia. He didn’t have the overall presence Mia possessed, but he was enough of a celebrity that most of the townsfolk knew who he was and stopped by to say hi.

  “Maybe it’s a good thing Mia didn’t come to the reunion,” Tj said to Jenna sitting to her left. “Nathan has created enough of a stir. There probably would have been a mob begging for autographs if Mia were here.”

  “Still, I’m sorry she didn’t show. We weren’t close in high school, but I considered her a friend.”

  “M
aybe we should have tried to convince her to come, although her assistant did say she was out of town so I suppose it is possible that she didn’t come for an entirely different reason than her interview with Samantha Colton.”

  “Maybe.” Jenna shrugged. “Something might have come up at the last minute. Mia certainly has a lot more to lose now than when we were in high school, but making choices based on avoidance never seemed to be her style. If you remember, she seemed to thrive on adversity. In fact, it wouldn’t be too far off base to say she sought it out. Of course that was ten years ago and people do change, but if I had to wager a bet, I’d say it was a conflict in her schedule rather than a fear of Samantha Colton that caused her to cancel.”

  “Did you see that outfit she wore to the Academy Awards last year? It seemed like she was intentionally trying to make a fashion don’t statement, while everyone around her was going for a fashion do.”

  “She certainly is an individual.”

  While Mia might have cancelled due to a conflict Tj had a feeling the same wasn’t true of Jada. She was bright and confident and motivated but she also seemed to be a lot more vulnerable to vicious attacks and gossip by others. Maybe she actually did cheat on her midterms and didn’t want to provide a platform for Samantha Colton to share that information. But even if she had cheated, it couldn’t possibly make a difference now. Jada was a multimillionaire with her own software company. Tj doubted anyone would care what she might have done when she was eighteen.

  There was always the possibility that Colton had been correct—Jada had cheated and Holly had blackmailed her into hacking the email accounts of selected students. If that had occurred and Holly had used the access to bully students, could one of them have found out who was responsible and killed her? Jada still hadn’t called her back so Tj would try her again as soon as she had the opportunity.

  “I’m going to head over to the snack bar before the game starts.” Hunter, who was sitting to Tj’s left and had been chatting with Brett, interrupted her thoughts. “Anyone want anything?”