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

by Kathi Daley

  “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.”

  “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 you being straight with me.”

  “I’ve heard about the cases you helped solve. 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.”

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

  “Ms. Colton is dead?”

  “Yes, she was killed in a car accident a few days ago.”

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

  “Not really. She was out on Old Sawmill Road at night during a crazy storm. They suspect she misjudged the road in the unfamiliar area.”

  “Sounds suspicious.”

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

  “Well that was interesting,” Tj commented.

  “Interesting how?” Kyle asked.

  “It seems that the smartest girl in school cheated on her midterm exams and the most straight-laced girl in school was sleeping with the math teacher.”

  Kyle laughed. “I guess it happens. Do either of these events play into Holly’s murder?”

  Tj frowned. “I don’t know. I do know that Jim Hanover is a new suspect in my book. If he was sleeping with Mackenzie, which in all fairness I still need to verify, and Holly was blackmailing both Mackenzie and Jim Hanover, it makes them equally suspect in my book. I didn’t see Jim at the game, although I wasn’t looking for him. But, to be honest, given what I know about him I don’t think he’d show up.”

  “Do you have his phone number?”

  “No. But I do have access to the staff directory which has everyone’s address and phone number. Can I use your computer real fast?”

  “Sure.”

  Tj logged on to the school site and pulled up Jim Hanover’s personal information. “Oh my God.” She turned and looked at Kyle. “Jim Hanover lives in a house off Old Sawmill Road.”

  “So?” Kyle asked.

  “Samantha Colton was killed while driving on that road. 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?”

  “He had motive to if she found out what he’d done. It all makes sense. At first I couldn’t understand why Mackenzie was second on her list. Although, if Colton did know about Jim and Mackenzie why wasn’t he on her list?”

  “Maybe when Colton made the list she only knew that Holly was blackmailing Mackenzie but she didn’t know why. Maybe she found out later which is why she was going to talk to Jim but she never had a chance to update her list.”

  “Sounds like about as good an explanation as any. And if Jim knew or even just suspected that Colton knew about the affair, that would give him a good motive to want her silenced. I’m not sure exactly what the consequences would be at this point, but at the very least if the affair was made public it would have a negative effect on his family. He might even lose his job.”

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

  “I think he very well might have. I’m going to go and talk to him.”

  “If he is guilty of killing Colton and/or Holly talking to him could be dangerous. I’m going to suggest that you call Roy and let him handle it.”

  “Jim won’t come clean to Roy and Roy doesn’t know him the way I do. If Jim lies to me, I’ll be able to tell.”

  “How will you be able to tell?”

  “I’ve played poker with the man on many occasions. His left eye twitches every time he tries to bluff.”

  “So tell Roy about the twitch.”

  “You have to know what to look for. If Jim is guilty I’ll know it. If he’s not, we can eliminate him from the suspect list.”

  Kyle pulled Tj close and looked her directly in the eye. “I know you want to solve this case and I know you think that you can handle Jim but I’m going to ask you as a friend who cares about you to please let Roy handle it.”

  Tj sighed. “Okay. We’ll do it your way. For now.”

  Chapter 16

  Tj called 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 that short of defying Kyle’s wishes and going to see Jim herself, she’d done what she could. Of course now that she’d turned things over to Roy she felt antsy and at loose ends. Waiting for someone else to take action was not her strong point.

  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. Of course the one game she had to miss would be the one everyone would talk about for years to come. Now that she’d passed the reins to Roy for the time being, she found herself wishing she’d stayed at the game.

  “Since we are waiting for the software to finish cleaning up the photos do you mind running me out to the resort to pick up my car? I’ll come back here with you to look at the photos, which hopefully will be done processing by then, but unless we find something significant, I think I’ll head over to the school and meet up with the others when we are done here.”

  “Let me grab my keys.”

  Kyle dropped Tj at the house so that Tj could grab a sweatshirt which she figured she’d need once the sun set and then returned to home to finish cleaning up the photos. She decided to take a minute to let the dogs out since she wasn’t sure when everyone else would return. She was just locking up when Roy called.

  “Jim verified that Samantha Colton was on her way to speak to him when she had the car accident,” Roy informed her. “I asked him about the blocked number and he verified that his home number is blocked so that he doesn’t have students calling him at home.”

  “So if he was the one Samantha was on her way to interview he must be the one who caused the accident.”

  “If he did he’s not admitting it. Not only did he deny any involvement in the accident, but he was adamant about the fact that he did not have a relationship with Mackenzie Paulson.”

  “Why would Jada lie?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that, but he definitely isn’t admitting to the affair. We’ll need to speak to Ms. Paulson and see what she has to say about it. Right now it’s simply Ms. Jenkins’s word against Jim’s.”

  “Mackenzie 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?”r />
  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. Getting Mackenzie to admit to something as deeply personal as having an affair with a teacher is going to be tricky. I’ll talk to her friend to friend and try to convince her that it is the right thing to do. If I can get her to talk I’ll let you know and you can take it from there. I hear we’re missing a heck of a game.”

  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.”

  “You and me both. 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. Jenna texted back to say Mackenzie had left a few minutes earlier after receiving a text and hadn’t returned. Tj decided to check to see if Mackenzie had returned to the resort. She texted Kyle and let him know what was going on and then headed toward the cabin assigned to Mackenzie.

  Unfortunately, Mac wasn’t there so she tried texting her. Kyle called while she was waiting for a reply.

  “So what’d you find out?” Kyle asked.

  Tj filled Kyle in on her conversation with Roy.

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

  “That’s true. I’ll call her back.”

  Jada hadn’t saved any of the files she’d provided to Holly. She hadn’t wanted anything to come back around to her. She did confirm that she’d read the emails, and there was no doubt in her mind the affair had really happened.

  “You don’t think Mackenzie is in any danger, do you?” Tj said to Kyle after she hung up with Jada and called Kyle back once again.

  Kyle frowned. “Do you?”

  “I don’t know. If Holly and Samantha are dead and Jada didn’t keep a record of the emails she discovered, Mackenzie would be the only threat to Jim. If he was motivated enough to kill twice to keep this quiet, it stands to reason he might do the same to Mackenzie.”

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

  “True, but something doesn’t feel right.”

  “It looks like the photos are almost done processing. Maybe we’ll get a new clue.”

  “Okay, I’m heading back over to your place. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Tj climbed into her car and was heading down the drive when she received a text from Mackenzie. Apparently Mackenzie had gone to talk to Jim but her car had broken down on Old Sawmill road and she wondered if Tj could pick her up. Tj texted back that she was on her way before texting Kyle once again to let him know that she’d be later arriving at his place than she expected.

  Tj heard her phone ding repeatedly as she drove indicating that she’d received a slew of texts, which she decided could wait until she pulled over to help Mackenzie. Sure enough Mac’s car was on the side of the road with the flashers on. Tj pulled over and got out of her car. She walked toward Mackenzie’s car which had the hood up limiting her view of the passenger area.

  “This isn’t the best place to break down,” Tj said to Mackenzie who was sitting in the driver’s seat. When Mac didn’t respond she poked her head in through the window to find Jim sitting in the back seat with a gun to Mackenzie’s back.

  “I knew you were lying,” Tj said to Jim after he directed her to get into the passenger seat next to Mackenzie.

  “You should have kept your nose out of what was clearly none of your business.”

  Tj glanced at Mackenzie who looked terrified. She supposed she should be terrified as well but the emotion she was dealing with at the moment was rage.

  “Toss your phone out the window,” Jim instructed Tj.

  Tj hesitated.

  “Do it.” Jim pointed the gun at Mac’s head.

  Tj tossed her phone out the open window.

  “Start the car and pull onto the road,” Jim instructed Mackenzie who did as she was asked.

  “What are you going to do with us?” Tj asked.

  “I really have no idea. Take a left on the dirt road that is just around the bend.”

  “You’re only making things worse,” Tj commented.

  “Trust me things can’t get any worse. Now be quiet so I can think.”

  The road that Jim instructed Mackenzie to turn onto was really no more than an overgrown logging road which made for a rough ride.

  Tj held onto the dash as the car hit a rut. She glanced at Mackenzie who was as white as a sheet. Tj had been held at gunpoint a time or two in the past but she bet this was a first for her terrified friend. She figured she needed to divert his attention from Mackenzie to herself until she figured out what to do.

  “Shooting a couple of unarmed women is really a cowardly thing to do.” Tj challenged.

  “Shut up.” Jim pointed the gun directly at Tj’s head.

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

  “I wish I could.” Jim sounded sincere. “But I have too much to lose here.”

  “I won’t tell anyone. I promise,” Mackenzie assured him.

  “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 Mac to follow the narrow road which wound its way up the mountain. 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. “Look I wish I didn’t have to do things this way, but you forced my hand.”

  “Please Jim,” Mackenzie cried. “Don’t do this. I said I wouldn’t tell and I won’t. Please.”

  Jim just laughed. “Who knows, maybe some hikers will find you before the cougar does,” Jim turned to head back to Mac’s car. “But I doubt it.”

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

  “Jim had a gun. You had no choice. Bringing us up here seems like a lot of trouble though, and the reality is, someone really might find us. I’m surprised he didn’t just shoot us. It really would have been more efficient.”

  “Efficient?” Mac laughed. “You really are crazy. We’ve been tied to a tree and left as kitty kibble and all you can say is that our killer isn’t efficient?”

  Tj looked around. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m less than thrilled with the way things are going but I’ve learned that it doesn’t pay to freak out. Maybe we can get these ropes loose before Jim realizes that shooting us was really the better option.”

  “Jim won’t come back and shoot us. He can’t stand the sight of blood. I mean really can’t stand it. He passed out once when I cut my finger while making us breakfast.”

  “He didn’t seem to mind getting a little blood on his hands when he killed Holly,” Tj pointed out.

  “Jim didn’t kill Holly.”

  “What?” Tj as
ked.

  “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.”

  “So if Jim can’t stand the sight of blood why did you let him bully you into texting me and driving us up here?”

  Mackenzie frowned. “You make a good point. I guess I just panicked. I went up to Jim’s to talk to him about the fact that, given the current investigation, things were bound to come out. I thought it best we take the initiative and tell Deputy Fisher about our affair before he found out on his own and used it as a reason to suspect us in Holly’s murder. Jim didn’t agree. He argued that I had nothing to lose at this point, but he had a lot to lose. I guess he had a point, but I was certain telling was the right thing to do. He pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot me if I didn’t do as he said. I should’ve remembered he’d never use the gun, but having that thing shoved in my face completely shut down the part of my brain used for reason.”

  “That’s okay. I get it. I was sort of freaked the first time I had a gun shoved in my face. Do you think he killed Samantha Colton?” Tj asked.

  Mackenzie paused. Tj imagined she was considering her answer. “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. Any luck working your hands loose?”

  “I’m trying but Jim tied the ropes pretty tight.”

  Mackenzie nervously looked around. “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.