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

by Kathi Daley

  “When we pulled up at the stoplight on Main after we left Gina’s house, a car pulled up behind us. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but it’s late and there isn’t a lot of traffic, so I couldn’t help but notice that the car that had pulled up behind us at the light made all the turns we did as we headed out to the resort. It went past after I turned onto the resort road and I didn’t see it again until we came back through town and turned on to the highway. I wasn’t certain it was the same car, even though it looked like it, so I pulled over to see what they would do. When they pulled over as well I was pretty sure we’d indeed been followed all the way from Gina’s.”

  “Why would someone be following us?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. I especially don’t like that they followed us to the resort. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think we’d better watch our back.”

  If I wasn’t freaked out before, I certainly was now.

  Despite the fact that I hadn’t slept in almost twenty hours, by the time we reached the accident site I felt totally awake, even somewhat wired. Gina’s car had been towed away, but it was easy to see the mangled shrubbery and foliage in the path it had traveled between the road and the tree that had stopped its forward motion.

  We parked and got out of the truck, and I held up the tank top I’d taken from Gina’s hamper to Echo. He took a couple of sniffs and headed into the woods.

  “Gina,” I called into the darkness on the off-chance she was hiding somewhere. “It’s Tj. Are you here? Can you hear me?”

  There was a rustling off to my left. Echo didn’t respond to it, and it wasn’t loud enough to have been caused by a bear or a person, so I guessed it must be a raccoon or some other small nocturnal animal. I watched the light from Kyle’s flashlight on my left. I was about to admit defeat when Echo stopped and barked once. I went to where he was standing. There was blood on the ground and his paw rested on something shiny. I bent down and picked it up. “Kyle,” I called.

  He looked up, then headed in my direction.

  “Did you find something?” he asked when he joined me.

  I held up a bracelet. “This is Gina’s.”

  Kyle took a step closer and shone his light on the silver chain with a delicate moon charm. He looked in to the woods, then back to the spot where the car had ended up. “So she must have been in the car.”

  I put my hand to my mouth. I wanted to scream but it would do no good. There was a part of me that until this moment still hoped that Gina hadn’t been the driver of the car. Was she even still alive? I thought about the blood Kate had reportedly seen on the driver’s side seat along with the blood on the ground near Gina’s bracelet. I took a deep breath to calm my hysteria and glanced at Kyle. “Gina wore this bracelet all the time. I’m not sure where she got it, but I got the impression it was important to her.” I glanced into the densely wooded area behind me. “She must have left the car either on her own or with wanted or unwanted help and then traveled in this direction.”

  “It would have made more sense to either stay with the car or walk to the road,” Kyle pointed out. “Why would she go into the woods?”

  “I don’t know.” Chills crawled up my spine as I considered all the possible options. “Bristow was shot; maybe whoever did it was on their tail. After the crash she might have been scared and tried to hide.”

  “So you think she might have been followed?”

  “It’s as good a theory as any. The person who shot Bristow might even have caused the accident.”

  “I guess that would explain how it happened.”

  “I think the trail goes off to the left.” I looked at Echo. Once again I told him to find Gina.

  Echo went on, and Kyle and I followed. I took Kyle’s hand, walking slowly as Echo led us deeper and deeper into the forest. An owl called out from a nearby treetop as the creatures we were disturbing rustled in the shrubbery.

  A coyote howled in the distance. Echo stopped walking.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It looks like there was a struggle here,” Kyle said from beside me. “See the large area of undergrowth that’s been flattened?”

  “That could have been flattened by an animal. I’ve seem similar spots while out jogging in the morning. A bear or some other large animal could have stopped to take a nap.”

  “Perhaps. But there is blood on the grass, so I am going to stick with my theory of a struggle.

  A tear trailed down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away. If I was going to find Gina I had to be strong.

  Echo started down the trail that veered off to the left and we followed. Eventually the path let out at the road. Poor Gina. The fact that the trail ended at the road indicated to me that Gina may have escaped the wreckage and then gone into the woods, where she was tracked and eventually captured. I leaned back my head and looked up at the dark sky. What in the world had she gotten herself into?

  Kyle took my hand. “Let’s head back. I doubt there’s anything more to find in the dark. We can come back after it gets light if you want.”

  I stood perfectly still and looked into the distance. Where are you, Gina? Part of me knew she was no longer nearby, but another was terrified to leave in case she was just beyond the next grouping of shrubbery or lying unconscious in the nearby ravine.

  “Echo?” I asked.

  He sniffed the pavement where the trail had met the road and then laid down letting me know the scent he was following had come to an end. “Okay,” I finally said. “I guess she isn’t here.” I took a deep breath. “I wonder what happened to her purse.”

  “Maybe the crew from the sheriff’s department found it when they were here earlier.”

  I took one final look around, called Echo to my side, and then Kyle led me back to his truck. I looked at the clock on the dash as we pulled onto the highway. Two fifteen. “Let’s go over to the impound lot.”

  Kyle looked surprised by my suggestion. “The lot will be locked up tight and there are watchdogs that run free when the lot is closed.”

  “A watchdog, singular,” I corrected. “His name is Jasper and we’re buddies.”

  “How is it you are buddies with a junk yard dog?”

  “Jasper’s first owner had the idea to try to train him to do search and rescue. He knew that I had trained Echo for that very task so he asked me to work with Jasper. I tried to teach him what he needed to know but he had a short attention span and simply wasn’t suited for S&R work. The disappointed owner decided to sell him to the owner of the impound lot and try again with another dog. By this point I’d bonded with Jasper so I talked to the impound lot owner and he agreed to let me take Jasper out for a day of fun every now and then. I’m afraid it has been almost a year since I’ve seen him but I’m sure he’ll remember me.”

  “Even if you know the dog, doesn’t it make more sense to wait and talk to the impound lot owner tomorrow? It sounds like you know him as well.”

  “If we don’t look at the car tonight, we may never have the chance. Most of the time the vehicles involved in crimes or accidents are towed to the larger lot in Indulgence.”

  Kyle shrugged. “Okay. If you want to go to the impound lot that’s what we’ll do. Do you have a plan to open the gate?”

  “Don’t need to. I’ll go over the fence.”

  Kyle glanced at me. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive.”

  Kyle didn’t look happy with the idea, but he headed back toward town. I knew Kyle often considered my ideas to be reckless, but even when he didn’t agree with them, he always supported me. I hated to worry him, but sometimes it was necessary to take a risk to find the answers you needed.

  Once we arrived at the lot we decided I would climb the fence and check out the car while Kyle and Echo watched for any visitors who might happen by. Kyle had thought he should be the one t
o climb the fence while I stood guard, but I pointed out that Jasper knew me and didn’t know him and would probably tear him a new one if he tried to access the lot.

  “Jasper, are you here?” I called out after I’d climbed the fence but before I hopped off onto the ground on the other side.

  I waited as fierce barking greeted my query. Jasper, a very large German shepherd, came running to the spot where I sat atop the fence, his teeth bared.

  “Jasper, it’s me. It’s Tj.”

  Jasper stopped at the foot of the fence. He was no longer barking, but his teeth were still bared. He looked at Echo, who was standing beside Kyle, and then back at me. He must have realized I was a friend because he began wagging his tail. I slowly climbed down on the other side of the fence, talking to him as I did. “I’ve stopped by to say hi. Do you remember me?”

  Jasper’s tail began to wag even harder, his growls turning into happy whining.

  I slowly placed one foot on the ground, then the other. “How are you, boy?” I asked, scratching Jasper behind the ears. “I guess you must think it’s strange I came to visit by climbing the fence, but I need to look around. Do you want to come with me?”

  Jasper barked once.

  I tried to decide where Gina’s car would have been left in the crowded lot. If they planned to transport it to the larger lot on the south shore at some point, they’d most likely leave it in the front, so I headed in that direction. When I saw the car I recognized as Gina’s, my stomach did a flip. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t prepared for so much damage. And so much blood. The driver’s side door was too close to the car next to it to open, and the passenger’s had been damaged to the point that it wouldn’t open at all. But the window on that side had been smashed, so I was able to lean in and look around. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, but I hoped if there was a clue to be found I’d recognize it when I saw it. There was glass everywhere, but other than a Cheetos bag I didn’t see anything interesting.

  At first.

  Chapter 4

  I shone my light into the interior. The light reflected off something shiny on the floor, just under the driver’s seat. Whatever it was had slid down under the metal plate where the seat attached to the floor and I couldn’t get a good look at it and didn’t want to climb inside, so I looked around for something to use to net it. It was dark and there were a lot of cars packed into a tight space, which made it difficult to find anything. After a few minutes I managed to find a long rod with a hook on the end propped against a shed. I imagined the rod was used to do exactly what I wanted it for: to fish an object out of a tight space. I returned to Gina’s car and leaned in through the window, being careful not to cut myself. It took several minutes of maneuvering and failed attempts but eventually I was able to use the rod to capture the object and wiggle it slowly closer. My heart began to pound when I recognized the object to be Gina’s key ring. I knew it was hers because there was a tiny silver moon with a star dangling from it attached to the end of the chain, similar to her bracelet.

  She must have been in the car after all.

  It took a bit of effort, but I managed to work the key ring up the side of the car door until it was within reach. There were five keys on the ring: one most likely to her house, one to the car, one to her classroom at the high school, and a small one I suspected must open her locker at the gym. I wasn’t sure what the fifth one opened, but my instinct told me it would be important to find out.

  Once I’d done what I could, I gave Jasper a couple of dog treats I had in my pocket for Echo, then headed back to the place in the fence I’d entered the lot. I said good-bye to Jasper, then climbed back over.

  “Any luck?” Kyle asked as he helped me down the final few feet.

  “The car is a mess and I couldn’t get inside without risking a bad cut, but I found Gina’s keys. I don’t know if they’ll reveal anything, but I figured I may as well take them.”

  “I’m surprised the deputies didn’t find them.”

  “I am too although it is likely the car was simply towed here and the crime scene guys from the county office haven’t had the chance to go through it yet.” I tossed the keys into the tray on the console of Kyle’s truck before helping Echo into the backseat. “It’ll be light in a few hours. Let’s see if we can’t borrow Gina’s computer from the repair shop and then we’ll head over to your place.”

  “Borrow?” Kyle asked.

  “Okay, steal,” I admitted.

  Kyle hesitated. “Are you sure about this? So far we’ve been skirting the line between breaking the law and bending it, but breaking into the repair shop and taking a computer that doesn’t belong to us is flat-out B and E. Maybe we should wait until morning and ask the repair shop owner for Gina’s computer.”

  “Do you think he’ll give it to us?” I asked, knowing the answer all the while.

  “No, I guess not.” Kyle sighed. “But I still think breaking into the shop might be an unwarranted risk. Most likely the shop has a surveillance system of some sort.”

  I turned in my seat so I was facing Kyle. “I know it’s a risk, but the computer might give us a clue to what Gina had gotten herself into. I can’t get her out of my mind. I’m so scared for her. I can’t just go home and get on with my life without knowing for sure what happened.”

  Kyle nodded. “I know. Me neither.”

  “So we break into the repair shop?”

  Kyle didn’t answer right away.

  “Kyle? What are you thinking? Do we break in?”

  “Maybe we won’t have to. Do you know if Gina kept documents on her hard drive or an internet storage site like Dropbox or iCloud?”

  “She saves everything to an online storage site called Cybersecurity. We both do. Sometimes we need to access work-related documents at home or vice versa. Why?”

  “If everything is saved to the online account, we won’t need her laptop to access the files as long as we know which storage site she used, her username, and her password. The same is true for her email. I don’t suppose you know what she used for her username and password?”

  “I don’t, but we’d discussed how hard it is to remember all the passwords we need, so she kept a master list.”

  Kyle cringed. “Not a good idea.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, we talked about that as well, but after suffering through the frustration of not remembering a password when we needed it most, we both agreed it was worth the risk. I keep my list in my desk at home as well as in my desk at work.”

  “Please tell me the list is locked up and not labeled ‘passwords.’”

  “I’m not incompetent,” I snapped back. I regretted it immediately when I saw Kyle flinch. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know you’re just trying to help. I guess I’m letting the stress get to me.”

  “It’s okay. I know you’re worried. I am as well. Do you know where Gina keeps her list?”

  “Not off hand, but I’d think it would be near her desk at home. We never did look around in the second bedroom she uses as an office. Maybe we should go back before it gets light.”

  “As much as I hate that idea, it seems preferable to breaking into the repair shop.” Kyle made a sharp left and headed back toward Gina’s.

  “Let’s drive by the house first to make sure Kate has gone. If the house is empty, we’ll circle around and park on the street behind her property like before.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  The drive-by confirmed that the house was empty, so we parked on the far side of the forested land behind Gina’s house. I put Echo on the leash and once again we snuck though the woods and got into Gina’s home though the back door. I figured this was a good time to replace the screen, so I grabbed it from where I’d hidden it and went directly upstairs. I replaced the screen, then headed to the guest room, which had a small desk I knew Gina used
from time to time. I tried to open the top drawer, but it was locked. I hated to break the lock in the event Gina was still alive and would return home, but I wasn’t sure a hairpin was going to work.

  “The keys I found,” I said to Kyle. “There was an extra key. I think it might fit the desk drawer.”

  “I’ll get them,” Kyle said, and he headed for the stairs and the back door.

  I took a few minutes to look around while I waited. Nothing really stood out as being odd or important other than the fact that there were men’s clothing in the guest-room closet. I didn’t think Gina had a boyfriend, so I couldn’t help but wonder who they belonged to; although, there had been a second toothbrush and the cream in the bathroom, so maybe they belonged to Spencer Becker, whomever he was. Of course if Gina did have a boyfriend, why wouldn’t he just keep his things in the closet in the master bedroom? I supposed there might not have been adequate space.

  I opened the side drawers of the desk, which weren’t locked. One was filled with pens, sticky notes, stamps, and other office supplies, another with files. The files were labeled and appeared to contain things such as tax returns, lesson plans, warranties, and other items found in many home offices.

  I was about to take a closer look in the closet when I heard a door open and close, announcing Kyle’s return. He’d made really good time, which meant he must have jogged to his truck. I waited while he made his way through the house and up the stairs. I turned to greet him and then froze in my tracks.

  “Who are you and what in the hell are you doing here?” A tall man with blond hair and brown eyes asked from the hallway just outside the guest room.

  Echo began to growl but hadn’t moved. I momentarily considered siccing Echo on the man and running, but there was nowhere to go. “My name is Tj Jensen. I’m a friend of Gina’s. We work together at the high school. Who are you?”

  “I’m her brother, Spencer.”

  I frowned. “Spencer Becker?”

  “Gina must have mentioned me.”

  “No, she didn’t. I found your cream in the medicine cabinet.”