Bikinis in Paradise (Tj Jensen Pardise Lake Mysteries) (18 page)

“
Why did Roy think the injury to the head might have been from a fall?” Bookman asked.

“
One of the interns at the hospital saw the body and realized that there might be another explanation than the one the coroner gave,” Tj answered. “She didn’t have all the information and didn’t want to make any enemies at the hospital by meddling in areas that weren’t her concern, so she didn’t want to bring it directly to the coroner’s attention. It seems she’s a friend of Roy’s, though, and she knew he’d been at the scene, so she called him and asked some questions. Then Roy called the coroner, who insisted that his conclusion was accurate. When I spoke to Roy shortly after that, he said he didn’t want to get his friend the intern in trouble by admitting that she was the one who pointed him in that specific direction, so he asked me what I thought he should do. That’s when I told him I’d ask you to take a look at the body.” Tj looked directly at Doc.

“I think I know which intern you
’re referring to,” Hunter added.

“She won’t get in trouble
, will she?” Tj asked.

“No. She
’s ambitious and hardworking and will make an excellent doctor. She’s part of a tough rotation right now that puts her in the morgue two nights a week. Many interns wouldn’t have bothered to read the report and look into things if something seemed odd. I admire her tenacity.”

“Okay
, so Doc will look at Tonya Overton tomorrow and we can figure things out from there,” Tj said.

The room fe
ll into silence for several minutes as the group wolfed down the dessert Jenna had served while they discussed the autopsy. Tj was glad she’d taken the extra effort with Jake’s offering; he seemed touched by her thoughtfulness. Tj got up to refill coffee cups while Jenna cleared the dishes from the table. The rock and roll band had taken over and the warm sounds of familiar tunes in the background added a feeling of coziness to the evening.

“I probably shouldn’t say anything
, but it seems that figuring out how Tonya died may be the easiest part of this mystery to solve.” Nolan spoke up once everyone had settled in with their beverage.

“What do you mean?” Tj asked.

“The woman in the morgue isn’t Tonya Overton.”

“What?” Tj gasped
. This whole thing was getting more and more bizarre. “If she’s not Tonya Overton, who is she?”

“We have no idea.
”

Bookman’s eyes lit up. If there was one thing the mystery writer loved
, it was a good mystery. “What do you mean?”

Nolan hesitated. “If I tell you
, it can’t leave this room.”

“Fine by me
.” Bookman sat on the edge of his chair. “What about everyone else?” He looked around the room, daring anyone to ruin his fun by suggesting that perhaps they shouldn’t be having this conversation.

“
We won’t say anything,” everyone agreed.

“
After you asked Doc and Hunter to come by,” Nolan looked at Tj, “I figured that I still had enough pull down at the station to get some information, so I called the sheriff, who told me that they had been looking for Tonya’s next of kin since they found the body. Not only did they not find any family associated with the woman but according to every record-keeping system they could think to check, the woman in the morgue doesn’t exist.”

“How can that be?” Jenna asked.

“There’s a birth certificate, a social security card, and financial and employment history for Tonya Overton that goes back twenty-six years. But when they compared fingerprints and DNA to the body in the morgue, they don’t match that of the real Tonya Overton.”

“So the woman in the morgue stole Tonya Overton’s identity?” Tj guessed.

“It appears so. The woman in the morgue began working for the Tropical Tan Corporation a year ago. The sheriff found an employment record stating that Tonya Overton worked for a travel agency two years ago. When the human resource director of the travel agency was shown our Tonya’s photo, she said the woman in the photo and the woman who worked for them wasn’t one and the same.”

“So where is the real Tonya?” Jenna asked.

“Her location is unknown,” Nolan stated. “The sheriff discovered that the Tonya Overton who worked for the travel agency moved out of her apartment within days of leaving her employment there. No one has seen or heard from her since. She was raised in foster care and has no real family, and the few friends she had claim she simply dropped off the face of the earth.”

“Was a missing persons report
filed?” Jenna asked.

“No. The
real Tonya quit her job, packed her stuff, and moved out of her apartment. She told friends that she needed to get away for a while but would keep in touch. She never did, but her friends assumed that she simply moved on. According to what I could find out, she wasn’t one to maintain close relationships.”

“So if the woman in the morgue isn’t Tonya Overton
, who is she?” Jenna wondered.

“No one knows. Her fingerprints don’t match any on file. The sheriff is still looking
, but so far, no go.”

“Dylan is going to be so mad that he’s missing this really interesting case,” Tj s
aid.

“Yeah, well
, he might not be missing out for long. The sheriff told me that if they don’t figure this out by the end of the weekend, he’s going to revoke his leave. Roy and Tim are great, but they’re homegrown deputies. They don’t have Dylan’s background or skill.”

Tj
realized that having Dylan’s leave revoked wouldn’t go over well with his sister. She might even pack up her son and head home to Chicago before Dylan had the chance to talk her into staying. Tj didn’t know if their relationship would ever evolve into anything more than a simple friendship, but she knew that she’d like the opportunity to find out.

Saturday was the biggest day of the competition, with both the bathing suit and the talent contests. The girls were to walk the runway and pose for a photo shoot in four different bikinis. Two of the bathing suits had been selected by the company and the other two were the contestants’ own choice. If history served, the suits chosen by the models tended to be little more than a few strings braided together. It was no wonder that the entire beach was crowded with spectators. Tj enjoyed the energy the bikini competition brought to the resort but often, by the end of the day, this particular crowd tended toward rowdy displays of drunkenness.

“Someone is here to see you
.” Leiani walked into the Bar and Grill, where Tj was helping Logan inventory the bar supplies in advance of the busy weekend, with Annabeth trailing behind her.

“Goo
d morning, Annabeth,” Tj greeted the young girl. “Don’t you look nice today?” Annabeth had combed her hair, washed her face, and dressed in clean but tattered shorts. Tj could see that she’d made an effort to look her best.

“I wanted to look nice in case you found Kiara.”

“I’m sorry.” Tj stood up. She’d been kneeling on the floor counting the bottles of rum in the locked cabinet behind the bar. “I haven’t found her yet. Would you like something to eat?”

Annabeth looked toward the buffet breakfast
that had been set out for the Tropical Tan staff and models. She seemed shy about answering, but Tj could tell that she was hungry and very much wanted to accept Tj’s offer.

“Go ahead and help yourself. In fact, I’ll join you. Logan can finish up
here.”

Tj and Annabeth each filled a plate and then w
ent outside to eat in solitude. It was another sunny and warm day. Logan had built a fire in the pit on the deck, making it a toasty place from which to view the lake while dining. A lone coyote wandered down the beach, searching for remnants of food left behind by the previous day’s crowd. A flock of geese took flight as the coyote neared, then landed again behind him as he continued on his way.

“You must have left early to have gotten all the way out h
ere by this time,” Tj commented as she spread boysenberry jam on a piece of toast.

“Papa didn’t come home last night
, so it was easy to sneak out,” Annabeth answered with a mouth full of food.

“Does he do that often?” Tj asked. “Stay out all night?”

Annabeth shrugged. “Sometimes.”

“It looks like you
’re enjoying those eggs.” Tj chuckled as Annabeth shoveled the spinach scramble into her mouth.

“These are the best eggs I’ve ever tasted,” Annabeth agreed. “Besides
, Papa didn’t leave any food in the house, and Nona wasn’t home. I haven’t had anything besides some old crackers since I ate with you yesterday.”

Tj frowned. “Does this happen often? Are you regularly left alone without food?”

“Papa usually keeps stuff around, but he’s been gone more than usual lately. And I can usually go to Nona’s, but she’s been away as well. Can I have some more?”

“Absolutely.
Get a new plate and help yourself.”

Tj watched as Annabeth filled a second
plate. It made her so angry that a twelve-year-old girl would be left to fend for herself for such long periods of time. As a schoolteacher, Tj had been forced to contact Child Protective Services a time or two, but more often than not, the child ended up worse off than before she’d called. Annabeth appeared to be a bright and independent girl who had figured out how to take care of herself, so for the time being, Tj decided to leave well enough alone.

“Whoever made these muffins is a genius,” Annabeth stated when she returned
to the table with a full plate, including several triple berry muffins, which were the chef’s specialty. The muffins hadn’t been on the menu the Tropical Tan staff had ordered, but Tj suspected that they’d been added as a treat for the staff who stopped by to eat before beginning their shift.

“We have plenty
because the models aren’t apt to eat them,” Tj responded. “How about I send some home with you?”

Annabeth sm
iled. “That would be awesome. Thanks.”

“
Did you manage to find out anything that might help us locate Kiara?” Tj asked.

Annabeth continued to shovel food into her mouth while Tj sipped her coffee
. The poor thing must be starving.

“Not really,” Annabeth answered. “Something is up
, though. My dad is gone, Nona is gone, and Aaron seems all secretive and quiet. I tried to ask him about Kiara, but he told me that he had some stuff he needed to do and couldn’t really talk. He’s usually really nice about talking to me when I have questions and stuff. I’m pretty sure Kiara asked him to watch out for me before she left.”

“So you think Kiara told Aaron that she planned to run away?” Tj was surprised by this bit of news.

“Yeah. Aaron and Kiara are friends. It was their dads’ idea that they should get engaged, although I’m pretty sure Aaron would like to marry Kiara; he loves her, but he wants her to be happy. I’m pretty sure he figured that if he gave her space, she’d come back to him.”

“But she didn’t.”

“Not so far. I’m not surprised, but I think Aaron is. Most girls in the settlement would be thrilled to get hitched to him. Can I have some more juice?”

“Sure
. Do you have any idea where your dad and Nona might be?”

Annabeth sat back and looked at Tj. “My dad didn’t say. He was gone when I got home yesterday and I haven’t seen him since. Nona left in the middle of the day. She said she needed to go into town for some supplies
, but she hadn’t come home by the time I left this morning. It’s not really odd for my dad to be gone for days at a time, but Nona usually comes home at night.”

“Is there anyone else at the compound
who might know where they’ve gone?” Tj wondered.

Annabeth crossed her legs beneath her body and leaned back in the chair. She appeared to be considering the question
. “My dad talks to Aaron and Aaron’s dad sometimes, so I guess I can ask them if they know where he went. Nona doesn’t really talk to people much. At least not about where she goes when she leaves the settlement. She told me once that it’s not anyone’s business what she does with her time. Do you think I could stay here with you today?”

“Will you get into trouble?”

Annabeth shrugged. “I don’t see how. Papa isn’t around, and even if he comes back, he won’t be looking for me. If I see Aaron or any of the other boys from the compound, I can duck out of sight. It sure would be fun to watch the models. Besides, maybe Kiara will come back today.”

Tj hesitated. She didn’t want Annabeth to get into trouble
, but the poor girl could use a day of fun and relaxation. “Okay, you can stay for a while, but you have to promise me that you’ll let me drive you home at the end of the day.”

“I have my bike.”

“We can put it in the back of my SUV.”

Annabeth smiled. “Okay. What do we do first?”

“I need to call my dad and sisters to say hi and see how they’re enjoying their vacation, but after that maybe we can go through some of my old stuff. I have a bunch of shorts and tops that I’ve been wanting to give away. Maybe you could help me out by taking some home with you.”