Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (15 page)

“My mom called,” Nikki informed Tj later that week. The two were sitting together in the Serenity High School teachers’ lounge during lunch. “She really wants me to come home over Christmas break. At first I was so depressed about Carl leaving that I didn’t think I could deal with all of my happily married siblings and their two-point-five perfect children, but then I realized that hanging out with my family will be a lot better than sitting home alone.”

“It
’ll be good for you to spend the holidays with your family,” Tj agreed. “You’re always saying what a good cook your mom is, and how much you miss your family’s annual traditions when you don’t make it home.”

“That’s true
, but my oldest sister just had a baby and my middle sister just found out she’s pregnant with her second child. And to make matters worse, my brother and his wife have decided to adopt and my baby sister just got engaged. Everyone will be celebrating something except me. I’ll end up feeling like the spinster aunt with too many cats.”

“
You don’t have any cats and you’re way too young to be a spinster,” Tj pointed out. “There may be a few difficult moments in the beginning, but over all I think you’ll have a fabulous time. And if they get to be too much, you can always check into a motel.”

Nikki laughed. “I might have to do that. Mom is already into full matchmaker mode. She suggested that I look up some of my old boyfriends. Like I want to go out with anyone I went to high school with.”

“You seem to be pushing me to formalize my relationship with Hunter and he was my high-school boyfriend,” Tj reminded her.

“That’s different. Hunter is really great. Any
girl would be lucky to have him, and if you don’t snatch him up, someone else is going to.”

“And the guys you dated in high school weren’t great?” Tj asked.

Nikki thought about it. “There was this one guy. He was a jock and a good student, and he wasn’t as stuck up as his teammates. Everyone called him Joeystein.”

“
’Cause he was a Frankenstein-type monster?”

“No
, the name was an amalgam of Joe Montana and Einstein because he was so good in math
and
he was the captain of the football team. Also his name was Joe.”

“And you dated this well
-rounded guy?”

“For a while. We seemed to end up pitted against each other in quite a few academic contests
that created a rivalry that led to a huge argument. We didn’t have the maturity to realize that the fight was stupid and let it break us up.”

“So is this Joeystein going to be home for the holidays as well?”
Tj asked.

“I really don’t know.”

“If he is, you should give him a call. Have coffee. Catch up on old times.”

“He could be married,” Nikki
said.

“True,” Tj acknowledged. “Okay
, if he isn’t married or in any type of romantic relationship, you should take him out for a spin if you have the opportunity. Life is short.”

Nikki appeared to be thinking about it. She had a dreamy look on her face as she nibbled on her tuna sandwich
, which Tj was certain was directly due to thoughts of Joeystein.

“Speaking of life being short, I may have a clue for you in the axed fiancé case.”

Tj looked up from her own lunch. “What kind of clue?”

“I had
a conversation with the manager of the Serenity Motor Inn the other day. His son is flunking math, and I wanted to make sure he had the names of a couple of good tutors. Anyway, we got to chatting and he mentioned that he had seen a photo of Bob King in the paper and swears that a man who looked exactly like him checked into one of his rooms under another name last summer.”

Tj
realized that Rupert Kingston must have stayed at the Motor Inn when he was in town trying to court Frannie. “Did he say anything about what name he used or why he was here?”

Nikki scrunched her brow as she thought about it. “I think he mentioned a name
, but I’m not sure I can remember it. He also said that the man had a parade of women coming and going from his room while he was there.”

“Did he mention who these women were?”

“No, and I didn’t ask. You can go out there and talk to him directly if you want. I suppose if this guy was Bob King using a different name, the fact that he was in town prior to this visit could be huge.”

“How so?” Tj asked.

“It increases the size of your suspect pool considerably,” Nikki pointed out. “If he was in town, and if during his visit he engaged in intimate activities with several women, there has to be a jealous husband, boyfriend, or outraged brother or father in the mix somewhere. Not to mention the women themselves. Chances are he charmed them the same way he did Bonnie and then left them without another thought when his business was done.”

Tj thought about it. Nikki was
right. She knew that Rupert Kingston had been in town the previous summer, and that he was the same man who had shown up as Bob King because Frannie had told her so. If the man was in town for several days and he had been dipping his pole into the pond made up of the town’s female population, he must have made
someone
mad. Was it possible that that someone came out to the resort and killed the man while all of the invited guests were inside?

Later that evening, Tj was sitting at a table in the lobby when Kallie walked in. It was after dinner and the lodge was quiet. Normally, Tj didn’t work at the resort on the days she taught, but the desk clerk had called in sick so she’d volunteered to cover the phones until closing. Working on quiet evenings really wasn’t bad because she was able to catch up on the mountain of paperwork that always seemed to be cluttering her desk while her grandpa saw to the girls. On this particular evening a light snow was falling outside the huge picture window that looked out onto the lake. The staff had set up a Santa and twelve reindeer covered in white lights on the lawn outside the window. The scene, combined with the Christmas jazz playing on the stereo, was truly magical.

“Tj
, can I talk to you?” Kallie asked.

“Sure
. Have a seat.” Tj pointed toward a chair. “What can I do for you?”

Kallie stood nervously in front of her. She twisted a piece of paper in her hands
, which Tj figured would be illegible once she got to the point of her visit. “I know you don’t usually allow your employees to take vacation days during the Christmas rush, but I need to ask if you can make an exception in my case. I really need next week off.” Kallie paused. She shoved the time-off request toward Tj. “It’s important or I wouldn’t ask.”

Tj frowned. Kallie was new
as the restaurant manager. It wasn’t going to go over well with anyone if Tj allowed her to take time off during the holiday. One of the main reasons they closed in November was so employees could spend time with their families before the Christmas rush. If she let Kallie go during one of the busiest times of the year and not the other employees, who she knew would like time off if given the chance, it would be bad for morale.

“When we hired you
, we informed you about our no-vacation-over-Christmas policy and you said you were fine with that,” Tj reminded her.

“I know. But I thought I would be able to visit,” Kallie paused, “my family over Thanksgiving. As you know
, it didn’t work out.”

“Maybe we can work something out after New Year
’s,” Tj said.

“No!” Kallie took a deep breath. “It has to be next week.”

Tj hesitated, uncertain how to proceed. Kallie was good in the restaurant and she hated to lose her, but not only was she a manager—and therefore supposed to set an example for the rest of the staff—but she was their newest full-time employee as well.

“Maybe you should tell me exactly why it
’s so important for you to have next week off.”

Kallie
took another deep breath before she spoke. “I have a son. He’s four. I love him so very, very, much.” A tear slid down Kallie’s cheek. “Two years ago my husband died.”

“Oh, Kallie, I’m so sorry,” Tj sympathized. “I had no idea.”

“Silent Night” played in the background as Kallie gathered her thoughts. “I don’t like to talk about it and you never directly asked me about it during my interview, so I didn’t bring it up.”

Kallie looked up at the ceiling as she struggled with fresh tears. “
Anyway,” she continued, “after Alton died I had a hard time making ends meet. My husband was from a wealthy family and his parents never approved of our relationship, so they cut him off when he refused to stop seeing me. At the time it didn’t seem to matter. We were in love and able to make our own way. And then I got pregnant with Brady. I had a tough pregnancy and was unable to work. We managed to get by, but just barely. During the time I was off work we burned through the small savings we had.”

Tj waited for Kallie to
go on.

“
After Brady was born my husband and I talked about the fact that I really needed to go back to work, but child care was so expensive. I got a job waiting tables in the evening and Alton worked days, so there was really only a short period of time between when I had to leave for work and Alton got home. After a
lot
of discussion we decided to talk to Alton’s mother about paying for child care for Brady. He was, after all, her only grandchild, and she had plenty of money. At first she refused, but when Brady was almost two she agreed to allow him to stay at her house a few hours a day while I was at work.”

“And Alton’s dad?” Tj asked.

“He isn’t really in the picture. I mean, the couple are still married and live in the same house and make a point of being seen in public together, but everyone knows he has his women and she has her charities. Alton’s dad travels a lot, so it’s really his mom who runs the house and makes family decisions.”

“Wow. That seems like a lonely way to live.”

“It is. I tried to establish a relationship with my mother-in-law, but she made it clear she wasn’t interested. After Alton’s death everything got worse between us. I didn’t know how to deal with her grief and unreasonable behavior when my own world had fallen apart. I knew I had to get a full-time job just to feed us. Surprisingly, Alton’s mom agreed to keep Brady the extra hours.”

“She probably found comfort in his presence,” Tj supposed.

“I guess. She still wanted nothing to do with me, but she seemed to enjoy spending time with my son. After I had been at my job for six months, my new boss hit on me. I made it clear I wasn’t interested in anything other than a professional relationship, but the man wouldn’t take no for an answer. When I threatened to file a sexual harassment suit, he fired me. To make a long story short, I was unable to get another job right away, and since I had no savings to bridge the gap, I lost my apartment. Alton’s parents agreed to allow Brady to live with them but not me. I knew as long as I was homeless, living with his grandparents was the best thing for my baby, so I allowed him to stay with them. The problem was that after a while they convinced themselves that I was an unfit mother and sued for custody.”

“Oh
, Kallie, I’m so sorry.” Tj leaned forward and wrapped her hand around the young mother’s. “Did the court side with them?”

“Th
ey did. They got my former scumbag of a boss to testify that he fired me because I stole from him. He lied and said I’d come on to
him
and when he turned me down I went into a rage and destroyed his property. I did nothing of the kind, but it was the word of a businessman versus a homeless, unemployed ex-waitress. The judge believed my in-laws and my ex-boss and my baby was taken away from me.”

Tj suddenly wanted to strangle this nameless ex-boss.

“I have scheduled visitation and that’s all,” Kallie said before Tj could ask about the lowlife who had ruined Kallie’s life. “I was supposed to spend Thanksgiving week with my boy, but my former in-laws decided to go to Aspen and took Brady with them. I just heard from them, and they offered me next week or nothing at all. I need this job, Tj. Having a steady job is the only way I’m ever going to be able to convince the court that I’m competent and should have my son back. And it’s been so long since I’ve seen Brady. I’ll just die if I can’t hold my baby in my arms.”

Tj gathered her thoughts.
She felt bad for the poor woman and wanted to help her, but she knew giving her a week off during their busiest time was going to make her unpopular with the rest of the staff. She could explain the situation to the other managers, and that might buy Kallie some sympathy, but the hourly employees who worked under her were never going to respect her if she wasn’t down in the trenches with them when it was crunch time.

“I
’ll need to run this past my dad. Our policy is very strict for a reason, but given the circumstances, I’m sure we can work something out. Would you be able to bring Brady here to the resort?” Tj asked.

Kallie hesitated.
“I’m not sure. Maybe. I usually just get a hotel room near my in-laws’ house. I can’t afford much, but it’s convenient, and I don’t have anywhere else to go.”