Snowmen In Paradise (Book 2 Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries) (17 page)

“Wow, that’s quite an opportunity,” Tj responded
.

“I was really stoked when he first
made the offer, but as much as I love to board, what I really want to do is help people. I’m thinking about trying out pre-med when I get to college. If I can get through the science
and
I can scrape together enough money through student loans and part-time jobs, I think I might want to be a doctor.”

“You’d be a great doctor,” Tj encouraged
him.

“I think so too
. My mom is worried about the cost of all the education, though. She wants me to go to a trade school and major in something that will earn an income right away. My uncle is a mechanic, so I could always get a job in his shop. I enjoy working on my own piece-of-junk ride, but I don’t know if I’d want to do that as a career. I know that people sometimes have to settle, but I always dreamed of doing something more.”

“Have you look
ed into private scholarships?” Kyle asked.

“Private
? No. Mrs. Remington thinks I can qualify for some money through government-aid programs, and I’ve applied for an athletic scholarship that would help me out with the first four years if I stay healthy, but she hasn’t mentioned private funding. Is that even a possibility?”

“Absolutely
. Come to talk to me next week and we’ll see what we can work out.”

“Cool
. Thanks, man.” Connor looked toward his teammates. “I really should get back. See you tomorrow.”

“You’re going to pay for his college?”
Tj asked as Connor walked away.

Kyle shrugged
. “Zachary left me more money than I know what to do with. I’ve been thinking about putting aside part of it to set up a charitable foundation. Helping Connor seems like a good place to start.”

Tj hugged Kyle
. “You’re a good guy. Zachary couldn’t have left his money to a better person.”

Kyle blushed.

“Connor will make an awesome doctor, but if he turns down the offer to go pro, Coach Parker is going to be upset,” Tj commented.

“Why?”

“He told me he was really looking forward to having another world contender to work with. I guess that was part of the deal Sean made. He’d mentor Connor if Parker and Johnson would be involved during the remainder of the season.”

“It’ll be too bad if the local team misses out
, but I think Connor will make a wonderful doctor. You can never have too many quality doctors.”

“Yeah, the team will find another downhill maniac with a clearer focus
. Maybe Chip Halloran. He’s only a freshman, but he shows real potential.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Kyl
e agreed.

“Oh look, there’s Jeremy Young
.” Tj pointed across the mob of bodies dancing to the tunes. “Save my place and I’ll see if I can get his alibi. He’s not high on our list, but we need to start eliminating people.”

Tj wormed her way through the crowd
. It never ceased to amaze her how many people could mash into a small space. Normally, the proximity of so many people at one time would bring on feelings of claustrophobia, but tonight she was on a mission, her mind on little else.

“Hey
, Jeremy,” Tj greeted him. “Quite a crowd.”

“Yeah, its nuts here
, but the music is the bomb.”

“So I guess you’ve been busy this week,” Tj fished.

“Slammed,” he verified. “In fact, this is the first time I’ve been able to get down off the mountain before midnight all week.”

“Wow
, midnight. That’s late. I thought you closed at seven.”

“We do
, but we got in a shipment of new boards on Monday and have been busy getting them all inventoried and prepped for sale.”

“So you were around on Monday night?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Just wondering if you were in a position to notice anyth
ing going on that might help us to identify Travis Davidson’s murderer.”

“Sorry, I never left the village
. I heard they arrested Chelsea Hanson.”

“Yeah
. I’m trying to help figure out how to get her off the hook.”

Jeremy though about it
. “There are a lot of folks who wanted Travis gone, but not a lot who would actually kill him. Have you talked to Pete Quinn?”

“Not yet,” Tj answered
. “Do you think he might know something?”

“I don’t know,” Jeremy admitted
. “Pete’s a good guy, but he’s been acting odd lately. It might be nothing, but if I was the one investigating things, I’d want to at least talk to the guy.”

“So?” Kyle asked when Tj returned.

“He said he was working. I can verify that with his staff, but I’m inclined to believe him.”

“He’s one of the investors
who got burned?”

“Yeah, along with Pete Quinn and a few others
. Jeremy mentioned that Pete has been acting odd lately. He recommended I talk to him. I planned on going by his shop today, but I was too busy.”

“
We can hit him up tomorrow,” Kyle said. “By the way, I talked to Kurt Brown while I was waiting for you.” Kurt Brown, a local contractor, had been one of Tj’s suspects during her investigation of the Zachary Collins murder. After he’d been cleared, Tj had hooked him up with Kyle, who’d needed a contractor to renovate the estate Zachary had left him. “He mentioned he was meeting with Murphy on Monday to discuss the repairs to the bar that resulted from the fight Travis started. It sounds like he was there during the time of death the medical examiner came up with, so I guess we can take Murphy off the list.”

Tj took her phone out of her pocket
, where she’d transferred the list they’d made the other evening. “If Jeremy’s alibi checks out, that just leaves us with Johnson, Sean Wright, Albert Pitman, and Pete Quinn from the original list. I added Josh, not because I think he did it but because we need to figure out where he is and why he left. I added Chelsea to the list as well. Again, I don’t think she’s guilty, but if we can figure out an alibi for her, maybe we can get her out of jail. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ve done about as much as we can do tonight.”

“I know you’re all nervous, but you’ve got this.” Tj was nearing the end of her pre-meet motivational speech. “We rocked yesterday and we’ll rock today. It’s been a tough week with Sarah being out, but everyone has stepped up, and I know we can come out of this thing with enough points to rocket us into first place.”

“Who’s a winner?”
Connor chanted.

“We’re a winner,” the team responded.

Tj watched as the kids gathered their gear and headed toward the ski lift. Although there were events going on in town, Tj and the kids had had a full day on the hill. And what a day it had been. The sun was shining, the short storm they’d had late the previous evening had left a layer of fresh powder, and the excitement in the air had made her feel as if she were a kid again.

Tj gathered her own gear and headed toward the lift. A small part of her wished she were the one competing today, but in her heart she knew she’d had her moment as a competitor and it was now time to take a backseat and cheer on her team.

By lunch, the team was two points behind Beaver Creek. Connor had set a record best with his first run, and Brittany was shredding the mountain as if she had jet packs on her skis. Eric was a little off today, and in retrospect, she probably should have had him sit out. He’d sworn that he was fine and ready to ski, but a fall on his second run had cost the team the points they were going to need if they were going to beat Beaver Creek.

Tj sat with her kids wh
en they gathered on the large outdoor deck for burgers before their afternoon heats. In spite of the fact that this was her favorite part of the day, she found her mind wandering. Chelsea was still in jail and, as she and Kyle had speculated the previous evening, it did seem that Boggs had put the kibosh on an aggressive effort to find another suspect. Besides that, Dennis was frantic to find Josh, who hadn’t returned to his apartment in days and remained unaccounted for. Tj had been avoiding Dylan because she didn’t want to be put in the position of telling him about Josh until she was able to clear him, but she didn’t want to lie to him either. She’d thought about it a lot in the past thirty-six hours and realized that if she couldn’t locate Josh to ask him face-to-face what in the heck was going on, she’d need to find the killer before either Dylan or Boggs put two and two together.

Tj hadn’t had a lot of time to investigate
, but she had a little bit of time now; the next heat wasn’t due to start for a couple of hours. There were a number of suspects right here on the mountain. She’d noticed both Coach Parker and Barney Johnson in the crowd during the morning races. Jeremy Young and Pete Quinn both owned businesses in the village. Chances were they’d be on-site during such a busy time. Albert Pitman, who owned the Inn, where Travis had been drinking in the bar before he’d been killed, was most likely around as well. She didn’t know if she’d be able to trace the drugs he’d ingested back to the bar, but given the limited amount of time she had, it seemed an easy place to start.

“I need to run an errand,” she said to Connor
, who was sitting next to her. “I shouldn’t be long, but if I’m late getting back, can you be sure everyone is suited up and ready to go for the giant slalom?”

“Yeah, no problem
. Everything okay?”

Connor
knew her well enough to be sure that in most cases she’d never put the needs of the team on competition day behind anything else. “I just need to talk to someone. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay
.” Connor smiled. “We’ll see you on the hill, if not before.”

Tj dumped her empty plate and paper cup into the garbage before heading back through the crowded snack bar toward the main artery connecting the various buildings in the ski village to one another
. The complex had been redeveloped a few years earlier, and worn-out storefronts had been replaced by brand-new faces depicting a log-cabin theme. White lights were strung overhead, providing a fairy-tale feel after dark, and large portable fireplaces were set about so the after-ski crowd could enjoy a warm or cold drink under the night sky.

“Coach Long,” Tj greeted Sean Wright
’s coach. Tj had seen both Sean and Long in the crowd during the races that had been held that morning. “Have you enjoyed the races?”

“I have. You’ve got a couple of kids on your team with real potential.”

“They’re a good group.”

“I imagine coaching
this age group is very rewarding.”

“It is,” Tj acknowledged. “Although I’m sure coaching a world
-class boarder like Sean has its own rewards.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to work with several fantastic snowboarders. Still
, I can remember when my daughter Pamela was on the high-school team. There’s something really special about cheering your own flesh-and-blood across the finish line.”

“I love what I do. I can’t claim to have
any family to cheer on just yet, but the kids on my team are the closest thing. Does your daughter still compete?”

“No
. She had a setback last spring and decided to retire.”

“That’s when you started working with Sean?”

“Sean approached me after my previous athlete, Walter Tovar, retired last summer.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Tj fished. “He was doing so well. Why did he quit? I seem to remember that m
any members of the snowboard community felt he was at the peak of his career.”

Coach Long shrugged. “Walter had some personal issues he needed to deal with. I was lucky Sean was looking for a coach.”

“Where is Sean? I saw the two of you together earlier.”

“In the bar. I needed a break from all the noise
and decided to get some fresh air.”

“I don’
t blame you; the bar tends to get pretty crazy during carnival.”

“Good luck this afternoon.”

“Thanks. We’re going to need it.”

Long went on his way and
Tj continued on toward the Inn, turning left, away from the bar, and heading down the wide hallway to the front desk. The lobby was one of Tj’s favorite places on the mountain. Quaint and cozy, it provided the perfect backdrop for the fabulous views outside the large picture windows.

“Is Albert around?”
Tj asked the middle-aged desk clerk.

“He’s in his office
. Do you have an appointment?”

“No
. Can you tell him Tj Jensen is here to see him?”

“Certainly
. If you can have a seat, I’ll be right back with you.”

Tj walked over to the window and looked out at the spectacular view
. The lodge overlooked Joshua’s Run, one of the most popular on the mountain. Hundreds of people wearing brightly colored skiwear zigzagged across the wide expanse of snow. Tj couldn’t remember the last time she’d come out to the resort simply to have some fun. She was out here almost every day during the season with the team, but the freedom that could be found as you meandered about wherever the mood took you could not be duplicated when you had drills to run and times to beat.