Snowmen In Paradise (Book 2 Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries) (29 page)

“Is that a gun?”
Tj gasped.

“
’Fraid so. I was hoping to avoid this, but you insisted on snooping into matters that didn’t concern you. How about we change direction so we can find somewhere a bit more private to finish our conversation?” Long pointed toward the forest, where dense trees provided the isolation she couldn’t let him have. The sun had set and the sky was beginning to darken. In another twenty minutes, twilight would turn to the inky darkness of night.

“I
’m not going anywhere.” Tj stared Long in the eye, despite the fact that her heart was pounding and her legs were shaking.

“You realize the gun is loaded and pointing toward your chest?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Tj sounded braver than she felt.

Coach Long began to fidget
. He obviously hadn’t expected her to resist. Tj knew he didn’t want to shoot her out here in the open, but the minute she was camouflaged by the cover of the trees . . . 

“Killing me won’t make it better,” Tj reminded him.

“What do I have to lose?” He raised the gun and took aim
. He was trying to appear confident, although he was holding the gun in such a way as to suggest he was scared to death.

“You d
idn’t have to do this,” Tj stalled. “I had no idea you were involved. You could have gone home, and I’d have been none the wiser. Why did you come here to seek me out?”

“I saw you at Angel Mountain today,” Coach Long explained
. “I had to find out what Pete told you.”

“Pete knows you killed Travis?”

“He did. He tried to blackmail me. He’s dead now.”

“You
killed
him?”

“On my way to find you.”
Coach Long let the gun slip just a little.

“
I know Pete talked to Deputy Caine earlier,” Tj lied. “If Pete knew you killed Travis, I’m betting he told him. Once Deputy Caine finds out Pete is dead too, you won’t have much of a chance of convincing him that Pete lied. Let’s face it: your only hope is to turn yourself in. I’m sure the sheriff will go easy on you once you explain
why
you had to kill Travis.”

“How do you know Pete talked?”

“I spoke to Deputy Caine earlier, and he told me he had to go because Pete was on the other line. Why else would he have called the sheriff’s office unless he was going to spill the beans about what he knew?” Tj tried. She knew her reasoning made absolutely no sense, but she’d gotten Long’s attention. “Although I guess we can ask Deputy Caine when he gets here. He’s on his way to meet me. In fact, here he is now.” Tj waved to someone behind him.

Coach
Long turned around. Tj kicked the gun out of his hand, then rolled toward it. Then she picked it up and aimed it at him. Taking her phone out of her pocket with her free hand, she hit redial, which conveniently connected her to the man she’d pretended was already there. She really would need to thank her dad for the years of martial arts training he’d paid for. It was coming in handy more often than she liked.

“I’m in need of a big strong cop to rescue me,” she
said when Dylan picked up. “Do you know where I might be able to find one?”

“This is really nice.” Tj leaned her head against Dylan’s shoulder
. He’d commandeered Buck and Jelly and arranged for a romantic sleigh ride for just the two of them. It was a beautiful night, with a full moon making the late-night trip through the forest easy to navigate. Dylan had brought a warm blanket for them to cuddle under, as well as a thermos of hot spiced wine to set the mood. Tj hoped that perhaps his thoughts were turning toward romance.

“With all the overtime I’ve been putting in during the Travis Davidson murder investigation
, we really haven’t had much time alone together. I wanted to see you before I left.”

“Left?” Tj sat upright.
So much for romance. “You’re leaving?”

“Tomorrow. I have some vacation time coming
, plus some comp time in lieu of overtime pay. Boggs agreed to give me ten days off. I’m going to Chicago. One way or another, I’m going to work things out with my sister. Justin needs me in his life. And I need him.”

Tj’
s heart sank. “Are you thinking of moving back to Chicago?”

Dylan paused. “I don’t know. Maybe. What I really hope is to convince Allie to move to Serenity.” Dylan stopped the sleigh and turned to look at Tj. “You know I care about you
, but . . .”

“I know
,” Tj finished. She’d make the same choice, if she had to, between Dylan and her sisters.

“So did you ever find out what the meeting between Pete
Quinn and Mayor Wallaby was all about?” Tj changed the subject. If she didn’t, she’d start to cry, and the last thing she wanted to do was make Dylan feel bad for doing what she knew he had to do.

“
I talked to Wallaby.” Dylan faced forward and put the horses in motion again. “He wouldn’t supply details, but I gathered that Pete was blackmailing him.”

“Wow, it seems Pete was a busy little blackmailer. He was getting money from Travis, Wallaby, and Roger Long. No wonder he was able to expand his store.”

“Albert Pitman was likewise involved in whatever was going on, but no one is supplying details,” Dylan informed her. “I guess at this point it doesn’t matter. Albert is in jail, Pete is dead, and the mayor is talking about leaving the area once his term is up.”

“Really?” That was news to Tj.

“He said he’s being pressured by the town council to resign. They have someone else in mind for the position, but he didn’t know who.”

Tj smiled. “I think that’s for the best.
The general sentiment in town is that Wallaby has served his time and needs to move on. I guess the only other unanswered piece of the puzzle is what happened to Wendy.”

“Travis had been hassling her
, so she took off to visit a friend. She claims she told her brother, but apparently he had been drinking at the time and forgot the conversation.”

“Seems like that happens with him a lot.”

“Yeah, Wendy says he has a problem.”

Tj pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and laid her head on Dylan’s shoulder again. It occurred to her that she and Dylan really had very little to talk about unless there was a
n active case or they’d been to a movie and could discuss it, or there were other people around to act as buffers. They’d become friends, but it was obvious to Tj that Dylan had held a large part of himself back. Not that she blamed him. His life had been so chaotic and traumatic the past year that it was only natural for him not to want to get too close to anyone new. Especially if he was going to be leaving soon. Tj realized she was on the verge of tears again.

“I heard Roy and Chelsea are dating,” Tj
said to break the silence.

“I guess they forged a bond when Chelsea was in jail. Roy told me he’s had a thing for Chelsea for years but
has always been too afraid to ask her out.”

“I can see that. Chelsea has an aura about her that screams wealth and sophistication. I’m actually surprised she agreed to go out with Roy.”

“Once Roy had her undivided attention, he poured on the charm. I doubt she’s had better customer service at the five-star hotels she’s frequented.”

“I think they’ll be good together. I’ve always liked Roy
, and Chelsea seems to be mellowing as she matures.”

“
Matures?” Dylan laughed. “What is she, like twenty-four?”

“
Chelsea has always been the entitled, spoiled, arrogant, popular girl. After Travis dumped her, she seems to have mellowed. She’s . . . I don’t know, more down to earth now, easier to approach. Trust me, the Chelsea of old would never have gone out with Roy. Of course, the Chelsea of old would never have sacrificed herself to help out Sarah either. Like I said, she’s matured.”

“So you didn’t get along
with her when you dated Hunter?”

“Not at all. Hunter and I
were together for four years. Everyone—including us, at the time—assumed we’d end up married. Chelsea didn’t think I was good enough for her brother and went out of her way to make sure I knew it.”

“So why did
the two of you break up, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Hunter’s mother
, Cora Lee, had his life mapped out for him before he was born. She planned for him to become a doctor, go into politics, and eventually become a state senator. After we graduated high school, she made it clear to me that it was time for Hunter to move on, and she wasn’t going to let me stand in the way of her plans. Originally, Hunter and I planned to go to the same college, but in the end she convinced him to go away to some fancy university I could never afford. We managed to maintain a long-distance relationship for a couple of years, but as time went by it got harder. When he came home for Christmas break during our junior year with the daughter of one of his mother’s best friends on his arm, I knew it was over.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”

“It was much, much worse than hard,” Tj admitted. “I loved him. I’d planned to have a life with him. The fact that he’d let his mom win devastated me.”

“And the girl he brought home?”

Tj shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess they dated for a while. I don’t think Hunter was ever really into her; I think he just caved and decided to go along with his mother’s plan for his life. Maybe it was easier. Cora Lee can be
very
persuasive. She pretty much always gets what she wants. Or at least she did at the time. I’m sure her master plan included having Hunter married off to some debutante by now.”

“You and Hunter seem to have come away from your relationship as friends.”

“We are. Now. I hated him at first, but after college we both ended up back in Serenity, and we decided to salvage the friendship we’d always shared.”

“He seems like a good guy.”

“He is. How about you? Any serious relationships before you met and married your wife?”

“Not really
, although if I hadn’t met Anna, I might have become serious with the woman I was dating at the time. Our relationship certainly was heading in that direction, but then I met Anna and knew she was the one I wanted to spend my life with.”

Tj realized how incredibly sad it was that they’d only had a few years
together. Dylan’s short but intense love affair with his wife was testament to the fact that you shouldn’t put things off.

“Are you still friends with her?” Tj asked. “The woman you dated before Anna?”

“Not really, although Allie is, so in an indirect way I’ve kept track of her life.”

“She’s still single?”

“She is.”

Tj looked out across the dark snow
-covered forest. It was a beautiful night, and she was participating in a romantic sleigh ride with a man she was beginning to develop feelings for. She really should be focusing on things of a romantic nature instead of murder cases and past love affairs. She supposed it was the thought that he might leave for good that caused her to hold back. That, and the fact that he clearly had other things on his mind than romance and new relationships.

“By the way
, I want to thank you for what you did for Ashley. She came home from school yesterday all smiles after she was the special guest at the safety assembly. She told me that everyone was being so nice to her, including Loretta. In fact, Loretta invited her to her party.”

“She didn’t miss it?”

“No, it’s Saturday. Loretta’s birthday was Monday, but they decided not to have the party the same weekend as the winter carnival.”

“So is Ashley going to go to the party?” Dylan asked.

“Surprisingly, yes. To be honest, I would have thought Ashley wouldn’t want to go after everything that happened, but she told me that Deputy Dylan said that sometimes when people around us act immature, we have to be the bigger person. I guess what you told her sank in, because she’s decided to be the better person and let bygones be bygones. So thank you. I doubt anything I could have said would have made as much of an impact on her.”

“I’m happy I could help.”

“This parenting thing is hard,” Tj admitted. “I guess I get now why parents come in pairs.”

Dylan got a distant look on his face. Tj realized that her innocent comment had probably returned his thoughts to Justin and his responsibility to him.
Tj didn’t know if she and Dylan would ever have their time together, but she hoped they would. Deep in her heart, she knew they could have had something special together if only they’d met in a different time and place, under different circumstances.

Every year over Memorial Day Weekend, Maggie’s Hideaway hosts the annual Ms. Tropical Tan spokesmodel competition, bringing twenty-five bikini-clad hopefuls to the resort for a bikini showdown. Join Tj as she juggles the demands of the competition with a high-school musical and bittersweet graduation. And if that weren’t enough, Tj gets pulled into a murder investigation while trying to help out her friends, as Dylan deals with a visit from his sister and an agonizing ultimatum; Kyle finds a way to pacify his overly protective mother as she makes the decision to move to Serenity; and Jenna must confront an unexpected surprise with life-changing consequences.