Beaches in Paradise Page 12

  “Not well, but he seemed to understand that there wasn’t a lot anyone could do until Mike returned. I did promise to pull some data he wanted relating to past events. I think that pacified him a bit.”

  “I’m glad you managed to talk him down. How are things going otherwise?”

  “Fine. The resort is booked solid, but the staff seems to have a handle on things. In fact, all I’ve really been doing is wandering around, bothering everyone.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sure you’re doing more than that. I still plan to be here by three for the volleyball tournament. I think Kyle plans to help out as well. Do you need me to do anything at all between now and then?”

  “I think we’re good. Noah is making sure all the contestants for the hamburger cook-off have what they need, and the marina staff have taken care of putting up the nets for the volleyball tournament.” Noah was our new general manager. He normally worked directly under my father, but since Dad had been laid up Noah’d taken on a much larger role. “Although we’re running low on rum for our frozen rum punch,” Grandpa said. “If you wouldn’t mind picking some up, that would help quite a lot.”

  “Do you need it before three?”

  “No. Just bring it when you come for the tournament.”

  “Okay, great. Have you checked in with the ice cream parlor yet? They tend to run low when it’s as hot out as it is today.”

  Maggie’s Hideaway was a large inclusive resort that required a lot of oversight. Not only did we have a marina, an ice cream shop, a sports rental shop, a stable, lodgings that included a campground, an inn, a lodge, and individual cabins, but we also had the Lakeside Bar and Grill, so the guests never had to leave the resort.

  “I called our supplier and I’m having more ice cream delivered this afternoon. I know that more often than not, things we weren’t counting on come up, but I think with the exception of the rum, we should be fine for the weekend.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you this afternoon. If you need me before that, call me.”

  I decided to head into town to try to figure out who may have seen Gina when she was within hearing range of the bake-off on Thursday. The event had been held at the community center where something different was scheduled for each afternoon during the festival. Rick had said he’d spoken to Gina at around four that day, which meant it was after Gina and Bristow had eaten together at lunchtime. I knew Mrs. Bristow had confronted her ex-husband in his office at around that same time, so they must have split up after lunch, then met up again later.

  It was just before eleven when I arrived at the community center. Today’s event was a quilt show. As they were every year, the quilts that had been entered were breathtaking. I wished I had time to look around, but I was determined to find Gina before the sun set on another day.

  Inside the crowded building, I looked around for someone who might have been here on Thursday. My eyes settled on Frannie Edison, the local librarian, who I was sure had volunteered all four afternoons. Frannie was an extremely nice if somewhat conservative woman who’d never married or had children but loved the library and the town as if it were her family.

  “Morning, Frannie,” I called out.

  “Tj! I didn’t expect to see you today. Are you here to help out?”

  “I’m afraid not. I’m looking for someone who was here for the bake-off on Thursday.”

  “I was here,” Frannie confirmed. “I’m here all four days for the events here.”

  “Do you remember seeing Gina Roberts?”

  Frannie nodded. “Yes. She was here in the afternoon. She came around the time the judging was wrapping up. She wanted to buy a cake when the entries were released for sale. I think she planned to take it to a meeting she was attending that evening.”

  “Did she happen to share any details about the meeting?”

  “No. She didn’t say anything else about it. Why?”

  “It just seems like a lot of trouble to go to, to wait around to buy an award-winning cake for a business meeting.”

  “I suppose she could have been meeting a friend, or even a boyfriend. She didn’t say who she was meeting, just that she had a meeting to go to.”

  “Do you know how long she was here?”

  Frannie tapped her chin with her index finger. “The bake-off entries were put up for sale at around four thirty and they were all gone by five, so she must have left at some point during that half hour.”

  “I’ve been trying to get hold of her, but she isn’t at home and she isn’t answering her cell. The last time anyone saw her was Thursday, so I’m looking into where she was and who she was with before she disappeared.”

  “Disappeared? Is she missing?”

  I supposed I could fill Frannie in on the details of the car accident where Striker Bristow’s body was found, but I hated to worry her if I didn’t have to. “I’m not certain she’s missing exactly. I just haven’t been able to get hold of her. Did you notice if she was with anyone when she was here?”

  Frannie seemed to be considering my question. “I believe she arrived alone, but I did see her chatting with Bree—who’d entered her peach pie—while she waited on the judges.”

  Bree Henderson was Jenna’s sister, who had been filling in at the restaurant while she and Helen were camping with the girls. Bree was single and worked as a nanny for the local pastor’s young daughter. She had a friendly manner and a way of knowing everything that was going on with everyone in town. She’d be a good one to talk to. I suspected I’d find her at the Antiquery at this time of day. The restaurant was open for breakfast and lunch and closed at two, but between six a.m. and two p.m. they were almost always slammed.

  When I arrived, I saw Bree working the hostess station. The place was pretty busy, so I’d have to follow her around to chat with her while she sat customers and served drinks.

  “Hey, Tj,” Bree said. “How are you enjoying your weekend off?”

  “So far all I’ve done is look for Gina. Have you seen her?”

  “Gina Roberts?”

  I nodded.

  “Did something happen to her?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  I watched Bree’s face change from curious to concerned as she seemed to consider my question. She was petite with dark curly hair, the complete opposite of tall, blonde Jenna. If you didn’t know they were sisters, it would never have occurred to you. “Jenna told me you were on another case, but the reception was bad when we spoke, and we didn’t stay on the phone long. I had no idea it involved Gina. What exactly is going on?”

  “I can fill you in if you can take a break.”

  Bree motioned for one of the waitresses to come up to the front to cover for her. Then she led me to the booth Jenna kept in a corner of the kitchen where her daughters did their homework when she had to work late for one reason or another.

  “So what’s up?” Bree asked. “What happened to Gina?”

  I filled her in on the highlights of what we knew to date. I knew she could keep a secret, and I figured Jenna would fill her in anyway if they managed to speak again when the reception was better.

  “Wow. I’m so sorry. Poor Gina.” Bree narrowed her gaze. “How can I help?”

  “I’m trying to map her movements on Thursday. She volunteered at the wakeboarding competition in the morning and then met Striker Bristow for lunch. I know she was at the bake-off where she bought a cake. That was at around five. Roy seems to think the accident occurred sometime between seven and eight. The car was found at eight, anyway. I’m trying to figure out where she went after she left the bake-off.”

  Bree sat quietly for a moment before answering. “I chatted with her while we waited for the judges to do their thing. I remember her saying she was meeting someone for dinner but wanted to bring a cake to a friend first.”

  “Did she give you any idea who the frie
nd was, or where the meeting was going to be?”

  Bree shook her head. “She didn’t say.”

  “I spoke to Rick Tolley, who told me Gina wanted to borrow a satellite phone from him, then never showed up to pick it up. I don’t know why she wanted the phone, but her cell phone isn’t working. I’ve called and called, but it goes right to voice mail.”

  Bree bit her lower lip. “She may have lost it in the struggle.”

  “Perhaps. A phone was found on Rosenberg Island that has the same cover as Gina’s, but I can’t say for certain it’s hers. It was in the water, so it doesn’t work anymore, but Roy was going to try to trace its ownership. It probably won’t turn out to be Gina’s, but if she was on the island, I can’t figure out the timeline. If she was at the bake-off at five and drove straight to the marina on the east shore, by the time she boarded a boat—assuming there was one waiting for her—she wouldn’t have gotten to the island until six. Her car was found at eight. That means Bristow was either shot on the island or at the marina after they returned.”

  “The marina is a busy place. Someone would have seen it if it happened at the marina, especially at that time of day.”

  “True. But we found Bristow’s car there.”

  Bree tilted her head. “What if Gina was picked up somewhere else?”

  “Go on,” I encouraged.

  “You said Mrs. Bristow met her ex at around four o’clock. Gina was at the bake-off until around five. What if Bristow drove to the east shore marina, boarded a boat, then picked Gina up somewhere else?”

  “Okay, I follow. Bristow and presumably whoever they were meeting picked Gina up somewhere on this end of the lake. They headed out to the island, where Gina lost her phone. After they finished their business there, they dropped Gina off wherever she’d left her car. It must have been at that point that someone shot Bristow and Gina tried to help him get away. The person who shot him could even have been on the boat.”

  “That’s true. You did say he was shot in the back. Maybe he was walking away from the boat when he was shot.”

  I sat quietly, mulling that over in my head. “Here’s where that theory falls apart. If Gina had been picked up somewhere other than the east shore marina and Bristow was shot in the back by someone on the boat, who followed them in a car? There’s evidence Gina survived the accident and headed into the woods. If the evidence we found tells the story we think it does, someone accosted her as she tried to get away. We assumed she was followed.”

  Bree nodded. “Yeah, that part of the story doesn’t fit. The only way it works is if there were two people, or two sets of people: whoever shot Bristow in the back and whoever followed and accosted Gina.”

  I rubbed my forehead with one hand. “This thing is giving me a headache.”

  “You look like you haven’t slept in days. I understand the urgency, but at some point, you’re going to need to let your body replenish itself.”

  “I’ll rest when Gina is found. Not before.”

  Bree hugged me. “Take care of yourself, Tj. You won’t be able to help Gina if you pass out from exhaustion.”

  “I know you’re right, but it’s hard to focus on anything but finding Gina.”

  “I’ll be done here by four. If you need anything at all, you have my number.”

  “Thanks. I may take you up on your offer at some point. And if you hear anything at all that might help us understand what happened to Gina, call me.”

  “Absolutely. That goes without saying.”

  I left the Antiquery and headed back to Kyle’s house. I really did have a headache, and a few minutes with a wet towel over my eyes seemed like the perfect way to convince it to go away. When I walked in the door, I found Kyle in the kitchen with the two dogs.

  Kyle greeted me with a kiss. “You’re back sooner than I thought you’d be.”

  “Headache. I’m going to take some aspirin and regroup. I have some news, but first, did you figure out the numbers from the locked file?”

  “Not yet. I have a program working on it. If it’s a message using known encryption methods, the program should figure it out given enough time. If it’s something that only makes sense to Gina, I’m not sure we’ll be able to figure it out without her. I was about to make a sandwich. Do you want one?”

  “Thanks. I’d like that.”

  Kyle set a sandwich and a glass of milk in front of me and sat down across the table. “What time do we need to be at the resort?”

  “We should head over at around three. The volleyball tournament begins at four.”

  “Maybe after you eat you should take a nap,” Kyle suggested.

  “I can’t sleep knowing Gina could be out there somewhere waiting for someone to rescue her.”

  Kyle placed his hand over mine. “Yeah, I get that. Let’s go over everything again.”

  “Now that you’ve had a chance to look at Gina’s computer, did you find anything on the hard drive?”

  “No. She wiped it before she dropped it off at the repair shop. It was a smart move. You never know who might have access to the hard drive. She may have more than one online storage site. I found another username and password on her cheat sheet that doesn’t seem to belong to anything. At least not anything we’ve found so far.”

  “They may be associated with a bank account,” I said.

  “Perhaps.”

  “Okay, as you suggested before I interrupted, let’s go over everything we know so far. We have to be missing something.” I took a couple of bites of my sandwich and a couple of sips of milk and then began. “We know Gina was at the wakeboarding contest in the morning and had lunch with Bristow at around one. We aren’t sure what Gina and Bristow did after that, but we know he was in his office being yelled at by his ex at around four o’clock and Gina was at the bake-off waiting to buy a cake before five. Kate said they found Gina’s car at around eight o’clock, so whatever went south did so between five, when Gina left the bake-off, and when the car was found. I also spoke to Rick, who said he spoke to Gina on the phone around four.”

  “So what happened between five and eight?”

  “I wish I knew.”

  Chapter 13

  The resort was totally packed by the time Kyle and I stopped for the rum and delivered it. Luckily, there was parking for the family and our guests at the back of the house because the main parking lot and even the overflow lot were full. Beach volleyball was a popular sport at Paradise Lake. Our soft white sand beach was the perfect venue for it.

  The beach volleyball tournament could be entered by anyone who could put together a team of four players. Every year we had some teams that worked together on a regular basis and were really good, and others with members who’d never played together before. It was a single elimination event, so the pool was whittled down to the best teams in fairly short order. Kyle and I had volunteered as judges, so all the games were called fairly. But by the time the final four teams had been set in the semifinals, the sun was dipping behind the mountain. It stayed light fairly late during the long days of summer, but once the sun was down behind the mountain, the air became chilly.

  “The smell of the burgers cooking all evening has made me hungry,” I said to Grandpa, who came over to check in with me.

  “You’re free to taste to your heart’s content once this set is complete. Any word about Gina?”

  “Not yet. If I could think of anything else to do, I’d do it, but it seems like she’s just disappeared.”

  “Are you certain she hasn’t left the area of her own volition?”

  I pushed my hands into the small of my back to relieve the tension that had been building there. “I don’t think so, but at this point I’m not sure of anything. No one I’ve spoken to has seen or heard from her since Thursday, and Roy told me that Kate has been knocking on doors and chasing even the smallest lead with no luck. My brain
is fried. I’m hoping a juicy burger will give me the energy I need to work on things a bit more when we’re done here.”

  “It seems to me the best thing you can do is get a good night’s rest. Without it, you’re going to crash and burn.”

  “I know. But trying to rest when I don’t know if Gina is injured or not, alive or dead is pretty much impossible.”

  Grandpa tilted his head of white hair, then lifted one brow, as if he’d just had an idea. “Maybe,” he began, “you should talk to Doc and Bookman. If nothing else, it’s always a good idea to get a fresh set of eyes on a complicated situation. I can have them meet us up at the house when volleyball is over. I think they should be freed up from helping with the burger judging by then.”

  That wasn’t a bad idea. Grandpa’s friend Doc had been a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner for a lot of years before he retired, and Bookman was a mystery writer with a flair for being able to read between the lines.

  “I love that idea. If you can set it up with them, I’ll find Kyle and let him know what we’re doing.”

  After Grandpa walked away, I returned my attention to the tournament. I knew I should be focusing on the event, but I found myself distracted. Beach volleyball was a fun sport to both play and watch and normally I was totally into it, but this year all I could think about was Gina and the fact that I wasn’t doing more to find her.

  “Your dad around?”

  I turned around to see Bradford Spalding standing behind me. Bradford had built Angel Mountain, the largest ski resort on the north shore of Paradise Lake, at around the same time my grandpa had built Maggie’s Hideaway. Like my grandpa, he was retired, but also like my grandpa, he tended to have a presence in the community as well as at the resort he founded.

  “He’s in Sacramento this weekend. Can I help you with something?”

  “What I have to discuss with your father is important and not something a young’un like you can help me with. When will he be back?”

  “Next week. Are you sure I can’t help you? I do help out when he is away, you know.” Sterling and my grandpa had both been robust hardworking men who claimed the land with their bare hands, but today Sterling looked both old and frail. I guess age was catching up with him.