Halloween in Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 6) by Kathi Daley

his behavior that evening was atypical?”
    “Yes, I guess it was.”
    She jotted down some notes.
    “Had you been to parties at Brett Conrad’s house prior to that night?”
    “Yes. A lot of times,” Tj answered. “Brett was the captain of the football team and I was a cheerleader. We hung out with the same kids most of the time.”
    “Once you arrived did you notice anything was different from other parties you’d attended at Brett’s house?”
    Tj thought about it. There had been an odd vibe that night, but she couldn’t put her finger on the reason.
    “It seemed like everyone was really amped up,” Tj answered honestly. “I don’t know it for certain, but if I had to guess I’d say the punch was spiked with something other than rum.”
    “And did Brett Conrad supply the punch?”
    “Yes, I believe so. It was there when we arrived.”
    “Did Brett normally serve rum punch at his parties?”
    Tj furrowed her brow. “No. In fact, he always served beer. I remember thinking at the time that it was odd that he was serving that fruity punch. It really wasn’t his style at all.”
    “Do you think Brett might have spiked the punch with something stronger than rum to create a distraction?”
    “You think Brett killed Holly?”
    “Do you?”
    “Absolutely not. I’ll admit the party was a very strange affair from beginning to end, but Holly was Jessie’s best friend. Jessie was devastated when she died. Brett loved Jessie. He’d never do that to her, even if he did think Holly was a pest.”
    Colton stopped writing and looked directly at Tj. “So Brett thought Holly was a pest?”
    “Yeah. He mentioned to me a time or two that Jessie seemed to do whatever Holly told her to do, and that it caused friction in their relationship, but he wouldn’t kill Holly over something like that.”
    “According to my notes, Brett went on to marry Jessie Baldwin. Do you know if Holly would have approved of such a union had she lived?”
    Tj was pretty sure Holly had all but convinced Jessie to break up with Brett before she died. Surely Brett hadn’t done what it suddenly appeared he had a motive to do.
    “I’m not really sure,” Tj answered. “Holly and Brett didn’t really get along, but I doubt she would have interfered in their relationship if she thought Jessie’s feelings for Brett were real.”
    “Were they?”
    Tj just looked at Colton.
    “Jessie’s feelings for Brett. Were they real?”
    “She married him,” Tj pointed out.
    Colton tilted her head. She looked as if she were considering the situation.
    “Are Brett and Jessie still married?”
    “They are.”
    “Do they have children?”
    “No, they don’t.”
    “Have you spent any time with them as a couple since graduation?” she wondered.
    “No,” Tj admitted.
    “And yet you were close in high school?”
    Tj shrugged. “We were friends. Good friends. But it isn’t odd that we didn’t stay in touch. A lot of the kids I grew up with moved on to other things after college. Serenity is a small town. It isn’t odd for young adults to move on.”
    Colton jotted down a few more notes.
    “Is it true that Jessie considered breaking things off with Brett prior to Holly’s death?”
    “I don’t know. I guess you’ll have to ask her about her thoughts at the time.”
    “Can you confirm that Jessie entered into a flirtation with Nathan Fullerton shortly before the homecoming dance?”
    Tj frowned. “How do you know that? No one other than Jessie, Holly, Nathan, and I knew about the spontaneous make-out session between Jessie and Nathan after cheer practice the day before homecoming.”
    She shrugged. “I have my sources.”
    Holly was dead, Tj knew she hadn’t told anyone, and she doubted Jessie would admit to it, which left Nathan as the source by default.
    “So it’s true?” Colton prompted.
    “Yes. Sort of. Nathan stopped by practice the day before the game to ask the cheer coach a few questions for an article he was writing about