Free Bikinis in Paradise (Tj Jensen Pardise Lake Mysteries) by Kathi Daley

didn’t go through our school system. I’m guessing she was homeschooled. On the day she went missing , a girl who I guess is twelve or thirteen came looking for her. She said she was Kiara’s half sister. Her name is Annabeth.”
    “Doesn’t sound familiar. You know , this girl could be the same one I used to see in the library from time to time. I never spoke to her, but I remember seeing a girl with similar features reading in a corner when I visited a time or two. Why don’t you ask Frannie if she knows who she is?”
     

Chapter 7
     
    Jenna’s suggestion that Frannie Edison might know Kiara was the only lead Tj had, so after she finished her conversation with Jenna, grabbed the cookies, and hung the flyer on the bulletin board, she headed down the street toward the town and county buildings. The library was one of Tj’s favorite places. Built as a bordello at the turn of the century, it had been converted into a library more than sixty years earlier, a few years after the town was incorporated. The downstairs, which at one time had served as a common room for entertaining, held a large wooden counter that was now used as a reference desk but originally had served as the bar on which girls had danced to entertain the men. Behind the counter were rows of bookshelves that held reference materials that could only be accessed with librarian supervision. In front of the counter was an open area in which round tables surrounded by chairs were provided for patrons. The upstairs was divided into smaller rooms, converted from bedrooms into bookrooms, each with its own subject matter. One room was decorated in nursery rhymes and held children’s books, another housed fiction, yet another reference and business books, and another self-help and religion. Each bookroom contained long sofas or cozy chairs for visitors who wished to preview a book before checking it out and taking it home.
    “Afternoon , Tj,” Frannie said when Tj walked through the front door. Frannie stood behind the counter, where she was checking in a new shipment of books. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”
    “It really is,” Tj agreed. “In fact , I think this is one of the nicest Junes we’ve had in quite a few years.”
    “The timing of the warm weather is perfect for the long weekend. How are you doing with the models this year?” Frannie asked.
    “ I’m actually here because one of them never checked in,” Tj informed Frannie. “Do you know this girl?”
    Frannie took the photo from Tj. “Yeah, I know her. Her name is Kiara Boswell. She used to come in to check out books every other day before she left the area.”
    “Do you know if she has family in town?”
    “Kiara didn’t live in Serenity. She lived in Vengeance.”
    “Which would explain why she didn’t go to school in our system,” Tj realized. It made sense that Kiara listed Serenity rather than Vengeance as her hometown. Vengeance was a small village about five miles north of Paradise Lake. The area had been settled by isolationists who’d chosen to live off the grid. The only access to the small village was a rutted dirt road that wound up the mountain several miles after leaving the highway. Most children in the village were homeschooled, and exposure to the outside world was discouraged, if not forbidden, by many of the families who resided in the village.
    “Did she ever talk about friends in town? Perhaps a boyfriend?”
    Tj waited while Frannie considered her question. “No, not that I can remember. Kiara pretty much kept to herself. She loved to read. I think she found books to be the only friend she needed. I do know that she was unhappy living in such isolation and wanted very badly to go to college. I wasn’t surprised when she left.”
    “Did you know she entered the Ms. Tropical Tan contest?” Tj asked.
    Frannie looked both shocked and pleased, her bright green eyes lighting up as she answered. “No, I didn’t know. Good for her. You said she never