Picture Perfect Murder (Ryli Sinclair 1)

by Jenna St James

  Okay, this awkward fest needed to end soon or I was going to start screaming. Time to get this over with.

  “When I got home last night, someone had planted Iris’s tongue on my front porch along with a note.”

  I saw Sharon get up from the loveseat and start pacing back and forth. She was chewing on her lower lip, and I couldn’t be sure, but I think she was praying.

  Pastor Williams cleared his throat. “No, I wasn’t aware of any of this. What did the note say?”

  I wasn’t sure how much I should tell him. I mean, I’m pretty sure Garrett would be mad if I blabbed all over town there was a note, but I thought maybe I could cover it up with the fact Pastor Williams was my preacher, so he probably couldn’t talk about it.

  Who was I kidding? He just acknowledged a while ago he talked with other preachers about people. I looked over at Aunt Shirley to see what she thought. She gave me a slight nod, so I continued. “It basically said that the Bible says to watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut and you’ll stay out of trouble. Then it went on to say that Iris had forgotten that admonition and that I had better watch my step or else the same thing would happen to me.”

  Pastor Williams’s face went pale. “I’m not sure what I should be saying here. I mean, it’s bad enough Dr. Garver was murdered, but this is incomprehensible. Does Chief Kimble know of this?”

  “Of course. I called him the minute I found the tongue and he came over to gather clues.”

  “Sister Williams, are you okay?” Paige asked.

  I looked over at Sharon. She was bent over at the waist, taking deep breaths. I know she’s perceived as being a gentle soul and all that, but I really wasn’t prepared for her to actually start hyperventilating on me. Time to wrap this gabfest up.

  Ignoring Sharon I pressed on, “So what do you think? This is a quote from the Bible, right?”

  “Yes,” Pastor Williams said, his skin still pale. “I don’t know for sure, but I’d say you can eliminate your die-hard ‘King James only’ people as the killer, since it’s not a King James translation. Maybe I should let Chief Kimble know about that when I see him today.”

  “You’re meeting with him?” I asked.

  “Well, he’s meeting with the whole Ministerial Alliance committee. I guess he’s wanting our help in the investigation.”

  Or he’s secretly getting your alibis.

  “With everything I’ve seen and heard the last few days, I’d definitely watch my step if I were you. It sounds as if you’re too close for your own good.”

  “Ha!” Aunt Shirley barked. “Never you mind about Ryli’s safety. We got her back.”

  Pastor Williams cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. “Well, then I guess all I can tell you is it sounds like a New Living Translation. As far as what it means, I think it’s self-explanatory. Especially when you take into consideration the fact it was written about Iris. I mean, was there really a bigger gossip than her?” he asked. “I’ll admit I hated the fact my wife went to her to get her hair done. It’s always bothered me Sharon gave that woman a dime of our money.”

  While I’d never considered myself a friend of Iris’s, I sure wasn’t going to sit here and listen to this hatred much longer. The judgment coming from my preacher’s mouth was appalling. Talk about seeing someone in a new light.

  “Dear, it wasn’t all that bad,” Sharon said as she sat back down on the couch next to Paige. “Iris did have some good qualities.”

  “Whatever you say. You knew her better than I did.”

  I looked over at Aunt Shirley. I wanted to make sure I’d asked all the pertinent questions.

  “Thank you for your time, Pastor Williams,” Aunt Shirley said as she stood up. “You’ve been a great help to us today.”

  The rest of us stood and said our good-byes. Paige, Aunt Shirley, and I walked out with Sharon. As we reached the front door, Sharon said, “Ladies, please understand my husband is under a lot of stress. With Dr. Garver’s passing, it means we have to fill another place on the board. Plus the fact we are doing the memorial service and the hours of prep work that entails, and he still needs to get ready for Thursday’s memorial service, the Fall Festival, and Sunday’s church service…he’s very stressed.”

  Stressed? Is that what they’re calling narrow-mindedness these days? Because it sure sounded to me like he was judging Iris big time.

  As I was following Aunt Shirley and Paige out the front door, Sharon touched my arm. “Ryli, I’ve been meaning to remind you, please don’t forget you signed up to help get the games and booths around on Friday.”

  I groaned inwardly. I’d forgotten all about it.

  I looked into the heartfelt, pleading eyes of my pastor’s wife, then down to the hand that clung to me like a life support.

  “Of course I remember,” I said, the lie rolling off my tongue.

  “How about three o’clock at the church,” she said as she clapped her hands together. “Just knowing you and the other ladies being there helping is such a relief.”

  I gave her a weak smile and told her I was looking forward to it. I’m sure she saw right through it, but being the bigger person she elected not to say anything. Instead she patted my arm and smiled.

  * * *

  “What did she want?” Aunt Shirley demanded as I got into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the driveway.

  “To remind me I signed up this Friday to set up booths for the festival,” I said, hating the whine I heard in my voice.

  I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw Paige gazing wistfully at her engagement ring. “Thinking about the wedding?”

  Paige sighed. “I was thinking I’ve always known Pastor Williams was an arrogant SOB, but today he really sounded like a jerk.”

  Aunt Shirley laughed. “Well, you gotta remember he’s just a man. He puts his pants on one leg at a time just like other men do.”

  “I guess,” Paige mumbled. “Doesn’t make it any easier, though. Just think, he’s the one we’re going to have to go to for marriage counseling and all that.”

  “Well, the wife totally gives me the willies with all that whimpering and wringing of her hands,” Aunt Shirley said.

  I looked over at Aunt Shirley to see if she was serious. “She’s been like that since I’ve known her. And I’ve practically known her my whole life.”

  “Still, I don’t like it. She needs to be more…” Aunt Shirley trailed off.

  “More like you?” I asked.

  “Exactly!”

  * * *

  We decided to make a pit stop at the newspaper since I had to write up a piece in the paper about Iris’s death. Obviously I was going to leave out the part about coming home to her tongue on my front porch stuck in a Halloween pumpkin…after all, kids were known to read the town paper. The last thing Hank would want was dozens of phone calls from angry parents.

  The front door chimed as we walked into the main area of the building. Mindy was sitting behind her desk, lazily leafing through a gossip magazine. I swear she reads a new trash tabloid daily.

  Today she had on hot pink Capri pants with an off-the-shoulder aqua cropped sweater. Don’t ask me how, but it worked for her. I guess because the shoes pulled it all together. Mindy once made me memorize all the designer shoes she owned. She said it would be fun, would help us bond as girls.

  It didn’t. It was about as fun as when she tried to teach me to walk in them.

  To humor her I memorized her designer shoe collection, which is why I could tell you today she had on neon-pink, patent leather pumps from Jimmy Choo. The four-inch heels were so teeny tiny they were like icepicks.

  Sashaying effortlessly over to where we were, she gave me a small squeeze around my waist. “Hank had to run to Kansas City today, so it’s just us girls. I’ve heard rumors about the tongue missing, is it true?”

  “Sort of, yes,” I said.

  “Don’t say another word. How about I make us some hot tea and we talk about it?”

  “How a
bout you bring out something stronger?” Aunt Shirley said.

  Laughing as though my aunt wasn’t serious, Mindy gestured for Aunt Shirley and Paige to sit on the tiny sofa. She then rolled the two desk chairs over to where I was standing. “Go ahead and sit, the water is already hot. Just give me a second.”

  We watched her stroll over to the buffet and start preparing cups. I was about to stand up and go help when she turned around with two mugs looped in each hand…still walking on those icepicks. I figured she was fine without my help.

  We each grabbed a mug and began blowing on the hot water. I figured I should catch her up from the tongue on the front porch to meeting with the Williamses for help on narrowing down who might have sent the Bible scripture to me.

  I was just about to go into my spiel when Mindy started squealing. “You got engaged!” she cried as she rushed over to Paige’s side of the sofa. Squeezing herself in between Aunt Shirley and Paige, she leaned over and examined the ring. “Very nice. Oh, yes, he did good,” she whispered as she turned the ring side to side.

  Watching Mindy fawn all over the ring, I had a sudden vision of Mindy as Gollum whispering, “My precious.”

  “So when’s the big day?” Mindy demanded.

  Why hadn’t I thought to ask that question? I mean, Paige is my best friend and Matt is my brother…and it never occurred to me to ask when they were getting hitched. Damn, I was gonna have to start being a better future sister-in-law.

  “We haven’t set a date yet. Probably sometime next spring or summer.”

  Next spring or summer. Good, that gives me plenty of months to start planning things. Wait…I was going to be the maid of honor, wasn’t I? Now that I thought about it, Paige hadn’t exactly asked me yet.

  Deciding my thoughts were going to drive me crazy, and I had other things to think about, I told Mindy about the tongue on the porch and visiting Pastor Williams and the awkwardness from that little visit.

  “I’ve been decoding the ledger from the salon. I have a list of people at the salon the day after Dr. Garver died, and I’ve even compiled a list of people who were there for the whole month of October. I believe I have everyone accounted for and what they were doing at the salon. However, I’m just not sure if it helps any.”

  “That was fast,” I said, impressed at what she’d been able to accomplish in so little time. “And don’t worry, every little thing helps.”

  We spent the next hour writing up a piece for the paper about Iris’s death. Then we just sat around and theorized about who would have motive to kill two women who had virtually nothing in common. I mean, Pastor Williams was right. I didn’t think these women hung out together. They didn’t attend church together. Outside of probably shopping at the same grocery store here in town and Dr. Garver getting her hair done at Legends, they really had no cause to run into each other.

  We ordered in sandwiches from a local café that delivers and talked about wedding plans and ideas. Mainly Mindy and Paige talked, Aunt Shirley and I just listened.

  Or rather I half listened. I couldn’t help but think about Garrett and what kind of information he was getting from the Ministerial Alliance. Was he seriously thinking that one of the preachers in town was the killer just because the threatening note left to me referenced the Bible?

  * * *

  I dropped Aunt Shirley off first then I drove Paige home. I was getting ready to pull out of her driveway when she tapped on my window. “Hey, why don’t you and Garrett come over around eight-thirty for dessert and drinks?”

  I must have looked confused because Paige laughed and said, “C’mon, this is the perfect opportunity to call him!”

  “Don’t you want to be alone with Matt tonight? I thought this was a celebration dinner?”

  “We have the whole night to celebrate,” Paige giggled. “I’m making my chocolate lava cake.”

  “Sold!”

  Laughing, Paige whirled around and called over her shoulder, “If this cake doesn’t do the trick…nothing will!” She winked at me then opened her front door and went inside.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. Now the ball was in my court, and I had to make the next move.

  Switching gears, I hoped Mom would have something new to share. I was more than a little anxious to know how Garrett had gotten along with the Ministerial Alliance.

  My mom is a creature of habit, so I knew I’d find her in the library curled up on her chaise reading a mystery in front of her gas fireplace. Which is exactly where I found her.

  As a little girl I loved sitting in this room with my mom. I’d be reading The Baby-Sitters Club while she’d read her mysteries. As I got older, I’d read what she was reading just to be closer to her. I always figured my love of solving mysteries came from my mom.

  The library was one of the largest rooms in the house. It’s one of the first renovations I remember her doing. It had originally just been two small rooms next to each other. Mom said back in the day, one room was probably a parlor and the other may have been a bedroom. She decided to knock the wall down and make it a huge library. All four walls were filled with recessed bookshelves holding hundreds of books. Along with the gas fireplace, she’d also added a large dome-shaped skylight for just the right ambiance.

  Not wanting to startle her, I watched her silently from the doorframe. She looked peaceful, lounging in her pale pink maxi dress, her long blonde hair braided halfway down her back, and her bare feet tucked in next to her. She had a cup of hot tea on the round end table next to the chaise.

  There were many times over the years when I was almost jealous of how effortlessly my mom seemed to live her life. She seemed so content. I once asked her why she never remarried, and she told me that she didn’t believe she would ever find someone to love as much as she loved my dad. I used to find that romantic as a young girl…now I find it a little sad. I want my mom to move on…to live outside her mystery novels and memories of my dad.

  I knocked softly on the frame, “Hey, Mom.”

  My mom jerked her head up and narrowed her eyes at me. “About time you were getting here, young lady. I had to hear about it from Myrtle down at the grocery store that you found Iris’s body!”

  Oh, shit!

  I had completely forgotten to call her. What with the tongue in the pumpkin and Garrett staying the night, I had a lot on my mind.

  Going for what I hoped was a sheepish look, I said, “Sorry. It was really crazy after finding the body.” I knew I had to tell her about the tongue, but I was hesitant. I didn’t want my mom to worry.

  “There’s a little more to tell you,” I said…and proceeded to tell her about the tongue and concluded with what happened this morning at the Williams’ house. I conveniently left out the part about Garrett staying the night.

  For the longest time she didn’t say anything. Finally she stood up from her reclining position and opened her arms to me. I practically ran to her. No matter how old you get, there’s nothing like the comfort of your mother’s arms when you need them.

  Crossing my fingers in hopes she’d say yes, I said, “I’m stuck. I was hoping you’d tell me a little about Dr. Garver and your thoughts on who might have killed her.” I held my breath, hoping she wouldn’t discourage me.

  Sighing, Mom pulled me down next to her on the chaise and said, “Let me guess, you’re trying to solve this. I blame myself. After all, there’s nothing I love more than a good murder mystery.”

  I gave her my sweetest smile and batted my eyes, making her laugh. “Okay, let’s hear what you have.”

  I spent the next fifteen minutes telling her everything I knew and could remember, including gossip and conversations with people around town. I told her Garrett had met with the Ministerial Alliance, and how I suspected it was to pick their brain and to see about alibies.

  This took Mom by surprise. “He thinks it might be a preacher?”

  “I don’t know. I think he’s not leaving anything to chance.”

  Mom was sil
ent for a few minutes. “I guess in some ways that makes sense.”

  “I’m not sure how the killer is doing it. I think it might be a drug or something. I overheard Garrett mention getting toxicology reports from the lab. Maybe the killer is drugging the women and that’s how he’s overpowering them?”

  “Could be,” Mom mused.

  Deciding to steer Mom away so she didn’t get too upset over my involvement, I asked her about her duties for the memorial service and the carnival.

  “I have a dessert and side dish to make for the memorial service Thursday. Thankfully I got out of setting up on Friday. I just have to bring in decorated cupcakes Friday afternoon.”

  Rolling my eyes I told her I was setting up booths on Friday. “It’ll do you good. It’s time for the younger generation to step up and help us old timers out!”

  I grunted, figuring that was all the reply I needed.

  “Well, on a totally different note, you haven’t asked me about the surprise this morning,” Mom said.

  “Oh, my God! I’m a horrible sister and best friend! I keep having to be reminded,” I all but whined.

  Mom laughed. “Don’t feel badly, you have a lot on your plate.”

  I stayed and chatted with Mom about the wedding for a little while longer, then decided it was time to bite the bullet and call Garrett.

  Chapter 8

  I hadn’t spent any quality time with Miss Molly in forever, so I decided to go home. Pulling into the driveway, I couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. After all, the last time I did this, I had a dead woman’s tongue greet me at my front door.

  Luckily for me, the only thing greeting me at the door this time was the mail and Miss Molly. She followed me into the kitchen and watched intently as I refilled her water bowl. As though somehow I might mess that task up.

  I tried calling Garrett twice, and both times it went straight to voicemail. I was pretty sure he was avoiding my calls. I was just about to call again when my ringer went off.