Picture Perfect Murder (Ryli Sinclair 1)

by Jenna St James

  And that would be a bad thing?

  But he was right, we needed to get going or neither one of us would be able to put the brakes on. Hoping for a nonchalance I wasn’t feeling, I walked passed him and grabbed my wine from the table. I drank it in one gulp. “Ready when you are.”

  * * *

  The ride to Paige’s place was silent. Not exactly uncomfortable, but silent nonetheless. I was afraid of ruining the moment by asking questions about the murder investigation, so I elected to keep quiet.

  We were only a few minutes late. As I fluffed my curls, I hoped I didn’t look how I felt…disheveled and turned on.

  Paige opened the door before we got to it and ushered us inside. “I was beginning to wonder what happened to you two. I almost…” She trailed off as she took in my appearance. Her eyes widened and she giggled.

  Dammit!

  I tried giving her the evil eye so she’d shut her mouth, but she just waved me off. Looping her arms through Garrett’s, she all but pushed him into the kitchen. “Matt’s in there. We’ll be in in a sec.” She gave him a gentle shove then turned back to me.

  “Don’t!” I hissed, hoping Garrett was out of earshot before she went psycho.

  She quietly squealed as she raced back to me. “You look like you’ve been sexed. Dish!”

  I shut my eyes and counted to five. The truth was, I didn’t know what to say. I never seem to know what to say when it comes to Garrett. “No, we didn’t. But we did have a good make-out session.”

  Did people still call it making out?

  “Yeah, that I can see. Your hair is really poofy, and your lips are totally swollen.”

  I touched my mouth. I thought the tingling was just my imagination. “It was amazing!” I blurted. I couldn’t help myself.

  “I knew it would be. C’mon, let’s go find our boys.”

  Garrett and I ended up staying for about an hour. Between bites of the delicious lava cake, we talked about the upcoming wedding and the winning football season the Granville Bulldogs were having so far. The minutes flew by.

  Garrett caught my eye on my second yawn. Smiling, he leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I don’t want you falling asleep on me. I do have plans for us before I head back to the office tonight.”

  I’m pretty sure I whimpered, because I felt the low timbre of his knowing laugh in my ear.

  Just when I was afraid I’d melt into a puddle on the floor, I heard his phone go off. Garrett looked at the number and sobered. “I need to take this. I’ll be right back.”

  I looked over at Paige. I knew this was probably the call he was waiting on. How could I “accidentally” overhear the conversation? I looked down at our empty plates and glasses. I had an idea.

  Paige must have known what I was going to do, because she reached over and helped me stack up all the plates. Picking up the dishes, I quietly tiptoed into the kitchen where Garrett had wondered when he took his call.

  He had his back to me, which I figured was a plus. It allowed me to eavesdrop without him knowing, and I got to look at his butt.

  “You’re sure it’s ketamine?” There was a pause. “Okay, that’s what I figured. Can you tell how it’s being administered?” There was another pause. “Okay. Thanks again for getting back to me so quickly.” He ended the conversation, and before he turned around said, “Did you get all that, Sin?”

  Oh, my God! How did he know I was there? I made sure I hadn’t made a peep as I entered the kitchen. I didn’t know what to do. Should I turn around and leave? Pretend I didn’t hear anything?

  Before I could figure out what to do, he turned around and slid his phone back into his front pocket. “I saw your reflection in the window,” he said.

  “I didn’t mean to hear,” I said. A hollow lie, even to my own ears.

  He didn’t say anything, just smiled. “Uh huh, right. So now you know what I’ve suspected. Seems the victims were given ketamine, which explains how they were able to be easily manipulated and didn’t put up a fight.”

  “I did notice the dishes at every scene. Two mugs, sometimes plates and silverware…but always two washed mugs.”

  “I noticed them, too. We ran tests for fingerprints and DNA…nothing.”

  I briefly wondered how hard it was to come by a bottle of ketamine. Did it even come in a bottle? I had no idea what it was or how it came, but I was determined to find out.

  Before I could ask any more questions, Garrett guided me out of the kitchen and back into the living room where Matt and Paige were snuggling. “We should probably head out. Give you two some alone time,” he said, grinning at Matt.

  Matt and Paige stood up and walked us to the door. Paige gave me a little hug and whispered, “Call me tomorrow and tell me what you heard in the kitchen.”

  Hoping no one else had heard, I ducked my head and walked out the door with Garrett. He opened the passenger side door for me and I slid in. Buckling my seatbelt I tried to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

  I watched the interior light came on again as Garrett opened his door and buckled his seatbelt. Not once saying anything. The light faded and he started the engine, putting the car in reverse. As he turned to look over his shoulder, he caught my stare.

  Garrett put the car in park and reached out and tucked one of my curls behind my ear. I saw the look of desire in his eyes, so I wasn’t completely shocked when he leaned in and kissed me. It was a soft, barely there kind of kiss. He parted my lips with his tongue.

  Next thing I know we’re like two teenagers left alone to park for the first time ever. I’m not sure how our seat belts came off, but they did. I’m also not sure if he hauled me onto his lap or if I just leapt there, straddling him. My right knee fell in between the seat and the door. Half cursing and half laughing, Garrett slid one hand through my hair to cup the back of my head and had the other hand on my ass…both pulling me closer to him, if that were possible.

  My sweater dress was practically bunched around my waist, leaving my pink lace panties exposed. The combination of the lace and his erection pressing against me as I gyrated on his lap was almost enough to send me over the edge. I had just started untucking the front of his shirt from his jeans so I could slide my hands up his chest…when his phone made a loud chirping noise.

  Groaning, Garrett broke off the kiss. We both just stared at each other, breathing heavy. I realized I was practically naked and tried to pull my dress down. Cursing, Garrett knocked my hands away as he simultaneously reached in his pocket to get his phone.

  I almost screamed in frustration.

  After reading the text, Garrett tossed his phone into the console. He then began helping me tug my dress back into place. He must have noticed the devastated look on my face because he pulled me down for a quick kiss.

  “Know this, Ryli. Tonight I’m going to drop you off at your place because I have to go back to the station and work for a while. Just know, once this case is solved, I will not be dropping you off at your place on nights like these. You will be going home with me.”

  About damn time!

  * * *

  Wednesday was a dedicated office day. I called Paige and told her to meet me there. I knew she’d been looking up paralytics online, but now that I knew it was ketamine, I wanted to make sure she was in from the beginning. I hoped Hank was gone so I didn’t have to make up some lie as to why I was on the computer and not out “doing my job” as he liked to tell me.

  I threw on a pair of black leggings with a gray and white tunic sweater and my black boots. I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail, brushed my teeth, and just like every morning ran out the door, blowing Miss Molly a kiss.

  I called Mindy on her cell. “Hey, Ryli, how’s it going?”

  “Good. I’m calling to see if Hank is in?”

  I heard Mindy tapping a pencil or pen against the desk. A nervous habit of hers. “Nope, he’s out until this afternoon. He’s covering the new grand opening of the quilt shop this morning.”

  “Oh
, my gosh. I forgot I was supposed to go out there and take pictures this morning.”

  Mindy laughed. “He figured you were knee-deep in the murder and decided to cover for you.”

  I was so excited about the opening of the quilt shop in town. It was supposed to be one of the largest shops in Northwest Missouri, and the fact it was coming to our little town was exciting news. If I had to guess, I’d say Mom was ready to run down there and buy material to start on a baby blanket now that Matt and Paige were getting married.

  I picked up Aunt Shirley a few minutes later and headed to the office. We made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some fresh, homemade donuts to go with the coffee.

  The first thing I needed to do was find out all I could about ketamine. When Paige got to the office, she opened her notebook filled with scribbles. She said she’d gotten some information on ketamine, but nothing substantial.

  Basically I wanted to know who could get their hands on the drug? How would they go about getting their hands on the stuff? How was it administered? And how much of a dose was needed to incapacitate someone?

  “In honor of all the marriages and sex that’s being thrown around in this room,” Aunt Shirley said as she started pulling donuts out of the grocery bag, “I decided to get commemorative donuts.”

  She tossed a small bag to each of us. I looked in and groaned.

  “That’s right. I got you donut hoes!” Aunt Shirley slapped herself on the leg, her body convulsing with laughter. “Get it…donut hoes…because y’all are a bunch of—”

  “We get it!” I cried. “You’ve lost your speaking privileges for the next half hour.”

  “Worth it!” she said as she popped a donut hole into her mouth and chewed.

  Paige was going to research who could get ketamine while Mindy started Googling how it could be administered.

  I gave Aunt Shirley the assignment to look over all my notes of the two crime scenes and start putting pieces together. I figured the former private eye would be able to see things we couldn’t.

  That left me with the task of making a list of all the people I’d been in contact with over the last week. By the time I’d finished I had close to forty people.

  “How’re you doing over there, Ryli?” Paige asked.

  I looked up from my list. “It’s scary to think that one of these people has already killed two people and is now hell bent on terrorizing me.”

  “Ain’t no one gonna get to you,” Aunt Shirley said, looking up from her notes. “We’ll make sure of that.”

  I hoped she was right.

  “Wanna hear what I’ve found?” Paige asked.

  Setting my list down on the desk, I gave her my full attention. “Let’s hear it.”

  “Okay. We pretty much know ketamine is a paralytic, a neuromuscular agent. It can be used on humans and animals. From what I’ve read,” Paige said, “in order for the killer to have that much control over the victims, they’d have to have ingested about one hundred twenty-five milligrams of the ketamine.”

  Aunt Shirley whistled. “Sounds like that’s a whole lotta drug for one person.”

  “How do you think they’re ingesting it?” Mindy asked.

  Paige nibbled on her lower lip. “I think it’s in a powder form. From everything I read, it’s the best way to disguise the flavor. The reports I read said that the liquid form has a very bad taste that’s hard to cover up. So my guess is it’s in powder form.”

  I thought about that for a second. It actually made perfect sense. “I bet that’s why there’s always food and drink around. The killer is putting the powder in the drinks or food or something.”

  “Can you put it in food?” Mindy asked.

  Aunt Shirley and Paige shrugged their shoulders.

  I had no idea, either. But I was pretty sure Paige could find out with a little more research.

  “What about people who use this drug or can get their hands on this drug?” I asked.

  Paige’s eyes lit up. “Illegally, there’s no way to pinpoint…but legally, you’re looking at your doctors, anesthesiologists, veterinarians, dentists. Maybe even nurses, I don’t know.”

  My heart suddenly did double time. “Holy shit…does this mean we can narrow my list down?” I asked, ruffling the paper in my hand.

  Aunt Shirley stood up, pacing back and forth. No one said anything, we just watched her. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she moved stealthfully across the Berber carpet.

  “I don’t know if we can. Even I know in this day and age everyone from kids to adults can get their hands on illegal drugs. If you know where to go, it’s not that hard.”

  She must have noticed my shocked look. “Hey, I watch Dr. Phil. I know what’s going on in this world. So, like I was saying, I don’t know if we can eliminate random drug purchases. Or let’s say it’s stolen. How would we find that out?” Aunt Shirley said. “I’m not sure we can narrow the list down because there are too many underlying factors to take into consideration. But it does help knowing who originally has access to the ketamine.”

  It does?

  Seems to me she’d just cut me off at the knees.

  “Here’s what I think we should do next. I figure we’re all going to the memorial service tomorrow. And everyone knows usually the killer goes to the funeral services—”

  “They do?” Paige interrupted.

  I was glad she’d said it aloud and not me. I didn’t want to seem like an idiot.

  “They do,” Aunt Shirley assured us. “They like to see the torture and sadness of the families.”

  “Sick,” I said.

  “Anyway,” Aunt Shirley continued, “I think we just watch, look for anything suspicious. Try to surreptitiously look for people who are watching the reactions of other people. That kind of thing. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll see something…or talk with someone that leads to a clue.”

  “I like it!” Mindy nodded.

  She did? I wasn’t sure I actually followed Aunt Shirley’s thinking.

  “So we people watch in order to find more clues,” Paige said.

  Great, even Paige could follow Aunt Shirley’s ramblings. But I have to admit, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. I mean, I wasn’t ready to abandon my list totally…and I knew exactly which three or four people I was going to watch.

  * * *

  I told Mom I’d help her with the cooking and baking she needed to do in order to get ready for Dr. Garver’s memorial the next day. Mom was on the committee at church that dealt with food preparation.

  And, no, I was not on this committee. I was on the committee that cleaned up after the wonderful meal was eaten. But that’s okay, because it usually meant I got to take home some good leftovers to snack on for a few days.

  Pastor Williams had called off Wednesday night service because he knew most of the women that attended Wednesday nights would be busy preparing food, and the men would need to set up tables and chairs.

  By the time we finished up at the office and I dropped Aunt Shirley back off at her place, it was mid-afternoon. I made it to Mom’s house around three. She was already in the kitchen setting out supplies and ingredients. My mom usually takes the same thing to every church dinner we have…corn casserole and some type of fruit crisp, depending on what fruit was in season.

  I learned at an early age the difference between a cobbler and a crisp. Cobbler had a topping made with a doughy texture, while the crisp was made up of brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, and other wonderful goodness. I’m assuming you can tell which topping I preferred.

  It looked like today we were doing a mixed berry crisp. I could see the blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries all thawing in a large aluminum bowl. When baking in bulk like this, Mom always did frozen fruit to help speed things along. Next to the fruit sat cinnamon, oats, stick butter, and brown sugar. I could practically taste the yumminess already!

  “Hey, baby,” my mom greeted as she gave me a kiss on the cheek.
r />   “Hey, Momma,” I said. I know how much she loves when I call her that. And today I wanted to stay on her good side…because I wanted…no, I needed a nice fruit crisp tonight before I went to bed.

  “I think we’ll start with three large vats of corn casserole,” she said as she laid out the massive 18x26 baking pans. My mom was the only person I knew that had such large cooking containers. I had one 9x12 glass casserole dish and thought I was doing pretty well just to use it on occasion. “Then we can start on the crisp after that. Hopefully it’ll still be nice and warm for you when you head back home,” she added with a knowing smile.

  She handed me a pink and black apron with the words Queen of Everything embellished in white rhinestones. Mom was wearing her black apron that said This IS My Little Black Dress. I absolutely loved her sense of humor.

  We spent the next two hours making corn casserole, cooking it in her monstrosity of an oven. It took me months to even go near the thing after she bought it…I was too intimidated.

  I was very careful about what I said to her about the murders and how I’d been dragged into the whole mess. She was still kinda put out that Aunt Shirley was helping me, and that I hadn’t told her everything from the start.

  Once all the corn casseroles were finished, it was dinnertime. I started clearing off a place on the kitchen island while Mom got out the fixings for sandwiches. She had just finished making one sandwich when my cell phone rang.

  Be still my heart! It was Garrett. I could feel my heart racing as I swiped my finger to answer. I tried to tell myself to be cool, but I could hear the breathiness in my voice as I answered.

  “Hey there, Sin,” he chuckled.

  I smiled. I actually smiled at the nickname. This was so not good!

  “What’s going on?” I asked. I figured there had to be a pretty good reason for him to call me, during the day, on a day he was working. This was not like Garrett.