Old Fashioned Murder (A Ryli Sinclair Cozy Mystery Book 3)

by Jenna St James

  I crossed my arms over my coat. “I’m not doing anything to anyone on this floor. I like the people for the most part. Well, except that mean Mildred. Is it her house we’re breaking into?”

  “No.”

  I sighed. “Then whose?”

  “I want to look at something in Virginia’s house real quick. Then I have one more stop in mind. But we need to hurry!”

  As Aunt Shirley was bent over Virginia’s door, which was covered in yellow tape, I walked over to Ray Manning’s door and leaned against it. I was glad to see at least his yellow tape was gone. I crossed my arms over my chest and wondered what was so dang important inside Virginia’s apartment that I had to put back on my flannel sweats instead of real clothes.

  I heard a click. “We’re in. Let’s go.”

  I sighed and propelled myself off the door. Might as well humor her or we’d be here all night.

  “Don’t touch anything,” Aunt Shirley warned. She took off for the bar and stood in front of the decanters filled with booze.

  I strolled into the living room, trying not to be too creeped out by the emptiness of the apartment. I vaguely wondered what would happen to all of Virginia’s nice things, and if Garrett called her children to tell them about their mom’s death or if Lovey and Dotty did it.

  Aunt Shirley picked up an empty bag out of the trash. She examined it carefully then shut the lid to the trash and walked over to the bar. She opened the top to one of the tiny containers next to a bottle of bourbon. She put her pinky in and tasted the powder.

  “I was afraid of this.”

  The sound in her voice had me running scared. “What’s wrong, Aunt Shirley?”

  Before Aunt Shirley could answer, I heard the click of a gun.

  “What’s wrong is she’s too smart for her own good.”

  CHAPTER 27

  * * *

  I turned around and saw Lovey pointing a gun at Aunt Shirley and me. Before my mind could register what was going on, Dotty came in behind Lovey.

  “We can’t do anything here,” Dotty said. “The police may come back later tonight or tomorrow.”

  “I don’t understand,” I whispered.

  “Me either. At least not fully,” Aunt Shirley said. “So you two killed Manning and Virginia?”

  “Sure did. We gave Virginia enough poison she should have died hours before she did,” Lovey said. “Just like her to mess this whole thing up. We snuck over around five this morning and she was still hanging on.”

  I felt hollow…like I was watching this scene unfold outside my body. My brain refused to understand what was going on. I hadn’t felt this kind of fear in a long time.

  “But you guys have been friends for sixty years,” I protested.

  Dotty grunted. “I think the term you young people use today is frenemy. We’ve been frenemies for over sixty years. She was easy to dupe. Virginia was never very bright.”

  Dotty walked over and picked up the jar Aunt Shirley had just put her finger in. I was afraid to ask what was inside.

  Lovey made a motion with her gun. “Let’s go. We’ll take this party over to our place. Dotty wants us over there first. Good thing we caught on to your plan when you called your boyfriend.”

  “I was wondering how you got here so fast,” Aunt Shirley said.

  Lovey yanked me by the arm and turned me toward the door. “We heard Chief Kimble talking on the phone how he was going to ask us questions. We figured it was a rouse to see how much time you had to snoop around. So Dotty here faked a dizzy spell saying the day had been too much and could we please finish up tomorrow. Your boyfriend isn’t much of a detective.”

  Now that pissed me off.

  “As much as it pains me to say this,” Aunt Shirley said, “you couldn’t be more wrong. And when he goes over to Ryli’s tonight, he’s going to know to come here when he checks in with Ryli’s mom and she’s not there. This is the only other place in town Ryli and I would go. So you better think of something quick.”

  I couldn’t believe Aunt Shirley had given away that much information. I was banking on the fact that Garrett was going to come looking for us soon.

  Lovey and Dotty’s apartment looked more like Aunt Shirley’s than Virginia’s. It was empty and sterile. They obviously meant to split after they killed us.

  Lovey tapped me lightly on the head with her gun while Dotty pushed Aunt Shirley down hard on a kitchen table chair. “You text your boyfriend and tell him your aunt was homesick, so you two decided to stay at her place. Tell him you’ll see him tomorrow.”

  “Make sure you tell him to feed Ace,” Aunt Shirley said. “You know how he likes you to talk about his new puppy he bought recently. Remind him that Ace is still a puppy and not that smart. He’ll poop inside if not taken out regularly.” She turned to Dotty. “He thinks if Ryli’s good with a dog she’ll be good with a baby.”

  I stifled a nervous giggle. No way was Garrett actually dumb enough to believe anything Aunt Shirley just said. But I now understood why she wanted me to text the secret message.

  “Hurry up,” Lovey snapped. “And I’m going to watch you so you don’t do anything suspicious.”

  I took out my phone and swiped it open. I pushed on the text image. Aunt Shirley is homesick. Since Sheri is in jail, we’re staying at the Manor tonight. I’ll see u tomorrow. Auntie said to feed Ace. Ace is still a young pup & not that smart.

  Hopefully the last part about Ace not being smart would bring him running. Now to keep them talking until the Cavalry showed up.

  I just hoped Aunt Shirley knew she wasn’t the Cavalry.

  “Now that we have all night,” Aunt Shirley said, “how about you tell us why.”

  “We don’t owe you an explanation,” Dotty said. She walked into the kitchen and took a knife out of a drawer. I had no idea what kind of knife it was, but it looked long and sharp.

  Please hurry, please hurry!

  “The why for Manning is easy,” Lovey said. “We’ve known for quite a while that Thomas Shifley and Carl Baker were behind the thefts. You two aren’t the only Nancy Drews running around here. If they had left our stuff alone, we would have left them alone. They want to steal from others, not our problem. But word got back to us they were stealing our quilts and afghans.”

  “Wait,” I said. “So Sheri isn’t the ring leader? I wonder if Garrett knows it’s Carl Baker and not Sheri?”

  Lovey shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care. We knew Kaylee had placed an order for castor beans for the greenhouse because they do every year around now to start germinating. It was just a matter of waiting until the perfect time to steal the boxes from the pantry. We chose to kill Manning because he wouldn’t buy from us. And let’s be honest, killing him was a community service if you really think about it.”

  “We’re all about opportunity and taking it,” Dotty said to Aunt Shirley. “We’ve been doing it for years. When you had the fight with Manning in the hallway, we knew it was time to strike. Whether it was Shifley or Sheri that got arrested was of no concern to us. We knew eventually Shifley would roll on himself—if nothing more than to save himself from a murder wrap.”

  “How did you know?” I asked Aunt Shirley. “What did you see at Virginia’s that put it together for you?”

  “The chocolates in the bowl on the counter. I wanted to see what the packaging looked like.”

  And then it clicked! I remembered seeing the same homemade bag of chocolates that Aunt Shirley had just removed from Virginia’s trash in Manning’s apartment. He was carrying them that day in the hallway when he was getting sick.

  I turned to Lovey. “The first day we met in Aunt Shirley’s apartment and you were showing me all the things on the cart, I heard you go next door to Manning’s apartment.”

  Lovey laughed manically. “His special order of chocolate covered espresso beans was in the box when we stole the castor beans. Dotty and I dipped the castor beans in chocolate and then mixed them in with his regular bag of espresso beans we st
ole. We then put them in one of our bags so he wouldn’t suspect anything. After a couple days of him not having any chocolates, we knew he’d buy from us. He bought his own death.”

  The bag of chocolates I saw in Shifley’s room was a different brand. That’s what confused me that day I was climbing out of his window. I was used to seeing the chocolates in a different kind of bag.

  I could not imagine the kind of mind you’d have to have to steal a poison and just wait for the right time to kill and place blame.

  “Why Virginia?” I asked. “She was such a lovely woman.”

  Aunt Shirley snorted. “Something tells me it’s not the first time they’ve tortured Virginia.”

  Dotty threw back her head and laughed. “Right again! We’ve been torturing her since we were in school, she just didn’t know it.”

  Lovey placed four glasses of liquid on the table. I thought it was hard alcohol of some kind but I couldn’t be sure. I’ll be darned if I was gonna drink it, though.

  “Don’t worry,” Lovey said. “We’ll answer all your questions, but first you need to take a drink. I’m sure you’re parched.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not drinking anything.”

  Dotty picked up the knife and held it against Aunt Shirley’s throat. I watched in horror as a trickle of blood ran down Aunt Shirley’s neck. “Yes, you will. Or I’ll slice her throat right here, right now.”

  “Better do what she says, dear,” Lovey said nonchalantly. “Dotty has been itching to slice up your aunt for some time now.”

  My hand shook as I picked up the glass and slowly took a small drink. Aunt Shirley did the same.

  “Your glasses are laced with enough crushed Ambien,” Lovey said, “and whatever other sedatives we swiped out of people’s cabinets while making deliveries, to pretty much kill you within a few hours of sleeping. So we better make it fast.”

  Where was Garrett?

  “I’m getting hot,” Aunt Shirley said. “Can I at least unzip my coat?”

  “Whatever,” Dotty snapped, turning the knife over in her hand for our benefit.

  I wasn’t sure what she was up to, but I suddenly hoped she had a plan because Garrett seemed to be taking his sweet ole time. Aunt Shirley unzipped her camo parka and let it hang open.

  “Now, Virginia is a totally different story,” Lovey said and once again motioned for us to drink.

  The creepy thing was they were drinking with us. Just like we’d all done a few times this week. These women were true sociopaths.

  “I wish we had some popcorn to go with this story,” Dotty said as she swirled her drink in her glass.

  Lovey chuckled. “Virginia always thought she was better than us. Her first husband, Barry? He didn’t die of complications from pneumonia. He was sick that day, yes. But when Dotty and I stayed up with him through the night, we were actually injecting him with insulin. In those days insulin was not what it is today. No one was the wiser. Not even my dad, the great Doctor Howk. Not Virginia, Barry’s parents, no one! It was invigorating and addictive.”

  Dotty nodded and took another drink. “We found it was the perfect way to torture Virginia. Let her have a little happiness…and then yank that happiness away!”

  “Drink,” Lovey demanded.

  I finished off the last of the drink and wondered when it would start to take effect. Where was Garrett? Had he not read my text yet?

  “I think one more drink and then we can move them to Shirley’s place,” Dotty said gruffly. “I just wanted to make sure I had my favorite knife in case they needed persuading.”

  Lovey brought over the jar from Virginia’s filled with the powder. She put four more spoonfuls of powder in our two glasses then topped them off with some bourbon.

  “Now, Virginia’s second husband, Stanley, that was a fun one. We sort of did the same thing we’re doing here. We knew Virginia was out of town that night, so we decided to surprise him with dinner. We slipped massive amounts of crushed pills in his dinner and glass of Scotch, then waited for the pills to take effect. He was too doped up to realize what we were doing when we put the gun to his head with his own hand and made him pull the trigger. Sprinkle a few empty booze bottles around, and no one doubted for a second he hadn’t committed suicide.”

  I gasped and felt my heart fall to my stomach. “Why would you do something so cruel? Virginia always thought she caused him to commit suicide. That’s just horrible.”

  Dotty grinned. “I know. It tortured her for years. We couldn’t have planned that one any better.”

  Lovey made a clucking sound with her tongue. “I did kinda of feel sorry for the kids. They were so upset. But I guess that’s what happens when your mom thinks she’s so much better than everyone else.”

  I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped from me. If they seriously thought Virginia was a witch and she deserved what she got…these women were going to be in for the surprise of a lifetime when they died!

  “And her last husband, Bob?” Aunt Shirley asked. “How did you manage that one?”

  “You finish your drink and I’ll tell you,” Lovey said.

  I wasn’t sure if my sluggishness was from the two glasses of bourbon, the pills, or both. But I knew my senses were getting dull. If Aunt Shirley was going to do something, it needed to be soon. I looked over at the knife resting between Dotty and me. I wasn’t sure if I’d be fast enough to take it from her. And if I was, could I actually use it?

  Dotty chuckled menacingly. “Don’t even think it, Ryli. I’d have you gutted before you knew what hit you.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded.

  “Now Bob’s death was perfect,” Lovey said shaking her head and smiling. “My dad, the Great Doctor Howk, never gave me the credit I deserved. If only he knew how much potential I had.”

  For being crazy? If he was so great, something tells me he was aware his daughter was loopy!

  Lovey leaned forward. “I knew Bob took a daily water pill. So it just made sense to kill him using potassium chloride.” She turned to me and I could see the excitement on her face. “See I paid attention all those years in my dad’s office. I knew pairing a water pill and large amounts of potassium chloride would be lethal. So the night of the party I mixed Bob’s toasting glass and slipped in enough potassium chloride to mimic a heart attack but be untraceable.”

  Dotty clapped her hands. “Lovey always was the brains of the operation.”

  It’s like I’m in the Twilight Zone!

  “Ray Manning didn’t send Virginia those threatening letters, did he?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  “Nope,” Lovey said. “Us again. Oh, the torture they brought her. It was wonderful.”

  Dotty finished her drink and motioned for us to stand. “Let’s go. You two are looking like you could fall over any second. Time to move you to your final resting place so Lovey and I can make our escape.”

  “But…why…kill…Virginia…now?” I could hardly talk around my tongue. At least that’s how it felt.

  Dotty slammed the pointed end of the knife down into the table. Aunt Shirley and I both jumped. “Because she went and got Bert! We would have let her live longer, but she did it to herself! It wasn’t fair! Once again she was going to be the Cinderella of the ball and get the guy. Well, we made sure that didn’t happen, didn’t we, Lovey?”

  They high fived each other and I almost vomited on the table. The more they talked, the more I wanted to be physically sick.

  “Sure did, Dotty. Virginia had outlived her usefulness anyway. We pilfered through her expensive jewelry to take with us as she lay dying, and we’ve got enough money to keep us afloat for a while until we decide where we want to go.”

  “Maybe one of those singles cruises for the elderly,” Dotty said excitedly. “Could we do something like that, Lovey? I bet there are plenty of eligible men there.”

  Lovey nodded her head in agreement and pushed me toward the door. I tripped over my feet and fell on my knees. I was aware it hurt, but luckily my body was
too numb to feel it immediately. Lovey grabbed hold of my hair and yanked me back on my feet.

  “You don haf to hurt her,” Aunt Shirley slurred. “We’ll go.”

  “Let’s go then,” Dotty said. She turned and led the way toward the front door with Aunt Shirley behind her, then me, then Lovey pulling up the rear.

  Everything happened so fast, I was pretty sure I was hallucinating. I heard Garrett’s voice yell, “Police, open the door!” before the front door flew open, pieces flying everywhere. His gun was drawn and pointed straight at Dotty. Dotty began yelling and brought her knife up to stab him. I tried to scream a warning, but nothing came out. A shot rang out in front of me.

  I didn’t have time to process what was happening because Aunt Shirley whirled and pushed me out of the way. I stumbled backward and fell through the archway that led to the kitchen. Aunt Shirley reached into her parka and whipped out her nunchucks at the same time Lovey raised her gun to shoot Aunt Shirley. Aunt Shirley flung her nunchucks at Lovey’s head. Lovey went down with a thud. Unfortunately, so did Aunt Shirley. She gave me a crooked grin, slid down the wall, and passed out with her mouth open.

  Fearing she’d been shot and I was too doped up to hear it, I scrambled on all fours to where Aunt Shirley fell. I ran my hands inside her parka but didn’t see any blood. My heart felt like it was being squeezed. I couldn’t lose my aunt. As much as she was a pain in the ass…she was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. The thought of her dying was incomprehensible. The room began to swim, and I knew I was starting to lose consciousness.

  I felt Garrett slip his arms around me as I continued to stare at Aunt Shirley. I tried to speak but nothing came out. The room started to spill again and my stomach pitched. Garrett pushed the hair out of my face as I threw up all over his chest.

  “Sleeping pills,” I finally managed to whisper. Then promptly passed out.

  CHAPTER 28

  * * *