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

by Jenna St James

If you’ve never had your stomach pumped, consider yourself lucky. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. And I was once force fed ketamine by my preacher’s wife.

  Garrett later told me that he didn’t see my text at first because after Lovey and Dotty left, he questioned Shifley one more time. That’s when Shifley admitted that Carl Baker was his accomplice in the thefts. They were on their way to arrest Baker when he finally checked his phone.

  When he saw the reference to Ace being a young pup and not that smart, he knew Aunt Shirley and I were in trouble. He called Matt and told him to go by my house while he and Officer Ryan went to the Manor to find us. It was just pure luck that he was breaking down the door when we were walking toward it.

  Dotty had died before she hit the hallway floor. Matt told me later when Lovey finally came to and saw Dotty dead on the floor, she raged for hours. I didn’t feel the least bit sorry for her crazy ass. I personally think she should have suffered a lot more seeing as how she tortured Virginia her whole life.

  Lovey gave a full confession to Garrett. She admitted to poisoning and killing Ray Manning and Virginia. On the night Manning died, after Aunt Shirley and I had left the Manor, Lovey and Dotty had in fact gone to see Manning like they said. Only they didn’t just deliver soup like they first claimed. They had ground up another lethal dose of ricin and mixed it in the soup, thereby ensuring that he would die that night.

  Manning was too sick to notice that while Lovey gave him the soup, Dotty swiped his keys. Later that night when they figured he was dead, they went back over to his house with the stolen merchandise from the pantry and planted the stolen goods in his bedroom.

  With the murder confession of Manning, Virginia, and Virginia’s three husbands…Lovey Howk was guaranteed to never see the light of day again.

  Virginia’s two kids came to Granville to bury their mom. Aunt Shirley and I spoke with them to tell them everything we knew about their dad and his death. Even though they were still in shock over their mother’s murder—and the fact Lovey and Dotty were involved—they seemed relieved to know their dad didn’t kill himself like they always thought.

  Aunt Shirley was back at the Manor which was just fine with her. I, however, was having a hard time dealing with almost losing her. I promised myself I would change my attitude of seeing her as a burden. I vowed to have more patience with her in the future.

  Even though she would never admit it, I think Aunt Shirley missed Old Man Jenkins. The near wipeout of her floor—Mean Mildred and the McElroys being the only ones left—meant Aunt Shirley was getting new neighbors. I wasn’t looking forward to that. It still creeped me out to walk in the same hallway where Dotty was shot and killed.

  Sheri was indeed still fired from the Manor. Thomas Shifley and Carl Baker were arrested and later convicted of the thefts of personal items from residents’ rooms, and Kaylee Jones was free from bullying and threats at work. Interestingly enough, Big Baldy—the intimidating man in the workroom that told me to leave it be when it came to Kaylee—was actually trying to protect her. Seems he was in love with Kaylee and was just waiting for the right moment to rescue her from her predicament. The last time I saw her at the Manor she told me they had been dating for a few weeks now, and she couldn’t be happier.

  I wrote a tell-all story for the paper about my captivity and the confession Dotty and Lovey gave while they tortured us. Hank was in his element fending off calls from Kansas City newspapers wanting to interview me. I was once again his golden girl.

  It wasn’t until mid-March that things calmed down and went back to normal. Spring was trying to emerge, and now more than ever I wanted the old to die away and looked forward to something new.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Aunt Shirley announced one night at Mom’s house during family dinner. “My birthday is coming up in April, and I sure could use a little vacation.”

  I looked at Garrett and tried not to groan. I didn’t like the sound of this. It sounded like I could get in big-time trouble.

  “And while I won’t tell you my age, I will tell you it’s a pretty important birthday. So I’ve been thinking of throwing myself a birthday bash at one of them WhoDunIt Murder Mystery weekend places.”

  Mom frowned at Aunt Shirley. “Haven’t you had enough murder and mayhem in your life lately?”

  Aunt Shirley waved her hand and dismissed my mom’s comment. “I was thinking of making it a girls’ thing. Janine, you can go.” Aunt Shirley turned to Paige. “And Paige, seeing as how Matt ain’t knocked you up yet, I see no reason why you can’t go.”

  Paige’s mouth dropped open. I laid my hand on her wrist so she wouldn’t stab Aunt Shirley with the fork in her hand. “Then with me and Ryli going, it should be a fun weekend. What do you guys say? Wanna go solve a murder mystery for my birthday?”

  I shook my head. “No, not really.”

  I looked at Garrett for help. He hid his grin behind his glass of sweet tea. Great, now I had an urge to stab him with my fork.

  “I found one over by Hermann. We could do some wine tasting and participate in a pretend murder all in the same weekend.”

  I perked up at the words ‘Hermann’ and ‘wine tasting.’ Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. A lot of wine and a pretend murder. I mean, really, how much trouble could we get into?