Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2)

by Jenna St James

  “I can’t…done this.” I could still only make out a few words. Obviously he’d toned down his yelling.

  I couldn’t hear the response, but I could tell it was female. I didn’t remember seeing headlights come down the driveway tonight, but we’d been pretty busy drinking.

  I started to creep forward closer to the window.

  “I want you to leave right now and don’t come back.”

  I heard a female’s startled cry.

  Crap! Was he breaking up with Julie? He seemed gaga over her just earlier. What had happened?

  “If I have to physically remove you from here,” Jim said, “I will.”

  Not wanting to get caught, I quickly made my way back to my own yard. I picked up my drink I’d left on the deck and tried to slow my breathing back to normal. Taking a small sip, I waited to see headlights. I knew it was too dark to make out a specific car—not that I knew what Julie drove—but I could at least tell when she left.

  Whirl!

  The sound of a power tool coming from Jim’s workshop jolted me. Had Julie left and I not seen it? No. That was impossible. Had they made up and Julie stayed there to watch him work some more? That had to be it.

  Shrugging, I opened the French doors and went inside. The heat was an instant relief.

  “There you are,” Paige exclaimed. “We were about to go look for you.”

  I hesitated to say anything about what I’d seen and heard. I didn’t want to embarrass Julie by telling everyone, but I also wanted to find out if anyone noticed a car drive down the driveway at any time tonight.

  “Mom, Aunt Shirley, everyone, can you guys come here for a minute,” I called out.

  “What’s the matter?” Paige asked.

  “I just want to ask something.”

  Mindy, Mom, Bea, Megan, and Aunt Shirley walked over to where Paige and I were standing. I knew I had to be careful how I worded this…Mom was always worrying about me getting tangled up in things ever since Sharon.

  “I was sitting outside on the deck when I heard a noise coming from Jim’s workshop. I crept over there to see—”

  “Ryli Sinclair,” my mother cried out, “didn’t I tell you not to get yourself caught up in something that didn’t concern you while you were here?”

  I know it’s rude, but I ignored her question. “Anyway,” I continued, “I couldn’t see who he was talking to, but there was definitely a woman in there. He was yelling at her to leave, and he didn’t want to ever see her again. All kinds of crazy things.”

  Paige put her hand over her mouth. “Poor Julie!” she mumbled through her hand.

  “And?” Aunt Shirley prompted.

  “And what?” I asked.

  Aunt Shirley rolled her eyes. “And did you see who it was when they drove away?”

  “That’s just it. I ran back over to our deck, and I waited for the person to leave. Only they never did. The next thing I hear is one of Jim’s tools starting up. The only thing I can figure is they made up or something and she stayed there.”

  Paige blinked back tears. “Do you really think so? I’d hate to think they were breaking up already. Do you think we should call her and see if she’s okay?”

  “I wondered the same thing…but then I’d have to admit I was eavesdropping over at Jim’s, and I don’t want to do that.”

  “Did anyone see a car drive into Jim’s place tonight?” Aunt Shirley demanded.

  “No, no, no!” my mom said, turning to Aunt Shirley. “You guys are not going to go butting into things that do not concern you…especially this week. This week is all about Paige…not figuring out some mystery!” She ended her tirade by downing the last of her drink.

  I was just about to open my big mouth and get myself into a lot of hot water when I looked out the window into the pitch black and saw a car turning on their headlights. The weird thing was they had already pulled out of our shared driveway and gone about twenty yards down the blacktop before they turned on their lights.

  I caught Aunt Shirley’s eye. She’d noticed it, too. With a small shake of her head, she let me know I was to keep my mouth shut and not say anything.

  I almost groaned aloud. I also knew this meant I was probably going to get myself into some hot water pretty soon.

  Chapter 11

  I woke up to pounding on the bedroom door. I rolled over and groaned. The pain of that little movement about made me pee. I tried to open my mouth, but it seemed to be glued shut.

  It took me a few seconds to realize the pounding on the door was actually inside my head. I tried to think back to how many drinks and jello shooters I’d had the previous night…but even that was too painful. Thank goodness I’d taken some headache medicine before going to bed. I’d hate to think how I’d feel now if I hadn’t.

  I heard Paige stirring in her bed. “I hate to think how we’re going to feel Saturday morning after the bachelorette party,” she croaked.

  Perish the thought!

  I didn’t say anything. Instead I concentrated on making the room not spin. Hoping I had a good hold on everything inside me, I closed my eyes and tentatively sat up.

  “It looks like our moms were thinking ahead. They put water next to our beds,” Paige whispered.

  I slowly turned my head and saw a tall glass of water. Reaching out for it, I drank it in three gulps. I almost felt better.

  “I suppose we should be sociable and go upstairs,” I said once I could formulate words.

  Paige didn’t say anything. But she threw back her covers and flung her feet over the side of the bed. Following suit, we both shuffled up the stairs.

  Aunt Shirley, Mindy, Bea, and my mom were already sitting around the table eating breakfast and drinking coffee. The table was set with scrambled eggs, cinnamon baked apples, and biscuits.

  “I figured you guys could use the biscuits to soak up some of that alcohol,” Mom said as she set down plates for us.

  It smelled wonderful. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, reaching for two biscuits.

  “Is Megan still asleep?” Paige asked.

  “I think so, dear. You girls had a late night,” Bea said.

  I groaned. She wasn’t kidding.

  “So what’s on our agenda today?” Mindy asked.

  I looked over at Paige. As far as I knew we had everything ready to go. The cake was being prepared, the florist was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and everyone else was due in Saturday or Sunday.

  “I’m just gonna start making more jello shots for the bachelorette party Friday night,” Aunt Shirley said as she poured Irish Cream into her coffee.

  “Oh, my gosh. Are you still drinking?” I asked.

  Aunt Shirley laughed. “Hair of the dog that bit you, kid.” She took a big slurp of her coffee and grinned. “Hair of the dog.”

  Suppressing a shudder, I took a swallow of my own strong, black coffee. “I think I’m going to go for a walk and look for spots to take wedding pictures. Kinda get an idea of things beforehand.”

  * * *

  I pulled my hat over my ears and picked up my sunglasses and camera. Now that I’d had a good breakfast, two more glasses of water, and another handful of pain reliever I felt pretty good.

  The glare from the fresh snow made me glad I’d grabbed the sunglasses. I headed down to the dock. These days we just kept a pontoon for cruising the lake.

  Stepping onto the dock, I felt my body sway with the rhythm of the water. I lifted my camera and snapped a picture of the contrast between the white snow and blue water.

  “I know you’re here!”

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Startled, I looked up to see what was going on. Unfortunately, all I saw was a blue Ford pickup with the driver’s side door still open parked behind Jim’s truck.

  “You hear me, Cleary? I know you’re here because your pickup is parked outside! I told you on the phone the other day that you’d better get my shit done or I was comin’ for you! I’m sick and tired of you putting out-of-towners before locals!”
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br />   I made my way up to Jim’s house. As I passed by his workshop, I noticed the window was still open. He must have forgotten to close it last night after he finished cleaning up. Boy was he going to regret that when he walked into the shop. It couldn’t be more than twenty degrees outside.

  I rounded the corner and saw a large man in a dark blue stocking cap banging on Jim’s front door. Didn’t take a genius to realize he was pissed.

  “Can I help you?” I rudely asked. I didn’t know who this man thought he was…but I wasn’t going to let him bully my friend.

  The big giant whirled in my direction. His eyes narrowed as he looked me over from head to toe. My skin crawled.

  “Who’re you?” he demanded.

  “I live in the house over there,” I said, pointing to our place. “You’re making enough noise to wake the dead. Figured I better see what all the commotion was about.”

  The man sneered. “How about you go back inside your house and stay in the kitchen where you belong, and I’ll stay right here pounding on this door until the son-of-a-bitch opens up!” He turned and started pounding on the front door again.

  “Hey, numb-nuts. Maybe he’s not here. You ever think of that?”

  Why is it my mouth runs before my brain can tell it to stop? But his nasty comment about me and the kitchen pissed me off. Especially since I obviously never spent time in the kitchen.

  The man stopped pounding, turned, and very slowly made his way toward me. It took all my effort not to back up a step, but I wasn’t going to let him see I was scared.

  Stopping just two feet from me, he leaned down and jabbed me in the chest with his big, beefy finger. Well, he actually jabbed my coat and the three layers of clothing I had on underneath the coat…but the intent was still there!

  “Hey…you…leave my niece alone or I’ll rip off your balls and feed them to you!”

  I laughed.

  I thought I was grabbing the bull by the horns with this guy. I felt her sidle up next to me. I still hadn’t turned around…didn’t want to give this guy the upper hand.

  “That so, old lady?” the vile man sneered. “I’m thinking you two uppity broads need a nice, strong man to put you in your place.”

  Aunt Shirley whipped out her snub-nose revolver. “I’m thinking your momma should have taught you better manners. Now, get your ass off this property before I blow a hole right through you!”

  The man sputtered and practically tripped over his feet as he raced to his truck. Jumping in he closed the door and gunned the truck into reverse, then shot out of the driveway like his tail was on fire.

  Aunt Shirley chuckled as she tucked the gun into the back of her elastic-waist jeans. How in the world the gun didn’t slide down was beyond me.

  “I thought Garrett made you give that gun to him after the last time you pulled it out on someone?” I said. Aunt Shirley had pulled that very gun out on another person back when we were trying to solve the murders a couple months back. Once all the whoopla had died down, and the murder was solved, Garrett had heard that Aunt Shirley had a gun…he told her to hand it over. I had assumed Aunt Shirley had complied. Obviously not.

  “I told him the truth. I didn’t have it any longer. In fact, I told him to check my apartment…which the little ingrate did!”

  “And where exactly was it?” I asked. I knew my aunt well.

  My aunt laughed. “I told Old Man Jenkins if he let me stash it in his Oat Bran cereal box I’d let him touch my boobs.”

  I shook my head and laughed. I’d have given anything to see Garrett’s face when he realized he’d been bested by my aunt.

  “So what’s going on here?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  “I don’t know. I was down at the dock taking pictures when I heard that guy pounding on Jim’s door and yelling. I came up here to see what all the commotion was about.”

  “I was in the kitchen making up more jello shots when I saw him, too. I had just enough time to grab the gun from my bedroom and haul ass over here.”

  “I’m thinking we won’t mention the gun to Mom or anyone else, okay? No sense getting everyone up in arms.”

  Aunt Shirley grinned at me. “Good thinking.”

  I looked around and didn’t see any signs of Jim. “I wonder where he is? His truck is still here, and he left the window open in his shop.”

  “Maybe he worked all night and accidentally fell asleep in there. I’m sure it’s heated, so that wouldn’t be so bad.”

  I followed Aunt Shirley to Jim’s workshop. The door was shut. Aunt Shirley reached out and pushed the door wide open. He obviously wasn’t worried about thieves.

  Aunt Shirley was right. The spacious workshop was semi-warm as we stepped inside.

  “Hello, Jim, are you in here?” I called out.

  No response.

  “I’ll go look over here,” Aunt Shirley said pointing to an area containing lots of lumber and even more saws. “You check over there by the cabinets he was working on. Look for clues. Overturned tools, maybe blood.”

  “Stop!” I cried. I was suddenly afraid to move. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Jim. Just thinking about what Aunt Shirley was suggesting left me queasy.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” Aunt Shirley soothed. “Hell, maybe he left with the person in the car last night. Ya know…went to go get a little hanky panky on.” She wiggled her eyebrows in a lewd manner. “Make up sex!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “I doubt that. Besides, he has a house…why leave with the person?”

  Aunt Shirley sighed. “Just go look you big sissy.”

  Biting back curse words, I turned and made my way to the cabinetry. I stepped onto a tarp Jim had set down to catch some of the sawdust. The crinkling noise quickened my heartbeat and I felt my pulse jump. Willing myself to calm down, I tiptoed as best I could through the sawdust. Obviously Jim hadn’t cleaned up totally like he’d planned.

  I stopped in front of the cabinets and looked around. Outside of all the sawdust, everything looked normal.

  I’d just turned to make my way back toward Aunt Shirley when I saw a pair of boots sticking out from the side of one of the cabinets.

  Chapter 12

  “Jim,” I whispered. My voice seemed unable to register above a whisper. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “Jim, are you okay?”

  I peered around the cabinet a little more. My eyes traveled up from his boots to his chest. My breath caught in my lungs, making my chest hurt. Jim was lying on his side, a pool of blood all around him, with the cordless drill and that two-foot auger bit sticking out of his chest.

  Crying out, I ran over to where he was. I dropped down on my knees and reached down to pull the drill out of his chest. “Don’t touch it. He’s already dead. Touching it will contaminate the scene more than we already have,” Aunt Shirley said.

  I looked over at her, ready to yell at her apparent apathy toward my friend, when I noticed she was ghost white and shaking a little.

  That was my undoing. I started to cry. I wish I were one of those girls who could find dead bodies and be totally unaffected…but I’m not. This was my third dead body in as many months, but this was even worse. This person I liked. This person was a family friend.

  It took all my effort to stand up. When I looked back at Aunt Shirley, she held her arms out to me. I didn’t need to be asked twice. I ran to her arms and cried as she held me.

  “We’re gonna have to call 911 soon,” she said when I’d stopped blubbering.

  “I know.”

  “You got your phone handy?”

  I quietly chuckled. “Of course. Garrett says it’s practically attached to my hand at all times.” I groaned, thinking of Garrett. “I’m going to have to tell Garrett what’s happened, and he’s going to blow a gasket over the fact I found another dead body.”

  Aunt Shirley scoffed. “If he expects to stick around, he better get used to it. It’s not like you did it on purpose.”

  I knew she was right, but I still had
a heavy heart. I knew this would put a damper on the wedding. Mom, Paige, and Matt were going to be devastated. Jim had become a friend. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

  Looking one last time at Jim, I pulled out my phone and called 911. I gave them the information and hung up. “Should we go tell the others, or what should we do?”

  “We need to stay here. Call your Mom and have them bring something warm to drink. I hate to admit it, but I’m about ready to freeze. I just grabbed a light jacket when I went into my bedroom to get the gun and run over here.”

  I looked sharply at Aunt Shirley. “You don’t suppose that guy had something to do with this, do you? Maybe he came out here and killed Jim, then maybe somehow saw me and thought he needed an alibi so he started pounding and making noise thinking I’d come over and investigate?”

  Aunt Shirley shook her head. “I don’t think so. Jim has been dead awhile. Definitely longer than twenty minutes,” she said softly.

  “Oh, right.” I sniffed, trying to hold back the tears.

  “But it’s definitely worth mentioning to the police when they arrive.” I could sense Aunt Shirley was hesitating, wanting to say something more. It wasn’t like her to beat around the bush.

  “What else?” I asked.

  “I know you aren’t going to want to hear this, but we need to think about what we saw and heard last night. You overheard an argument with a female—maybe Julie, maybe not. Then we saw a vehicle sneaking out of the driveway without their lights on. This looks bad for Julie. I know she’s your friend, so I’ll let you play it however you want, but maybe you just stick with facts. You overheard an argument with a female. You didn’t see a car, and you didn’t see the person. Let them put the pieces together of who they think it is.”

  I hadn’t even thought about that. Not only was I doing to have to answer questions about finding the dead body, but now I was most likely going to have to implicate a lifelong friend. This day officially sucked.