Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2)

by Jenna St James

  “Then what do you want me to do?”

  Aunt Shirley gave me a disgusted look. “Well, duh, I want you to look for clues.”

  I sighed. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. “Okay, give me your hands.”

  Aunt Shirley locked her hands together. I put my right foot in her hands and on the count of three propelled myself up. Grabbing onto the ledge, I felt around for the soft spot like Aunt Shirley had taught me and yanked hard. The screen popped out. I dropped it down and pushed the window all the way up. Luckily, it was wide enough for me to crawl through without ripping the skin off my sides. I looked down at Aunt Shirley to let her know I was ready to hoist myself up the rest of the way.

  Aunt Shirley’s face was red and she was starting to shake. “Can you push me up a little more?” I asked.

  “Can you lose a little weight?” she countered.

  My nostrils flared. How dare she criticize my weight! This was all her corny idea, not mine. I was about to tell her to piss off when she suddenly pushed her hands up. I shot straight up into the air and fell head first through the window, landing on my back. The air left my body.

  “You okay in there?”

  I tried to ignore her. At this point I wanted nothing to do with her, and I cursed myself for letting her talk me into something so stupid.

  “Hey, you hear me in there?” she demanded.

  Sighing, I pushed myself up and looked around the room. If I survived this night…I was going to kill her. I turned on my flashlight app and illuminated the room.

  “I’m fine.”

  There were two interior doors in the building. I was betting one led to a bathroom and one to an office. I headed to the door on the right. I skirted around the tarp on the floor and stopped in front of the door. I was suddenly afraid to open it. Twenty-eight years worth of scary movies were behind that door.

  Taking a deep breath, I yanked open the door. Heart pounding nearly out of my chest, I flashed my phone around real quick to make sure the Boogeyman wasn’t waiting for me. When nothing grabbed for me, I slowly entered the room.

  “What’s going on?” Aunt Shirley yelled.

  I took in my surroundings. “Looks like his office,” I yelled back. Moving forward I went to Jim’s desk. There were so many papers scattered about…I didn’t know where to start looking.

  Picking up a couple invoices, I noticed there were a lot that Jim had stamped “late notice” on. I recognized Larry Blackwell’s name on two of the late notices. Seems ole Larry didn’t want to pay his bills. Maybe that’s why Jim had stopped doing work for him. But would that be reason enough for Larry to kill Jim? It seemed kind of weak to me.

  I’d just flipped through my fourth invoice when I heard Aunt Shirley yelling. “You gotta split, now!” she cried.

  Panicked, I dropped the invoices.

  “What’s going on?” I yelled, rushing out of the office and toward the window.

  “Not sure,” Aunt Shirley cried, “but headlights are coming this way. Get out of there!”

  Keeping my phone low to the ground so the light wouldn’t give me away, I ran the rest of the way to the window. Luckily the window was waist-high from the inside…it was the drop outside that was the killer. I flung one leg over the ledge of the window and looked down at Aunt Shirley’s panicked face. Flinging my other leg over, I teetered on the edge of the windowsill. I suddenly wished my coat was filled with down to help cushion the long fall.

  “I’ll be damned,” a male voice growled, “if I’m gonna wait to get what I want.”

  I sucked in my breath. I knew that voice. Willing myself to remain calm, I motioned for Aunt Shirley to move out of my way so I could drop safely to the ground.

  “There’s tape across the door,” a teenaged voice said.

  “I don’t give a shit. Tear it down.”

  Pushing myself off the ledge, I landed with a jar.

  “Damn, I bit my tongue,” I hissed, letting my tongue hang down as tears filled my eyes. Hunching over, I motioned for Aunt Shirley to follow me home.

  She shook her head.

  Oh, crap…what now?

  The light in the Morton came on. Panic like I hadn’t felt in a long time engulfed me. I shot out across the side yard, praying I’d make it home safely without being seen. I’d made it almost to my yard when I realized Aunt Shirley wasn’t beside me. Stopping, I looked around wildly.

  There was just enough light out that I could see her near the tire of Blackwell’s truck. I knew it was Blackwell the minute he opened his loud mouth. I put my hands on my knees and breathed deeply. I seriously needed to get into better shape if Aunt Shirley and I were gonna keep doing this kind of crazy stuff.

  I stood up and waved Aunt Shirley over. She took off like a rocket across the side yard. For an elderly lady, she could move. I’d venture to say she outran me.

  I turned and ran the rest of the way up the deck. Plopping down on an Adirondack, I waited until she slid into the chair next to me.

  “Whew! That was a close one,” she said.

  “What were you doing over there,” I demanded.

  Aunt Shirley smiled. “Just making life difficult for them.”

  “You know who it was, right?”

  “Hell yes. I’d recognize that belligerent voice anywhere.”

  Me, too. “Why would they risk coming here?”

  “Don’t know. Let’s go inside and have a drink. I think we earned it.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You do realize we accomplished nothing tonight. I didn’t find anything valuable in the building except past due notices to Jim’s customers.”

  Aunt Shirley smiled at me. “We learned Blackwell isn’t afraid to cross police tape to get inside Jim’s building.”

  I nodded. “But I’m not sure that really tells us anything.”

  Aunt Shirley frowned. “Me, either,” she admitted. “I wish I knew what he was looking for.”

  A sudden noise had us looking over at Jim’s. By this time it was too dark to see, but we could tell Blackwell and the young boy were struggling with a large object.

  “Lift your end higher, we still need to get it into the back of the truck,” Blackwell snapped. “Now, go make sure that tape is back across that door.”

  Neither one of us had spoken during this exchange. “Are we just going to let them take stuff from Jim’s?” I whispered.

  “Don’t see how we can stop them,” Aunt Shirley replied.

  I sighed. I didn’t like this one bit.

  “Of course, he may not like the consequences,” Aunt Shirley chuckled.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s just say pretty soon Blackwell may need to start looking for a new tire.”

  I gasped. “What did you do?” I whispered gleefully.

  “There might have been an incident involving me and the valve stem core.”

  We had just turned to go inside when Blackwell suddenly stopped his truck and jumped out. We could hear a lot of cursing and I’m betting a few tire kicks. Looks like it could be a long night for Blackwell and the boy.

  Giving Aunt Shirley a high five, I quietly made my way downstairs and snuck back into bed. It took a while for my adrenaline-rushed body to calm down enough to sleep. I hoped this was the last of our late-night excursions, but I had a feeling it was just the beginning.

  Chapter 14

  I’d actually gotten around the next morning before Aunt Shirley had a chance to pound on the door to tell us to get up. I’d rather eat my toe than listen to her quote something lame about the early bird getting the worm or some other whacked saying she loves to spout.

  I tried calling Julie, but it went straight to voicemail. I texted her and asked her to call or text me immediately.

  Deciding to see who was up, I slipped on sweats, sweatshirt, and house slippers and traipsed up the stairs. The living room was nice and bright. Aunt Shirley was standing on the back deck. I went into the kitchen and made a cup of coffee from the Keurig. Paige and Megan were
sitting at the table writing out a list and talking about the wedding.

  Taking my coffee with me to keep my hands warm, I opened the French doors and stepped out into the brisk morning.

  “It’s so cold that I can see your breath even though you aren’t talking,” I said.

  Aunt Shirley turned to me, e-cigarette in hand and a guilty look on her face.

  “Dammit, Aunt Shirley, I thought you’d given that stupid thing up!”

  Aunt Shirley shrugged. “I’ve cut back a lot. This is the first time you’ve seen me smoking, ain’t it?

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “No, this is the first time I’ve caught you smoking. Big difference.”

  Aunt Shirley waved her hand in the hair. “Whatever. Same thing.”

  Not wanting to get into an argument, I counted to five. “Megan, Paige, and I are going into town to the flower shop to check on everything there. We need to get the time narrowed down when the flowers will be available to pick up. Then I was thinking about stopping by the bakery, see if Susie has heard anything more about Jim’s murder. You wanna go?”

  “Of course. Someone’s gotta ask the pertinent questions.”

  I rolled my eyes and told her she had ten minutes to get her ass out to the car or we’d leave without her. She was ready in five minutes. Guess she knew I meant business.

  I went into Mom’s room to let her know what we were doing. “We’re heading into town to run some errands. We need to see about the flowers and check on the wedding cake. Do you need anything?”

  “No. We may run to the grocery store later, but I’m not sure yet. You guys take care…and please don’t get into trouble.”

  I gave Mom a kiss and promised we’d be home later. I didn’t promise we wouldn’t get into trouble. Mainly because I’ve learned not to promise things that aren’t certain.

  Aunt Shirley, Paige, Megan, and I piled into the Falcon and headed into town.

  Like Susie’s bakery, the flower shop was located in the heart of downtown Cavern Beach. The building was an old, brick building with a solid green awning covering the front of the shop.

  “Good morning,” a petite, brown-haired woman smiled at us from behind a counter loaded with flowers. “How may I help you?”

  “I’m Paige Hanson. You guys are doing the flowers for my wedding on Sunday.”

  The small woman lit up. “Oh, yes, Ms. Hanson. It’s so nice to finally meet you in person. We’ve done so much talking through e-mails and texts, I feel I already know you.” She came over to us and shook our hands. She had a nice, firm grip. I hate people who give limp-noodle handshakes.

  “I was just stopping by,” Paige said, “to see what time the flowers will be ready on Sunday.”

  “I can open the store after church. Say around eleven? Is that soon enough?”

  Paige looked at me. “Since you’re the one picking them up, is that okay?”

  I smiled reassuringly at her. “Of course. I’ll already have my hair done, so all I’ll have to do is slip on my amazing bridesmaid dress when I get home. Megan, can you help Mom and Bea make sure the flowers get set up where they need to be?”

  Megan patted Paige’s arm. “Don’t worry…I’ll help make sure everything is perfect.”

  “Then I guess eleven works,” Paige said.

  As Paige and the shop owner finished up, a middle-aged woman with short, curly brown hair rushed in, clutching her coat tight against her frail body.

  “Good morning.” Her weak, nasally voice went straight to my brain.

  “Good morning,” Aunt Shirley said.

  She looked around to find the owner. Seeing her with Paige, Ms. Nasal walked toward them.

  “I’ll be right with you,” the flower shop owner said.

  “No hurry, I guess,” Ms. Nasal said. “It seems that’s the word around these parts, at least.”

  I lifted a brow and gave Aunt Shirley “the look.” Rude people piss me off.

  “Are you here for flowers?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  “Fake flowers,” Ms. Nasal corrected. “I’m tired of sitting around and waiting for our contractor to get out to our place. He was supposed to be done with our house last week. But it seems no one is in a hurry around here. So I decided to come to town and pick up the arrangement for the front room.”

  “You’re building a house?” I asked.

  “Yes. Worst decision ever!” Ms. Nasal whined. “Our contractor is constantly not showing up. Just this morning he was supposed to be over…and no surprise, he’s a no show!”

  My heart dropped to my stomach. While I’m sure there were lots of contractors in town, I had to wonder about those that didn’t show up when they were supposed to.

  “Who’s your contractor?” I asked Ms. Nasal.

  “Jim Cleary,” she spat. “I swear, if we weren’t so close to finishing, my husband and I would fire him in an instant! He doesn’t know how to keep customers happy.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Jim is dead, you heartless bitch. Maybe you should watch your—”

  Aunt Shirley coughed beside me.

  “Dead!” Ms. Nasal cried. “Who’s going to finish my house now?”

  Obviously realizing I was about to reach over and snatch out the rest of Ms. Nasal’s hair, the flower shop owner rushed over to us. “What can I get for you?” she asked Ms. Nasal.

  “A personality would be great!” I said.

  Aunt Shirley chuckled. “I taught you right,” she said, pulling me out of the shop.

  “Can you believe she said that?” I asked incredulously.

  “It was horrid,” Paige agreed.

  “I have to wonder if we shouldn’t be looking at either his sub-contractors or unhappy homeowners,” Aunt Shirley said. “It seems there were a lot of people unhappy with Jim’s speed.”

  I’m not sure why, but it annoyed me that Jim was suddenly the bad guy. Mainly because he wasn’t able to defend himself.

  “Well, on a happier note, I totally love my flowers. The bouquets are going to be beautiful. Now for the cake!” Paige said.

  “That means our next stop—”

  “Hey, you!” A sudden jerk on the back of my arm had me spinning around. There stood Larry Blackwell in all his sexist glory. “I don’t appreciate being questioned by the police.”

  “I don’t appreciate being manhandled by a pig…so we’re even,” I said, yanking my arm out of his grasp.

  Aunt Shirley, Megan, and Paige circled Larry.

  He was trapped…surrounded by a bunch of women who’d rather string him up than look at him.

  “Larry…Larry…Larry,” my aunt taunted. “Two truths you should always remember…never turn your back on an ocean wave, and never turn your back on a woman. Both can kill you!”

  Blackwell’s face turned three different colors. “Now look here,” he said, pointing his finger in Aunt Shirley’s face. “I don’t take kindly to a bunch of nosey broads sticking their noses in where it don’t belong.”

  “Seems to me it’s noses you don’t take kindly to,” Aunt Shirley said without missing a beat.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Blackwell sputtered.

  We all laughed at Larry’s expense. “C’mon girls, let’s go,” Aunt Shirley said. “Larry…can’t say it’s been a pleasure.”

  “Get back here. I ain’t done with you yet,” Larry cried.

  We left Larry sputtering to himself and headed toward the Falcon. “I say we eat the goodies at Susie’s bakery,” Paige said.

  “As long as she don’t try feedin’ us that health food crap,” Aunt Shirley said. “If she does, I’m out!”

  I gave her my best stink eye. “You’ll eat whatever she has there. Don’t go insulting her.”

  “Humph!” Aunt Shirley muttered, crossing her arms and glaring out the window.

  It only took a few minutes to drive to Susie’s bakery. I walked in behind Aunt Shirley, and my mouth immediately began watering at the smells.

  “One second, please,” Susie call
ed out from behind the curtain.

  “No hurry, Susie. It’s just Paige and the rest of us,” I yelled out.

  A few seconds later the curtain opened and Susie hurried out carrying a tray of scones. I could tell from her swollen eyes she’d been crying.

  “You’re here just before the lunch hour rush,” she said as she set the scones on the counter.

  I glanced at Aunt Shirley. I wanted to be careful how I approached Susie. We’d all changed so much since we were young girls, so I wasn’t sure what would set her off.

  “These look delicious, dear,” Aunt Shirley said as she approached the counter. “Oh, are you okay? You look upset.”

  Tears filled Susie’s eyes. “Of course I’m upset. My sister is using again—I found syringes in her purse—and Jim has been murdered!” Susie covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

  Paige and I ran around the counter and embraced her. “I’m so sorry,” Paige said, patting Susie’s back. “You must be devastated.”

  Susie wiped the tears from her face. “I am. I haven’t spoken to Julie yet. She’s not taking my calls.” Tears threatened to spill again. “But I do have comfort in knowing an arrest should be eminent.”

  My breath caught in my throat. I sent a panicked look to Aunt Shirley. “What do you mean,” I asked.

  Susie stepped back from our embrace. “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” she said, pulling a Kleenex from her apron and wiping her eyes, “but Officer Dillon stopped by this morning to get some coffee and scones. He knows Jim stops by…” her voice trailed off and the tears started flowing again. “I’m sorry. I guess I should say he knows Jim stopped by here all the time. He said the Chief had already fingered someone. It was just a matter of putting the pieces together.”

  The spit in my mouth dried up. Had Garrett not called the Chief? Did Chief Taggart really think I had something to do with this?

  “Those look mighty good,” Aunt Shirley said eyeing the scones.

  “Do you want one?” Susie asked.

  “Sure do,” Aunt Shirley said.

  “How about coffee for everyone?” Susie suggested.

  Susie busied herself by making coffee and dishing out a scone to Aunt Shirley. “Are you still going ahead with your bachelorette party tonight?” she asked.