Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2)

by Jenna St James

  I cut myself off and looked quickly at Aunt Shirley. I was going to say someone in the real estate business. Someone who was jealous of Jim and Julie…someone who dealt with them both…and that person was Whitney!

  Could Whitney have done something like this?

  “I think we’ve answered all your questions. Now, if you aren’t going to arrest us, we’d like to leave,” Aunt Shirley said.

  Chief Taggart slowly looked at each of us. “I’m not arresting you right now because I know you’re staying in town for a couple more days. Just know, I plan on making an arrest soon.”

  My heart dropped to my stomach. I could think of a handful of people the Chief should be looking at...why was he so adamant on pinning these murders on me? Was he seriously that lazy in his duties?

  The three of us got up to go. I have to admit, I was moving much faster now. I just wanted out of the station as quick as possible.

  The sunshine hitting the white snow hurt my eyes as we walked out of the police station. It must have been a lot darker inside the station than I realized. Squinting against the sun—wishing I’d brought sunglasses—I got behind the wheel of the Falcon. Instead of starting her up, I laid my head against the steering wheel.

  “Don’t worry, Ryli, Matt will be here in a few hours, and Garrett will be here tomorrow. They will figure out what to do,” Paige said.

  I lifted my head off the steering wheel. “This is my mess, Paige. I appreciate you trying to encourage me, but this is my fight. I want to solve this case on my own, not run to Garrett and Matt because someone is being mean to me.”

  “Atta girl!” Aunt Shirley said, slapping me on my shoulder. “This isn’t anything we can’t solve. Granted, there’s a whole town full of people that may have wanted those two dead, but I’m thinking it’s someone close to them. You know what they say…most victims know their killers. And Taggart was right about one thing…it may have been a crime of passion.”

  “Right,” I said, starting the car and heading toward Susie’s bakery. “I think it’s time to push Susie a little harder. I want to know what Taggart asked her.”

  Chapter 20

  There were only three customers in the bakery when we entered. Susie was getting orders around while another girl behind the counter was ringing them up. I figured the girl was Carrie, the one Josh had a thing for.

  It didn’t take long for the customers to get their goodies and head out the door.

  “Hi, guys. Can I get you something?” Susie asked.

  “How about some coffee for us?” I suggested. “Then do you think you could sit with us for a second?”

  “Coming right up.”

  A few minutes later Susie came over to a table carrying four cups of coffee in a travel tray. She set the tray down and slid into the empty chair.

  “This is the first time I’ve sat down all morning,” she said. “I went to the station around six o’clock so I wouldn’t be late opening up. Carrie finished getting the last of the donuts and scones out while I was gone.”

  I looked over at the girl wiping down the counter. She had earbuds in and was humming along to the music coming through her iPod.

  “We just came back, too,” Aunt Shirley informed Susie. “How long were you there?”

  “Not long. Chief Taggart basically asked me what time I arrived at the party. What was I doing around four o’clock that afternoon.” Susie looked at me sheepishly. “He wanted to know if I saw you at any time that afternoon between three and five…maybe around Julie’s place.”

  “Are you serious?” I said disgustedly. “I have no idea why this creep has it out for me, but this is ridiculous!”

  “Don’t worry,” Susie said hurriedly, “I told him I hadn’t seen you at all until I arrived at the party.” She dropped her chin to her chest and sighed. “The truth is, I closed up shop a little early. I was looking for Jolene most of the afternoon.”

  “Jolene?” Paige asked.

  Susie looked down at the floor then took another sip of her coffee. Finally she said, “I haven’t seen Jolene since Friday morning. She came to the bakery to see if she could borrow my car. I told her no. We had a fight. I tried calling her cell a bunch of times, but she didn’t answer. So I closed up the shop and left.”

  “Did you find her?” Paige asked.

  “No. I went out to her trailer, looked around there, but nothing. I found all sorts of things I didn’t want to see…but I didn’t find her. So I came back to the shop, got the cupcakes and truffles I’d already prepared for your party, then went home to shower and get ready.”

  “So are you saying you haven’t heard from your sister in over twenty-four hours?” I asked.

  Susie nodded. “That’s right. But this isn’t the first time she’s pulled a disappearing act. She did this a few weeks back, too.” Susie swiped at a tear that escaped. “That’s when I first realized she was using again. I went out to her trailer and saw the drugs.”

  “Did you tell Chief Taggart she’s missing?” Paige asked.

  Susie bit her lip. “No. The thing is, I don’t think the Chief would take it seriously. He doesn’t exactly…he doesn’t…”

  “He doesn’t think a lot of your sister and her lifestyle?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  Susie met her eyes. “No, he doesn’t.”

  “Maybe we could drive by her mobile home since you’re busy here today,” Paige said. “You know, see if she’s there but not taking your calls.”

  Susie grabbed Paige’s hand. “Thank you. I’d appreciate it. Now, I better get back to work…I have a wedding cake to put the finishing touches on.”

  Once Susie gave us Jolene’s address, we finished the coffee and decided to head out. We still had to drive by Julie’s place and see what we could find out there.

  We were putting on our coats and heading out the door when Susie called me over to the display case. I gave Paige the keys to unlock the car and told them I’d be right there.

  “Ryli, I wanted to tell you something without Paige around. I want it to be a surprise. I have one of those wedding archways with flowers intertwined in my garage. I was wondering if you’d want to use it—I mean, if you aren’t already using the flower shop’s archway.”

  “I love that idea!” I said. “We actually didn’t rent one from the flower shop.”

  Susie bit her lip. “The thing is, it’s pretty large and bulky. Carrie has church Sunday morning, and you know I can’t rely on Jolene…I totally hate to ask this, but do you think you’d have time to run by my house and help me load it real quick on Sunday?”

  “It’s no problem at all. I have to run into town anyway around eleven to pick up the flowers, so I can probably swing by around eleven-fifteen if that’s okay?”

  Susie clapped her hands together. “That’s perfect! After seeing the layout Friday night, I realized the archway would be a beautiful touch. And with everything that’s gone on the last few days, I really wanted to give Paige something extra special. Let me give you my address.”

  Once I got her address, I gave her a hug. “That’s so thoughtful of you, Susie. It’s been very hard for Paige to get excited about the wedding with all that’s gone on.”

  “You girls be careful today…and I’ll see you around eleven-fifteen tomorrow. Call me if you find out anything about Jolene, please.”

  “Will do.”

  The glare outside made me wish once again I’d brought my sunglasses. I jogged over to the Falcon and got in.

  “What was that about?” Paige asked.

  “Wedding stuff. Nothing you need to worry about,” I smiled at her.

  * * *

  I wasn’t exactly sure where Julie lived. I Googled her name and was able to get a current street name. I didn’t figure it would be too hard to find, what with the crime scene tape up.

  A few minutes later and we were creeping along Pike Street at a snail’s pace. The houses on this side of town were not located within water’s distance. I guess growing up here and having access
to the lake all the time made Julie not want to live directly on it.

  “There it is,” Paige said, pointing to a cute, one-story house. Well, cute if you didn’t take into account the fact it had police tape all over the front door. It had a one-car garage and was no bigger than twelve hundred square foot. There were large picture windows on each side of the front door.

  “How the hell are we going to look through the windows without everyone seeing?” I asked.

  “We’re going in through the back. Pull down the side street here and park,” Aunt Shirley said.

  “Maybe we should do this at night,” Paige suggested.

  I looked in my rear view mirror at her. “Tonight? When Matt and Nick are here? How do you suggest the three of us go about that without attracting unwanted attention?”

  Paige stuck her tongue out at me. “It was just a suggestion.”

  “If we’re lucky, she either didn’t lock her dead bolt to the back of the house, or she doesn’t have one. If it’s just a standard lock, I can get us in,” Aunt Shirley said.

  “No! No way are we breaking into Julie’s house!” Paige said, sitting up straight in her seat. “I didn’t realize we would be breaking and entering. I just thought we were looking through windows!”

  I looked over at Aunt Shirley. I hated to pull Paige into this, but there’s no way I wasn’t going in…not with Taggart hot on my ass. I needed to see for myself what the crime scene looked like.

  “You aren’t going in,” Aunt Shirley said to Paige. “You’re gonna be the look out. Your job is to sit in the car and make sure no one comes. If they do, text Ryli and let her know. Ryli, put your phone on vibrate.”

  I did what Aunt Shirley requested. “Now, who has a plastic card we can use? It may or may not get damaged. I can’t guarantee anything.”

  I rummaged around in my wallet. “I have a Home Depot card, will that work?”

  Aunt Shirley held out her hand. “It’ll do.”

  Paige scooted over to the window closest to the street so she could see clearly. Aunt Shirley and I casually made our way through the back of Julie’s yard. Luckily the snow muffled any sound we might have made.

  We walked up the two stairs and onto a sparsely decorated wooden deck. A small table with two chairs took up one side of the deck, and a large gas grill took up the other side.

  Aunt Shirley bent down and stuck the Home Depot card down by the door handle. She gave it a few slides. I was still a little skeptical it would work. I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming down the street. I heard a click.

  “I’m in,” Aunt Shirley grinned at me.

  The back door opened into a tiny laundry room off the kitchen. “Make sure you wipe your feet off on that rug. I don’t want us traipsing snow throughout the house,” I said.

  “This isn’t my first rodeo, kid. I know what I’m doing.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So what exactly are we looking for?” I asked as we entered the kitchen. There were dishes piled in the sink, with lots of caked on yuckiness. “Obviously she was too distraught over Jim to do dishes,” I mused.

  “I’m not exactly sure what we’re looking for…just something out of the ordinary. Something that doesn’t fit,” Aunt Shirley said.

  We made our way into the living room. I gasped. There were bloodstains on the couch and on the carpet. “I just wasn’t expecting it,” I said to Aunt Shirley.

  “I know. It’s always hard. I’d say she was stabbed over here while they were both standing. Notice how there are tiny splatters that lead to the couch. So then Julie stumbles over to the couch…probably surprised and hurting.”

  I let out a little sob. I couldn’t help myself. I hated the thought of Julie being in pain like that. She was such a nice person.

  Aunt Shirley looked at me and continued, “Then I’d say she just sat down on the couch to die. Taggart said she was stabbed in the stomach and the heart, but I can’t tell if she was stabbed in the stomach while standing and then immediately in the heart, or if she was stabbed in the heart while she was sitting on the couch. I’m not an expert in blood splatter.”

  I held up my hand. “Okay, please…enough. Let’s just see what we can find.”

  I looked around the living room and saw countless wadded up Kleenexes on the end table. I guess whoever processed the scene didn’t think they needed to collect all the Kleenexes.

  “She’d obviously been crying over Jim, which makes sense,” I said. I ran my hands around the cushions to see if I could feel anything.

  “Anything?” Aunt Shirley asked. She’d unzipped her camo parka and lifted her sweatshirt over her hands while rummaging through the end table drawer to make sure she didn’t leave fingerprints.

  “Nothing,” I said. I knelt down on my knees to feel around under the couch. I heard a noise and looked up. Aunt Shirley was heading down a hallway.

  “Where are you going?” I hissed. “We need to stay together in case Paige texts.”

  “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I gotta pee.”

  “Are you crazy! You can’t use the bathroom…it’s trashy.”

  Aunt Shirley peeked her head back around the corner to me. “When you get to be my age, you’ll understand. When you gotta go, you gotta go. My bladder dictates my life.”

  Shaking my head, I started feeling under the couch again. Figuring if I had some light it would go faster, I got out my cell phone and pulled up the flashlight app. Flashing the light under the couch, I saw something near one of the couch legs. I’d just grabbed it when my phone vibrated in my hand. I slipped what I found in my pocket without looking and pulled up the text.

  “Oh, shit,” I yelled.

  It was from Paige. Cops! Get out now!

  “Aunt Shirley, we need to haul ass now!”

  Silence.

  I glanced out the large picture window and saw Officer Dillon pulling into the driveway. Officer Clark was with him. “Aunt Shirley!”

  “I hear ya! Go, go! I’ll go out this way.”

  I pivoted, crouched low, and ran like hell through the living room. It wasn’t until I’d skidded through the kitchen and into the laundry room that I realized there was probably no door for Aunt Shirley to escape from. Heart thumping wildly in my chest, I was about to turn around and go fetch her when I heard the front door opening.

  Grabbing the back door with my sweater, I silently opened it and locked the bottom lock. I could hear the two officers talking in the living room. I slipped out the back door and eased the door shut behind me.

  Praying to God none of the boards creaked, I made my way across the deck and down the two side stairs. Once my feet hit the snow, I took off like a rocket toward the Falcon. I could see Paige jumping up and down inside the car, motioning for me to hurry.

  I happened to glance over my right shoulder and about had a heart attack. The window screen flew off the window and landed in the snow. Slowing my pace, I watched as Aunt Shirley threw a leg over the ledge of the windowsill. Next came an arm. Unfortunately, she couldn’t right herself to throw the other leg over. She fell sideways out the window.

  Thud!

  She landed so hard snow flew in all directions. I was hoping her huge parka cushioned some of the fall. Before I could change directions and run to help her, she looked up and saw me. Motioning for me to keep going, I quickly walked toward the Falcon…the whole time watching her.

  I knew she had to be crawling on her hands and knees, but the parka was so huge, all I could really see was this large lump of camouflage moving swiftly in the snow over to the back side of the house. Using the corner of the house, she slowly eased her way up to a standing position. Looking in both directions to make sure the coast was clear, she took off across the lawn toward the Falcon.

  I reached down and pulled the car door open and slid inside. I could hear Paige screaming in the backseat, but my brain couldn’t process what she was saying. I hadn’t had an adrenaline rush like this since Sharon plied me with ketamine and chased me
through the church with a knife.

  “Oh, man that was fun! Go, go, go,” Aunt Shirley cried as she slid into the passenger’s seat. On automatic, my hands went up and started the car. I pulled out onto the street and started driving. I had no idea where I was going.

  I got to the end of the road and pulled over again. “What’re you doing?” Aunt Shirley said, giving me an odd look.

  I looked down at my hands on the steering wheel…they were shaking. “I just need a minute.”

  “Are you okay?” Paige whispered. “You look pale and your hands are shaking.”

  “I haven’t felt this panicked in a while…not since Sharon,” I said.

  “Understandable,” Aunt Shirley said without much sympathy. “But remember we have a job to do…and that’s to keep your butt out of jail. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do.” She let out a little yell. “Man, I miss these days!”

  Knowing she was right, and I didn’t want to spend even an hour in jail, much less the rest of my life, I gave myself a little shake. “I found something,” I said, digging in my coat pocket to retrieve the item that was under the sofa.

  Paige leaned up from the back seat and Aunt Shirley turned sideway in her seat. I opened my palm and revealed a syringe. “Oh, crap,” Paige said, looking at Aunt Shirley and me. “Now what do we do?”

  I looked at Aunt Shirley. “Only two people I know that use syringes…Whitney and Jolene.”

  Chapter 21

  “Where did Whitney say she was going to be today?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  “Just give me a minute to think. I’d been drinking a lot last night, so my mind is a little fuzzy,” I said.

  “She said two houses. She was showing two houses, one was on Murray Street or something like that,” Aunt Shirley said.

  Paige hit the seat in front of her, startling Aunt Shirley. “I remember! It was Montgomery. She was showing a house on Montgomery and a house on Sage. I remember Sage because I remember giggling in my head and wondering if the house on Sage would smell like sage.”