Crime at Cripple Creek (The Sisters Week Series #1)

by Elizabeth Sherry

  Chapter 4

  The women sat up the sewing machine on the dining room table and laid out all the material they needed for their individual projects on the living room floor.

  After about an hour Joy said, “something’s not right. My duck looks strange.”

  Beth walked over to the dining room and saw the problem Joy had with her duck and immediately started laughing. Beth laughed hysterically as she doubled over.

  Lynn got curious so she too joined the others in the dining room. After she examined the duck she laughed so hard, the tears rolled down her cheeks. By now Beth sat on the floor and laughed uncontrollably. Joy looked at her sisters not understanding what was so funny until Beth spoke.

  “Your duck has Sammy Davis Jr. lips!” Beth told her between deep breaths. This made Lynn laugh even harder.

  “I was trying to outline the beak with black to make it stand out more,” Joy told them innocently.

  “Oh, it stands out more, alright,” Beth giggled. “You used the buttonhole stitching and it’s too thick. There’s no more beak. You now have big lips!” Now all three laughed so hard they had trouble stopping.

  After a few minutes the women controlled themselves some. “Sister’s Week has officially begun!” said Lynn.

  “My stomach hurts, I’ve laughed so much,” Beth told them.

  Joy still laughed as she looked at her precious duck. “We’ll help you rip the stitches out,” Lynn told her. “But first we need to get a picture of this and title it ‘the first ridiculous sister’s act of the vacation’. You know we’ll have a lot more to add to the photo album.”

  Lynn left the room to hunt her camera which was probably still packed in her suitcase. She returned a few minutes later and took the pictures as Joy held up her disfigured duck, which started the laughter all over again.

  “Remember the time you two helped the lady in the wheelchair? You both where loading the woman’s bags into her car and forgot you left her wheelchair sitting on a little incline. She was rolling downhill before you both noticed and raced after her,” Beth toke them down memory lane.

  Joy and Lynn laughed some more. “Yes. The woman was so mad at us. We were trying to help her and almost got her hurt. It’s funny now, but at the time, it was a little scary,” said Lynn.

  “The look of surprise on the lady’s face as she rolled backwards down the incline was priceless. I’m surprised she didn’t have a heart attack,” Beth said, “You two are accidents waiting to happen,” Beth added.

  “We told you that you can’t leave us alone or something always happens. We need someone to keep an eye on us. We mean well, but somehow we get in trouble without you around,” Joy giggled.

  “I’m going to stick to you two like glue this trip, well most of the time. I might leave you for a little while when I have lunch with Tyler,” Beth smiled.

  “Ohhh… yeah Tyler. This will be the first time romance is involved in our vacations. I wonder if he has any brothers or friends,” Lynn laughed.

  “Guess I’ll have to ask when I see him but for now, let’s clean up here,” Beth suggested.

  They got down to business as the women removed the black thick stitching from the ducks’ beak. Afterwards, Lynn showed Joy the correct stitching to use to outline the beak. While they all worked on their quilts they shared ideas with each other on what each one should add to their designs.

  “If we are leaving around nine in the morning for the casinos, we need to start picking up our mess and winding things down for the night,” Beth told the others as she yawned.

  “Right, let’s clean up some and watch a little television while we wind it down,” Joy said while she unplugged the sewing machine.

  It didn’t take long for them as they gathered things up and stacked it all next to the living room wall out of the way. Since they were already in their pajamas, they settled down on the sofa and tried to find something interesting on the television.

  Within an hour Beth’s eyes started to close, “I’m beat. See you two in the morning, I’m off to bed.”

  “Me too, there’ll be no sleeping in much tomorrow. Goodnight all,” Lynn said as she stood and stretched.

  Joy too looked about ready to fall asleep as she turned the television off and headed towards her room.

  Beth was suddenly awakened by banging and giggling. She looked at the bedside clock and saw she had only slept for less than an hour. She rubbed her eyes as she got out of bed, she started downstairs towards the noise.

  She saw Joy held a small television in her arms and Lynn sat on the bedroom floor with electrical cords and cables wrapped around her. The picture of the two brought Beth to another round of laughter, “What are you two up to now?” Beth asked.

  “Lynn says her television isn’t working. You know we can’t fall asleep without the television on and the timer set. So we decided to see what the problem is,” Joy said innocently.

  “I’m amazed you two haven’t killed each other yet,” Beth told them. “Joy, does your television work?”

  “Yes, mine does,” Joy answered.

  “OK, Lynn, why don’t you make up the sofa bed for tonight and watch the television in the living room while you fall asleep. Tomorrow when we get back from Cripple Creek we’ll fix this one,” Beth was the one with all the common sense, “Now put everything back on the table and get some sleep,” Beth told them as she walked back to her room. She still heard her sisters giggling quietly.

  Beth lay back down in her comfortable bed and wondered just what kind of trouble her sisters would get into this trip.

  An hour later she still remembered all the silliness her sisters had created on other sisters’ weeks. She definitely needed to watch those two closely. At the same time, she thought back, a lot of their silliness acts were what made those weeks so enjoyable.

  Chapter 5

  As she woke up the next morning after a very restful sleep, Beth made her way to the kitchen and the coffee maker. There, she recalled the antics of the other two last night she shook her head. Her two sisters needed a baby sitter.

  She was usually always the first one up but she didn’t mind. It gave her time to drink her coffee and see the wildlife that came close to the cabin.

  While the coffee brewed she thought back on last night. They all pitched in and cooked dinner and while she and Joy cooked, Lynn made the no bake cookies. Remembering the cookies, Beth smiled, and made up her mind that she had to have a couple.

  Beth also found time and got on Joy’s laptop computer and checked of her emails. She was elated that there was one from Tyler. The subject of Tyler brought a lot of teasing from her sisters but Beth knew they would be happy if she got into a happy relationship. Although Beth wasn’t one who sat around wishfully thinking, the idea of a chance to know him better sat well with her. She also felt torn because this was her sister time and she didn’t want to take away from that time.

  Last night they all decided to drive the twenty minutes to the Cripple Creek casinos and have some fun today, and after a late lunch they would come back to the cabin and enjoy the hot tub again.

  “I smelled the coffee and knew where you’d be,” Joy said sleepily from the back door.

  Beth smiled at her sister and said, “It’s about time you two wake up. We can’t sleep away most of sister’s week.”

  A moment later, Lynn entered the kitchen and searched for orange juice, “Beth, did you see any animals this morning?”

  “No, just a few birds, but I love sitting outside early in the morning and just enjoying the scenery.” Beth always took advantage of the time outside while in Colorado. At home she saw an occasional rabbit or chipmunk but mostly she was too busy to enjoy the outdoors.

  As she grabbed a couple more cookies from the plastic storage container, Beth poured herself another cup of caffeine and said, “I’m going to start getting ready for our fun day at the casinos. Who knows, we might even win a li
ttle money,” she laughed, as she climbed the stairs to the room she picked out as hers for the week.

  Good thing there were three large bathrooms in this cabin. This made getting ready to leave a lot faster. Each of the women spread out all their toiletries in their own bathroom since they didn’t have to worry about making room for someone else. They would be as messy as they wanted until time to leave. Then they cleaned up every room as though they were never there.

  As Beth made up her bed and laid out the clothes she wanted to wear for the day, she heard her sisters in their bathrooms getting ready also. Beth smiled to herself as she thought about the day. It always seemed that the week together flew by too quickly. She wished they could all spend more time per year together.

  All dressed and hair that looked fabulous, Beth began on her makeup. She liked a very light application of makeup. She went for the almost natural look. As she finished up she got a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew what this feeling was. Something was going to happen today, something not so pleasant. She trusted her instincts and knew they would have to be very careful today.

  On the short drive to the casinos they talked about the baby quilts they would work on more tonight. Their younger brother expected a baby boy in three months and since he and his wife lived in Washington State, the baby needed some warm blankets for winter.

  “I’m going to put the big, cute duck in the middle of my quilt and maybe some small ducks on some surrounding squares,” Joy announced.

  Beth had been thinking on her design for the past month and said, “I’m going to have a few trucks on mine. What about yours, Lynn?”

  “I’m thinking teddy bears will be cute. All three quilts will be different and unique,” Lynn added.

  The drive was short and since it wasn’t not close to lunch time yet, the women decided to try some penny slot machines first. The casinos were small and not too busy. They found three machines together that were the same kind, and sat down to try their luck. While they played, they order mixed drinks and it wasn’t long before the three laughed and actually won a few dollars. After a little while they left to check out the other casinos.

  They walked down the little short strip to look in other casinos, but didn’t find anything that interested them, till they came to the last one, where they sat again and ordered more drinks and were having a wonderful time until Beth realized it’s time to eat. They needed some food to absorb the alcohol they had consumed.

  “OK girls, we need to go eat before we end up face down on the floor,” Beth said, always being the common sense one of the group.

  Deciding on eating at the cafe of the first casino they entered upon arriving, they walked back up the short strip. The strange feeling again attacked Beth’s stomach. She glanced all around, but saw nothing strange so she dismissed it for now.

  As she scooted in a corner booth Beth giggled, “That waitress probably thinks we’re all drunk. She must’ve seen us all trip over the little step getting into this booth. And then of course we all have to laugh at each other on top of that.”

  This started more laughter from all three.

  “How would you two feel about playing a little longer after lunch before we drive back to the cabin?” Joy asked.

  Lynn looked from Beth then back to Joy before she said, “we’re not on any time table. We can do whatever we want, when we want.”

  In the casino the women wanted to play different slot machines. Beth wanted to play one about the characters from Oz, while Joy wanted to play one with Egyptian scenes. Lynn chose a machine with a jungle theme.

  Beth played her machine and enjoyed herself when another woman sat down at the machine next to her. They said hello and Beth asked the woman if she would mind watching her machine for just a second while she walked three steps to check on her sister.

  The woman nervously smiled at Beth and agreed. Beth pointed to her sister as she said “I’ll just be a minute, she’s right over there,” Beth left her handbag sitting on the floor at her machine as she walked away. She knew she could keep an eye on it from a few feet away and she’d only be gone a minute.

  Beth returned to her machine after she found out that Joy had won and was enjoying herself. She thanked the woman next to her and continued playing. The woman told her goodbye as she left the machine and said, “I don’t feel lucky on this one but good luck to you and your sister.”

  Beth spun her machine and was surprised she hits a jackpot of four hundred dollars. This brought both her sisters over since the machine rang bells and lights flashed.

  “You picked the right machine. Guess Joy and I need to join you at these,” Lynn said laughing.

  They played for about forty-five minutes as all three won some money, when Beth noticed that was Joy showed less excitement than before. Beth saw that she was even more pale than usual and asked, “Joy, are you feeling alright?”

  “No, I think I got a hold of some gluten somehow. I need to lie down.”

  Lynn took control of the situation and said, “I’ll see about getting us a room. Stay right here.”

  While Lynn left to get a room, Joy laid her head down on the machine. Beth stopped the waitress who walked by and asked for bottled water and some napkins. Beth soaked the napkins with water and mopped Joy’s forehead.

  “That feels good, but I think we need to hurry and get to a room. I’ve been this way before, and know I’ll be sick soon,” Lynn moaned softly.

  “Come on girls, I have a room and the elevators are over there,” Lynn pointed to the end of the aisle.

  They helped Joy stand, and they got her up to the room and onto the bed. “I’ll get some ice for an ice pack, that will make her feel better,” Beth told Lynn as she grabbed the ice bucket and headed out of the room and down the hall.

  Since the casinos were small, each one only had a few rooms. Not knowing where the ice machine was, she walked down the corridor and up three steps until she saw the sign that pointed out another door to the ice machine.

  Beth’s stomach was tied in knots by the time she pushed the door open. On the other side it looked like a construction site but she saw the ice machine a little to the left. Before she slid the bucket under the spout she saw something lying on the floor in front of the machine. She bent and picked it up and saw it was some kind of button. She thought she or her sisters might find use for it in one of their craft projects, so she put it in her pocket. She also noticed something else as she bent down and picked up the button. Something stuck out from behind the machine.

  Beth stepped around the big machine she saw what looked like a blond wig, but as she got closer she saw that it was a woman. She was stuffed behind the machine. Before Beth let out her blood curdling scream, she saw a scarf tied tightly around the woman’s neck and the wide open eyes of the woman who just over an hour ago sat at the slot machine next to her.

  Beth stumbled out the door and back down the hallway and stairs. She screamed all the way. By the time she reached the room her sister were in, five people were in the hall and wondered what had happened.

  “Call the police. A woman is dead behind the ice machine,” Beth told them. She saw that two of the men ran towards were the woman laid.

  “I’ll get the front desk clerk up here,” said one of the women who stood outside her hotel room door.

  “Beth, what is it? Are you alright? I heard you screaming,” Lynn asked, as she stood in the doorway to their room.

  Beth gently pushed Lynn back inside their room and followed her in as she told the people in the hall, “I’ll be here. Let me know when the police arrive,” with that she closed the door and dead bolted it. Why didn’t she listen to her gut? Now what kind of vacation was this going to be?