Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2) (10 page)

“And now it seems I’m the main suspect in Jim’s murder,” I
said.

Susie brow furrowed. “Wait. Why would Chief Taggart think
you had
anything
to do with this? That makes no sense.”

My thoughts exactly!

“I don’t know. I guess because I told him about what I saw
the night before.”

Susie looked questioningly at me. I was torn. I didn’t want
to gossip about Julie or throw suspicion on her, but I also didn’t want to go
to jail! “Wednesday night I went outside to get some air. It was pretty late
and dark outside. I heard yelling down at Jim’s workshop, so I walked over to
investigate.”

Susie gasped. “What did you see?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “I just heard Jim shouting and so
I left before I could see anything.”

“Shouting?” she asked.

I shifted in my chair. Again torn on what to say.

“Just tell her,” Aunt Shirley said with her mouth full of
scone.

I looked at Paige and Megan. They both nodded. “I heard him
saying stuff like the person should leave, he never wanted to see them again.”
I didn’t say I thought it was Julie.

Susie’s mouth dropped. “Omigod. Are you thinking he was
fighting with Julie?”

“I didn’t say that!” I exclaimed. “I don’t know who he was
fighting with. I never saw the person. And when they left, I didn’t see the
vehicle, only that they didn’t turn on their headlights until they got out of
the driveway.”

I knew how bad it sounded for Julie and my heart hurt. “I’m
not prepared to say it was Julie.”

“Of course not,” Susie said hurriedly. “I doubt it was.”

Susie folded her hands and took a deep breath. “How was he
killed? No, never mind. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to think of him like
that.”

I was glad she wasn’t going to make me describe the brutal
scene again. I wasn’t sure I could go through that.

“Do you think…” Susie bit her lip.

“What?” I asked.

“Do you think Julie will admit to being out there and
fighting with Jim?”

I looked sharply at Aunt Shirley. I hadn’t thought of that.
What if Julie denied she was at the workshop fighting with Jim that night?
Should we believe her and focus on other female suspects…or does that pretty
much make her guilty?

“I say we go pay a visit to this Amber Leigh,” Aunt Shirley
said.

I’d just turned the Falcon onto Main Street, ready to head
home. Of course she’d want to take a detour. Although, I kinda had to agree
with her about this Amber Leigh lady.

“I’ll plug in the address,” Paige said from the backseat.

It only took a second to pull up the directions for Jim’s
office on Google Maps. I let the soothing voice on the phone tell me where to
go.

When we were kids, this section of the town had been all
open fields. The only reason to even go on this side of town was when we were
headed to Sunbury, a neighboring town.

Now there were streets and houses mixed in with businesses.
I turned on Sycamore Drive and drove the recommended distance the lady on
Goggle Maps told me to. And what do you know…my destination was on my right
like she said.

“Ryli, at some point the girls and I will distract Amber
Leigh. You make a break for it and go snoop around Jim’s office,” Aunt Shirley
said.

“How about I just ask to use the restroom and have a look
around Jim’s office,” I countered.

And actually not get
myself shot at.

“What if the bathroom is in the front area?” Aunt Shirley
argued.

I sighed. “If the bathroom is in the front area, we’ll
improvise. How’s that?”

Aunt Shirley huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine. But I like
my way better.”

I pulled the Falcon into the large parking lot the three
businesses shared. I found rock star parking in front of Jim’s office.

“I’m going to text Debbie real quick and see if she’s heard
from Julie,” I said. I scrolled up and got the number Julie left me and sent a
quick text.

The four of us got out and headed straight for Jim’s office.

Expecting the door to be open, I nearly yanked my arm out of
its socket when the door never budged. I jerked repeatedly on it so it made
noise.

A petite, mid-thirties woman in sweats and sweatshirt walked
toward the door, hands on hips. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and
her face was red and swollen. She stood on the other side, but never bothered
to open.

“Open the door,” Aunt Shirley yelled.

“Go away…we aren’t open today. Or any day for that matter.”
The woman turned away and started walking away.

What the hell?

The four of us started pounding on the door and side
windows, yelling for her to open up. This totally pissed her off. She stomped
back over to the front door and flipped a latch. Yanking open the door she
shouted, “What part of ‘we ain’t open’ don’t you understand?”

I silently took in her swollen eyes and grief etched on her
face. I immediately felt bad for harassing her. No matter what her intentions
were with Jim, she was obviously grieving.

“Are you Amber Leigh? Jim’s secretary?”

She crossed her arms over her non-existent boobs and
demanded, “Maybe. Who wants to know?”

“I’m Ryli, and this is Aunt Shirley, Paige, and Megan. I
live next door to Jim out on the lake.”

Amber Leigh stumbled backward as though she’d been slapped.
“Omigod. You’re the woman that killed Jim! Chief Taggart told me what you did!”

What the hell was that
man thinking…pretty soon I’ll have an actual town posse after my ass.

“I didn’t kill him,” I assured her.

“That’s what
you
say. Chief Taggart told me differently.”

“She didn’t kill him,” Aunt Shirley said, taking a
threatening step toward Amber Leigh. While I appreciated the gesture, bullying
the woman wasn’t going to help make her see I was innocent.

“What do you want?” Amber Leigh demanded.

I was about to say I wanted to catch Jim’s killer and was
she that person…but luckily cool-headed Paige came to my rescue.

“We were wondering how you were holding up. We figured you
must be devastated,” Paige soothed.

“I am,” Amber Leigh pouted.

“Jim mentioned you the last time we talked,” I added. Of
course I left out the part that it was to tell me how she’d messed up an order
and now had some guy ready to pound him. I didn’t think that’d win me any
points.

Amber Leigh immediately brightened. “He did?” she asked. “I
always figured he bragged about me to others. You know, I single-handedly ran
this whole operation for him. If it wasn’t for me, that wonderful man would
have never gotten to where he was.”

Delusional much?

“Can I use your restroom?” Aunt Shirley asked. I shot her a
look. What was she up to? That was supposed to be my job.

Amber Leigh narrowed her eyes at Aunt Shirley. I guess she
figured an old woman couldn’t do much harm because she pointed down the hall.

Paige and Megan tried to distract her with small talk. At
first Amber Leigh answered their questions with one-syllable responses, but I
could see she was getting restless by the way she kept looking at her watch.
Finally after ten minutes and still no Aunt Shirley, she made her way to the
hallway.

“I’ll get her,” I shouted. I was hoping that would alert
Aunt Shirley to the fact her ruse was up.

Aunt Shirley came teetering back into the room waiving her
hands. “Whew! Don’t go in there for awhile.” Her scrunched nose made me laugh.

Amber Leigh was about to nut out.

“Jim seemed like he was doing great with the business,” I
said. I wanted to get Amber Leigh back on track.

She turned back in our direction. “He was such a dreamer…while
I was the down-to-earth captain that ran this ship. We made a great team. It
was only a matter of time before we took the next step and merged our business
and personal life.”

“I thought he was seeing Julie,” Aunt Shirley said.

I heard Megan almost lose it behind me. Amber Leigh obviously
didn’t know Aunt Shirley was purposely baiting her.

“Well,” Amber Leigh said, “You didn’t hear this from me, but
Jim was getting ready to dump Julie and move on. He’d finally realized the
great team we made.”

Was this true, or was she just trying to make herself look
good? Could Jim have really been ready to dump Julie and that’s what the fight
was about the night he was murdered?

“What about Josh, how’s he holding up?” I asked.

Amber Leigh rolled her eyes. “That boy was such a pain. The
way he followed Jim around like a little lost puppy was so pathetic. Jim was
usually good about tolerating him…but I could tell he was annoyed a lot.”

“What a bitch,” Aunt Shirley mumbled behind her hand.

“Excuse me?” Amber Leigh said.

“I said…I have an itch,” Aunt Shirley said, pretending to
scratch her nose.

“Do you have his address?” I asked.

“Why?”

“We just want to make sure he’s doing okay,” Paige said
softly.

“Well, I’m not supposed to give out phone numbers or
addresses, but I guess I can get it for you.”

A few seconds later, address in hand, we all piled into the
Falcon. I glanced down at my phone and noticed I’d gotten a text while inside
Jim’s office. It was from Debbie. I quickly read the text.

“Seems Debbie hasn’t heard from Julie, either,” I informed
the girls. “I’m beginning to really get worried about Julie. I say we cover all
the bases. Before we head over to Josh’s place, we go over to Julie’s work
first. Maybe she’s either checked in or someone there knows where she may be,”
I said.

Julie’s real estate office was a brick building situated on
one of the busier streets in town. The large sign out front read
Paulsen
Real Estate.
The business shared a parking lot with the Dollar General next
door.

“Welcome to Paulsen Real Estate.” A buxom brunette greeted
us from behind a long counter. “How may I help you?”

She was between twenty-five and forty. With Botox so popular
nowadays, sometimes it’s hard to tell. I’m not sure why, but to me she looked
like a Botox user. I peered a little closer at her breasts and saw her name was
Tammi. “Well, Tammi, we’re friends of Julie’s. We aren’t able to get ahold of
her. Do you happen to know where she might be today?” I asked.

“Oh, isn’t it just awful,” Tammi wailed, lifting a tissue to
dab delicately at the edge of each eye. “We’re all still in shock. We worked a
lot with Cleary Construction over the years. Jim was such a nice man.”

“Yes, he was,” I said. “But we’re worried about Julie. No
one is able to reach her.”

Looking over each shoulder to make sure no one was around,
Tammi leaned in toward us. “You didn’t hear this from me, but I heard the
police are questioning her.” By the gleam in her eye, I’d say this wasn’t the
first time she’d repeated this little bit of news. In fact, I’d bet my left foot
this was the person that called Whitney to tell her about Julie not coming in.

“Well, I’ve met your Chief…I’m sure accusing everyone is his
way.”

Tammi tilted her head. The puzzled look on her face led me
to believe she had no idea Chief Taggart was an idiot. “What do you mean?” she
asked.

I looked over at Aunt Shirley. She gave me a little nod. “I
mean, he doesn’t seem all that competent. Instead of conducting a thorough
investigation, he seems ready to pin this on anyone…even me…without proof.”

Tammi’s nostril’s flared and her lower lip quivered. “How
dare
you accuse my uncle of shoddy police work! If he’s looking at you for the
murder…then I’d say you’re the murderer.” She jumped up from her chair and
pointed her perfectly French-manicured hand to the door. “I think you’d better
leave…now!”

The four of us shuffled out the door. “Well, that went
well,” Aunt Shirley grumbled.

“Do you think we learned anything?” Paige asked.

I laughed. “We sure did. We learned Cavern Beach is like
Granville…it’s a small town and everyone is pretty much related to everyone!”

“True,” Aunt Shirley agreed. “But we also learned Chief
Taggart is looking pretty hard at Julie. Why else would he demand her presence
at the police station instead of questioning her at her house after such a tragedy?
Maybe he did hear what you said about having overheard an argument with a
woman.”

This didn’t sit well with me. I felt like I was betraying
Julie. Just because I overheard an argument didn’t mean I was convinced it was
Julie. Jim seemed to be fighting with a lot of people lately over business.
While I admit the argument with the female in his shop sounded more personal, I
wasn’t willing to risk a friend going to jail on this assertion.

We started toward the Falcon when Aunt Shirley grabbed my
arm. “I need to run into the Dollar General real quick. Gotta pick up
something.”

“Give me the keys,” Paige said. “Megan and I will warm up
the car while you two run in.”

Handing her my keys, Aunt Shirley and I made our way into
the store. The layout was pretty much the same as it was in Granville. I
followed Aunt Shirley as she made her way to the cosmetics area. “What’re you
getting?” I asked.

Aunt Shirley stopped in front of the dentures section and
picked up a bottle of Fixodent. “My dentures keep falling out. I’ll tell you
what, ever since they took Rigident off the market, life for denture wearers
has went to shit.”

She snagged two packages of Fixodent off the shelf and
shoved them in my hands to hold. I started walking toward the checkout line
when Aunt Shirley suddenly tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hey, I forgot something. I’ll be right there. Go ahead and
get in line.”

There was only one guy ringing up people. That’s usually the
way it is at our Dollar General, too. He looked to be around twenty, carrot-red
hair, freckles galore, and skinny as a pole. I set the two boxes of Fixodent on
the conveyer belt and watched as they slowly made their way to Red.

By the time our purchases were being rung up, Aunt Shirley
was standing next to me. A nice-looking man in a business suit fell in line
behind us.

“My grandma likes this brand,” Red said as he rang up the
Fixodent.

“It’s the only thing that works for me now that they’ve
taken Rigident off the market. Best stuff there ever was,” Aunt Shirley reminisced.

Suddenly out of nowhere another box came flying past me,
landing on the conveyer. I looked down at the box.
Trojan: Ribbed for His
and Her Pleasure.

I turned and glared at Aunt Shirley…at the same time wishing
the world would open up and swallow me whole. I heard a chuckle from behind.
The gentleman dressed in the suit holding a Coke was staring at the box. I
accidentally made eye contact.
       

Feeling my face heat up, I ducked my head down and prayed
the poor cashier boy would not die of embarrassment—much like I wanted to do.

“Hey, cool,” Red said. “I like these ones, too!”

I jerked my head up so fast that I heard my neck crack.

Another chuckle from end-of-the-line Coke guy.

“You can’t even—you can’t have—why do you—never mind.” I was
shaking so hard I couldn’t even get the words out.

Red was gently placing the condoms in the same bag as the
Fixodent. Unholy images of Aunt Shirley and Old Man Jenkins flashed through my
head. Images that will haunt me until the day I die.

“Oh, my God,” I moaned. “Just give him the money.”

“Simmer down,” Aunt Shirley snapped. “It’s not like no one
here’s never seen a box of condoms. I should be getting an award for practicing
safe sex!”

A full-blown laugh from end-of-the-line Coke guy. Grabbing
the plastic bag, I practically ran out of the store…cursing Aunt Shirley the
whole time.