Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2) (19 page)

She was.

“Put your hands together,” Susie demanded as she snatched up
some rope off the workbench. I was trying to come up with a plan to get us out
of this mess, but nothing was coming to me. Susie stuck the gun in her
waistband and proceeded to tie my hands together.

I looked over at Aunt Shirley again. She still hadn’t moved.

Susie finished tying me up, pulled the gun back out of her
pants, and motioned for me to sit on the wooden barstool next to the workbench.

I sat down and silently watched as Susie went to stand by
Jolene. She tucked the gun back into her pants. In the blink of an eye, Susie
slapped Jolene across the face with her open palm. Jolene moaned but didn’t
open her eyes. “You’ve always been a worthless sister,” Susie sneered. “I guess
I’ll have to do this all on my own…then blame it on you like I did our parents’
death.”

I jerked my head up.

Holy shit…was she
confessing to killing her parents? If I managed to get us out of this alive, Hank
was gonna give me a huge promotion with the story I was going to give him.

“Why did you kill your parents?” I asked.

Susie glared at me. “Shut up, Ryli. I’ll get to you after I
take care of your nosey aunt.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. I couldn’t let her kill Aunt
Shirley. “Please don’t hurt her,” I said, standing up from the barstool.

Susie whipped out the gun and pointed it at me. “Don’t even
think of moving. Sit back down,” she said as she walked backward toward Aunt
Shirley.

Susie stared down at Aunt Shirley, who was still out cold. She
reached down and yanked Aunt Shirley’s arms up and started dragging her across
the cement floor on her back.

“Jesus, old lady,” Susie said, pausing to wipe sweat from
her brow, “lose some weight. It’s like dragging cement sacks.”

I prayed to God Aunt Shirley didn’t wake up and hear Susie…Aunt
Shirley would go postal on Susie’s ass. Which would definitely end with Aunt
Shirley being shot.

Susie opened a door I hadn’t noticed at the back of the
shed. She tugged Aunt Shirley’s unconscious body inside the room.

Jumping up from the seat, I frantically searched for my cell
phone in my pocket. I’d heard it vibrating twice in the last two minutes. I
knew it had to be Garrett, worried why I wasn’t back yet. I just didn’t know
how to let him know where I was.

I started whimpering when I realized my hands were too
tightly bound to reach into my pocket and retrieve my cell. Trying not to let
panic set in, I tried to think of a way to stall Susie.

“I told you to sit down!” Susie screamed as she came back
into the room.

“Where’s Aunt Shirley?” I demanded.

Susie smiled at me. “In the shower. I figure after I kill
you, I can just shoot her in the shower and let the blood drain out. No mess to
clean up. So practical…so practical,” she practically sang as she went to stand
near Jolene.

How is it I seem to
attract the nuts? First Sharon and now Susie! I’ve gotta start branching out…or
stop hanging out with women whose first name starts with an S.

I felt my pocket vibrate again. Time to stall until I could
come up with a way to let Garrett know where I was.

“Okay, I give. Why did you do all this?”

Susie’s hate-filled eyes locked on me. She hit Jolene upside
the head again. “Do you know what it’s like to grow up with a sister addicted
to drugs? A sister that’s done nothing but spread her legs for any guy that
will give her something for free?”

“No.”

Susie laughed bitterly. “All my life I grew up with this
messed up piece of trash for a sister. Every time she’d get in trouble, my
parents would come down harder on
me
!
I never did anything wrong, because I wasn’t allowed to do anything!”

A light was beginning to come on…but I didn’t know how
Jolene’s pathetic life led to Julie and Jim having to die.

Susie picked up a knife lying near the table. “The night
before I killed my parents, they told me they didn’t want me going to my senior
prom. They said since Jolene had managed to get in trouble with the law that
night by getting high, leaving the dance, and then getting into a car wreck,
that somehow
I
might fall into that
same routine.
Me!
”

I watched in horror as the knife accidentally nicked her
under her chin when she pointed to herself.

“You know those moments of clarity some people say they
have?” Susie said. “That’s what it was for me. I knew all I had to do was get
Jolene high as a kite, set the fire, and watch her take the blame.”

Tapping the blade against Jolene’s head, Susie continued,
“But that worthless Taggart couldn’t make shit stick to you, could he my little
meth whore? Nope, no matter how many lies I told about seeing Jolene going to
my parents’ room that night, about her being mad they took her drug stash away,
the threats she supposedly made…he let her walk!”

Susie slapped Jolene again. This time Jolene moaned and
tried to open her eyes.

“I thought getting rid of my parents would make things
easier for me…but no, I had to stay with Julie and her strict-ass parents until
I turned eighteen and the insurance kicked in.”

“Susie,” Jolene moaned hoarsely, “what’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry your pathetic little meth head
over,” Susie sneered down at her sister.

“Okay.” Taking Susie at her word, Jolene closed her eyes and
fell blissfully into a drug-induced sleep.

“Disgusting, isn’t she?” Susie asked.

“But you never said why you killed Jim and Julie. What did
they ever do to you? I mean, Julie took you in when—well, after you
cold-bloodedly murdered your parents.” I knew I probably shouldn’t taunt her,
but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

“Please,” Susie spat. “You think I wanted to go live with
her? I couldn’t wait to get away from that pathetic loser. I hated her as much
as Whitney did. I couldn’t wait to get out of this town and away from
everything here.”

I tried to stay focused on her confession, but my mind kept
trying to formulate an escape plan.

“I’d made some sound investments with the money I got from
the insurance company. So when I came back, money in hand, Jim was so helpful
in building me a house. Then he helped me renovate the bakery in town. We were
spending so much time together…” Susie trailed off, looking into space. “I’d
listen to Whitney go on and on about how she thought Jim was in love with
her
because they spent so much time
together building and selling houses. Ha! That stupid bitch was so delusional!”

Pot meet kettle…kettle
meet pot.

Narrowing her eyes, she hissed, “Then one morning Julie
stopped by the bakery. She said it was just to say hi and ask Jim a question
about one of his houses she was trying to sell. But I could see she was jealous
of how much time Jim was spending with me. That fat cow could protest all she
wanted…I knew better!”

Déjà vu all over
again. Now comes the crazy killer spouting wacked out beliefs.

A shadow passed in front of the shed’s door. Had Garrett
found me already? I hadn’t even texted him yet!

“The night I went out to Jim’s house…the night you all had
your drunken party…I didn’t go out there to kill him.” Susie wiped a tear with
the back of her knife-clenching fist. “I just went out there to tell him how I
felt. To tell him I cared about him. That he didn’t have to seek solace in a
worthless nobody like Julie. And do you know what he said?” Spittle once again
started flying out of her mouth. “He said he was only being nice to me because
he
felt sorry for
me!
”

Touchdown! We’ve
officially reached crazy town!

“When he said that…well, I just saw red.”

Blood red…like your
red velvet cake.

I was suddenly glad Paige didn’t go with my choice of
wedding cakes.

“Luckily the drill just happened to be sitting on his work
bench. He’s still going on and on about how he wants me to leave and never come
back. I grabbed the drill and made a run at him,” Susie laughed. “He was so
surprised…he didn’t know what hit him!”

My stomach rolled and pitched. It was all I could do not to
throw up.

“And that’s when I realized…I could kill Julie and make it
look like Whitney or Jolene did it. I didn’t care which one got arrested. When
I killed Julie, I made sure to drop a syringe I knew both of them used.” Still
clutching the knife, Susie lifted her fist and hit herself repeatedly in the
temple. “But once again that worthless Taggart couldn’t find a body in a body
bag…and he totally missed the clue I planted!”

“Until we found it.”

Susie giggled. “That must be why Whitney called me last
night spouting off about you and your crazy aunt accusing her of murder. Oh, I
wish I could have seen her face when you accused her.”

The door to the shed quietly slid open. Since Susie had her
back to the shed door, she couldn’t see Garrett and Hank as they crept in. I
tried to make my face as blank as possible…I didn’t want to give their position
away.

Susie sighed and put the knife on the table. “But now things
have gotten so complicated. Jolene has outlived her usefulness.” Susie reached
down and tried to lift Jolene into a sitting position, slapping her repeatedly
in the face.

“What?” mumbled Jolene, trying to open her eyes.

“Dear sister,” Susie crooned, “I have one more job for you
to do for me.”

“Where is he?” Jolene said, head flopping around on her neck.
“Will he give me something for free if I’m really good to him?”

“You bet. All he wants you to do is hold this gun and aim it
over there. Once you pull the trigger, you can have anything you want.”

The spit in my mouth dried up. I couldn’t help it when my
eyes darted wildly to Garrett. Seeing my look, Susie quickly grabbed the gun
from Jolene and pointed it at Garrett.

Screaming, I jumped up off the barstool and took off after
her. She pivoted, throwing Jolene off the metal table. Jolene’s head hit the
floor with a sickening thud. That momentarily stopped me in my tracks. I
couldn’t see where Jolene had fallen, but I could see blood starting to pool on
the floor.

“Stay right there,” Susie yelled, pointing the gun between
Garrett, Hank, and me. Without even looking at her sister, she walked over to
where I was standing at pressed the gun against my temple.

“Let’s talk this out,” Garrett said, gently lowering his gun
a little.

Why are you lowering
your gun? Shoot her! Shoot her crazy ass!

“There’s nothing to talk about anymore. I’m going to shoot your
girlfriend, shoot you, shoot him, and then go inside that bathroom and shoot
that pain-in-the-ass aunt of hers,” Susie ranted. “Thank God I placed all this
plastic around, I’d have a devil of a time getting all these blood stains out.”

Susie was still rambling on when I saw Hank’s eyes go wide,
slapping his neck in pain. “What the fuck?” he cried.

That was enough to jar Susie from her rantings. Turning me
with her toward the back of the room, Aunt Shirley was standing in the open
doorway. Before I could scream at Aunt Shirley to run, she lifted the blowgun
to her mouth and shot again.

This time she hit her mark.

Sort of.

The dart landed in Susie’s eye.

Screaming in pain, she dropped the gun from my head and bent
over. “My eye! You bitch! I’ll kill you slowly!” She went to stand back up.
Without even thinking, I swung my rope-bound hands as hard as I could at her
head. I caught the dart in her eye with the back of my hand.

Susie dropped to the floor like a lead balloon. My first
thought was I’d killed her. I looked up as Aunt Shirley came running toward me,
shoving the blowgun back in her parka.

My knees buckled. I’d have went down too if it hadn’t been for
Garrett catching me. “Oh my God, you scared me to death!” he cried, rocking me
back and forth in his arms.

I could see Hank over Garrett’s shoulder. He was cursing and
trying to yank the dart out of his neck.

I heard sirens in the background. “It’s about damn time,”
Garrett muttered. “I told that sorry Chief to get his ass down here ten minutes
ago!”

“How—how did you know where I was?” I stuttered, shivering
as my body went into shock.

Garrett laughed. “Are you forgetting about the tracking app
I put in your phone?”

I pulled back from him, narrowing my eyes. “You never told
me you put a tracking device on my phone!”

“I didn’t? Hmmm…must have slipped my mind.”

I slapped his arm. “I can’t believe you’re tracking my every
move. That’s so stalker like!”

Garrett leaned in and kissed me. “No, that’s what a guy has
to do when he dates a murder-magnet like yourself. Seems every time I turn my
back, someone is trying to kill you!”

Seeing as how he was right, I let it go…for now.

“And you,” Garrett said, pointing at Aunt Shirley. “Where
the hell did you get that thing?”

“No shit,” Hank said. “That hurt like a son of a bitch.”

Aunt Shirley laughed. “Got me a new blowgun for Christmas.”

Shaking his head, Garrett pulled me closer. “I missed you,”
he said as he kissed me again.

“What is it with you crazy broads and darts to the neck?”
Hank grumbled. “How many times can you use that trick?”

I started to giggle against Garrett’s lips. He was right. It
seems there’s always a dart to the neck whenever I’m involved…first Sharon and
now Hank.

“Hold it right there. Put your hands in the air!”

I opened my eyes and looked over Garrett’s shoulder to see
Chief Taggart charging through the door, his gun drawn. “I said get your hands
in the air!”

Garrett tucked me under his arm. “Taggart,” he growled, “I’m
going to give you three seconds to stop pointing that gun at my girlfriend before
I physically remove it from you and make you eat it.”

I giggled again. I couldn’t help it. Garrett managed to say
the very thing I was thinking.

“Hey, looky here what I found,” Aunt Shirley hollered.

I got up and walked over to where she was standing. Inside
the refrigerator was Paige’s wedding cake. The dark pink ribbon made the tiny
cake pop. And the extra touch of edible snowflakes elevated it to stunning.
Just like Susie said it would.