Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2) (7 page)

I woke up to pounding on the bedroom door. I rolled over and
groaned. The pain of that little movement about made me pee. I tried to open my
mouth, but it seemed to be glued shut.

It took me a few seconds to realize the pounding on the door
was actually inside my head. I tried to think back to how many drinks and jello
shooters I’d had the previous night…but even that was too painful. Thank
goodness I’d taken some headache medicine before going to bed. I’d hate to
think how I’d feel now if I hadn’t.

I heard Paige stirring in her bed. “I hate to think how we’re
going to feel Saturday morning after the bachelorette party,” she croaked.

 
Perish the thought!

I didn’t say anything. Instead I concentrated on making the
room not spin. Hoping I had a good hold on everything inside me, I closed my
eyes and tentatively sat up.

“It looks like our moms were thinking ahead. They put water
next to our beds,” Paige whispered.

I slowly turned my head and saw a tall glass of water.
Reaching out for it, I drank it in three gulps. I almost felt better.

“I suppose we should be sociable and go upstairs,” I said
once I could formulate words.

Paige didn’t say anything. But she threw back her covers and
flung her feet over the side of the bed. Following suit, we both shuffled up
the stairs.

Aunt Shirley, Mindy, Bea, and my mom were already sitting
around the table eating breakfast and drinking coffee. The table was set with
scrambled eggs, cinnamon baked apples, and biscuits.

“I figured you guys could use the biscuits to soak up some
of that alcohol,” Mom said as she set down plates for us.

It smelled wonderful. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, reaching for two
biscuits.

“Is Megan still asleep?” Paige asked.

“I think so, dear. You girls had a late night,” Bea said.

I groaned. She wasn’t kidding.

“So what’s on our agenda today?” Mindy asked.

I looked over at Paige. As far as I knew we had everything
ready to go. The cake was being prepared, the florist was scheduled for
tomorrow afternoon, and everyone else was due in Saturday or Sunday.

“I’m just gonna start making more jello shots for the
bachelorette party Friday night,” Aunt Shirley said as she poured Irish Cream
into her coffee.

“Oh, my gosh. Are you
still
drinking?” I asked.

Aunt Shirley laughed. “Hair of the dog that bit you, kid.” She
took a big slurp of her coffee and grinned. “Hair of the dog.”

Suppressing a shudder, I took a swallow of my own strong,
black coffee. “I think I’m going to go for a walk and look for spots to take
wedding pictures. Kinda get an idea of things beforehand.”

I pulled my hat over my ears and picked up my sunglasses and
camera. Now that I’d had a good breakfast, two more glasses of water, and
another handful of pain reliever I felt pretty good.

The glare from the fresh snow made me glad I’d grabbed the sunglasses.
I headed down to the dock. These days we just kept a pontoon for cruising the
lake.

Stepping onto the dock, I felt my body sway with the rhythm
of the water. I lifted my camera and snapped a picture of the contrast between
the white snow and blue water.

“I know you’re here!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Startled, I looked up to see what was going on.
Unfortunately, all I saw was a blue Ford pickup with the driver’s side door
still open parked behind Jim’s truck.

“You hear me, Cleary? I know you’re here because your pickup
is parked outside! I told you on the phone the other day that you’d better get
my shit done or I was comin’ for you! I’m sick and tired of you putting
out-of-towners before locals!”

I made my way up to Jim’s house. As I passed by his
workshop, I noticed the window was still open. He must have forgotten to close
it last night after he finished cleaning up. Boy was he going to regret that
when he walked into the shop. It couldn’t be more than twenty degrees outside.

I rounded the corner and saw a large man in a dark blue
stocking cap banging on Jim’s front door. Didn’t take a genius to realize he
was pissed.

“Can I help you?” I rudely asked. I didn’t know who this man
thought he was…but I wasn’t going to let him bully my friend.

The big giant whirled in my direction. His eyes narrowed as
he looked me over from head to toe. My skin crawled.

“Who’re you?” he demanded.

“I live in the house over there,” I said, pointing to our
place. “You’re making enough noise to wake the dead. Figured I better see what
all the commotion was about.”

The man sneered. “How about you go back inside your house
and stay in the kitchen where you belong, and I’ll stay right here pounding on
this door until the son-of-a-bitch opens up!” He turned and started pounding on
the front door again.

“Hey, numb-nuts. Maybe he’s not here. You ever think of
that?”

Why is it my mouth runs before my brain can tell it to stop?
But his nasty comment about me and the kitchen pissed me off. Especially since
I obviously never
spent
time in the
kitchen.

The man stopped pounding, turned, and very slowly made his way
toward me. It took all my effort not to back up a step, but I wasn’t going to
let him see I was scared.

Stopping just two feet from me, he leaned down and jabbed me
in the chest with his big, beefy finger. Well, he actually jabbed my coat and the
three layers of clothing I had on underneath the coat…but the intent was still
there!

“Hey…you…leave my niece alone or I’ll rip off your balls and
feed them to you!”

I laughed.

I thought I was grabbing the bull by the horns with this
guy. I felt her sidle up next to me. I still hadn’t turned around…didn’t want
to give this guy the upper hand.

“That so, old lady?” the vile man sneered. “I’m thinking you
two uppity broads need a nice, strong man to put you in your place.”

Aunt Shirley whipped out her snub-nose revolver. “I’m
thinking your momma should have taught you better manners. Now, get your ass off
this property before I blow a hole right through you!”

The man sputtered and practically tripped over his feet as
he raced to his truck. Jumping in he closed the door and gunned the truck into
reverse, then shot out of the driveway like his tail was on fire.

Aunt Shirley chuckled as she tucked the gun into the back of
her elastic-waist jeans. How in the world the gun didn’t slide down was beyond
me.

“I thought Garrett made you give that gun to him after the
last time you pulled it out on someone?” I said. Aunt Shirley had pulled that
very gun out on another person back when we were trying to solve the murders a
couple months back. Once all the whoopla had died down, and the murder was
solved, Garrett had heard that Aunt Shirley had a gun…he told her to hand it
over. I had assumed Aunt Shirley had complied. Obviously not.

“I told him the truth. I didn’t have it any longer. In fact,
I told him to check my apartment…which the little ingrate did!”

“And where exactly was it?” I asked. I knew my aunt well.

My aunt laughed. “I told Old Man Jenkins if he let me stash
it in his Oat Bran cereal box I’d let him touch my boobs.”

I shook my head and laughed. I’d have given anything to see
Garrett’s face when he realized he’d been bested by my aunt.

“So what’s going on here?” Aunt Shirley asked.

“I don’t know. I was down at the dock taking pictures when I
heard that guy pounding on Jim’s door and yelling. I came up here to see what
all the commotion was about.”

“I was in the kitchen making up more jello shots when I saw
him, too. I had just enough time to grab the gun from my bedroom and haul ass
over here.”

“I’m thinking we won’t mention the gun to Mom or anyone
else, okay? No sense getting everyone up in arms.”

Aunt Shirley grinned at me. “Good thinking.”

I looked around and didn’t see any signs of Jim. “I wonder
where he is? His truck is still here, and he left the window open in his shop.”

“Maybe he worked all night and accidentally fell asleep in
there. I’m sure it’s heated, so that wouldn’t be so bad.”

I followed Aunt Shirley to Jim’s workshop. The door was
shut. Aunt Shirley reached out and pushed the door wide open. He obviously
wasn’t worried about thieves.

Aunt Shirley was right. The spacious workshop was semi-warm
as we stepped inside.

“Hello, Jim, are you in here?” I called out.

No response.

“I’ll go look over here,” Aunt Shirley said pointing to an
area containing lots of lumber and even more saws. “You check over there by the
cabinets he was working on. Look for clues. Overturned tools, maybe blood.”

“Stop!” I cried. I was suddenly afraid to move. I didn’t
want anything bad to happen to Jim. Just thinking about what Aunt Shirley was
suggesting left me queasy.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Aunt Shirley soothed. “Hell, maybe
he left with the person in the car last night. Ya know…went to go get a little
hanky panky on.” She wiggled her eyebrows in a lewd manner. “Make up sex!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I doubt that. Besides, he has a
house…why leave with the person?”

Aunt Shirley sighed. “Just go look you big sissy.”

Biting back curse words, I turned and made my way to the
cabinetry. I stepped onto a tarp Jim had set down to catch some of the sawdust.
The crinkling noise quickened my heartbeat and I felt my pulse jump. Willing
myself to calm down, I tiptoed as best I could through the sawdust. Obviously
Jim hadn’t cleaned up totally like he’d planned.

I stopped in front of the cabinets and looked around.
Outside of all the sawdust, everything looked normal.

I’d just turned to make my way back toward Aunt Shirley when
I saw a pair of boots sticking out from the side of one of the cabinets.

“Jim,” I whispered. My voice seemed unable to register above
a whisper. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “Jim, are you okay?”

I peered around the cabinet a little more. My eyes traveled
up from his boots to his chest. My breath caught in my lungs, making my chest
hurt. Jim was lying on his side, a pool of blood all around him, with the cordless
drill and that two-foot auger bit sticking out of his chest.

Crying out, I ran over to where he was. I dropped down on my
knees and reached down to pull the drill out of his chest. “Don’t touch it.
He’s already dead. Touching it will contaminate the scene more than we already
have,” Aunt Shirley said.

I looked over at her, ready to yell at her apparent apathy
toward my friend, when I noticed she was ghost white and shaking a little.

That was my undoing. I started to cry. I wish I were one of
those girls who could find dead bodies and be totally unaffected…but I’m not.
This was my third dead body in as many months, but this was even worse. This
person I liked. This person was a family friend.

It took all my effort to stand up. When I looked back at
Aunt Shirley, she held her arms out to me. I didn’t need to be asked twice. I
ran to her arms and cried as she held me.

“We’re gonna have to call 911 soon,” she said when I’d
stopped blubbering.

“I know.”

“You got your phone handy?”

I quietly chuckled. “Of course. Garrett says it’s
practically attached to my hand at all times.” I groaned, thinking of Garrett.
“I’m going to have to tell Garrett what’s happened, and he’s going to blow a gasket
over the fact I found another dead body.”

Aunt Shirley scoffed. “If he expects to stick around, he
better get used to it. It’s not like you did it on purpose.”

I knew she was right, but I still had a heavy heart. I knew
this would put a damper on the wedding. Mom, Paige, and Matt were going to be
devastated. Jim had become a friend. Nothing was ever going to be the same
again.

Looking one last time at Jim, I pulled out my phone and
called 911. I gave them the information and hung up. “Should we go tell the
others, or what should we do?”

“We need to stay here. Call your Mom and have them bring
something warm to drink. I hate to admit it, but I’m about ready to freeze. I
just grabbed a light jacket when I went into my bedroom to get the gun and run
over here.”

I looked sharply at Aunt Shirley. “You don’t suppose that
guy had something to do with this, do you? Maybe he came out here and killed
Jim, then maybe somehow saw me and thought he needed an alibi so he started
pounding and making noise thinking I’d come over and investigate?”

Aunt Shirley shook her head. “I don’t think so. Jim has been
dead awhile. Definitely longer than twenty minutes,” she said softly.

“Oh, right.” I sniffed, trying to hold back the tears.

“But it’s definitely worth mentioning to the police when
they arrive.” I could sense Aunt Shirley was hesitating, wanting to say
something more. It wasn’t like her to beat around the bush.

“What else?” I asked.

“I know you aren’t going to want to hear this, but we need
to think about what we saw and heard last night. You overheard an argument with
a female—maybe Julie, maybe not. Then we saw a vehicle sneaking out of the
driveway without their lights on. This looks bad for Julie. I know she’s your
friend, so I’ll let you play it however you want, but maybe you just stick with
facts. You overheard an argument with a female. You didn’t see a car, and you
didn’t see the person. Let them put the pieces together of who they think it
is.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. Not only was I doing to
have to answer questions about finding the dead body, but now I was most likely
going to have to implicate a lifelong friend. This day officially sucked.

By the time I called Mom, explained what happened, and
everyone came over with coffee and a coat for Aunt Shirley, the police and
ambulance had arrived. Officer Dillon, a young, fresh-out-of-academy looking
boy separated Aunt Shirley and me from everyone else.

Officer Dillon started processing the scene while the EMTs and
coroner took care of Jim’s body. I put off calling Garrett a little longer. I
knew he wasn’t going to be happy.

A heavyset, middle-aged man finished giving orders and
lumbered our way. Stopping in front of us, he hitched up his pants and just
stared at Aunt Shirley and me.

“My name is Chief Taggart. Who found the body?”

I half raised my hand. “I guess I did.”

Chief Taggart curled his lip. “You guess?” he sneered. “Surely
you know. Did you or did you not find the body?”

I was caught off guard. I wasn’t used to open hostility from
the police.

“Hey,” Aunt Shirley said, “how about you take it easy on
her. She’s still pretty shaken.”

Chief Taggart slid his eyes over to Aunt Shirley. “How about
you mind your own business and let me do my job.”

Aunt Shirley’s eyes bugged out and her face turned red. If I
didn’t step in, someone was going to go to jail…and it wouldn’t be Chief
Taggart.

“I did,” I said quickly. “I discovered the body,”

Officer Dillon had joined our small group and was now
listening to the questions and answers.

Once again Chief Taggart looked me over. My skin crawled.
“And what
exactly
were you doing
here? You one of those girls like Jo the Ho?” He cackled at his own private
joke.

“Jo the Ho?” I asked.

Officer Dillon blushed and shuffled his feet in the snow. He
cleared his throat. “I think the Chief is referring to Jolene Shoeman. We’ve
had to pick her up on more than one occasion for soliciting.”

Jo the Ho? What the
hell was this guy’s problem?

I narrowed my eyes at the sexist jerk. “Do I look like a
prostitute?” I held up my hand. “No, never mind. No, I’m not like Jolene
Shoeman.”

“No, guess you’re not,” the Chief spit out. “You got a lot
more meat on your bones than that skinny-legged meth whore. Your hair ain’t as
stringy and oily as hers, either. Definitely not a user.”

I could feel myself shaking with anger. I wanted to make him
sing soprano for a while, but I knew I’d be hauled off to jail in a blink of an
eye. I guess my face said it all because I felt Aunt Shirley grab my arm.

“I live over there,” I said, pointing to our house. “We are here
for a wedding. I came over this morning because I heard someone pounding on
Jim’s door and making threats to him.”

Chief Taggart narrowed his eyes at me. “That so? Pretty convenient.
Can you identify this man?”

“I can’t identify him, but I can describe him and the truck
he was driving.”

I gave him the description and what I overheard. I could
tell the Chief wasn’t all that impressed by the way his eyes glazed over.

“That sounds like Larry Blackwell,” Officer Dillon said.

“Shut up, boy. I’ll do the talking here. Go see if you can’t
find anything useful.”

Officer Dillon shuffled off toward the side of the workshop
facing our house. I felt sorry for him…no one should have to endure Chief Idiot
as far as I was concerned.

“Anything else?” he demanded.

I looked over at Aunt Shirley. She’d remained silent, but I
could tell by the grip on my arm she was getting worked up by this guy, too.

“Only that I overheard an argument last night between Jim
and a female. I was sitting on the deck when I heard yelling. I came over and
heard Jim say to someone they needed to leave. I left before I had a chance to
see who the female was.” I felt torn. I wasn’t telling on Julie, yet I was
making her seem like a suspect.

“And you never saw this person’s car, or saw them leave?”

I could tell by his condescending voice he didn’t believe
me. “No, I didn’t. The back half of the Morton building cuts off any visual to
Jim’s house. Afraid I’d be seen eavesdropping, I decided to turn around and
leave. So I just walked back to the house and told everyone what I heard.”

Now why had I admitted
that?

Again the Chief narrowed his eyes at me. “Dillon,” he
shouted. Within seconds Officer Dillon came jogging over to us.

“Yes, Chief?” he asked.

“You find any footprints in the snow back there by the side
of the shed?”

Officer Dillon’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Yes,
Chief, I did. Also found footprints leading around to the house and some
leading to the workshop. Looks like the same shoe print.”

Chief Taggart smiled at me. “That so? How about you show me
the bottom of your boots? Bet all the treads will match the ones over here in
the blood and sawdust. ”

My pulse raced.
Was he
accusing me of murdering Jim?

“She just told you she was here last night and this
morning,” my aunt cut in. “Of course her footprints will be all over this
place.”

“You know what it sounds like to me?” Chief Taggart said.
“Sounds like you’re throwing an awful lot of suspicion on perfectly upstanding
citizens like Larry Blackwell and make-believe females.”

How could make-believe
females be upstanding citizens? What an idiot!

I wasn’t sure how I felt that Taggart didn’t believe me when
I said Julie had been at Jim’s shop.

“If I were you, Miss Sinclair, I wouldn’t be leaving town
just yet. Seems I have me a number one suspect in you.” Officer Taggart gave me
one last snarl. “Let’s go,” he snapped at Officer Dillon.

The two men got into the police car and left.

Was I really a
suspect?

“Your mom isn’t going to like this one bit,” Aunt Shirley
said gleefully, “but seems to me we have a few days to solve a murder.”