Old Fashioned Murder (A Ryli Sinclair Cozy Mystery Book 3)

by Jenna St James

  Delbert clapped his hands together. “The nunchaku. A traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon. Good choice! You will not be disappointed. Come, come.”

  He ushered us over to a display case.

  “I thought they were called nunchucks,” I said.

  Delbert shook his head. “They are actually called nunchaku, but people often say nunchucks.” He pulled out a pair that had two wooden handles and a chain hooking them together. He handed them to Aunt Shirley. “Make sure it’s a good length. Hold one handle in your hand and drape it up your arm and to your shoulder.” She grabbed one handle and did what he said. She then held on to one handle and let the other side dangle, moving her wrist slowly back and forth.

  “They got a good feel. I’ll take them.”

  Delbert wiggled his eyebrows at her. “You need me to show you how to use those?”

  Gag!

  “Maybe someday. Right now I’m focused on catching us a killer.”

  Delbert perked up. “Oh, really. I hadn’t heard about a murder in Granville. What happened?”

  “My neighbor at the Manor, Ray Manning, was poisoned.”

  “You don’t say. Any suspects yet?”

  Aunt Shirley scoffed. “Well, outside of me…yes, we got a few. I’m fairly certain Sheri Daniels or Thomas Shifley is the killer. Now it’s just a matter of pinning down which one.”

  “I don’t think I know this Sheri Daniels or Thomas Shifley,” Delbert said. “You girls be careful now. You sure you don’t need another gun?”

  “No!” Paige and I exclaimed at the same time.

  Delbert looked lewdly at Aunt Shirley. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

  Paige and I dragged Aunt Shirley out of Locked & Loaded before she came home with anything more dangerous than the nunchucks. And, yes, I included Delbert in that little scenario.

  By the time we got back to Granville, it was a little after four. I dropped Paige off at the office so she could get her Tahoe and head home. I could see Mindy inside on the phone talking excitedly to someone. I immediately felt guilty for leaving her all day.

  “Let’s go in real quick and see if she needs anything.”

  Aunt Shirley sighed. “Fine. But then I need to get home and relax. I’ve had a hard day.”

  “We haven’t done anything,” I said dryly.

  “Exactly. Which is why I’m tired. Had we actually accomplished something today, like chase a bad guy, I’d be good to go.”

  I kept repeating to myself that as soon as I solved this case, Aunt Shirley was back at the Manor. I had an end in sight. I just had to keep my eye on the prize.

  Mindy saw us and waved us over. We both sat down at our desks and waited for Mindy to finish her call. “Okay, thanks for the info. I’ll talk with you later.” She hung up the phone and gave a girly squeal. “I have it on very good authority that Garrett executed two search warrants today. One for Oak Grove Manor’s files, and a search warrant for Sheri’s house!”

  I gasped. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Garrett would think to search Sheri’s home. After all, he’s the professional. Or so he keeps telling me.

  “I wonder what new evidence arose for search warrants to be served at her personal house?” I said.

  Aunt Shirley frowned. “I told you we should have searched her bedroom! Now Garrett will get the credit and we’ll have to get the story from him.”

  I only heard one thing…an arrest was imminent, and Aunt Shirley was out of my hair! “Guess you can go back home,” I said, trying to contain my excitement, so I didn’t hurt her feelings.

  Aunt Shirley squinted at me. “Not quite. They still have to find the stolen items, link her to Manning’s murder, and officially arrest her first. Which probably won’t happen until tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. They still have to find enough evidence to hold her.”

  I threw up my hands. “I thought you said she did it!”

  “I said maybe she did it. Maybe. I don’t go home until the killer is captured. Period. I’m not gonna be no sitting duck in my apartment, waiting for a killer to come get me.”

  I sighed and rolled my eyes at Mindy.

  “I can see you, you ninny!”

  Plop! Plop!

  I took out my cell phone and read the message from Garrett. “He says he’s pretty sure I’ve already heard about the search warrants. He won’t be home until late. He’ll call me tonight if it’s not too late. Otherwise, he’ll see me tomorrow.”

  “Guess there’s nothing else more for us to do,” Aunt Shirley said. “Let’s go home and make an early night of it.”

  Great, just what I wanted to do…make an early night of it with Aunt Shirley. I was too young to make an early night of it. Even though it’s what I usually did most nights.

  Miss Molly was howling her displeasure at the world in general when I opened the door and went inside. “I’m coming. I’m coming.”

  “I’m going to go change into something more comfortable,” Aunt Shirley said and made a beeline for my bedroom.

  I opened a can of cat food and put it in Miss Molly’s pink, diamond-encrusted bowl. She nudged my hand out of the way and started purring and eating.

  “I’ll warm us up some soup,” I yelled out to Aunt Shirley.

  “Sounds good.”

  I’d just ladled the soup in the bowls when Aunt Shirley walked into the kitchen and handed me a tube. “Ya know, I just don’t understand this lip stuff you have. I’ve been putting it on for a couple days now, and I don’t think it works at all.”

  It was my extremely expensive lip cream for preventative wrinkles around my lips. It cost an equivalent of what I make in one day working at the Gazette. “Where have you been putting this?” I was almost afraid of her answer.

  “On my lips. It says it’s lip cream. But it’s only made my lips really super dry and chapped.”

  I didn’t know whether to strangle her for wasting such an expensive tube of makeup, or laugh at the fact she thought lip cream went on the lips like chapstick.

  I sighed and handed the depleted tube back to her. “You’re supposed to put it around your lips to prevent fine lines and wrinkles.”

  Aunt Shirley cackled and hit me on my arm. “A little too late for me. I have about a hundred wrinkles around my lips. But that makes sense now as to why it was drying my lips out.” She flipped the tube over in her hands. “I bet this stuff works pretty good for people your age. You may have to buy another tube, though. Hope it wasn’t too expensive.”

  I counted to ten and prayed not only that there was still some cream left in the tube, but that someone would solve this case soon so Aunt Shirley could go back to her own place. I wasn’t sure how much more my sanity could take.

  Mom called around eight, and I was glad for the distraction. I was curious how Garrett was coming on Sheri’s house. Did he find any stolen items? Would he arrest her immediately for the thefts or would he wait and build a case for Manning’s murder, also? If he arrested her immediately, I was anxious to hear what his motive was.

  When nine o’clock came and went and I still hadn’t heard from Garrett, I decided to put down the book I was pretending to read and call it a night. Tomorrow was a new day…Valentine’s Day.

  CHAPTER 21

  * * *

  “I took the liberty of ordering us matching Valentine’s Day sweatshirts,” Aunt Shirley said from inside the bathroom.

  No way was I going to be her Bobbsey Twin today. “Didn’t you just get a Valentine’s Day sweater? You remember, that disastrous thing you wore the other day to church.”

  I heard the toilet flush and Aunt Shirley opened the door. “These are waaaay better.”

  I motioned for her to come out so I could go in. “Great, can’t wait.” I closed the door and leaned against it. The last three days, this was the only place in my house I could get privacy. How sad was that?

  I finished using the bathroom and walked out into my tiny dressing area. Aunt Shirley thrust a sw
eatshirt at me and grinned. I was immediately on guard.

  “I’m not so sure about us dressing alike,” I said. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but it just wasn’t happening.

  Aunt Shirley pouted. “I did buy me a backup sweatshirt just in case you threw a big baby fit.”

  “Good.”

  Aunt Shirley waved her arms at me. “Open it up.”

  I held my breath as I slowly unfolded the pink sweatshirt. I read it and laughed. It was actually quite funny. It was a voter’s ballot. There was an empty box for Taken, an empty box for Single, and a checkmark in the box for Who Cares I’m Awesome!

  “I actually like it a lot.” I loved the soft feel of the sweatshirt and the fact it had an extra-wide neck opening, for a sexy collarbone exposure and cleavage look. “I’ll be happy to wear it. But only me. You wear the other one.” I’ve seen Aunt Shirley undressed, and believe me no one wanted to see her wrinkled cleavage today.

  “Fine. I’ll be right out. Then we can head to the office.”

  I paired my new pink sweatshirt with black skinny jeans and black Converse. Cute, yet comfortable enough to chase down a story and a killer if need be. Very practical.

  While Aunt Shirley finished getting dressed, I made us coffees to go. No offense to Mindy, but she was just going to have tea at the office. I needed something with a little more kick this morning. Kick in the shape of caffeine and chocolate.

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  I almost choked on the coffee I’d just swallowed. Why? Why couldn’t she just wear something cute like what I had on? Instead, she had on a pair of red polyester pants with a black sweatshirt that had an image in the center of a large hand holding a gun with the slogan love kills. It looked like the gun was pointed right at you.

  I shook my head. “Why couldn’t you have gotten one that was cute like mine?”

  Aunt Shirley lifted her hands in the air and looked down at her shirt. “What? I think it’s great because it doubles as a public service announcement.”

  I closed my eyes. “Fine. Let’s go. I don’t want to be late. I hate when Hank looks at me all disapprovingly.”

  I left Miss Molly a full bowl of food in the hopes she wouldn’t scream at me when I got home. We each grabbed our coffees and purses and made our way to the Falcon.

  “Hey, should we take a selfie of our sweatshirts for the Gazette page?” Aunt Shirley asked as I started the car and let it warm up.

  “No.”

  “How about for my personal Facebook page? Maybe we should post it there?”

  Instead of answering I pulled the Falcon out of my tiny driveway and headed for the office.

  Plop! Plop!

  “Check that for me, would you?”

  Aunt Shirley dug around in my purse until she found my cell phone. She swiped it open. “It’s Garrett. He basically says good morning, and that he didn’t get in until late last night. No arrest has been made yet, but one should be coming soon.”

  “Darn him for not telling me more! Like did they find any stolen items in Sheri’s house?”

  Aunt Shirley grinned. “That just means we do a little digging of our own today.”

  I nodded and smiled. “Deal.”

  No matter how frustrated I sometimes felt about Aunt Shirley, one thing was certain…together, we made a great team!

  I know it seems I’m always bragging about my commute time, but it’s true. There’s nothing like small-town living when it comes to getting to work in under five minutes.

  Mindy was already busy fielding calls when we walked in. She looked adorable in a red sweater with the word “love” written in pink sparkles, red leggings with tiny white hearts, and red open-toed high heels.

  I unzipped my coat and hung it up, still wondering how the search warrants came out. I had some contacts I could call, but I had to be careful word wouldn’t get back to Garrett. It wasn’t always a perk when your boyfriend was the Chief of Police.

  Mindy hung up the phone and cheered. “I have great news. But before I tell, let me just say I love the outfits. Ryli, very cute and fitting. And Aunt Shirley, also very fitting.”

  I smiled at her diplomacy. I needed to learn to take a page from her and Paige. They were so good at handling Aunt Shirley.

  “Thanks,” I said. “It was a gift this morning from Aunt Shirley.”

  “I bought me the same sweatshirt, but the princess here wanted to be the only one wearing the sweatshirt, so I put on my backup.”

  Hank’s door flew open and he strode quickly to our desks. “Did you tell them?” he demanded.

  “Not yet,” Mindy said. “I was getting to it.”

  Hank looked at me, then Aunt Shirley. He grunted. “Ryli, ridiculous shirt. Shirley, love it.”

  Aunt Shirley grinned at me. I should have known Hank would love her shirt. He probably had one to match at home.

  “Okay,” Mindy said, taking a sip of her hot tea. “I just got off the phone with one of my contacts at the courthouse, and she claims Garrett is trying to get a search warrant for Thomas Shifley. He hasn’t obtained it yet, but it’s coming down the pike.”

  I sucked in my breath and looked at Aunt Shirley wide-eyed. Garrett must be closing in!

  Hank yanked the unlit cigar out of his mouth. “Well, what are you two waiting for? Get me a story today. I want this solved by press time next week! That means you have until Thursday to get me something. You got two front-page stories this morning. Get me this and it will be another front-pager for you.”

  I squealed like a little girl inside my head. I didn’t want to give him a reason to roll his eyes in disgust at me. But I was motivated even more now to find the killer. It was one thing to get Aunt Shirley out of my house. It was another to have three front-page stories two weeks in a row.

  “Your deadline is Thursday,” Hank reminded me. “That gives you two more days to wrap this up.”

  He turned and walked into his office and slammed the door.

  “Have you seen the paper this morning?” Mindy asked.

  I grinned. “Nope. I wanted to wait until I got here.”

  Mindy thrust the paper sitting on her desk at me. I unfolded it and slowly walked to my desk. It felt amazing to see I had two bylines…both on the front page! These weren’t fluff pieces I normally write. These were true journalistic articles.

  I finished reading the articles then turned to Aunt Shirley. “Where should we start this morning?”

  She pursed her lips in thought. “Let’s see if ole Shifty is home or at work.”

  “You want me to call the Manor for you and ask to speak to him?” Mindy asked.

  Aunt Shirley nodded and took out a notepad and pen. “Ryli, start writing down a timeline of his movements that we remember from last Wednesday until Saturday. I’m going to write down questions to ask.”

  I got busy with the timeline as Mindy called the Manor. From the one-sided conversation it was easy to tell he wasn’t at work.

  “Seems Thomas Shifley clocked out early yesterday claiming he was sick and has called in sick today,” Mindy gleefully informed us.

  I put the finishing touches on my timeline of every time I saw Shifley that week, what he was doing, and who he was with.

  The three of us spent the next few minutes going over the timeline, questions to ask, and possible motives Shifley had for killing Manning. Everything was in place. All we needed to do was confront him with our information, find the stolen items, and then have him arrested.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” I asked as I stuffed Shifley’s address into my coat pocket.

  “I better stay back and man the phones. But keep me posted as to what’s going on.”

  I watched as Aunt Shirley flipped up the hood on her camo parka and tied it under her chin.

  “Why are you suddenly wearing the hat that goes with the coat?” I asked. “I’ve never really seen you wear it.”

  Aunt Shirley managed to look chagrin as she pulled on her gloves. “Maybe
this hairstyle should have waited until summer. Lately one side of my head has been really cold.”

  By the time I stopped laughing, my side hurt and I was bent over trying to ease the pain. I was glad she saw how ridiculous the hairstyle was. That kind of style didn’t even look good on young emo kids. It was hideous.

  “It’s not that funny,” Aunt Shirley sniffed.

  “Yeah, kinda it is. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen.”

  She flipped me the bird. Or at least I’m assuming she did. I couldn’t really tell with all the padding around her fingers from the gloves.

  “You two girls be careful,” Mindy called out to us.

  I was heading for the door when the flower shop truck pulled up and parked. Nancy Sellers got out carrying two bouquets of roses. My heart raced. I was sure one had to be from Garrett.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day, ladies,” Nancy said cheerfully. “Got deliveries for Mindy and Ryli.”

  Mindy and I squealed and ran to her. She gave us each our flowers, then waved goodbye.

  My hand was shaking when I read the card. It was from Garrett with a promise of a wonderful night, and that he couldn’t wait to see me.

  “Hank, he always remembers.” Mindy wiped tears from her eyes and looked at Hank’s door. I don’t know how he knew, but he chose that moment to open his door and lean against the door frame.

  “You’re my rock.” He winked at Mindy and then slammed his door shut.

  “He’s such a romantic,” she gushed.

  Whatever you say.

  I put the roses on my desk and smelled them one last time.

  “I suppose those are from lover boy.” Aunt Shirley said. “Is he covering his bases tonight on getting lucky?”

  I ignored her remark, walked out the door, and started up the Falcon. I wasn’t going to let her take this moment from me.

  Thomas Shifley lived in town over on Willow Street, right behind the grocery store. I pulled the Falcon into his driveway and scrunched my nose at the outside of his small, two-story house. “He’s not fencing the stolen items and using the money to clean up his place, that’s for sure.”

  Aunt Shirley chuckled and agreed with me.