Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2)

by Jenna St James

  This was awkward. “Yes,” I said. “We all discussed it, and we think it’s the distraction we need. Plus, I’d talked with Jim about it and the wedding, and he was excited. I don’t think he’d want us to cancel.”

  “I understand. And don’t worry…I’ll still be there with my chocolate goodies. I couldn’t sleep last night so I came to the bakery and baked all night. I haven’t been home in ages.”

  Aunt Shirley took a huge bite of her scone. “This is delicious. Much better than that healthy thing you tried to serve me the other day.”

  My mouth dropped open. She had promised to be on her best behavior!

  Susie laughed. “Thanks,” she said. She started putting the rest of the scones in the display case next to the éclairs, muffins, donuts, and quiches. My mouth watered even more and my stomach grumbled.

  “Can I get you guys something, too?”

  “Not right now. Maybe before we leave,” I said. “Look, I think I need to tell you who it is the Chief is looking at for the murder, and who found Jim’s body.”

  “I tried to ask about that, but Officer Dillon said he couldn’t tell me right now who discovered the body. I figured that meant it was the same person they were thinking killed Jim.”

  My knees went weak and I stumbled to one of the tables to sit down. “Ryli,” Susie said rushing over to my side. “Are you okay?”

  I looked up at her puffy face, red nose, and swollen eyes. Despite all that, she still looked good. She must take after Paige. Paige was the only person I knew who could cry and still look attractive.

  “It was me,” I blurted. “I was the one that found him. Well, Aunt Shirley and I did. But I was the one that actually discovered the body and called the police.”

  Susie inhaled sharply. “I don’t understand.”

  Megan and Paige walked over to the table and pulled out chairs. Aunt Shirley ambled over to the tray of scones and snatched another.

  I sighed. “I heard someone pounding on Jim’s door and yelling yesterday morning, so I went over to see what was going on. The guy was angry because Jim was supposed to be working on something for him and Jim never showed up. After he left,” I said, conveniently leaving out the part where Aunt Shirley pulled a gun on the guy, “Aunt Shirley and I went inside the workshop. That’s where I found him.”

  I didn’t tell her exactly how I found him, and she didn’t ask. She simply nodded her head and cried some more.

  “I wish Julie would call me back,” Susie said.

  Seemed Julie wasn’t returning anyone’s calls.

  “Whitney stopped by a few minutes ago to tell me Julie hasn’t been in the office since yesterday. I guess someone from Julie’s office called Whitney to tell her this bit of juicy gossip. It seems the police came to Julie’s office yesterday to tell her about Jim. She left shortly after the police did. Said she was going home, but no one has been able to reach her.”

  “How did Whitney seem?” I asked as casually as I could.

  “Heartbroken. I think she always thought her and Jim would get together, ya know? Whitney told me that she’s already called Amber Leigh over at Jim’s office. I guess she’s taking it hard, too.” Susie’s hollow laugh echoed in the bakery. “Why all these women are so upset over a guy who was seeing someone else, I don’t know.”

  “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?

  Chapter 15

  “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.

&nb
sp; 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 seem
ed 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.