Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2) Page 11

  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.

  Chapter 16

  Seeing as how Josh lived on the same side of town as Julie’s work, it didn’t take long to locate his house. There were about fifteen houses in this newer subdivision. Each house led to a private dock. Josh’s parents’ house was a spacious, two-story brick home.

  I was hoping his parents were back at work during the holiday week. I didn’t want to explain why we were here. Pulling the Falcon into the driveway, the four of us hopped out and walked toward the front door. I rang the bell and we waited for an answer.

  The door was yanked open by a teenage girl, probably sixteen, with long curly hair comprised of a shocking array of blues, greens, and purples. She looked like Rainbow Brite. I absolutely loved it.

  “Nice hair!”

  “It’s like a bag of Skittles exploded in your hair!”

  “Super cool!”

  We oohed and aahhed over the girl’s hair. Aunt Shirley was bold enough to touch it…wrapping a strand around her finger.

  “I so need to do this to my hair,” Aunt Shirley said. “How did you do it?”

  “Kool-Aid,” the bubble-gum popping girl said. “I can do it for you if you want.”

  Aunt Shirley turned to Paige. “I’m gonna do this. I know you have a wedding, but…”

  Paige laughed. “I think it’s fabulous.”

  “Sweet! C’mon in. My name is Brianna,” the girl said as she led us into the house.

  “We’re looking for Josh,” I said. “I’m friends with Jim, and we wanted to check and see how he’s doing.”

  “Aren’t you guys sweet,” the young girl said. “He’s totally bummed. Go on into the kitchen and I’ll yell for him to come down.”

  The four of us walked down the hallway toward the back of the house.

  “He said he’d be down in a second,” Brianna said as she walked back into the kitchen. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”

  “No thanks,” I said. “We just came from Susie’s bakery where we had scones and coffee.”

  “Oh, I love her store. She has the best stuff,” Brianna said as she proceeded to mix various Kool-Aid packets with conditioner in small bowls. “Of course, Josh likes it because Carrie works there on Saturday mornings…but I like it because it’s yummy.”

  “Who’s Carrie?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  “Oh, Carrie is a senior, too. She’s worked for Susie since she opened. She’s totally cool and popular,” Brianna said. “Josh really doesn’t stand a chance…but he tries.”

  “Shut up, brat,” Josh said good-naturedly, walking briskly into the kitchen. He watched his sister mix for a few seconds before shaking his head and grabbing a Coke out of the refrigerator. “Which one of you brave ladies is gonna be her guinea pig today?”

  Aunt Shirley’s hand shot up. “I am. I’m getting me some purple and pink hair.”

  “Your hair will really take the color, too,” Brianna assured Aunt Shirley. “It’s already a light color.”

  “I was hoping to talk to you about Jim,” I said to Josh, hoping to ease into the conversation.

  Twisting the lid off a Coke bottle, Josh took a long drink…his eyes never leaving mine. “Why?” he asked when he was done drinking.

  “I want to get a better feel for this whole murder. It just doesn’t make sense. I was hoping you had some thoughts or ideas about who would want to harm Jim.”

  Josh’s eyes began to water, and I was afraid he was going to lose it. Not wanting to embarrass him further, I pretended to be interested in what Brianna was doing.

  Brianna put a large towel over Aunt Shirley’s shoulders and had Megan tearing off sections of aluminum foil. She showed Paige how to take a small section of hair and add the purple to the top portion, then blend in the pink at the bottom section, then wrap it in the foil.

  “And how long does she keep these in her hair?” Paige asked.

  “I’d say a couple hours. Why, were you going somewhere after this?” Brianna asked.

  “Nope,” Aunt Shirley said. “And even if I was, I’ve looked crazier, so it’s no big deal.”

  I heard Megan chuckle as she handed Brianna the last of the foil she’d torn off the roll.

  “Let’s sit down at the table,” Josh said quietly.

  Pulling the chair out I sat and watched him move the cap from his Coke across the table back and forth in front of him. “I’m not sure what I can help you with,” he said. “I already told Chief Taggart everything I know, too. And that is…obviously I don’t know as much as I thought I did about Jim, because I never thought he could make someone mad enough to kill him. He was a really nice guy, ya know?”

  “You already talked with Chief Taggart?” I asked. I had to admit, I was a little shocked. Taggart looked like he moved at a snail’s pace, yet suddenly he was questioning the whole town…mainly about me and my motive to kill.

  Josh chewed on his lower lip. “Yes. He came to the house yesterday morning to tell me what’d happened. He also told me you were the one that discovered the body. He asked me lots of questions about you, but since I’d just met you the one time, I couldn’t tell him anything.” Josh waved his hand in front of him. “Not that I think you did anything. I honestly don’t.”

  Well, you’d be the only one in this town right now that thought that.

  “See, I wasn’t supposed to meet up with Jim until about ten that morning. He wanted me to sleep in and relax. It’s my Christmas vacation, and Jim didn’t want me to work too hard.”

  “That was awful nice of him, seeing as how half the town was breathing down his neck,” my aunt said from her barstool in the kitchen.

  Josh smiled half-heartedly. “That’s the thing about Jim. He didn’t care. He went at his own pace, regardless of the amount of people breathing down his neck. He always said quality work took quality time.”

  Josh looked out the window. I saw him tear up again. I knew I needed to redirect him or I’d never get anything pertinent out of him. “Do you know Larry Blackwell?”

  Josh nodded. “We are doing work—or I guess we were doing work for him. Now that Jim’s dead, I don’t know what will happen to Jim’s business or the houses we were in the middle of doing.”

  “Well, I heard Jim arguing on the phone with Larry, and then I witnessed Larry at Jim’s house the day I discovered his body. He was pounding on Jim’s door, threatening him if Jim didn’t finish his job.” I watched Josh’s body language very carefully. “Do you think Larry could have killed Jim? Could he have gotten mad enough at Jim to take his life?”

  Josh chuckled. “No way. Larry’s all talk. He’s always been a little hotheaded like that…but I’ve never known him to be violent. Like I said, I can’t imagine anyone doing this.”

  While I envied his naivety, I knew he couldn’t be more wrong. I once thought no one I knew could ever kill another person…until she tried to kill me. As much as I hated to admit it, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it was Julie. Upset, yes…but not surprised.
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br />   “If you are looking at things like that…arguments and people that might be mad at Jim, there was something that happened last Saturday.”

  “Last Saturday, like right before Christmas?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Jim and I stopped by Susie’s bakery,” Josh blushed. “You know, because she has really good stuff.”

  I smiled encouragingly at him, not wanting him to stop because he was embarrassed. “Yes, they do.”

  Josh’s eyes fell to the table then back at me. “Well, as Jim and I were walking out the front door to go to Jim’s truck, we heard some fighting in the alleyway.”

  “Who was it?” Aunt Shirley called out.

  I hadn’t been aware she was listening, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I looked over at her and tried not to laugh. She looked like a silver octopus with the randomly placed foils popping out all over her head.

  “It was Whitney Lark and Jolene Shoeman. I’m not sure what they were fighting about. I just heard Whitney tell Jolene that a person like her didn’t need to be hanging around Susie, and that Jolene should have just stayed away and never come back to town because everyone knew she was the one that killed her parents in the fire.”

  “How does Jim fit into this?” I asked.

  Josh began tapping the Coke cap on the table…a ridiculously annoying habit. I tried to let it go, but I couldn’t. Reaching over I placed my hand over his bouncing hand. He smiled at me. “Sorry…nervous habit.”

  “That’s okay. So how did this involve Jim?”

  “Okay, so Jim motions me to follow him into the alley where Whitney and Jolene were fighting. When they see us, they suddenly change. Whitney gets all nice again, and Jolene tries to sneak off.”

  This kid better hurry up before I pull out my hair!

  “So Jim walks up to them to see what’s going on, and Whitney tried to pretend that we heard wrong…that they weren’t fighting. Jim told Whitney he heard what she said to Jolene about her parents, and that—well, he kinda got made at Whitney and told her she needed to grow up and mind her own business. That the last thing Susie needed was for her customers to see two grown women fighting in an alley. And that if Whitney was really Susie’s friend she’d just keep her mouth shut.”

  I smiled. Boy would I have loved to have seen that. “Well, that is interesting,” I said, “but I’m not sure if that would cause either one of them to kill Jim.”

  Josh cleared his throat. “I haven’t finished,” he said. “So after Jim told Whitney to grow up and keep her mouth shut, Whitney went all crazy on Jim, telling him to mind his own business or she’d put him out of business. He should just run on home to his…” Josh stopped talking and shifted in his seat. “He just needed to run on home to his fat, unsuccessful girlfriend.”

  I could tell he wasn’t saying something. “And?” I prompted.

  “And the truth is…if anyone was going to be killing that day, it would be Jim killing Whitney. He was so mad at her…I’d never seen him so angry.”

  Funny how Whitney left that part out when she was talking about Jim in the bakery. Of course, that also accounts for the evil eyes between Whitney and Jolene.

  “What about Jolene?”

  Josh shuddered. “It was super gross. After Whitney and Jim finished bickering, Jolene slides up to Jim and puts her arms around him. Telling him if he ever gets tired of Julie that she could keep him warm at night.”

  I crinkled my nose. “Gross,” I agreed.

  Josh let out a shaky laugh. “Yeah, Jim all but threw her off him and told her to go to hell. We practically took off running out of there. It was super creepy and scary.”

  I thought about what Josh told us. Even I had to admit it was a huge stretch to think because of that incident one of them would kill Jim. But, I wanted to keep my options open. So for now, Larry, Whitney, and Jolene were all prime suspects…along with Julie.

  “Okay, you’re done,” Brianna announced. “You can rinse your hair tonight. It should be nice and bold by then.”

  “Perfect. My Kool-Aid hair can match the jello shots I’m serving tonight,” Aunt Shirley said.

  Chapter 17

  “I think I’m gonna try calling Julie one more time,” I said to Paige as I tossed down the magazine I’d been reading. It was mid-afternoon and we were lounging on our beds trying to rest up for the party later.

  Mom was still trying to calm down from her near heart attack when she saw Aunt Shirley’s octopus-foiled hair. To say she was raging mad might be an understatement. I hadn’t seen Aunt Shirley since she slunk to her room to hide from Mom’s wrath.

  “Good idea,” Paige said, putting her magazine down and turning toward me.

  I picked up my cell phone. I didn’t want to give up on Julie. I wanted to believe there was a reason why she was ducking my calls.

  “Hello?”

  “Omigod, Julie? I’m so glad you picked up.”

  Silence.

  “Hey, Ryli. I wasn’t sure if I was going to or not,” she admitted.

  “How are you? I mean, I know that sounds lame, but we’ve been so worried.”

  Julie sighed. “I guess I’m okay. I mean, I’m totally shocked and heartbroken, but…” I heard sobbing on the other end.

  “Oh, Julie. Please don’t cry,” I murmured. “Come over tonight. I really think you need to be with friends.”

  Julie continued sniffling for a few seconds. “I don’t know, Ryli. I just don’t know if I have the strength. I’ve spent most of the day at the police station—”

  “What?” I exclaimed. “Did that horrible Taggart haul you in?”

  Paige flung her legs over the side of her bed and leaned forward to hear better. I pulled the phone away from my ear so she could listen in.

  “Yes. He made me go down to the station and drilled me for about two hours. I really don’t know anything, Ryli. I swear.” More sobbing.

  I put the phone closer to my ear. “Please come over tonight. Even if it’s just to be surrounded by people that love you.”

  More sniffling. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know how much fun I’ll be, but maybe I need to get out. I can hardly breathe here. I feel like I’m suffocating.”

  “Great! We’ll see you tonight. And Julie, don’t worry, we’ll get this sorted out soon.”

  * * *

  “You both look beautiful,” Mom said as Paige and I walked up the stairs and into the kitchen later that night.

  Paige had on a black and white maxi skirt with an off-the-shoulder black sweater. The sweater was tight and fit her curves nicely. I had on my signature outfit of black stretch pants, oversized tunic, and Michael Kors boots.

  “Thanks,” I said, kissing her on the cheek, “so do you.” Mom had on black dress pants and a long-sleeve, button down, hunter green blouse. Her long, blonde hair was caught at the nape of her neck in a decorative barrette.

  Aunt Shirley walked into the room. “What about me?” she demanded. I took in her new purple and pink hair, fuchsia pants, and see-through white blouse and shuttered.

  “Love the hair. But, seriously, what the hell are you wearing?” I asked.

  Aunt Shirley looked down at her top. I could see her old-lady bra through the sheer material. Sadly, the bra barely encased her saggy boobs. “What?” she said. “I was told it’s all the rage.”

  “It’s all the rage for twenty-year-old girls with perky boobs,” I said.

  Paige grabbed me by the arm. “Please tell me you know what she’s wearing to the wedding!”

  Mom laughed. “Don’t worry, dear, I took care of it.”

  Aunt Shirley huffed. “She’s got me in a nun outfit!”

  “Oh, thank God,” Paige whispered.

  “Aunt Shirley,” my mom admonished, “a black skirt paired with a cream sweater is not a nun’s habit.”

  “Yeah, well it ain’t my habit to wear, either!” Aunt Shirley cackled, slapping her hands together gleefully.

  I rolled my eyes at her sad joke. Okay, it was kind of funny, but
I didn’t want to give her a big head by admitting it.

  Headlights flooded the dimly lit living room. “Someone’s here,” I sang.

  Paige and I rushed to the door to greet our first visitor. A curvy woman carrying a party bag and two bottles of champagne stepped out of a mini van. “I hear there’s a party going on!” she cried as she ran up the steps and into our arms.

  Debbie’s super-short, red spiky hair was sticking out in all directions, and I’m pretty sure one of her spikes poked me in the eye. Her heavy makeup failed to hide the dark circles underneath her eyes. I guess three kids and a husband will do that to you.

  “I heard you have three kids!” Paige exclaimed. We all walked into the living room.

  Debbie laughed. “Yep. Nine, six, and two. It’s been a crazy ride. Want to see pictures?”

  “Of course,” Paige said.

  We all gathered around in the living room as Debbie showed off her crew. They were a cute family with two girls and a boy.

  “Now that we got the boy, we are done,” Debbie laughed.

  “What’s Mark up to?” I asked.

  Debbie put her pictures away. “He’s selling boats at Cavern Beach Marine Motors. He makes a good enough living that I’m able to stay home full time and take care of the kids.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Three kids seemed ridiculously overwhelming.

  “Both my girls are in dance and tumbling, so that keeps us pretty busy most nights. And Trevor, the baby, just keeps me busy getting into everything he can,” she laughed.

  “It’s a great age,” my mom said as she set a tray of food down on the coffee table in front of us.

  Plop! Plop!

  I looked at my cell phone. It was a message from Garrett. How’s it going? You 3 sheets to the wind yet?

  I laughed out loud and sent a text back. Nope. Just starting. Miss u, can’t wait to see u.

  Same here, Sin. Be safe tonight.

  You, too. Don’t let Matt do anything too crazy. I’ll call you tomorrow. Tell Miss Molly I love her.