Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2) Read online

  I put my cell phone back in my pocket. “Garrett’s getting ready to go pick up Matt for his bachelor party.”

  “Oh, boy. I’m not sure I want to know,” Paige said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Please. A handful of guys staying in Granville to drink. How much trouble can they get into?” I tried to sound flippant, but I had to admit, a little part of me worried. I’ve heard some pretty racy bachelor stories before.

  “Speaking of drinking…what’re we having?” Aunt Shirley walked over to the bar and started setting up glasses.

  I looked at my watch. I figured Susie and Julie would start arriving soon. I’d never heard back from Whitney, so who knew if she was coming.

  “I think I’ll start with a champagne spritzer,” Megan said.

  “Perfect. I froze some moscato ice cubes yesterday. I’ll just run and get them.”

  Oh, boy. I’d hoped she’d forgotten about the penis ice cube trays.

  Aunt Shirley rushed back in a few minutes later with her trays. “Look what I got!” she sang out.

  The girls all squealed in excitement. When had I become the stick in the mud? Wasn’t I just complaining about Paige needing to loosen up? But in my defense, having to take care of Aunt Shirley will do that to you.

  Aunt Shirley poured champagne and moscato into a glass, added a moscato-iced penis, and topped it off with raspberries and strawberries. It looked amazing. “I think I’ll have one, too,” I said.

  “Me, too,” everyone else chimed in.

  Aunt Shirley busied herself with pouring drinks, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was really going to wear that hideous blouse all night. She caught me staring and said, “It’s for the stripper. I want him to know I’m available.”

  Paige spit the spritzer out her mouth and nose. “Shit, that hurts!” She grabbed a napkin and wiped her face. “Please tell me she’s not serious. You guys didn’t do something as vulgar as hire a stripper, did you?”

  I laughed at her expression. “Not that I know of…but I can’t say what Aunt Shirley did.”

  Paige glared at Aunt Shirley.

  Aunt Shirley pretended not to notice. “The night’s still young!” Aunt Shirley sang.

  The glare of headlights filling the room saved Aunt Shirley and Paige from having words. I looked out the window and saw a car pull into the circle drive. “I bet that’s either Susie or Julie,” I said, putting my drink down on a nearby table.

  Paige and I met Susie at the front door. She had her arms full carrying a cupcake holder, a gift bag, and two plastic containers. Figuring the containers had the bourbon balls in them, I snatched them up. I couldn’t wait to try them.

  “Susie, it’s so good to see you again,” Mom said as we set the sweets on the kitchen counter.

  The two women embraced. “Thanks, Mrs. Sinclair. I’m happy to be here tonight. Takes my mind off of things.”

  I felt a stab in my heart. I was horrified at the tears welling up in my eyes. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion. “Have you heard from Whitney or Julie?” I asked.

  “Whitney said she’d be here after she finished showing a house, but I never could get ahold of Julie,” Susie said.

  “I finally got ahold of her around three o’clock today. She said she was going to come. She needed to get out of the house.”

  “Good!” Susie exclaimed. “I’ve been so worried about her.”

  The beeping of the oven interrupted us. “That’s the spinach dip,” Bea announced. “Why don’t you girls go into the living room and relax.”

  “That’s quite a blouse you have there,” Susie said diplomatically to Aunt Shirley.

  Aunt Shirley beamed. “Thanks! I’m hoping to stand out when the stripper gets here!”

  Susie lifted an eyebrow at me. I shook my head. “There’s no stripper,” I assured her.

  “We’ll see,” Aunt Shirley said mysteriously.

  Chapter 18

  We sat around and drank more champagne spritzers and caught up on old times. Mindy and Megan were troopers, laughing and listening to our childhood stories.

  A car pulled into the driveway and I hoped it was Julie.

  A few minutes later Whitney walked into the living room. “Hope I’m not too late. I just finished showing a house on Market Street. I figured I’d drop by while I had some time.”

  “I’m glad you made it,” Paige said. “We were just catching up on old times…filling Mindy and Megan in on our shenanigans.”

  Whitney sniffed. “I don’t reminisce much about those times.” An awkward silence filled the room.

  “You want something to drink?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  “I’ll have vodka over ice,” Whitney said.

  Aunt Shirley frowned. “We don’t have anything hard like that. We have spritzers.”

  Whitney sighed. “That’s fine.”

  We spent the next half hour scarfing down food, drinking, and laughing. It was nice to be able to relax and not think about the murder…or how I was a suspect.

  “Susie, these boozy cupcakes and bourbon balls are amazing,” Megan said, popping another chocolate ball into her mouth.

  “I concur,” Mindy said. “I must have the recipe if you’ll spare it!”

  Susie smiled, “You bet.”

  I pulled out my phone and texted Julie. Where r u? Missing you. Please stop by tonight.

  I looked over at Whitney. She was turned sideways, her shirt lifted about an inch above her dress pants. She was getting ready to inject herself with insulin. Worried, I walked over to her. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I’m fine. Lots of sugar in the food and drink. I just need to balance my sugar level. That’s why I mainly stick to harder liquors…but since you don’t seem to have any, I’ll just have to stick myself all night. ”

  I swear my eyes crossed. This woman was so passive-aggressive it wasn’t funny.

  “I’m curious,” I said as casually as I could. “Have you spoken to Julie? Or maybe Jolene?”

  I waited to see the reaction I’d get when I mentioned Jolene. Sure enough, Whitney took the bait.

  “I haven’t spoken to either one of them. Why would I? It’s not like we hang out or anything.”

  “Yeah, I heard about the fight you had with Jolene in the alleyway last Saturday. Seems you and Jim were overheard bickering at each other.”

  Whitney narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t be believing everything you hear from that idiot Josh.”

  I didn’t bat an eye at her description of Josh. “Why were you so mad at Jolene?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business,” Whitney hissed so she wouldn’t be overheard, “but Jolene’s little slutty side business is bound to put Susie out of business. I hate seeing Susie being the butt end of gossip yet again. It was hard on her when her parents were killed and Jolene was the main suspect. Now that Susie is trying to get her life back together, Jolene’s whoring and drug use is going to kill Susie once again.”

  “So it was out of the kindness of your heart you threatened Jolene. And then insulted Jim by talking trash about Julie?”

  Whitney glared at me. “What’s your point? You think I killed Jim? You’re an even bigger idiot than your joke of an aunt.”

  Now, believe it or not, a person really can see red. I know…because I was still seeing it after my eyes uncrossed. “You’d do well to never speak of my aunt like that again.”

  I stomped over to the bar and snatched up a jello shot. I tilted my head back and caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Whitney was hunched over her phone typing rapidly.

  “I should be going,” Whitney suddenly announced, slipping the phone into her pocket. “I have an early morning tomorrow. I have a buyer wanting to see a house on Montgomery Street and then a house on Sage.”

  I wasn’t completely sad to see her leave. Old friend or not, she was lucky I didn’t deck her with the jab about Aunt Shirley.

  It only took a few minutes for us to shove her hateful ass out the door. Good riddan
ce to her and her negativity.

  “Should we open gifts?” Mom asked once Whitney had left.

  I looked at Paige. “I don’t know. Should we wait for Julie or…”

  “I think you should open them now,” Bea said. “With all Julie has been through, she probably hasn’t gone to the store to buy anything. No sense making her feel uncomfortable when she gets here.”

  “Okay, bring the gifts on!” Paige said.

  Mom and Bea went to gather the gifts while Aunt Shirley served another round of drinks. At this rate, we were all going to be drunk before nine o’clock.

  “Wait,” Aunt Shirley jumped up and raced into the kitchen. “I forgot about my special jello shots!” she yelled.

  “There are plenty of jello shots out here,” Paige said.

  “These are special,” she called out.

  A few seconds later Aunt Shirley came running back into the room. Her saggy boobs jostling all over the place.

  “Ta-dah!” Aunt Shirley proudly, thrusting a tray of penis-shaped jello shots at us.

  “Oh my God,” my mom moaned.

  “I’ll go first,” Aunt Shirley announced. She picked up a red penis and slurped it down fast. She smacked her lips together. “Mmmm…yummy!”

  Shuddering, I slowly backed away, hoping she wouldn’t notice me. Megan won Aunt Shirley’s heart by announcing she’d try one.

  I sat next to Paige, totally intending to take notes on what gifts she got. It only took three seconds for me to realize I was too tipsy to take notes.

  “I’ve got you covered,” Mom whispered as she placed the last gift down.

  I smiled at her. Thank goodness for Moms…they always have your back.

  Paige went to town opening her gifts. She mostly got cookware from Mom and Bea. No surprise there. Even Susie and Debbie got Paige cookware. Guess that makes sense seeing as how one owns a bakery and the other has to cook for nearly a half dozen people.

  Mindy got Paige a basket filled with lotions, candles, and other good smelly stuff for her honeymoon. Megan bought her a beautiful white negligée with a matching wrapper. And I bought her a case of her favorite wine…for her honeymoon and many nights to follow. I’m hoping for a niece or nephew soon.

  It wasn’t until Aunt Shirley jumped up from her chair that we realized her gift wasn’t on the table.

  “Silly me,” Aunt Shirley exclaimed. “I must have left it in my room.”

  We all looked at each other warily. This couldn’t be good.

  Aunt Shirley returned a few minutes later with her gift. When I saw the gift bag, I burst out laughing. It was the large black and white bag…designed to look like a cow. I’d completely forgotten about seeing that package.

  There was a running joke between Paige and Aunt Shirley that the reason Matt took so long to ask Paige to marry him was because Aunt Shirley believed he wouldn’t buy the cow when the milk was free.

  “Here ya go,” Aunt Shirley said, thrusting the large cow print gift bag at Paige.

  Paige groaned. “I’m almost afraid to look inside.”

  “I found it on the Internet,” Aunt Shirley said as she took another drink of her champagne spritzer.

  Paige reached inside the bag and pulled out a cow print, babydoll negligée with matching cow-print panties. It was the most atrocious thing I’d ever seen.

  “Omigod!” Paige laughed. “I love it!”

  I whipped my head around to look at her. Had she suddenly gone insane? It was absolutely appalling. I mean, it was a cow print negligée with matching panties! Obviously Paige was ridiculously drunk.

  “What?” Paige said, look at me. “I think it’s cute. I can’t wait to wear it.”

  Shaking my head, I downed the last of my champagne drink. No way was I going to be able to take this seriously.

  “Let’s have another round of drinks,” Aunt Shirley said.

  I was working on my fifth drink of the night when I remembered I should be keeping an eye out for Julie. I checked my watch again. She should have been at the house by now.

  “Still no Julie?” Susie said.

  “No. I want to call her, but I don’t want to pester her, either.”

  “Let’s dance!” Mindy shouted, turning up the music on my iPod speaker.

  Mindy gyrated her hips and beckoned my mom to dance. All things considered, this was turning into a fun night.

  Headlights flashed across the room, letting us know someone was pulling into the driveway. “I hope that’s Julie,” I said, walking toward the front door.

  I was just getting ready to open the door when loud banging startled me. “This is the police. Open the door immediately.”

  What the hell?

  I looked over my shoulder, but the music from the iPod was so loud no one else heard.

  I quickly opened the door. Standing on the front porch was Chief Taggart. He was dressed in tight polyester blue pants, light blue shirt, and one hand was resting on his holster. He looked pissed.

  “Officer Clark,” Chief Taggart barked over his shoulder, never once taking his eyes off me, “go inside and start taking names of individuals here. I’ll be in in a second.”

  “Yes, sir,” a nervous-looking boy said. He looked to be around Officer Dillon’s age...or even younger if that was possible. He shuffled past me, trying hard to look like he wasn’t scared as hell.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded. “You can’t just come in here and barge into our house without a warrant.”

  Chief Taggart sneered and leaned into my face. “Oh, I can get a warrant in a heartbeat. Just know if I have to go that route, I’ll make sure this house is turned up on its side. No way you could have a wedding here in two days.”

  I closed my eyes. Better to let him ask questions, but Garrett was definitely going to hear about this. Chief Taggart was undeniably abusing his power.

  “What’s happened?” I suddenly got a bad feeling about Julie. Maybe there was a reason she wasn’t answering her phone. “Is it Julie?”

  Chief Taggart’s mouth twisted in a sneer. “Funny how that’s the first place you go. Like you know something already. You’re not playing your hand very smart.”

  “Shut up and tell me what’s happened!”

  Chief Taggart grabbed my arm. “Now listen here. I’ll –”

  A sudden commotion had us both looking into the living room.

  “I knew a stripper would show! Let me guess, our music was too loud and now you need to arrest us all?” Aunt Shirley practically screamed. “Whoo hoo…take it off, big boy. Take it off!”

  My mouth dropped open. Aunt Shirley was gyrated her hips suggestively at Officer Clark, waving a dollar bill in his face. The poor kid couldn’t help but stare at her saggy boobs as she shimmied and shook for all she was worth. It wasn’t until she turned around and tried to twerk that I finally snapped out of it.

  “Stop!” I yelled, running into the living room. “Paige, turn off the music. This is serious, Aunt Shirley. He’s a real cop.”

  Paige shut off the iPod. The whole room looked scared. “What’s going on, Ryli?” Paige demanded. “It’s not Matt or Garrett, is it?” I could see she was going to start crying any minute.

  “I’m not sure what it is. Chief Taggart was getting ready to tell me.”

  Chief Taggart took his sweet time looking us all up and down. He then walked in front of the bar, taking into account the amount of alcohol and empty bottles and glasses around the room.

  “Looks like we got a nice party going on,” he said condescendingly. “Makes me wonder what kind of women could party it up knowing one of their friends is dead. Brutally murdered.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Omigod, who’s dead?”

  “The hell you say.”

  Everyone started speaking at once.

  Chief Taggart held up his hand. “We just got back from processing the scene over at Julie Crider’s house. She’s been murdered.”

  Susie dropped her drink and started to f
all. Mom caught her before she went all the way to the ground and led her to an empty chair.

  “What do you mean coming in here and announcing something like that you pompous jerk!” Aunt Shirley said.

  Chief Taggart narrowed his eyes at Aunt Shirley. “Watch it, old lady, or I’ll arrest you for indecent exposure and assaulting a police officer. Jesus, cover yourself up. You look ridiculous. And what the hell is going on with that hair?”

  I saw her start to jump, so I quickly wrapped my arms around her. Holding Aunt Shirley back physically was the only way to keep her from decking the jerk. And we didn’t need to make an extra trip to the police station to bail her out.

  “Obviously you ladies aren’t in any shape to drive to the station tonight and answer questions,” Chief Taggart said. “So I’ll be expecting to see you and you bright and early at the station. You understand me?”

  He had pointed to Susie and me. We nodded our heads simultaneously, too frightened to speak.

  Someone had killed Julie? Why?

  Chief Taggart turned on his heel and motioned for Officer Clark to follow. I slammed the door shut behind them, too shaken to care how it looked.

  Mom was rubbing Susie’s back when I walked back into the living room. “Why us?” a weeping Susie asked. “Did we do something wrong?”

  I felt a twinge of pity for her. Not only had she lost her parents to a fire, had a meth-whore for a sister, but now she’d lost a new friend in Jim, and a childhood friend in Julie.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I think because we both knew Jim and Julie…they just want to question us.”

  “I’m sorry about the spilled drink,” Susie said to Mom. “I don’t know what happened. I just started shaking and lost my balance.”

  Mom patted her arm. “You were just shocked is all. We all are. I’m thinking we put on a pot of coffee and call it a night.”

  “I’ll get the coffee started,” Bea said, walking into the kitchen.

  “Do you think you’ll be able to drive home tonight?” Mindy said chewing her lip nervously.

  Susie smiled at her. “Thanks for worrying about me. I’ve actually only had two glasses the whole night. I knew I had to drive home, so I was pacing myself.”