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

  Pot meet kettle…kettle meet pot.

  Narrowing her eyes, she hissed, “Then one morning Julie stopped by the bakery. She said it was just to say hi and ask Jim a question about one of his houses she was trying to sell. But I could see she was jealous of how much time Jim was spending with me. That fat cow could protest all she wanted…I knew better!”

  Déjà vu all over again. Now comes the crazy killer spouting wacked out beliefs.

  A shadow passed in front of the shed’s door. Had Garrett found me already? I hadn’t even texted him yet!

  “The night I went out to Jim’s house…the night you all had your drunken party…I didn’t go out there to kill him.” Susie wiped a tear with the back of her knife-clenching fist. “I just went out there to tell him how I felt. To tell him I cared about him. That he didn’t have to seek solace in a worthless nobody like Julie. And do you know what he said?” Spittle once again started flying out of her mouth. “He said he was only being nice to me because he felt sorry for me!”

  Touchdown! We’ve officially reached crazy town!

  “When he said that…well, I just saw red.”

  Blood red…like your red velvet cake.

  I was suddenly glad Paige didn’t go with my choice of wedding cakes.

  “Luckily the drill just happened to be sitting on his work bench. He’s still going on and on about how he wants me to leave and never come back. I grabbed the drill and made a run at him,” Susie laughed. “He was so surprised…he didn’t know what hit him!”

  My stomach rolled and pitched. It was all I could do not to throw up.

  “And that’s when I realized…I could kill Julie and make it look like Whitney or Jolene did it. I didn’t care which one got arrested. When I killed Julie, I made sure to drop a syringe I knew both of them used.” Still clutching the knife, Susie lifted her fist and hit herself repeatedly in the temple. “But once again that worthless Taggart couldn’t find a body in a body bag…and he totally missed the clue I planted!”

  “Until we found it.”

  Susie giggled. “That must be why Whitney called me last night spouting off about you and your crazy aunt accusing her of murder. Oh, I wish I could have seen her face when you accused her.”

  The door to the shed quietly slid open. Since Susie had her back to the shed door, she couldn’t see Garrett and Hank as they crept in. I tried to make my face as blank as possible…I didn’t want to give their position away.

  Susie sighed and put the knife on the table. “But now things have gotten so complicated. Jolene has outlived her usefulness.” Susie reached down and tried to lift Jolene into a sitting position, slapping her repeatedly in the face.

  “What?” mumbled Jolene, trying to open her eyes.

  “Dear sister,” Susie crooned, “I have one more job for you to do for me.”

  “Where is he?” Jolene said, head flopping around on her neck. “Will he give me something for free if I’m really good to him?”

  “You bet. All he wants you to do is hold this gun and aim it over there. Once you pull the trigger, you can have anything you want.”

  The spit in my mouth dried up. I couldn’t help it when my eyes darted wildly to Garrett. Seeing my look, Susie quickly grabbed the gun from Jolene and pointed it at Garrett.

  Screaming, I jumped up off the barstool and took off after her. She pivoted, throwing Jolene off the metal table. Jolene’s head hit the floor with a sickening thud. That momentarily stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t see where Jolene had fallen, but I could see blood starting to pool on the floor.

  “Stay right there,” Susie yelled, pointing the gun between Garrett, Hank, and me. Without even looking at her sister, she walked over to where I was standing at pressed the gun against my temple.

  “Let’s talk this out,” Garrett said, gently lowering his gun a little.

  Why are you lowering your gun? Shoot her! Shoot her crazy ass!

  “There’s nothing to talk about anymore. I’m going to shoot your girlfriend, shoot you, shoot him, and then go inside that bathroom and shoot that pain-in-the-ass aunt of hers,” Susie ranted. “Thank God I placed all this plastic around, I’d have a devil of a time getting all these blood stains out.”

  Susie was still rambling on when I saw Hank’s eyes go wide, slapping his neck in pain. “What the fuck?” he cried.

  That was enough to jar Susie from her rantings. Turning me with her toward the back of the room, Aunt Shirley was standing in the open doorway. Before I could scream at Aunt Shirley to run, she lifted the blowgun to her mouth and shot again.

  This time she hit her mark.

  Sort of.

  The dart landed in Susie’s eye.

  Screaming in pain, she dropped the gun from my head and bent over. “My eye! You bitch! I’ll kill you slowly!” She went to stand back up. Without even thinking, I swung my rope-bound hands as hard as I could at her head. I caught the dart in her eye with the back of my hand.

  Susie dropped to the floor like a lead balloon. My first thought was I’d killed her. I looked up as Aunt Shirley came running toward me, shoving the blowgun back in her parka.

  My knees buckled. I’d have went down too if it hadn’t been for Garrett catching me. “Oh my God, you scared me to death!” he cried, rocking me back and forth in his arms.

  I could see Hank over Garrett’s shoulder. He was cursing and trying to yank the dart out of his neck.

  I heard sirens in the background. “It’s about damn time,” Garrett muttered. “I told that sorry Chief to get his ass down here ten minutes ago!”

  “How—how did you know where I was?” I stuttered, shivering as my body went into shock.

  Garrett laughed. “Are you forgetting about the tracking app I put in your phone?”

  I pulled back from him, narrowing my eyes. “You never told me you put a tracking device on my phone!”

  “I didn’t? Hmmm…must have slipped my mind.”

  I slapped his arm. “I can’t believe you’re tracking my every move. That’s so stalker like!”

  Garrett leaned in and kissed me. “No, that’s what a guy has to do when he dates a murder-magnet like yourself. Seems every time I turn my back, someone is trying to kill you!”

  Seeing as how he was right, I let it go…for now.

  “And you,” Garrett said, pointing at Aunt Shirley. “Where the hell did you get that thing?”

  “No shit,” Hank said. “That hurt like a son of a bitch.”

  Aunt Shirley laughed. “Got me a new blowgun for Christmas.”

  Shaking his head, Garrett pulled me closer. “I missed you,” he said as he kissed me again.

  “What is it with you crazy broads and darts to the neck?” Hank grumbled. “How many times can you use that trick?”

  I started to giggle against Garrett’s lips. He was right. It seems there’s always a dart to the neck whenever I’m involved…first Sharon and now Hank.

  “Hold it right there. Put your hands in the air!”

  I opened my eyes and looked over Garrett’s shoulder to see Chief Taggart charging through the door, his gun drawn. “I said get your hands in the air!”

  Garrett tucked me under his arm. “Taggart,” he growled, “I’m going to give you three seconds to stop pointing that gun at my girlfriend before I physically remove it from you and make you eat it.”

  I giggled again. I couldn’t help it. Garrett managed to say the very thing I was thinking.

  “Hey, looky here what I found,” Aunt Shirley hollered.

  I got up and walked over to where she was standing. Inside the refrigerator was Paige’s wedding cake. The dark pink ribbon made the tiny cake pop. And the extra touch of edible snowflakes elevated it to stunning. Just like Susie said it would.

  “Do you think we should take it?” I asked. I was a little unsure if it was healthy. “Do you think she poisoned it?”

  “If she wanted to take us out with food, she’d have done it at the bachelorette party. As whackadoo as she is, I th
ink she honestly believed in her craft. I don’t think she’d risk it or her bakery’s reputation.”

  I bit my lower lip. Deciding to roll the dice, I reached down and grabbed the cake from the refrigerator. This was still going to be Paige’s special day.

  Chapter 27

  By the time everything was sorted out, we’d missed the two o’clock timeline for the wedding. It took a few hours to give countless statements over and over again, watch the ambulance carry Jolene’s dead body out in a body bag, and watch as the EMTs tried to save Susie’s eye. Doc Powell said it was pointless…the eye was a goner.

  When Garrett and Hank hadn’t come back, everyone back at the house had piled into cars and went looking for us. Luckily Nick had a police scanner app downloaded on his phone, so he heard the 911 call Garrett had placed to Chief Taggart. Since it’s such a small town, they just followed the cop cars and ambulance through town to where Aunt Shirley and I were being held.

  I have to admit, seeing Hank get shot in the neck with a dart brought back a lot of scary memories for me. If I ever saw a dart again, it would be too soon.

  Garrett must have known I was having flashbacks, because he didn’t lecture me near as much as he could have on the way back to the lake house. He did do a lot of yelling at Aunt Shirley, but she could take it.

  Paige and Megan had stayed back at the house when everyone else left to go into town to try and find us. They were to keep the preacher and his wife entertained so they wouldn’t leave.

  As everyone took turns carrying in the flowers from the backseat of the Falcon, I went downstairs to get ready for the wedding.

  I’d just taken my bridesmaid dress out of the closet when my bedroom door opened. In rushed Mom and Paige, hugging me again at the same time.

  “Careful of the dress,” I hollered, trying to hold the dress out of reach. And while I appreciated the fact they were so happy to see me, Mom had done this twenty times during the two hours we were at the crime scene.

  “Don’t ever scare me like that again!” my mom said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I’m getting too old to deal with this. This is the second time in three months I have to hear about you taking out a murderer.”

  “I didn’t take this one out…Aunt Shirley did,” I joked. I could tell Mom wasn’t impressed with my wit.

  “I’m not kidding. I’ve gotten used to having to worry about your brother with the jobs he’s always had—military, fireman, EMT, and now soon as a police officer. I shouldn’t have to worry about you…my daughter.”

  She knew just how to guilt me into obedience…almost. “Don’t be sexist, Mom,” I grinned. “Matt shouldn’t have all the fun.”

  She swatted me on the butt and walked out the door without another word. Paige smiled. “Stop giving your mom fits. She really was worried when we realized something was wrong.”

  Guilt again. This time it worked. “I’ll try not to,” I promised. “I don’t know why, but trouble just seems to follow me wherever I go.”

  “We’ve been best friends longer than I can remember…you aren’t telling me anything I don’t know. Now,” Paige said, taking the dress from me, “let’s get you in this dress so I can marry the man of my dreams.”

  * * *

  A few hours and three glasses of wine later, I was standing out on the back deck looking down at the semi-frozen lake. I refused to take off my bridesmaid dress and shawl…I felt too beautiful.

  Tipping back the last of my wine, I swallowed loudly. Nothing like a gun to the head to make you want to drink your worries away.

  “I thought I’d find you out here,” Garrett said softly, closing the door behind him. He wrapped me in his arms, warming me instantly.

  I rested my head on his chest. I loved hearing his heart thump against my ear. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I’m so happy for Paige and Matt…yet I can’t help but be sad how this week ended up. All these deaths were so senseless.”

  “Deaths usually are,” Garrett said, kissing my head.

  I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but he wasn’t helping. “Happy New Year,” I whispered, standing on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.

  We stayed like that for a while, kissing and necking on the back deck. Just when I was about to make a more aggressive move, the door opened and out stumbled Aunt Shirley.

  “You youngins…always so eager to make out,” she scoffed.

  “Please, if Old Man Jenkins was here, you’d be all over that old man,” I laughed, hugging Garrett to me.

  “You’re probably right,” she cackled, zipping up her hideous parka.

  “Did you need something, Aunt Shirley?” Garrett asked in an intimidating voice. I guess he was hoping she’d take the hint and leave us in peace.

  “Nope,” she said, pulling out her electric cigarette and blowing a few puffs. She jammed it back in her pocket and turned to leave. “Oh, by the way,” she said, feigning indifference, “I thought you guys might be interested in knowing I’ve been hired for a job. Investigation work.”

  Garrett set me aside and pointed his finger at Aunt Shirley. “Now listen here,” he said, “there’s no way you’re going back into the field. You have to be licensed to be a private investigator, and I know for a fact you’re not! By law I would have to report you.”

  “Oh, simmer down, Barney Fife,” Aunt Shirley said, taunting Garrett. “I’m not giving you a run for your money just yet.”

  I reached up and grabbed his arms. “Don’t kill her on Paige and Matt’s wedding day, please. It’d put a black mark on the day,” I joked, hoping to ease the situation.

  When Aunt Shirley had first moved back to Granville, Garrett wasn’t two weeks on the job before he got a proper introduction to Aunt Shirley and her antics. She was convinced he was useless and couldn’t solve a crime if she wrapped it up for him and served it to him on a silver platter. Nothing could be further from the truth, but Aunt Shirley loved to say it.

  “What’s this job?” I asked, trying to keep the dread from my voice.

  Aunt Shirley looked inside the house and withdrew the bottle of tequila she’d stashed in her coat. Saluting Hank she took a swig. He grinned back.

  “Seems I’ve been hired as an investigative journalist to work at the Gazette with you, Ryli,” Aunt Shirley said, putting the bottle back in her coat pocket.

  “The hell you say!” I exclaimed, squinting at Hank through the closed door. “No way did Hank hire you!”

  Hank must have been able to read my lips, because he nodded and walked toward the kitchen...laughing the whole time.

  “Looks like you and me are gonna be a regular Cagney and Lacey team,” Aunt Shirley laughed. “I already got some ideas where we can start.”

  Garrett growled.

  “Cagney and Lacey were cops, Aunt Shirley,” I said quickly. “We aren’t cops…we’re reporters.”

  “That’s what you think,” Aunt Shirley said.

  “Now look here,” Garrett started in…but he never got to finish. Instead, Aunt Shirley winked at me and walked back inside.

  “Don’t worry,” I assured him, placing my hand on the side of his face. “I won’t let her get in too much trouble. Outside of the excitement a few months ago, nothing really ever happens in Granville. How much trouble can she get into?”

  I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him, hoping to take his mind off of Aunt Shirley and her new job. He deepened the kiss and slid his arms around me.

  Unfortunately, I was the one that couldn’t quiet the voice in the back of my head that said working with Aunt Shirley was going to be a very bad idea.

  SNEAK PEEK!

  There will be more books in the Ryli Sinclair series, but I’m also working on a new murder mystery series…the Sullivan Sisters. The setting is in Sonoma County, California (where my family still lives, and I used to reside). There’s nothing I love more than the ocean, wine, and a good book!

  Here’s a sneak peek at the first book coming your way soon…


  Murder on the vine…

  Chapter 1

  “Just relax,” I told my sister, Jax, as we walked up the sidewalk toward Plentiful Grapes Winery. “You’ve got this. No one can bake like you.”

  Jax shifted the cupcake carrier so she could open the door for me. I was carrying two-dozen chocolate brownies and three-dozen truffles.

  “Thanks. I’m just so nervous. As far as I know, only two other bakers are in competition for this contract.”

  My sister had been trying to generate enough business to finally open her own bakery ever since she moved back to Traveler’s Bay six months ago. She had worked for a large bakery in Sacramento for four years before she decided to come back home.

  Jax set the cupcake carrier down on the travertine tile entryway of the winery and wiped her hands on her red and white sundress. Her short, black hair looked almost blue in the chandelier light.

  “Do you know where we’re supposed to go?” I asked, looking around the silent entryway.

  “No. Like I said, Landon called out of the blue yesterday and said his bosses were looking for a baker to supply the winery with chocolate.”

  Landon was a friend of Jax’s from high school. He’d always been sweet on Jax, and I guess this was his way of trying to vie for her attention now that she was back.

  I looked around the foyer again. The stone walls and tile flooring were a pleasant contrast. A large bouquet of flowers sat on an ornate, wooden antique table next to a guestbook. The owners obviously hadn’t spared any expense on ambiance.

  Plentiful Grapes Winery had only been open for a few weeks. They were still celebrating their grand opening. Which was why I was really surprised there was no one here to greet us. Even though it was still early, the tasting room had officially opened twenty minutes ago.