Picture Perfect Murder (Ryli Sinclair 1) (8 page)

“What the hell do you mean you don’t know why the box came
to you?” Garrett shouted.

We decided we had to call Garrett. There was no way around
it. We also decided we'd keep the answers simple and not volunteer too much
information. We didn't want to tip our hand, even though there was nothing to
really tip just yet.

He arrived with another police officer in tow, and the two began
collecting the evidence. I was just thankful it wasn’t Officer Chunsey with
him. Just like I knew would happen, he was currently pacing in my living room,
muttering to himself because I couldn’t answer his questions.

“Like I said, I don’t know. I left kinda early this morning.
I went and got Paige and we went a few places to ask some questions for the
paper. Later, Paige and I went to visit Aunt Shirley, then we decided to bring
her back to my house for pancakes.”

“Keep talking,” Garrett said.

I decided to take the higher ground and ignore his rude
behavior. “I put the box on the table and started to make pancakes.”

“She started to make some pancakes that tasted like shit she
means,” my aunt said from the lounging position of my recliner.

A small tic appeared in Garrett’s cheek. “While Aunt Shirley
was eating, I opened the box.”

“Didn’t you find it odd the box only had your name on it? It
didn’t have a return address, yet you decided to open it anyway.” I could hear
the sarcasm in his voice, but I chose to ignore it.

“I thought maybe I had ordered something off Amazon and
forgot. I didn’t realize what was going on until Paige started screaming.”

“You poor girl,” Matt said to Paige as he hugged her against
his body. “I still can’t believe this happened to you.”

Ummm...hello!
I think it happened to me!

We decided to call Matt after we called Garrett, just in
case we needed a cool head to prevail. When Matt heard that Paige was involved,
he sped right over. I'm not quite sure how I felt about my brother being more
concerned about the welfare of his girlfriend than the welfare of his own
sister, but I’d deal with that little jealousy later. Basically he was just
sitting next to Paige on the couch, stroking her hair, rubbing her hands, and
making sympathetic cooing noises to her.

Meanwhile, I had Attila the Hun on my ass like an irate drill
sergeant. Garrett never once asked me if I was okay, or held my hand, or
stroked my hair.

Nope, he just automatically assumed I’d done something
wrong. Which I probably did…but still, life was so not fair.

“Keep going,” Garrett motioned to me, ignoring Matt.

“That’s it. I opened the box and then we called you.”

Garrett stopped pacing and looked at me. “So why you? What
have you done recently to warrant this kind of action?”

“I don’t know! And stop assuming I did something!”

Matt chuckled. I shot him my best evil eye. If he wasn’t
going to come to my rescue, then why the hell was he even here?

“Okay, so assuming the killer didn’t always mean to drag you
into this, then we can assume that it’s someone you’ve been in contact with
within the last seventy-two hours,” Garrett said.

“That’s like half the town!” I exclaimed. “I’ve questioned
tons of people about the murder.”

“Then we start with half the town. Make a list of people you
have interacted with within the last seventy-two hours and give it to me ASAP,”
Garrett said. "Oh, and one more thing...why were you visiting your aunt?
And please don't give me some ridiculous story about just wanting to see her. I
know she used to be a private investigator. I'm going to assume it has
nothing
to do with dragging her into this mess you're in, right?"

I looked at Aunt Shirley. She gave me a tiny shake of her
head. Remembering what she said about giving away as little info as possible, I
said, "Just a friendly visit is exactly what Paige and I were doing."

His tic suddenly became more noticeable. “Can you keep an
eye on them?" he asked Matt. "I don’t want anyone coming back to
finish what they started.”

By the look on Garrett’s face, I wasn't sure I totally
believed him.

“Sure,” Matt said. “I’ll take them all back to my place,
there’s more room there.”

“I ain’t going to your house, boy. I’m old enough to take
care of myself. Been doing it for longer than you’ve been alive, and I’ll keep
doing it until the day I die. If ever a time comes that some man needs to hold
my hand,” Aunt Shirley barked, “then take me out back and shoot me!”

Garrett stared down my aunt with those steel, blue eyes.

She gave them right back.

Impressive.

“Suit yourself,” Garrett relented.

“I always do!” my aunt replied.

I figured I’d drive the Falcon back to Oak Grove Manor and
then drive my Honda over to Mom’s house to stay the night. I wasn’t excited
about telling her what I’d gotten myself into, but I figured she couldn’t be
any madder at me than Garrett. Plus, I hated the idea of being a third wheel at
Matt’s house.

Aunt Shirley insisted we stick around too, just in case we
got more clues. This didn’t sit well with Garrett. Personally I didn’t want to
stay, but I hadn’t seen Aunt Shirley this excited about something in years.

As the officers were finishing up, Matt finally grew a pair
and stood up to Aunt Shirley. “Let’s go,” Matt said.

I was about to walk out the door when Garrett said, “Stay.”
He was leaning against my kitchen counter bar, looking like he wanted to be
anywhere else.

“Or I could just drive the Falcon and Aunt Shirley back to
Oak Grove Manor,” I insisted. I actually didn’t want to give the car up now
that I’d had a taste of her.

“Yes, I noticed the Falcon was out and about,” Garrett said,
giving Aunt Shirley the eye.

She flipped him the bird.

A nervous giggle escaped. I couldn’t help it.

“The girl can keep the car,” Aunt Shirley growled.

My heart soared…had I heard right? I could keep the car!

Aunt Shirley turned to me. “Matt can take me home. You keep
the car here, make it look like some badass chick who can kick some killer’s
ass lives here…not some Honda driving sissy reporter.”

At that moment I was so excited to have the car, I didn’t
care she’d just called me a sissy. The Falcon was mine!

I hugged Paige goodbye and promised I’d text her later to
see how she was doing. “I got one of them cellular phones too, you know,” my
aunt pouted. “It sure would be nice if someone checked in on me…especially
since I don’t have a car anymore.” The last part was said with a glare my way.

Message
read loud and clear!

“I’ll text you tonight too, Aunt Shirley. Make sure you're
settled in fine.”

“Well, don’t go putting yourself out any. I’m sure I’ll be
just fine. I’ve dealt with worse when I was a private investigator.”

Aunt Shirley…always the passive-aggressive one.

The front door closed and I turned to face Garrett. I didn’t
want to be alone with him in my house—especially when he was this annoyed with
me. I avoided looking at him and started picking up the drinking glasses from
the end tables.

“I’ll just be a second,” I said as I put the glasses in the
sink. “I need to grab some clothes for church tomorrow and then we can go.”

Garrett didn’t say anything, so I snuck a peek at him. He’d
straightened from the bar and started walking toward me. I felt my pulse start
to race and realized I was trapped in the tiny kitchen with him.

I braced myself for yelling, but instead he picked up one of
my curls and started twirling it around his finger. For some reason, this
panicked me even more. “Do you always attract danger, Sin?”

I laughed and relaxed a little. “No, trust me on this.”

To my disappointment, Garrett let go of my curl. “Go get
your clothes, I need to get back to the station.”

I stuffed some clothes in a tote and left some food in a
dish for Miss Molly. I didn’t want to take her to Mom’s, I was afraid it would
be too much for her. She was already in a tizzy that so many people had been
traipsing through the house earlier.

The quick ride to Mom’s house was in silence. I wanted to
ask some questions, but I could tell by the stony look on his face he was done
talking to me about the murder or the evidence he gathered from my house. He
pulled into my mom’s driveway and left the car running.

“I’ll touch base with you either tonight or tomorrow after
church,” Garrett informed me.

I reached for the handle on the door. Before I could change
my mind, I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. “Be safe.”

Garrett stared at me with those electric blue eyes, “Back at
ya, Sin.”

Then he winked at me. I fled from the car as fast as my feet
could carry me.

To say Mom was not happy with what went down at my place was
an understatement. Thankfully my stomach started growling mid rant and she
started making dinner. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take of people
thinking I’d done something to attract this kind of attention.

Mom fixed a light meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese
sandwiches—one of my favorite comfort foods. I figured she was feeling a little
bad about grilling me so hard about what happened. Whatever her reason, I was
happy and full by the time I made my way upstairs to my old bedroom.

Nothing had really changed in my room since high school. I
still had the same pink and white comforter on my bed that I’d had since
sophomore year. An ancient white vanity with a checkered pink stool that I'd
used daily for hair and makeup was against one wall. The white paint on the
vanity had cracked and chipped so much over the years, that it now had patches
showing the light colored wood that was underneath the paint.

I walked over to my bulletin board and looked at the
articles I had pinned. They were mostly articles I had written for our school
newspaper. I was made editor-in-chief my senior year, which netted me one of
the many scholarships I received to help with the expense of college. I leaned
down and read the title of one of my articles. It was a story about Dr. Garver
being hired as the new superintendent of our school. I remember interviewing
her, and she told me she was sure she would have “many joyous years” in
Granville.

Guess she was wrong about that.

I decided to relax and take a bath before turning in. Mom
had recently put a large Jacuzzi tub in the upstairs bathroom, and there was no
way I wasn’t trying that puppy out. I lit a few lavender candles and sank into
the warm, jetted water. The massagers went to work on my body and I closed my
eyes.

Tapping at the door had me bolting up in the tub. I must
have dozed off.

“Honey, you left your phone downstairs. It keeps going off. Do
you want it?” Mom asked as she opened the bathroom door.

“Thanks. Just set it on the sink over there, and I’ll get it
when I get out,” I told her. “This is awesome, Mom. I could stay in here
forever.”

Mom laughed. “I also brought you a cup of chamomile and
lavender tea to help you relax before bed,” she said as she set my phone and
tea down on the sink.

“Don’t stay in there too long, you’ll get all wrinkly like
one of those California raisins,” she laughed as she leaned down and kissed my
head before leaving. Closing the door softly behind her, I could hear her
singing “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” softly to herself.

I knew she was right. I let the water out of the tub and
started drying off. Wrapping the towel around me I picked up my phone and
tucked it into the front of my towel. I then grabbed the hot tea and candle and
headed back to my room to change into my pajamas and start answering phone
calls.

The first four messages were from Paige.

The last two were from Aunt Shirley.

Zero from Garrett.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked as Paige picked up on her
end.

“What on earth have you been doing? I’ve been trying to
reach you forever,” she lamented.

“Sorry. After mom chewed on me for my part in this whole
debacle, she made dinner, and then I came upstairs to take a bath. I left my
phone downstairs. How’re you doing?”

Paige giggled. “Your brother is hovering over me like a
mother hen, which I kinda enjoy. We decided to come back to my place instead of
staying in town.”

We made small talk for a while longer then promised to see
each other the next day at church to go over our next move. I decided to just
text Aunt Shirley. She would only exhaust me even more if I had to actually
speak to her. Falcon or no Falcon, I didn't think I could handle an actual
conversation at this point.

Opening the messaging icon I scrolled down and found her
name:
"It's Ryli...just checking on u."

A few minutes later my phone dinged. I opened her text:
"I
was sleeping. Leave me the hell alone."

So much for stimulating conversation from Aunt Shirley. I
blew out the candle, and crawling under the down comforter I was asleep in
minutes.