Picture Perfect Murder (Ryli Sinclair 1) (10 page)

A few minutes later and Hank had successfully blown up the
October schedule to where we could all see it.

Bang!
Bang!

I looked over and saw Mindy hopping up and down on her
four-inch spiked stiletto heels banging on the glass doors. Her tiny body
shivering in the cool night air.

Hank ran over to release the deadbolt in the center of the
doors, flung them open, yanked her inside, and then rebolted the doors.
“What’re you doing out here? I told you to stay home.”

“You’re outta your mind if you think I’m just gonna sit home
twiddling my thumbs, you jackass,” Mindy said.

“Let’s see what we got here,” Aunt Shirley said ignoring
them.

It was basically a huge calendar with initials and
abbreviations all over the place. No names were written out, but thinking back
to who was in the salon that Friday morning after Dr. Garver’s murder, I
realized CH @ 8:30/t&s probably stood for Claire Hickman. I wasn’t exactly
sure what the ‘t&s’ stood for.

“I think this here,” I said pointing to Claire’s name,
“stands for Claire Hickman at eight-thirty. But I don’t know what this
‘t&s’ stands for.”

“That probably stands for tease and style,” Mindy said,
patting her own poofy hair.

“It looks like that morning a lot of them were quickly
penciled in. Notice how some are scribbled in with a pencil,” I noted.

“I remember seeing Patty Carter there,” Paige said. “I bet
that’s PC @ 9:30/b.o. What does ‘b.o.’ stand for, I wonder?”

“Blow out,” Mindy said.

We definitely wanted Mindy on our team when it came to
girlie-girl deciphering.

“It’s going to be difficult to see who has a standing
monthly appointment since you only took a picture of one month,” Hank grumbled.

“Well, excuse me! I was in a hurry and did the best I
could,” I snapped.

“Some of these initials I don’t recognize at all,” Paige
said. “Trying to figure this out could take a while.”

“Mindy, since you seem to know this stuff, would you like to
take it and decode it?” I asked.

“Yes, yes!” She grabbed the page up and did a victory dance.

Laughing, Hank took her by the arm and guided her toward the
front glass doors. “We’re out,” he said. “If you want a paycheck this week, get
me something I can put in the paper.” With that he slammed out of the office.

“Such a charmer,” I muttered.

“Okay, now that Mindy is on deciphering, what do we do
next?” Paige asked.

“For right now, I think we should research paralytic drugs,”
I said.

“You think that’s how the killer is doing it?” Aunt Shirley
asked.

Nodding my head I said, “I really do. This is the second
time Garrett has mentioned a toxicology report, and when you take that into
consideration with the fact that someone is overpowering these women without
too much of a struggle, I think we should look into what drugs will
specifically do that.”

“I can help you do that,” Paige said.

“Great idea,” Aunt Shirley said. “Leaves me to just go home
and go to bed.”

I drove the girls back to their houses with the promise that
we’d get together tomorrow afternoon to see what Paige was able to find out. I
glanced at my watch and figured I still had an hour or so before Garrett would
be at my place. I wrestled with what to change into the rest of the way home. I
decided something sexy yet smart was needed.

Pulling into my drive, I cursed when the automatic porch
light didn’t go off. I’m not exactly sure when I noticed the pumpkin sitting on
my steps leading into the house, mainly because I was too busy thinking about
what I was going to have to clean before Garrett came by. It was one of those
tall, thin pumpkins. Not even really my style. I liked my pumpkins small and
round.

My first thought was Matt had finally gotten tired of me
saying I would decorate for Halloween and just decided to do it himself. It had
typical triangle eyes, but the mouth was hugely exaggerated and wide open. In
fact, I could probably stick my hand inside the mouth to set the candle if I
wanted. Not that I wanted to do that mind you.

I probably would have just walked right on by if I hadn’t
noticed the God-awful putrid smell. Had the pumpkin rotted already? Peering
down, I noticed something hanging out of the pumpkin’s mouth, resting on the
jagged teeth. I reached out to touch it. The spongy rough texture took my
breath away.

Realizing what I was touching, I jerked up and started
screaming. Really I was just making soft whimpering sounds, but in my mind it
was blood-curdling screams. I brought my hand up to cover my mouth.

Big mistake! That was the hand that just touched the tongue.
I started to gag. Bending at the knees, as though that would help somehow, I
tried sucking in air. Unfortunately that just put me closer to the nasty
tongue.

Closing my eyes, I just gave myself over to the inevitable.
Standing up and running to the edge of the grass, I puked up what was left of
the turkey sandwich I’d eaten for dinner. Nice, now I won’t be able to eat a
turkey sandwich for a while. Not one to make the same mistake twice, I wiped my
mouth with my turtleneck instead of my hand.

The soft scraping on my door made me look up. I could hear
the distressful meowing of Miss Molly, followed by the scraping of her paws on
the front door. She must have sensed my distress. I carefully walked up the
three steps and was reaching for my keys when I saw the note stuck to the door
with masking tape.

Not even caring that I was contaminating the scene, first
with my vomit, and now by pulling the note off the door, I reached up and
yanked the note down. Probably more forcefully than I wanted considering I was
shaking so much.

The Bible says to watch your tongue and
keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble. I guess Iris forgot
that little bit of wisdom. Will you?

Whoever wrote this note was full on declaring war on me.
Looking up from the note, I took in my surroundings.

My road doesn’t get much traffic. It’s a dead-end street off
the beaten path of the main drag downtown. It’s also partially secluded by two
large oak trees in the front yard, with medium-sized shrubs lining the walkway
into the house. I’d always felt safe here in my quaint cottage, but now I’d
become an easy target for a crazy murderer.

Reaching into my jean pocket, I took out my phone and pulled
up Garrett’s number. I debated for a moment whether or not to call him and let
him know what happened, or just tell him what he arrived. Knowing I’d never
hear the end of it if I didn’t tell him now, I pushed the send button and
waited.

“Almost done here. What’s up?”

Sighing, I knew nothing I said was going to sound good to
him. “Here’s the thing. I was coming home from dropping off the girls, and I
pulled into the driveway and saw a pumpkin. I thought maybe Matt had stopped by
and decorated, so I didn’t pay much attention.” I hesitated a moment, choosing
my words carefully.

“Go on.” I heard the resignation in his voice, as though he
already knew it wasn’t going to be good.

“Well, I saw something sticking out of the pumpkin, so I
reached down and touched it. It’s a tongue. I’m assuming a human tongue. Maybe
Iris’s tongue.”

“Son of a bitch!” I pulled the phone away as Garrett
continued his swearing. He ranted a minute before he finally calmed down.
“Anything else besides the tongue?”

“Well,” I said slowly, "there was a note taped to my
front door basically saying it was Iris's tongue and that I better be careful
or I'd end up the same way.”

More swearing. I sat down on the front step, as far away
from the pumpkin as I could get, and just waited for the storm to end. It
didn’t take long. “So, are you okay?”

I put the phone back to my ear. “I’m fine, just sitting here
on the front porch steps talking to you.”

“You sound like you’re in shock,” Garrett said softly. “Sit
tight, don’t go in the house until I get there. I’ll be there in five. Think
you’ll be okay?”

I assured him I would be fine and hung up. I could still
hear Miss Molly scraping and meowing. I felt guilty about not going in the
house to comfort her, so I passed the time by talking to her through the door.
I had just checked my phone to see what time it was when Garrett pulled into
the driveway. Followed immediately by Officer Ryan.

I stood up and brushed off my jeans. Officer Ryan gave me a
tight smile as he strode up the walkway carrying a small box. Smiling back I
looked over at Garrett. He was not smiling. He looked angry and tired.

“It’s in the pumpkin?” Officer Ryan asked.

“Yes, I didn’t touch it again after the first time.”

Bending down, Officer Ryan turned on his flashlight and
inspected the tongue in the pumpkin. “Lots of blood on the back half here,
which makes sense considering we believe Iris’s tongue was cut out when she was
still alive.” He opened the box and took out gloves and a baggie. I choked down
a gag.

Garrett flashed his beam of light onto the house. “I see they
busted out your light.”

Turning to where he was spotlighting, I took in the broken
glass on the side panel of my antique lantern I had hanging from my house. It
was one of those replicated old 17th century lanterns with four panels of glass
with a tiny knob to open so you could insert a light bulb. Now it was
completely shattered and useless.

“Would you mind if we opened the door and turned on your
light inside?” Garrett asked as he put on a set of gloves. “I want to
fingerprint and finish processing the area.”

“Of course. Let me just go put Miss Molly in my room so she
doesn’t escape.”

I fished around in my jeans for my keys. When I pulled them
out, Garrett took them from me and opened the door. Using his flashlight he did
a quick surveillance of my living room, then entered and turned on the light.
Following close behind, I bent down to scoop up the howling Miss Molly.

Garrett reached out and gave Molls a scratch behind her ear.
The little minx started purring.

“I puked by the edge of the grass,” I whispered in Miss
Molly’s fur.

Garrett leaned over and kissed my head. “I’ll take care of
it.”

After dumping Molls on my bed, I began shoving dirty clothes
in my hamper. Once that was done I sat down on the bed and unzipped my boots. My
feet were beginning to hurt. I slipped on a pair of fuzzy pink socks with
grippers on the bottom and went into the kitchen to brew some lavender tea. I
definitely needed to calm down. I also added a shot of whiskey...then
considering my day, I added a second.

Since my front door was open, I could hear bits and pieces
of Garrett and Officer Ryan talking. Wrapping my hands around the warm lavender
tea, I sank down into my couch to eavesdrop. Unfortunately, most of what they
were saying was about lab and processing, not anything too useful. I set the
mug down on the end table and closed my eyes.

“Ryli, wake up.”

I felt Garrett rocking me awake. I opened my eyes and stared
at him. God he was hot. Even after being on the job for over ten hours, dealing
with a dead body and dead body parts, he still looked good enough to jump.

“We’re finished, and I’m beat. I just want to get some rest.
Let’s go to bed.”

He drew me up next to him and we proceeded down the hall to
my bedroom. The minute the door opened, Miss Molly ran out screeching her
outrage at having been confined to one space.

I watched in silence as Garrett started going through the
motions of removing his gun belt. He laid it carefully on top of my dresser
before removing the rest of his clothes. Taking a deep breath I shimmied out of
my black jeans and kicked them aside. I then pulled the turtleneck over my head
and let it drop to the floor. Feeling totally exposed in my sensible purple
cotton panties and matching cotton bra, I caught Garrett’s eyes in the mirror.
He had stripped down to his boxer briefs. I should have known he’d be a boxer
briefs kind of guy.

Garrett pulled back my white down comforter and I slipped in
on my side of the bed, happy that I had the foresight to put on my set of
winter flannel sheets a couple days ago. That meant we were actually going to
sleep on semi-clean sheets.

He didn’t say a word as he pulled me close and kissed the
top of my head. I laid my head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me.
I was out in seconds.

I opened my eyes and looked over to see if Garrett was still
sleeping. He wasn’t. Not only was his half of the bed empty, he’d even managed
to make his side without waking me. That was impressive. I picked a note up off
the pillow
.

Unfortunately I can’t keep you locked
up in your house. Please be careful today. Hopefully last night’s stunt will
help narrow my suspects, and this will be over soon. I’ll call you later.

G.

He was narrowing suspects down! I needed to get a move on if
I was going to solve this case. It was after nine o’clock, and I still hadn’t
even gotten out of bed. I couldn’t believe how long I had slept. Or better yet,
how well I had slept.

Don’t think about that now!

Throwing back the covers I ran over to my closet and yanked
on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. In less than fifteen minutes I had
completed my morning ritual of bathroom break, teeth brushed, hair pulled into
a ponytail, and Miss Molly fed.

I called Paige and told her to be ready. I was coming over
and had major news to tell her. I also asked her to call Aunt Shirley and tell
her we’d be there shortly, I had a lead. I didn’t wait for her reply as I hung
up.

A few minutes later I walked into Paige’s house. I never
knock. Best friends don’t have to. Unfortunately, when you don’t knock you have
to be prepared for anything. Today it was Matt, standing half-naked and
barefoot in Paige’s kitchen cooking breakfast.

“Put some clothes on you heathen,” I joked.

Laughing, Matt did a little dance move that totally creeped
me out as he started putting food on plates. I grabbed one of the plates and
started shoving food in my mouth. I realized I was starving after having lost
everything in my stomach the night before.

“Paige, let’s go," I yelled out. "I have news.”

“You aren’t the only one,” Matt said as he finished putting
the breakfast on the plates.

I was going to ask him what he meant when Paige walked into
the kitchen. She looked like her normal million-dollar self, but I could sense
something was different. She smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek.

Whoa…okay, something was really up!

“You know, it’s rude to call someone without saying hello or
goodbye, just barking orders and hanging up,” she said as she picked up the
plate of food and began eating.

I was going to tell her to get over herself when I saw it. I
mean, how could I not, it practically blinded me! A whopping two-and-a-half
carat, white gold, princess-cut diamond engagement ring. At least that’s what
it looked like at a quick glance.

I screamed, threw the plate of food down on the counter, and
sprinted over to where she was casually standing. I yanked the food out of her
hands and shoved it at Matt. “Oh, my God! When did this happen?”

“Last night, after you dropped me off from Iris’s house.
Matt came by after he heard what happened.”

Had that only been last night? So much had happened in
between Iris’s house and right now. Namely, I’d had a human tongue put in my
Halloween pumpkin and Garrett had spent the night.

“The minute I heard about what happened at Iris’s place,”
Matt said, “I realized I was being stupid carrying around this ring, waiting
for what I thought needed to be the right time. This was the right time. I
don't know how I’d live if something happened to Paige before I had a chance to
tell her how I felt. How I’ve felt for a long time now,” Matt said as he leaned
over and kissed Paige’s cheek.

Paige and I erupted into shouts and screams. This is exactly
what we’d always planned when we were younger…becoming sisters. “How did mom
take it?”

“We went over early this morning to tell her,” Matt said.

“She was so excited! She even cried a little when I showed
her the ring,” Paige gushed.

I was kicking myself for oversleeping and not getting to mom’s
like I do most mornings. I totally missed the celebration for something I’d
been looking forward to for a long time. Well, there was plenty of time to
plan. We still had a murder to solve.

“Did you still want to go with me today, or did you have to
go see your parents to tell them the news?”

“Oh, no, we already told them this morning, too,” Paige
assured me.

Had
they been up since before dawn?

“Did you call Shirley and tell her we were on our way?” I
asked.

“I’d really like it if you didn’t get my future bride killed
today,” Matt said with a pointed look at me.

“Geez, what is it with everyone thinking I’m going to get
them or me killed today?” I asked.

Paige laughed at my question. “Did you already get a lecture
from Garrett about being on your best behavior today?”

“Yes,” I pouted. “Look, I’m not going to do anything to
jeopardize your future wife, who also happens to be my best friend, and
hopefully the mother of my nieces and nephews someday…so give it a rest!” I
could see the last part had Matt fretting.

So I’d hit a nerve with the baby remark. Good, let him stew
a while thinking about screaming babies and dirty diapers and sleepless nights.
Wasn’t anything he didn’t deserve for leaving me out of his wedding plans.

Paige swatted Matt
on the arm as she gathered up her things. “Stop nagging your sister. We’ll be
careful, promise,” she
said as she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“I’ll be home in time for dinner. How about we celebrate with some steaks
tonight?”

That perked Matt right up. “Sounds good, babe. I don’t get
off until around eight o’clock, but I’m all for a late dinner.”

“I may even whip up a chocolate surprise for dessert.”

That really perked Matt up.

“And maybe some champagne to celebrate,” I said. “Might as
well get that in now, because once she’s knocked up, no more boozy
celebrations.”

Matt scowled at me as I laughed. Oh, this was going to be so
much fun…endless hours of torture!

“How about I get married before you get me knocked up?”
Paige reprimanded.

Saying nothing, I just grinned at the two of them.

We jumped in the Falcon and headed out to Oak Grove Manor to
get Aunt Shirley. We called to let her know we were on our way so she’d be
waiting for us outside. I figured I’d just let them both know at the same time
what had happened last night, since Paige’s announcement was more important.
And I will admit I was afraid Matt might flip his lid if he knew about the
tongue, especially since I was taking Paige with me to investigate. Once Aunt
Shirley was in the Falcon, I headed for Dairy Queen. The place was only
slightly busy, so we were able to find a parking spot close to the front door.

The girl behind the counter greeted us as we walked in from
the parking lot. Her red Dairy Queen apron clashed hideously with her
red-orange hair from a bottle. The five earrings she had in each ear and the
purple nose ring stud didn’t help soften her features any, either.

“Go grab us a booth and I’ll get drinks,” I told Aunt
Shirley and Paige. I placed the order, got the empty cups, then started filling
them one at a time. This Dairy Queen has one of those “squirt” machines where
you can make any kind of soda drink you want, which is totally cool. I put a
couple squirts of cherry and vanilla in all of them, then carefully carried the
drinks to the booth.

As Paige started taking a drink, Aunt Shirley reached out
and grabbed her hand, “Oh, my gosh! What’s this? The boy finally decided to buy
the cow?” She cackled at her own crash joke. I squinted my eyes at her, ready
to kick her ass for hurting Paige’s feelings, when I heard Paige laughing.

“Yep, said after what happened to me yesterday at Iris’s
house, he couldn’t imagine living without me.”

“Well, good for him for coming around finally,” Aunt Shirley
said.

Wait, Aunt Shirley was happy with this? I always figured for
some reason she didn’t like Paige and that’s why she gave her such a hard time
about “giving it away” to my brother. Who knew she was more upset over Matt’s
actions than Paige’s. Did the old woman actually have a heart?

Doubtful.

“Okay, speaking of what happened yesterday…the reason I
called us together today was because I have to tell you what happened after I
got home last night from dropping y’all off.”

“You got laid finally?” Aunt Shirley said.

Looking around in a panic, hoping no one had heard her, I
hissed, “Don’t be silly! I mean, yes, he did come over—”

“I knew it!” Paige cried, practically jumping up and down in
the vinyl seat.

“Does this mean I’m the only woman at this table not getting
any?” Aunt Shirley asked.

Perish
the thought!

“When I pulled up in the drive last night, I noticed a
pumpkin on my front porch stairs. I thought Matt had come over to decorate,
since I obviously haven’t gotten around to it yet. When I got closer, I could
tell something wasn’t right. It had one of those extra-wide carved mouths with
sharp teeth, and something was sticking out of it.”

Aunt Shirley sucked in her breath. “Tell me it wasn’t…”

“Wait, what?” Paige said, looking back and forth between the
two of us. “What did I miss?”

“Yep...it was Iris’s tongue,” I said.

“What!” Paige cried, choking a little on her cherry vanilla
Coke. “Are you serious? Why on Earth didn’t you mention this to Matt this
morning?”

I debated on what to say. This was the first time it
actually hit me that my best friend was now marrying my brother, so I wasn’t
exactly sure where her allegiance would lie. Would it make a difference on what
Matt said whether or not she helped me out from now on? Not that I planned on
finding more dead bodies, but one never knows.

“Oh, pooh,” Aunt Shirley said, giving me a knowing look.
“I’m sure she didn’t want to ruin your big moment.”

I mouthed a silent thank you to Aunt Shirley as Paige stared
lovingly at her ring. I had to give it to Aunt Shirley, she was amazingly
astute on reading people. She probably was an awesome private investigator back
in her day. I admit I sometimes just thought she was making herself out to be
something bigger than she really was, but now I’m beginning to think I was
totally selling her short.

“So, what happened after you found the tongue?” Aunt Shirley
asked.

“Yes, what happened,” echoed Paige.

I filled them in on finding the Bible quote, calling
Garrett, him and Officer Ryan coming out and processing the scene.

“So I’m thinking our next lead is with the note. It had a
Bible quote on it. I mean, I don’t know who the killer is, but I know someone
we can ask about the Bible quote. I was thinking we should go see Pastor
Williams and Sister Sharon today. Maybe they can shed some light on this.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aunt Shirley said as she slid out of
the booth.