Picture Perfect Murder (Ryli Sinclair 1) (3 page)

I woke up to the sound of vibrations coming from my cell
phone. Funny how I thought I might be able to sleep through that little
annoyance. No such luck. It was Hank Perkins, owner of
The Gazette.
I
was being summonsed to the office for a debriefing. It wouldn’t have been such
a big deal if I’d gone right to sleep last night. Unfortunately, I tossed and
turned and actually began to see sunrise before I finally drifted off.

I threw on jeans, t-shirt, brushed my teeth, and piled my
hair on top of my head. I loved dressing up and primping. But most days when I
go to the office, I just throw on whatever is clean...or at least semi-clean.
Grabbing my travel mug full of coffee, I threw Miss Molly a kiss and ran out
the door.

Granville has a population of just over ten thousand. At
least, that’s what the sign outside the city limits claims. I’ve not known that
number to change much in the twenty-eight years I’ve been alive, so who really
knows.

The town is made up of two main streets, Elm Street and Pike
Street. They meet in the heart of downtown at a four-way stop. On the downtown
square we have the courthouse, Legends Salon and Nails
,
a couple banks,
a Subway, two café-type restaurants, and a handful of antiques stores. On the
outskirts of town going west, we have a Dairy Queen, the elementary, middle,
and high schools, along with a small hospital. On the east side of town we have
a small family-run grocery store, the police station, and the newspaper
building where I work.

Thrown into this mixture are numerous houses and churches. I’ve
attended the same church that my mom and brother have for about as long as I’ve
been alive. In fact, Pastor Williams and his wife, Sharon, have pastored there
for as long as I’ve been alive—a slight exaggeration, but not by much. Come to
think of it, Dr. Garver attended my church and was even on the church board.

It doesn’t take more than two minutes for me to get to work,
so believe it or not I’m hardly ever late. I pulled into the open slot outside
the one-story brick building that housed the newspaper. The staff is basically
made up of three people…the owner and editor, Hank, his wife, Mindy, and me.

“About damn time,” Hank grumbled around the unlit cigar in
his mouth as I pulled open the glass door and walked in.

“Leave her alone, Hank.” Mindy said as she greeted me with a
hug. “Can’t you see she’s had a hard night?”

“I don’t care. I have a paper to run. I can’t take time out
to worry about the princess’s lack of beauty sleep.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and barely resisted the urge to
shoot him the bird. Not that it would have bothered him any, he probably would
have shot it right back at me. Or just literally shot me. He’s a “Kill ‘Em All,
Let God Sort ‘Em Out” kinda guy. A retired Marine who still walks the walk and
talks the talk. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Oorah!

His closely shaved military haircut did little to disguise
his bulbous forehead, nor did it help cover his protruding ears. He was
fifty-two years old, mean as the day was long, and didn’t give a damn about
anything but his wife and his paper.

Mindy on the other hand was his opposite in every way. She
was as gentle as he was mean. She had platinum blonde hair that was teased for
miles, something she never let go of from her Texas pageant days. I don’t know
her real age, because she won’t tell me, but I’m guessing around fifty.

For an older lady, she has a killer bod, which she loves to
show off. Skin-tight floral pants and neon colored off-the-shoulder shirts or
sweaters are her signature, paired with designer five-inch high-heeled shoes.
Think Naomi Harper from
Mama’s Family...
only way smarter
.
Thank
goodness for Nick at Nite reruns.

I secretly covet her shoes. She actually got me to try them
on once. I was walking around the office feeling all cocky, when I tripped over
my own feet and fell head first into the filing cabinet. Between the knot on my
head and the bruises on my legs, it wasn’t hard to convince me that heels
weren’t my thing, no matter how much I wanted them to be.

“Honey, you just sit down right here and tell me all about
it.” Mindy handed me a cup of her special blend herbal tea and pushed me into a
chair. The front office was averaged size, had no walls, and was sparsely
decorated. When you walked through the glass front doors, you pretty much
walked into the whole office. We have a back room where we put the paper
together, a small bathroom down the hall, and another tiny closet that Hank
used as his office. Mindy and I worked in the front office area, which was fine
by me. The less I had to deal with Hank, the better off I was.

Hank thrust his hands in my face. “Let’s see it.”

“See what?”

“The damn article. I know you didn’t just go home and sleep.
Give me the article.”

“Are you freaking serious? I didn’t get home until after
one, and then I had to try and get all that blood out of my head before I could
sleep.”

“You’re telling me you didn’t write anything? What the hell
do I pay you for?”

I knew better than to answer him, so I just gave him my best
“bite me” stare. To a seasoned Marine, I probably just looked like an idiot. But
I didn’t care. There was no way I could put together a story last night. I took
a drink of Mindy’s herbal tea and said nothing.

“I want you to get out today and get reactions. Go up to
Legends. Hell, you know Iris is going to be shooting her mouth off. I want
specific gut-wrenching reactions from people. Quotes, dammit. Give me lots of
quotes!”

“Fine,” I said as I walked to my desk. I set the hot tea
down and picked up my spiral notebook I used for jotting down insightful
bullshit that usually kept Hank off my back. I really didn’t want to talk with
a bunch of gossiping old ladies, but I did want to keep my job. Matt
appreciates it when I make his mortgage payments.

Before I headed to Legends, I made a quick stop. My mom’s a
retired elementary school teacher. She taught kids in Granville for thirty
years before she decided to call it quits. The majority of the younger
population in town has gone through Janine Sinclair’s classroom at one time or
another. Eventually, though, she decided she didn’t like the changes being made
with the new administration, so she retired.

Mom’s house is five doors down from Matt’s new house. Mom
keeps saying she’s going to sell, that it’s too big and she doesn’t need a
two-story house. But I don’t think she’ll ever do it. There are just too many
memories in her house. Today I’m hoping for a homemade cinnamon roll.

I pulled my Civic into the paved driveway and got out. I
love this house...the memories I have here are priceless. I walked up the
extra-wide front steps and onto the gray, wooden wrap-around front porch.

I could smell the rolls before I entered the spacious
kitchen. Mom had updated the kitchen about five years ago. She said since this
is the room she loves to be in most—besides her library—she was going to make
it hers. She had a gigantic Vulcan range that consisted of six burners, a
griddle, and two side-by-side convection ovens underneath the stovetop. She
also had all the latest cooking and baking gadgets like a KitchenAid mixer with
tons of attachments, a state-of-the-art blender that could heat up soup and
crush an iPhone... all at the same time! She even had a refrigerator just for
her wine.

Again, being my mom’s daughter could be seriously
intimidating at times.

“I was wondering where you were. It’s after eight, and you
know I have cinnamon rolls.” Mom leaned down and kissed the top of my head. I’d
already devoured two rolls by the time she walked into the kitchen.

My mom is hands down the best cook around. Unfortunately,
that usually meant people thought
I
must be a great cook, too. Like
somehow there’s a magical cooking gene in DNA that gets passed down through
generations. There isn’t. I should know, I’ve tried cooking and baking hundreds
of recipes, and only a few are edible.

“So who do you think did it?” I asked, wiping my mouth with
my hand.

“Did what?” Mom asked, frowning at me.

“Hello…murdered Dr. Garver.”

“What!”

“Didn’t you hear?”

“Oh, my God! No, I didn’t hear. I turned my cell off last
night.” I watched as she continued to wring her hands together in worry. “This
is horrible!”

Why Mom thought it was horrible I don’t know. She disliked
Dr. Garver as much as anyone. And for mom, that was a feat. I’ve never known my
mom to dislike anyone, but Dr. Garver was a different matter. I heard words
come out of my mom’s mouth that would make a sailor blush when it came to that
woman.

“We just started the new school year…where on Earth are they
going to find someone to fill her spot this late in the game!”

Okay, that made more sense. Mom was worried about the
school.

“Were you and Matt called to the scene? What happened?”

I didn’t know if I should tell her exactly what happened. It
was pretty gruesome. Although, if I didn’t tell her and she found out later—which
she was bound to do—she’d probably turn me over her knee. She liked to think
she could still do that.

“Okay. But you have to understand, most of this isn’t going
to be printed, so you can’t repeat this…but it looks like someone dragged her
into the kitchen, cut out her heart, and chopped of her fingertips.”

Mom’s mouth dropped open. “You’re not serious?”

“I am. I just can’t believe you hadn’t heard until now.”

Mom didn’t meet my eyes. “Like I said, I turned off my cell.
I was busy—reading. I was reading.”

Warning bells went off in my head. Something didn’t sound
right. “Everything okay?” I tried to keep it casual, but I’m not sure I
succeeded.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine,” Mom said, waving a hand dismissively. “I
take it Matt was with you?”

“Yes, he stayed with Mr. Garver,” I said as I took my empty
plate to the sink. “Mr. Garver was the one that came home after class and found
her.”

“That poor man. I always did like him. Never could
understand how he came to marry that woman.”

Evidently that’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
Well, that and who killed her.

Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend”
came blaring out of my
cell phone. “Hey, Paige, what’s up?”

Mom got up and poured herself more coffee while I talked to
Paige. I could see she was pretty shaken up. I watched as she sat back down and
sipped her scalding coffee. How in the world she could drink it that hot I never
knew. I ended my conversation with Paige with the promise of meeting up soon.

“Mom, I’m going to meet Paige at Dairy Queen this morning to
talk. Then I have to go over to Legends to get reactions from people. You know
everyone’s going to be talking about the murder, and what better place to hear
the latest gossip than down there?” Mom nodded her head in agreement. “But
before I leave, I was wondering if I can ask a favor?”

“Of course, dear, what is it?”

“Well, Matt invited Garrett, Paige, and me over for dinner
tonight, and I want to do something special. I was wondering if I could borrow
that chocolate jelly roll recipe you have so I can make a dessert.”

Mom didn’t say anything for about five seconds. “Do you want
me to make it for you?”

“I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”

Again, dead silence.

“C’mon, I can do this. You always said it’s one of the
easiest things to make.”

Mom leaned over and patted my hand, “Of course you can. The
recipe’s in the box on the shelf next to the stove. Make sure you can read my
writing. You know how I just jot things down by hand. Do you need the
ingredients?”

“No, thanks. I’ll go to the store when I finish up at
Legends.” Suddenly excited at the prospect of showing off to Garrett, I
couldn’t sit still. “Thanks again, Mom. I’ll let you know how it turns out.” I
gave her a brief kiss, found the handwritten recipe, snapped a picture of the
recipe with my cell phone, and flew out the door.

You have to pass the bus barn on the way out to Dairy Queen.
Since the buses were moving, pulling in and out of the large area, I assumed
school was still in session despite the queen’s death. No sense wasting a
school day and having to come back sometime during the year to make it up.

The Dairy Queen is a staple here in Granville. Almost
everyone has worked here at some point in high school. I worked here the summer
going into my senior year. I needed the extra income to buy the Civic, and at
the end of the summer, I had just enough money saved up.

Our Dairy Queen was a little different than others because
we sold breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We’re such a small town, that this is
pretty much the only thing open for breakfast besides Subway and the two cafés.
And where there’s breakfast, there’s old men hanging out, drinking coffee,
ready to swap gossip and stories just like ladies do.

I parked in the half-full parking lot and walked in. About
three different people greeted me. I waved and then spotted Paige over in the
corner booth, just like always. Paige also worked here with me during the
summer going into our senior year.

I went to the counter, ordered my drink, then slid into the
booth across from Paige. She didn’t look too great this morning.

“So, what’s up?” I asked.

“I’m just so upset.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like it’s a surprise, right?”

“How can you say that? I mean, I guess you’re right, but
still…I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Paige all but wailed.

Huh?

“Why do you have to do anything?” I asked.

Paige stared at me like I was an idiot. I watched her blow
her hair out of her eyes. Paige’s hair was cut right below her chin in short,
choppy layers. It was deep auburn with caramel blonde highlights. Her eyes were
green, her nose perky, and her lips full. Between her and Mindy, I always felt
frumpy.

“You can’t be serious. Of course this affects me!” Suddenly,
she burst into tears.

What the hell?

I glanced around to see if anyone was watching. No one was.
They were too busy whispering among themselves to pay attention to us. I handed
Paige a napkin and waited until she finished.

Oh,
God. She wasn’t going to tell me she did it, was she? She actually went to that
old bat’s house, subdued her, and then grabbed vital organs? No, no. This is
Paige. Sensible, sweet Paige. Stay calm
.

“I’m sorry. I’m just so upset about this.”

“I understand. But it’s not like we liked her, right?”

Paige stopped crying but continued to dab her eyes. Even
with red swollen eyes she managed to look great. “What? I’m talking about the
fact that your brother and I are getting ready to celebrate our first year
anniversary, and I don’t think he’s going to give me a ring!”

Relief soared through my body. I tried to be sympathetic, I
really did. After all, I’d probably be a little pissed off if the boy I’d loved
for nearly my whole life still hadn’t proposed, but what the heck did I know.

Hoping to cheer her up I said, “Hey, I have to go downtown
to Legends to get quotes from people over what happened last night. Wanna go
with me?”

Paige perked up at this. “Sure. I’ll tell you, Ryli, I was
shocked when Matt dropped by this morning and told me what happened. I just
can’t believe it. Was it really that bad?”

“Yes, it was really that bad.”