The Full Cup of Murder: Cozy Murder Mystery (Full Cup Mysteries Book 1) by Ruby Jones Page B

and sat in a chair. They left the pillowcase on but I could hear voices. I could feel someone standing near me and close.
    “If I take this pillow case off of your head are you going to scream?” It was the same voice from the phone calls. I shook my head. I could feel the pillowcase coming off. It was really bright but as my eyes adjusted I was shocked to see Reese, Riley, Shanna and a few other Malanta family.
    “Hello Alison.” Reese said.
    “You?” I could not even believe it. I looked at Shanna and it hit me that she had been involved the entire time. Here we all were worried about her and in reality; she was just as much involved.
    “Hello Ali.” Shanna sneered at me.
    “But I don’t understand.”
    “It is pretty easy to understand actually. You are just too stupid to understand.” Riley spoke up. “Everything would have been ok if that Ray had not interfered with my business. For years, my family has used your bar to make our deals. For years, we have been running our products into the ports and then Ray had to catch us. He had to interfere.” Riley walked very close to me. “Now you. Now we have to deal with you.”
    “You did kill Ray?” I gasped.
    “It truly was an accident but like anyone would believe me.” He said and he was pretty much right because I was not even sure if I believed it. “That night he came into the Full Cup he told me he was going to report my whole entire operation. He was pretty upset that I had used your place. I think he was upset with that more than anything.”
    “Oh please!” Shanna spoke up. “Everyone just loves Ali.” She glared at me. “They always have!” I knew Shanna was a little jealous of our childhood. When she, Jenna, myself and a few other girls hung out the boys very rarely spoke to Shanna.  Jenna and I had to practically beg our cheering coach to allow Shanna on the squad. Shanna seemed to be over looked on everything. When we all grew up and she had opened up the beauty shop she had gained a little bit of popularity. She was very good at doing hair and had gained some of our richest resident women respect. People had started looking up to Shanna as a great stylist and a good businesswoman. We all were a little Leary when she first started dating Riley but we were also happy to see her happy. I guess we were all right with our first instincts.
    “So what are we going to do from here?” Reese asked. He still did not talk to me. “We have that huge shipment coming in in four days. With all of the heat we certainly need to figure something out.”
    “Yes, “Riley smiled. “Therefore, we just created a huge distraction. He looked at me. “Everyone, especially, Jason, will be so busy looking for her we will be able to pull this off. Then we can go to our other destinations and we will not have to deal with this small town again!”
    “…and her?” Reese looked at me. The three of them looked at me and I could just tell this was not going to go in my favor.
    “Well her usefulness will be over. No witnesses, so we will have to do what we need to do.” He left the room. I looked at horror at Shanna.
    “Shanna, how can you even be a part of this?” I cried. She walked up close to me and slapped me hard. She leaned close to my face.
    “I have never liked you Alison! Your perfect bar, your perfect friends your perfect life!” She pulled away and looked down at me with pure hate. “It will all end soon.” She left as well. Reese just looked at me and followed them shutting the door. My mind could not even process what was going on. My body ached like crazy. I was due for my meds. One of them was to keep my lung inflated and it was very important for me to have them or my lung would start deflating and within days I could die as the air was being denied access to my lungs. The door was opened again and Reese came in with my bag and a glass of water. I was surprised to see my meds, a change of clothing and some of my other personal