Coastal Cottage Calamity (A Logan Dickerson Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Abby L. Vandiver

voice even and calm.
    “Logan found an
extinct fish on Stallings Island.”
    “An extinct fish?”
Mac asked. “Couldn’t be extinct if Logan found it.” He looked at me. “Alive - I’m
figuring.”
    “Yes. Very much
alive,” I said. “So correction,” I pointed to Miss Vivee. “A previously thought
extinct fish.”
    “Can I finish?”
Miss Vivee asked.
    Mac waved his hand
indicating for her to continue.
    “We think-”
    “Miss Vivee
thinks,” I interrupted. I didn’t want to have any authorship in her theories
even though she’d gotten them from me.
    “ We think,”
she said again looking at me. “That Renmar has been making her fish stew with a
fish that no one knew existed any longer.”
    “No wonder she’s
won blue medals with that stuff,” Mac said and rubbed his jaw. “It was the food
of our illustrious temper-weaving, Native American Indians. I bet you found
that exhilarating, Logan.” He smiled at me and took a sip of his iced tea. “So.
Renmar killed him over the fish?”
    “I’m afraid that
might be the case,” Miss Vivee said.
    She’d be the
perfect prosecutor, she had taken the small tidbit of information I’d given her
and built a whole capital murder case around it.
    “Logan heard
Oliver and Renmar having a big fight the morning he was killed,” she said still
explaining to Mac. “She even threatened his life,” Miss Vivee nodded. “You know
Renmar is capable of murder. I’ve always said that. I just hope in this case it
isn’t true.” Her face showing she firmly believed her conclusions.
    She was so
matter-of-fact in her statement of Renmar being capable of murder. It was kind
of scary for her to be so nonchalant about her saying someone is possibly a
murderer. Renmar killed Oliver. I tried to let that sink in. I looked as
Miss Vivee and then I thought about her murderous tendencies.
    Well, I guess the apple
doesn’t fall far from the tree.
    “You had Renmar on
your list of suspects when Gemma was killed,” Mac said. “Not a good way for a
mother to look at her daughter.” But before Miss Vivee could answer, Viola Rose
was back with the drinks.
    “Are you ordering
anything to eat?” She sat the drinks down and looked around the table. “Or are
you using my diner just as your meeting place?” She pulled a pen out of her
hair and clicked the tip of it a couple of times.”
    “Mac and I will
have the egg salad,” Miss Vivee said. “Logan, you want some, too?”
    “I’ll have an
opened-face turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes” I said. ‘And a salad with
ranch dressing.”
    “You know you’ve
been putting on weight,” Miss Vivee said to me. “You should eat nutritional.
Egg salad is good for you.”
    “It’s got mayo in
it. Gobs of it,” I said.
    “I’m sure it’s
low-fat,” Miss Vivee looked at Viola Rose. “They make healthy food here.”
    I glanced over at Viola
Rose’s husband, Gus who was smearing liquid, greasy butter all over his grill.
    “I got you,” Viola
Rose said to me and smiled as she collected the menus.
    “I am having a
salad,” I said and looked down at myself. Had I really gained weight? I
tugged down on my shirt.
    “I’ve got to
launch an investigation to clear her name, Mac,” Miss Vivee ignoring me picked
back up the conversation after Viola Rose left. “And if you kept up with what
I’ve been saying,” she said sarcastically. “You’d see that I put her on my list
because she might have done the deed. Daughter or not, I’ve got to keep an open
mind if I’m going to solve this thing. And if she did do it, I’ve gotta find a
way to help her out. Get her out of town, help her hide out, or something.”
    “Bay said that if
we tried to investigate Oliver’s death, he’d put us in jail,” I reminded her.
    Not even
mentioning that now she was trying to plan how to hide a fugitive of the law.
    “You are such a
tattletale, Logan,” she said, her eyes narrowed. “Were you always like this?”
    “I’m just