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

trio of true loves.
    “Viola Rose, did
you hear about that knock down drag out over at the Maypop the day before
Oliver died?” Miss Vivee asked.
    “I do declare. I
didn’t envy you none when I heard,” she said and planted her fisted hands on
her hips. “I heard all three of them were madder than a wet hen. And I didn’t
understand it one lick. Least when it came to Lindsey Grace. That girl is sweet
as peach pie. She’s only been living in Yasamee for a year or two. Never heard
about no trouble with her.”
    “I remember when
she moved here,” Miss Vivee said. “From Dover, I think. Couple towns over. Stayed
a day or two at the Maypop. Told me her whole story.”
    “Bless her heart.
She had just gotten a divorce. Trying to get away from what I heard was a crazy
husband and ends up in a crazy love triangle. Don’t that just beat all?”
    “I say.” Miss
Vivee nodded.
    “Wasn’t surprised
about Mary Beth though.” Viola Rose shook her head. “She’s always been a fiery
one. If she weren’t happy, weren’t nobody gone be happy. That girl so stuck up
if it rained she’d drown. I wouldn’t put it past her to try to hurt somebody.
Heard she had a knife. ”
    “It was just a
little butter knife. Probably couldn’t do much harm with it, but she was
threatening to.” Miss Vivee leaned in close. “There was a third one you know. I
don’t know who she is.”
    “I hear tell she’s
from Augusta,” Viola Rose said. “Drove all the way down here to meet Oliver at
the Maypop and found Lindsey and Mary Beth instead.”
    “So you don’t know
her name? The one from Augusta,” Miss Vivee asked.
    “I’ve heard
several different names for her,” Viola Rose said looking past Miss Vivee like
she was thinking. “I ain’t sure, and you know I ain’t one to gossip. Don’t want
to go spreading no lies.”
    “I understand,
Viola Rose,” Miss Vivee said and patted her on her arm. “I can always count on
you not to spread rumors.”
    “But ain’t it
funny,” Viola Rose said, a grin creeping up her face. “How nobody see’d hide
nor hair of Oliver while those girls were fighting over him. Looked like he
would a come and tried to put a stop to it.”
    “If you’d seen
those girls, Viola Rose, you’d have steered clear of the place, too.” Miss
Vivee said.
    Viola Rose
laughed. “Alrighty then,” she said. “Y’all got everything y’all need?”
    “Yep. I’m good,” I
said. I had been eating while Miss Vivee got her information.
    “I’m working on
getting what I need,” Miss Vivee muttered. But it seemed no one heard her but
me. And I knew exactly what she meant.

 
    Chapter Sixteen
     
     “We’re not going
to Augusta, Miss Vivee.” I said when Viola Rose walked away. Viola Rose hadn’t
done anything but stirred up Miss Vivee’s curiosity and sealed my fate.
    “We don’t need to
take a road trip to interview that girl,” Miss Vivee said, she had gotten testy
with me because I continually insisted we weren’t going anywhere to look for
her suspects.
    “How do you plan
on doing it then, Miss Vivee?”
    She pointed to the
flyer on the table. I slid it between the two of us. It was the one that Ron
Anderson had given Bay.
    “There.” She
jabbed her fingers at the address of the church for the memorial service printed
on the flyer.
     “You can’t go
butting into a federal investigation.”
    “They don’t know
what to investigate,” Miss Vivee said and sucked her teeth. “They don’t know
how he died.”
    “I told Bay what
you said about him being poisoned. That’s why he roped off the house. He
believes you.”
    “I bet you didn’t
have a lot of friends when you were younger, did you?” Miss Vivee turned in her
seat and looked at me. “You tell everything you know. When I was growing up
kids like you ended up in face down in the dirt out behind the schoolhouse.”
    I think she just
threatened me.
    “I told you,” she
shifted, turning back to face Mac and picked up her