Free Maya Mound Mayhem (A Logan Dickerson Cozy Mystery Book 3) by Abby L. Vandiver Page A

waitress came back over and sat down our drinks. I usually don’t drink
the iced tea Miss Vivee always orders for me. I drink Pepsi, but I didn’t want
to interrupt while she was supposedly working her magic.
    “Hard day, honey?”
Miss Vivee asked.
    “No more than any
other day?” the waitress said staring down at her order pad.
    “People coming in
to eat thinking ‘bout their own needs. Never thinking about how their server
might feel,” Miss Vivee said. “Never makes for putting anybody in a good mood.”
Talisa didn’t say anything in response to Miss Vivee’s words.
    “But it must be
nice to have a rough day, and still look as pretty as you do,” Mac said
following Miss Vivee’s lead.
    Talisa looked up
after Mac complimented her.
    “My hair used to
be just the color of yours,” Miss Vivee said. “You remember that, Mac?”
    “Yes, I do,
Vivienne. Beautiful.” He smiled his eyes beaming. I wasn’t sure if it was part
of their act, or he was actually remembering. I looked at Miss Vivee’s long
gray braid that was slung over her shoulder, strands of dark hair still
showing.
    “Her hair’s
beautiful.” Miss Vivee said. They spoke to each other, but they had her
attention.
    “Yes it is,” Mac
said.
    “How lucky you
are!” Miss Vivee looked up at our now interested server. “I wish my hair was
still that color.”
    “It isn’t
anything,” Talisa said, but blushed. She ran her hand over her hair. “It’s my
heritage.”
    “Yes. I know,”
Miss Vivee said. “We’re just passing through. We’re from Ohio. Beautiful
country down here.”
    That made Talisa
look up. “I know you,” she said and looked at me. “Don’t you work over at that
archeological site over at Track Rock Gap?”
    “Yes, she does,”
Miss Vivee didn’t let me answer. “She’s our granddaughter.” She pointed her
finger to Mac and back to her. “Smart as a whip.” Miss Vivee let a sickly sweet
smile curl up her lips. “She’s actually in charge of that dig. We came down for
a visit.”
    Funny, she only
says good things about me when she’s lying.
    Talisa eyed me. A
smile appearing up the side of her mouth.
    “ She’s your
granddaughter?” she asked noting the obvious color difference.
    “Yes,” Miss Vivee
said. “And she is the apple of our eye.” Miss Vivee looked down at the menu. “Now
what do you recommend?” she asked Talisa.
    “If you like egg
salad you might like our tuna. We put egg in that. And we have the best apple
pie around.”
    “Then that’s what
we’ll have. Tuna sandwiches on white toast. Lettuce. Tomato and just a touch of
mayo.”
    “I’ll have a bacon
cheeseburger,” I said. If I was going to have to sit here and be talked about,
I needed strength. A greasy burger would do that I thought. “French fries and a
chocolate milkshake, please.” I smiled at her with one of the fake smiles Miss
Vivee always used.
    “You see. She’s
coming around,” Miss Vivee leaned in and whispered to me after Talisa left to
put our order in. “Might get something useful out of her.”
    “Yeah. We’ll see,”
I said and leaned back in my seat.
    “To be honest,”
Miss Vivee said and touched Talisa’s hand with hers when she returned with our
drinks. “Things aren’t going so well for our granddaughter and we wanted to
come down to help her.” Miss Vivee sighed. “She’s all the family we have left
and when she’s unhappy it makes things hard for us.”
    “Even at my age,
she had me drive down here from Ohio to see about her,” Mac chimed in pointing
to Miss Vivee. “Gotta keep the wife happy.” He looked at Talisa. “I’m sure you
have family, though. You know how much they mean to ya. Do whatever you can.”
    I hung my head and
closed my eyes. I didn’t know what to say. I’d never seen anyone like those two
once they went into action.
    “Well she can’t
come down here from Ohio and make waves,” she said. “People around here got
their own agenda.”
    “That’s what