Maya Mound Mayhem (A Logan Dickerson Cozy Mystery Book 3) (5 page)

Chapter
Eleven

“What did he say?”
Miss Vivee asked as soon as I emerged from the hallway back into the police
lobby.

“He said I was
hiding bones,” I said and stopped in front of where they were seated.

“Where you?” she
asked.

“No,” I said. “And
how are you going to help me if you keep thinking I did something wrong?”

“I can help you
get away,” she said admitting she help in aiding a fleeing felon as the case
would be right in the police station.

“Let’s go,” I said
and shook my head. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

I got the two of
them in the car and buckled Miss Vivee in. She put on her sunglasses, and sat
quietly. I pulled off and didn’t offer any more information about my
questioning. I know she wanted me to elaborate and I hated doing her like that
detective had done me, but I just didn’t want to talk about it.

“I talked to him.”
she said.

I had to keep
myself from slamming on the brakes.

Okay. So now I
wanted to talk.

“Talked to who?” I
asked although I knew the answer.

“Charlie Cecil,”
she said.

“Oh my God, Miss
Vivee,” my words came out in a half-laugh, half-cry. “Why would you do that?” I
turned and looked her. “What did you say? You didn’t say anything like you
think I’m the killer did you?”

She turned and
looked at me like she couldn’t understand my frustration. “Which question you
want me to answer first?”

“”Oh my God,” I
said again. “Give me strength.”

“You’re making a
mountain out of a molehill,” she said.

“You told me not
to talk. Not to say anything that might get me in trouble. And then you just
blab like there’s no tomorrow.” My eyes got big as it hit me. “Are you the one
that told him that I’ve been around a lot of dead bodies?”

“Well that’s true.
You have. It’s your job,” she said lowering her head and looking over the rim
of her sunglasses. “Isn’t it true?”

“You know what I
mean, Miss Vivee.” I glanced over at her. I wanted to glare but I couldn’t take
my eyes off the road that long. “That man said he ‘knew about me’ that ‘murders
follow me around’ or whatever it was he said. Did he say that because of
something you said?”

“He hasn’t a clue how
that man died. Heck, he wouldn’t’ve even know it was a man if it hadn’t of been
for you.”

“Miss Vivee . . .”
I said. I knew she was purposely avoiding my questions.

“I wished I could
have talked to him longer,” she said. I could see behind her glasses her gaze
drifting off. She usually got that look when she was plotting. And it also told
me she wasn’t paying any attention to me or what I was saying.

“I think that I
should take the two of you home,” I said.

“Take us home?”
Miss Vivee said. “We just got here.”

“I know,” I said.
“But if you stay any longer, I’m sure I’ll end up in jail.”

Chapter
Twelve

The first thing I
saw when I walked back on the site was Bugs. Miss Vivee, Mac and I were
standing at my trailer door. I was trying to get them inside and out of the
heat.

Bugs had a big grin
on his face and he walked toward me, his arms outstretched.

“I’m so happy
you’re back,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t I
come back?” I asked.

“No reason.” He
looked at me out the corner of his eye. “Well. Honestly. I thought maybe you
got scared away.”

“I’m not scared of
a dead body,” I said. “I deal with them all the time.”

“Yeah. But not
ones that’ve been murdered.”

“You don’t know
anything about me and murder,” I said.

“Ooh,” he said and
grinned. “Should I be afraid of you?”

“No,” I said.

“Good. Because I’ve
got plans for me and you.”

“Bugs,” I said and
looked at him. “I have a boyfriend, you know.” I looked at Miss Vivee and Mac
standing there taking in the conversation. “And you have a girlfriend. I don’t
know about you, but I wouldn’t cheat on my boyfriend.” I pushed Miss Vivee
forward. “This is my boyfriend’s grandmother. And her, uhm, friend.”

Never quite sure
what to call Mac. Miss Vivee said that she was too old to have a boyfriend. Mac
on the other hand was trying desperately to make her his wife.

“Miss Vivee, Mac,”
I said and pointed to Bugs. “This is Jackson Reid. He is a volunteer on my
team. But he’s so good, sometimes I forget he’s an amateur.”

“Everyone calls me
Bugs,” he said and stuck out a hand.

“I can see why,”
Miss Vivee said and pushed the back of her hand forward like he was supposed to
kiss it.

“Pleased to meet
you, young man,” Mac said shaking Bugs’ hand. “Glad you are able to help out
our Logan.”

“Oh. Yes. I’ll
help her in any way I can.” He winked at me and Miss Vivee grunted. “And,” he
continued, seemingly unaware or ignoring Miss Vivee’s slight. “It’s my last
summer as a volunteer, my expertise is needed in the field of botany.”

That piqued Miss
Vivee’s interest. “You’re studying botany?” she asked. “No good botany schools
in Gainesville.”

“No ma’am it
isn’t. But I go to school in Athens.”

“University of
Georgia,” she said and smiled. “Good school.”

“One of the best.
Do you know anything about plants?” he asked.

“Probably much
more than you’ll ever know unless you live as long as me,” she said.

“You couldn’t be
that old.” He brushed his hand down her arm. “You couldn’t be any older than
about forty.”

“C’mon, Miss
Vivee. Mac,” I said. I wanted to get them away from Bugs. He was getting far
too familiar with Bay’s grandmother. I ushered them toward the trailer door.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Bugs.

“He seemed like a
nice boy,” Miss Vivee said.

“Only because he’s
has a thing for plants,” I said.

“Certainly not
because he has a crush on you,” she said and looked at me.

“I don’t like
him.”

“Oh. I know,” she
said. “No one could beat out my Bay. All the women want him.”

“But I got him,” I
said. I went to the refrigerator and got two bottles of water. “Here,” I handed
one to each of them. “I’ve got to go and check on things. Make yourself comfortable.
Once I see everything is back in place, I’ll take you back to Yasamee.” I
stepped back outside of the trailer before she had a chance on protesting about
me taking her home.

“Bugs,” I said,
jumping right back in where our conversation had left off. “You have to be
professional with me. That’s the only relationship we can have.”

“I don’t see a
ring,” he said. “That means I have a chance.” He reached out and grabbed my
wrist. “Although I don’t know that I would let that stop me.”

 “I’m happy with who
I’m dating. Not thinking about changing.” I pulled my hand away. “And his
grandmother is here. Show some respect.”

“I am very
respectful,” he said, his eyes lighting up surprised at my comment.

I smiled at him.
“That you are you are. Usually.” I looked at him. “I take that back. Okay?”

He nodded slowly “So.
Are you saying you won’t even give me a chance?”

I nodded. “Yes.
That’s what I’m saying.” I shook my head. “No.” I chuckled. I didn’t want to
confuse him. “I won’t give you a chance.”

He cocked his head
to the side. “Even after I helped you with that Forest Service officer?”

I laughed and
punched his arm. “You didn’t help me.”

“Yes I did,” he
said. “Riley was trying to throw you under the bus.”

“Yeah. I don’t
know what that was about,” I said. I wanted to agree with him and have a
conversation about it, especially after my meeting with Detective-Two-Names, but
we were all part of a team. We shouldn’t talk about each other. And I was the
leader of that team. I had to set a good example.

“Riley’s jealous of
you, you know,” he said. “She thought she’d have a bigger part in this dig. And
then you got the job.”

“What’dya mean?” I
asked. “She thought she’d be in charge of it?”

“No,” he shook his
head. “But she thought she’d be number two. She was working on her way in.
Looks like that fell through, though.”

“I don’t
understand,” I said.

 “And here’s comes
somebody else that trying to throw you under the bus,” Bugs said and nodded his
head past me.

I turned around
and looked. It was Steven McHutchinson. I scrunched up my nose.
Why would
Bugs say that about the Director?

Director
McHutchinson was tall and slim, with broad shoulders and long legs. His wavy,
sun bleached blonde hair grazed the back of his long neck. A had a dimpled chin
and dark stubble along his jaw line. He was dressed in a dark navy suit, white
shirt, power red tie and a flag lapel pin.

“Good morning. Mr.
Reid. Dr. Dickerson,” McHutchinson nodded and spoke as he approached us.

“Morning,” we said
nearly in unison.

“Good to be back?”
he said, asking no one in general.

“I’m glad to be
back,” I said. “Anxious I guess is a better word. So much work to do.”

“Finding more than
you bargained for, eh, Dr. Dickerson.”

“Yes. Quite
unnerving,” I said. “Not used to having skeletons jump out at me.”

“It scared her,
alright,” Bugs said. “We heard her scream all the way out here. And when we got
to her she was so jumpy.”

“Yes. I heard,”
McHutchinson said. He looked at me and paused momentarily before speaking
again. “I have to get back on the campaign trail soon.” He licked his lips.
“And I need this place to take care of itself.”

“Oh. We’re good,”
I said. “Everything is right on track.” I bit my lip. “Well, it was until this.
I waved toward the area that had been the source of the trouble. “How is your
campaign going?” I wanted to change the subject. He was running for state
senate and I knew any mention of that and he’d drop the conversation about the
bones I’d found.

“I’m a couple of
points ahead of my opponent, which is good,” he said. “Going from an agency
director to politician I don’t see as a big leap, but some of the voters did. I
had to prove my worth to make it through the primary. Convince all of our
constituents that I would do what is best for our state.”

“Too bad I’m not a
registered voter in Georgia,” I joked. “Because you’d have my vote.”

“I just hope I can
count on you in other ways that’ll make my campaign move forward without any
bumps. I do need you to help me get elected.”

I raised an
eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Georgia is a
state rich with history. We’re one of the thirteen original colonies. I’m sure
you know that with your background in history and all. And Track Rock Gap is a
big part of our history. If I’m to get elected I have to show I won’t try to
extinguish any part of it.”

“Yes. History is
important to me, too,” I said. “Correct history.”

He chuckled. “Is
any of the history we know correct?”

I scrunched up my
nose and tilted my head. I opened my mouth to speak, but he started up again.

“If Georgia
citizens think I can’t run this place with our gloried past in mind, they won’t
think I can run the state. You understand what I mean?”

“Of course,” I
said.

But really I
hadn’t the faintest idea what he meant.

Chapter
Thirteen

“Who was that?”
Miss Vivee said when I went into the trailer.

“The man in charge
around here.”

“You should have
introduced me,” she said.

“You’re kidding,
right?” I asked.

 She walked over
to the window. “Of course I’m not kidding. You want me to solve this thing I
have to ask questions.”

“I don’t want you
to solve it, Miss Vivee. Remember? I told you that.”

“He hasn’t left
yet,” she said letting her eyes drift from the window to me and then the door.

I readied myself
because if she tried to head for that door to go out and talk to Direct
McHutchinson, I was going to pounce on top of her and hold her down.

She turned back
and looked out of the window. “He’s leaving now. Darn,” she said. “What did you
say his name was?”

“I didn’t say,” I
said. “And I’m not telling you, either.” I didn’t think she could “Gaggle” him
on the “World Wide Web” as she and Mac would say when explaining how to use the
Internet, but I wasn’t taking any chances she’d look him up and call him.

“Who is that woman
walking with that Indian,” she said. I walked over to the window and Mac
followed me. We peered out and I saw Riley coming from the ruins into the
camper area. She was tanned and her dark brown hair with its sun bleached
streaks, was pulled back into a ponytail. She was dressed in khaki shorts and a
white sleeveless T-shirt and had a trowel and a sifting screen in her hands. She
looked like she’d been working, which we hadn’t been given the okay to do, and
there was a young man walking with her.

She was always
calling me on my authority. And with McHutchinson saying he needed me to win his
election and with Armsgoode around, talking about he should have been in
charge, I couldn’t afford any trouble from her. I couldn’t understand why she
was always so disagreeable.

Riley Sinclair
came from a family with money. She had a masters in geology and was very good
at what she did. I hadn’t handpicked her, she, like the rest of my crew, had
been chosen for me, but when I saw credentials, I was happy to have her.

She didn’t seem to
be so happy to be with me, though.

“Who is that?”
Miss Vivee asked again. “That Indian over there.”

“Native American,”
I corrected.

“Looks like an
Indian to me,” she said.

I took in a
breath. “I don’t know but I’ll have to ask him to leave. Riley knows there are
no visitors allowed at the ruins.”

“Who is Riley,”
she asked.

“Riley Sinclair,”
I said to her. “The geologist.”

Everyone knew that
no visitors were allowed on the site. It had been practically drilled into our
heads and the agency had made us memorize the rules about visitors at the site.

It had been made
it perfectly clear, not only me being the leader of the dig, but to everyone
that the Track Rock Gap stone landscape site was
not closed
to people
who came to see it. But, and they emphasized that “but,” the Forest Service
didn’t
encourage
visitation. They felt that it would best protect the sensitive
and fragile site. Even enacted legislation under the Archaeological Resources
Act that pointed to certain areas within the forest that were exempt from
public disclosure to protect cultural resources.

That’s why the
History
Channel
had been denied access.

Riley and her
visitor was definitely coming out of restricted areas.

“I don’t know why
Riley always wants to give me hard time,” I said out loud.

“She looks older
than you,” Mac said.

“She is,” I said.
“She’s about thirty-eight.”

“It’s hard to
respect the authority of someone younger than you,” Mac said. “I’m sure she’s
not happy having to work under someone that’s a decade her junior and probably
not have as much field experience as her.”

“Maybe so.” I
looked at Mac. “Bugs also said she thought she have a bigger role in all of
this. I don’t know. But not wanting to work under me and going against the
rules set by the government are two different things. She could at least follow
their rules.”

“The laws set
forth by the government didn’t seem to bother you any when you were running
around here loose with federal officers chasing you,” Miss Vivee said.

“I’m trying to
mend my ways,” I assured her.

“Don’t know how
good a job you’re doing with that,” Miss Vivee said and raised her eyebrows.
“Because now you’re the prime suspect in a homicide investigation.”