Chocolate Heart Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 14 by Kathleen Suzette (guided reading books .TXT) 📗

developed between them the last couple of years and Logan said he felt like he didn’t have much in common with Mel anymore. He felt bad, he didn’t want to just refuse to see him all at once, but he was trying to make their get-togethers spread out further and further. He figured one day Mel would find somebody else to hang out with and that would be the end of the relationship.”

“I think it would have to have been more than just mild jealousy for him to kill him though,” Christy pointed out. “Was there something else? Something that might have sent him over the edge?”

“Well, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Clarice said, “but I overheard Mel griping about Logan at the bar a few months ago. He said that Logan had changed. He said Logan thought he was better than he was.” Her eyes went from me to Mariah and then back again.

“That’s it,” Mariah said pointing a finger on her free hand at Clarice. “That was exactly it. He thought Logan thought he was better than him, but that’s ridiculous. Logan had just outgrown the relationship. Mel had this chip on his shoulder, and you could tell that he had just become kind of aggressive toward Logan.”

I thought about this. If Mel thought Logan had changed and thought more highly of himself than he ought to, and if Mel tended toward being dramatic or paranoid, it might cause him to be resentful enough to get back at him.

“I guess it’s something Ethan should look into,” I said slowly. I hated to put my two cents in when so many people were listening. I didn’t want it spread around town that I thought what Mariah was saying had some validity. It was up to Ethan to decide that.

“I really think Mel did it,” Mariah said, sitting up in her chair. “It’s the only thing that could have happened. Logan didn’t have any enemies. At least, none that I’m aware of.”

“Why do you think it’s the only thing that could have happened? You were pointing your finger at Amber earlier.” Christy tilted her head, waiting for her reaction.

Mariah scrunched her nose up and didn’t look at Christy. “Well, I suppose it could have been Amber. And honestly, I can’t say that it wasn’t her. With the way she behaved, it wouldn’t surprise me if she did do it. But I was just thinking things over and if it wasn’t Amber, then it has to be Mel. Ethan needs to have a talk with him.” She looked at me.

I glanced at Christy. Sometimes she wasn’t diplomatic. “I know Ethan is going to find Logan’s killer. And it’s good for him to know all there is about what was going on in his life before he died. I’m sure if the killing wasn’t random, and there’s nothing to indicate that it was, then it was someone he knew, and they had to have had something against him.” That may have been obvious, but I didn’t want the conversation to be derailed. If Mariah knew anything else that was important, I wanted to know what it was.

She nodded, looking at me. “Well there’s one other thing,” she said quietly. “Mel has always had a thing for me. Last year he was coming to the gym regularly, and he was always trying to impress me. Of course, I wasn’t going to be impressed with anyone other than Logan. I loved him.” Her eyes teared up when she said it.

I nodded. “Of course you did. So what did you do when Mel kept coming to the gym and trying to impress you?”

Clarice began adding a coat of bright red polish to Mariah’s nails. “He kept hinting at things, you know,” she said slowly. “Flexing his biceps in front of me and taking his shirt off while he exercised. That’s gross you know, everybody’s there at the gym to work out and no one needs all that extra sweat flying around. But anyway, he finally came out and said he thought we should go to dinner sometime. I told him that I was in a serious relationship and I had no desire to go out with anyone else.”

“How did he take it?” Christy asked.

She glanced at Christy and turned back to me, ignoring her. “He scowled and said Logan didn’t love me. I told him he was a liar, but he kept insisting that he was using me and just keeping me around for selfish reasons.”

It was possible that Mel had a thing for her, and was jealous of Logan’s life, but would it be enough to make him go off the rails and kill Logan? He would have the know-how to cut the brake lines on the car, but would he do it? After all the murders that Ethan had investigated, I still found it hard to imagine being so angry at someone that I would not only plan their murder, but carry out. I simply couldn’t do something like that.

Chapter Thirteen

“I’m not surprised that Mariah is pointing her finger at someone else,” Christy said as she dusted the shelves at the candy store. I was sitting on a tall stool behind the front counter, and I looked up at her.

“Why aren’t you surprised?” I folded over the newspaper I had been reading and tossed it on a shelf behind the counter.

She turned to look at me. “Because she’s probably the killer. Of course she wants everyone’s attention focused on someone else. Wouldn’t you?”

She had a point. “Well, first of all I’d never kill anybody. But yes, if I had killed somebody, I certainly would want the police to look at somebody else. And Mariah certainly has good reason to do it.”

She nodded and walked over to the front counter and leaned on it. “I think she’s probably getting worried about getting