Murder At Tropical Cove Marina (Cozy Mystery) (Sea Cozy Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

lost my train of thought. When I recovered, I said, “Anyway, I met Gregg and Candy yesterday at the Crab House. He said he overhead you talking to Robert, something about Robert getting in an argument with Guz. Do you know what happened”?
    “Aah yeah, Robert started over the past few months goin’ out catchin’ for some of the local seafood restaurants. Robert wanted to pick up a little extra cash.”
    “Would that be fishing?”
    “Aah crabbin’, stone crabbin’ in fact. So apparently, he took his barrel of fresh claws over to the Crab House but for some reason or ‘nother they got in a spat over the size of the crab claws and so on and so forth. Robert and Guz walked out back and Robert got very upset with Guz, said he threw some of the claws at Guz and stormed out. Guz told him to not come back to the restaurant ever. When I saw Robert that evening, he was steamed. You could see the smoke coming out his ears.” Croc gave a little chuckle as he continued talking. “Last I saw of Robert, he said he was gonna have some drinks and relax on his boat. Ya ask me, he already had a few too many, though. And that was the last I heard from him. Next I hear, he’s done and died, poor guy.”
    Listening to Croc’s description of what had happened, it sounded unusually out of character for the usually affable man to get so angry. I said, “ It sure seems like Robert was acting very strangely last night. I’ll have to get Guz’s side of the story. I plan on seeing Guz Wednesday afternoon at the Seafood Jamboree Meeting.”
    “Yeah. I hear ya’ll are hostin’ it, this year.”
    “News travels fast in this town ,” I thought. “That’s right. Both Guz and I are hosting the 4 th annual Seafood Jamboree festival. It’ll be held next month,” I announced. “So come check it out. I want it to be the best year, ever.”
    “You got it, Maddie. I ain’t missed one yet.”
    “Give a few sailing lessons with your MacGregor? Huh?”
    “Weeelll…Maybe. I’ll think about it. I think so.”
    “Sounds good,” I replied, eager to get some more activities lined up.
    “Hey Maddie, do ya’ll wanna come tomorrow with Gregg and me catchin’? We are one man short. You can see how crabbin’ works. And ya’ll can get some free crab legs. Can’t beat that with a stick, can ya?”
    I couldn’t very well turn him down right after asking for a favor, and it sounded like fun, so I agreed. “Crab legs sounds tasty. Thanks for asking. That really sounds like fun. I’ll take advantage of your offer. Hopefully, it will take my mind off things. Thanks again, Croc. What time should I meet you?”
    “Be here tomorrow mornin’ at 5 sharp. We will be heading out in Gregg’s Boston Whaler.”
    “Okaley Dokely,” I said and gave a chuckle.
    “Ya’ll have a nice afternoon, Maddie,” as he waved bye and headed to the community room.
    I finished the rounds and parked the cart by the dumpster. As I headed back to the office my phone started to ring. It was Ethan. “Hey Ethan, what’s up?”
    His sober voice was in sharp contrast to my cheerful greeting. “Maddie, we think that Robert was poisoned. His blood alcohol level was through the roof.”
    “Yes. I heard he was drinking pretty heavily that night. But why poison? I mean—“
    “The alcohol didn’t kill him, but it did knock him out. And they, uh, also found a substance in his stomach that probably caused him to vomit while unconscious. It caused pulmonary aspiration, which led to his death. And get this: The substance found in his stomach consisted of some sort of Petroleum Distillates. We are sending the substance to the chemical lab now to narrow down the product.”
    “What was that? Petro…..Dital…. I didn’t quite catch that.”
    “Petroleum Distillates,” Ethan responded.
    Isn’t that in kerosene, oils, and such? I’ve seen that ingredient on a can of something or other before,” I babbled.
    “Uh, yeah. It is, Maddie. Sorry, I got to take another