The Haunted Bones (A Lin Coffin Mystery Book 3) by J A Whiting Page A

had a look of triumph on his face as he rushed to gather Viv in his arms and dance her around the deck. “I just closed on a deal,” he announced as he twirled his sweetie around.
    Sensing the happy mood, Nicky danced beside the couple and Viv giggled. She was happy and relieved to see John in such high spirits.
    “It’s a huge place out in Surfside.” John beamed with joy. “Which means a huge commission for me.”
    Congratulations were given and the girls hugged him while Jeff shook John’s hand.
    “Too bad we don’t have any champagne,” Lin lamented.
    “Homemade sangria will do the trick.” John reached for the bottle and a glass. They all clinked their glasses together and settled into the cushioned deck chairs to chat and sample the appetizers. Lin had prepared a pasta salad with veggies and had chicken breasts baking in the oven. Viv had recently taken up bread making and she’d made fresh rolls which would be popped in the oven as soon as the chicken was roasted.
    John told them all about the deal. “Now I’m thinking of getting a bigger boat.” He grinned at Viv and waited for her to admonish him for being extravagant and not putting the money into savings.
    His jaw dropped when Viv said and meant it, “Do whatever makes you happy.” She smiled at John and hugged him. They all knew that Viv and John would marry one day, the couple just hadn’t made it official yet. Viv and John had wanted to save money and grow their businesses before walking down the aisle.
    “I wasn’t expecting that.” John chuckled, amazed at Viv for giving her blessing about a new boat. “It must be a trick of some kind.”
    Everyone laughed.
    Conversation turned to island news and the new gig that Viv and John had secured to play once a week for the rest of the summer and into the fall. The manager of a downtown pub had caught a recent set that Viv and John’s band played at a club and offered them a contract for the next eight weeks.
    When Lin carried out the dinner and the four of them were enjoying the food, John brought up the bones. Viv glanced at him, surprised that he was the one who initiated the subject. She was pleased that his anxiety over finding the murdered young man in the empty house last month seemed to be coming under control.
    Lin and Viv relayed their suspicions that a grave robber was at work and told about their cemetery adventure of the other night leaving out the part about Emily Coffin making an appearance.
    John and Jeff stared at the girls with their mouths open.
    “Grave robbing?” Jeff was appalled.
    “It can be lucrative from what I’ve read.” Lin passed the pasta salad to John. She told them the dollar figure that could be had for a skull and a full skeleton.
    John was about to make a joke about quitting real estate to go into the bone market, but he was interrupted by Viv. “Please don’t make a joke. It’s just too awful.”
    “It’s too bad you didn’t get a good look at that guy at the cemetery.” Jeff was still shaking his head. “Or at the car he was driving.”
    Lin told them about her visit to Jonas Bradley’s office and her conversations with Olive and Lloyd Sawyer.
    “It seems Jonas and Lloyd have something in common,” John said. “They both have rotten personalities.”
    “And they both seem suspicious of each other.” The sun was almost fully set and shadows had fallen over the deck, so Lin lit the candles in the center of the table. “From Jonas’s comments, it makes me think that he and Lloyd had a run-in of some kind, but Olive didn’t allude to anything like that when she was going on about how she didn’t like Jonas.”
    “It seems Olive would have said something if there was bad blood between her husband and Jonas,” Jeff said.
    “From what Lin tells us about Olive, I don’t think the woman would hold back about a disagreement or whatever happened between Jonas and Lloyd.” Viv reached for the platter of chicken breasts. “Olive seems pretty