Sequestered with the Murderers by Dr. Tanner (books for 8th graders TXT) 📕

he drank too much when he was off duty and that when drunk, he was a mean son-of-a-gun. He never drank on any of my tours, and I have never seen him take a drink.”

“Thanks for sharing that Lemmonee, I appreciate the information.”

“I’ll go get those items for you now.”

After she left, I paced the room a couple of times, waiting for a revelation to burst forward. I felt strongly I missed something important in the information I had received thus far, but what? I walked to the ladies’ room I had passed on the way to my office away from home. I used it, then walked back into the office, sat down, and opened the preliminary autopsy report.

I looked at the “marks and wounds” section more closely than when I looked at it in the conference room. One bullet had pierced the heart, and the six other bullet holes were spaced almost symmetrically around the one that had pierced the heart. The picture looked like someone had been throwing darts, and only one hit the bullseye. There were some additional pages attached. I read the next page. There was a note that said, “Victim has the sickle cell trait.” The note was highlighted. I had a black and white copy of the preliminary report, so the highlighted area showed up in a gray tone.

Duffy was White, or so I thought. Sickle cell anemia and sickle cell trait were found in people of color, of African descent. If I remembered correctly, for a child to have the sickle cell trait, a parent had to pass on the trait to the child. I then remembered that White people could have the sickle cell trait, too.

I was still engrossed in thought when Lemmonee walked back into the office.

“Vett, here are the items you wanted, and here is your check.”

“Lemmonee, did Duffy ever mention he had the sickle cell trait?”

“Don’t only Black people have that?”

“No, White people can have it too. It says in Duffy’s autopsy that he had the sickle cell trait.”

“No, he never mentioned he had it to me. Nancy may know more about that. Why don’t you go see her today? Jackson has told her all about you.”

“I think that is a good idea.”

“I can go with you if you would like me to.”

“No problem there. Would you call her and make the appointment while I look through these other items and Duffy’s personnel file?”

“Sure thing. I will be back in a moment.”

In less than five minutes, Lemmonee was back in the office.

“Vett, Nancy can’t see you today. She won’t be home for the rest of the day. She can see you early tomorrow morning if you can stay over one more night. The only thing is, I can’t go with you tomorrow. I am off tomorrow and have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. I can give you directions to her house. It’s easy to find.”

I had felt a gnawing inside of me since the meeting ended, telling me I need to stay in Attribute longer. I gave in, answered the gnawing in the affirmative as I knew I would eventually. Thank God I was in the habit of packing more clothes than needed for a one-day trip.

“Okay, I can do it. Would you make the appointment with her for 9:00 am tomorrow? And would you call the hotel and rebook me for another night.”

“No problem, I’ll take care of everything. I’ll be back in a moment.”

I really was pleased to stay another night. Sty was not at the hotel desk this morning when I checked out. Staying another night would provide another chance for me to see her and explain who I was. With that settled, I closed the autopsy file and opened up the police report. I skimmed through it. Nothing was in it that surprised me. I closed it and opened the folder with the list of passengers that were on the Tennessee trip. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I found an improbability the third time I read the list.

CHAPTER 6

As I do in all my cases, I keep most of my findings to myself until I am led to do otherwise. There are some details I must divulge to get additional information. Keeping most of my findings to myself, I’ve learned, is an excellent practice, though some clients think otherwise and beg for snippets or scraps of information all through my investigation. Jackson had explicitly asked me to provide a report to him every other day. I was willing to do this, but the information I provide him would be limited and selective.

I sat there for ten minutes pondering the improbability of people living in the same zip code not making that information known to each other when they end up in a close-knit environment such as a motor coach bus tour. The Purples and I had met and conversed with the four passengers we had never met before from the Danville area. Come to find out, we all knew some of the same people.

I decided I had had enough pondering. I stood up from my seat with the passenger list folder in hand and then decided to go find Lemmonee. She appeared at the door just as I was about to walk through it.

Startled, she asked, “Vett, is everything okay?”

“Everything is okay. I was in a hurry to get some information from you, so I was on my way to find you.”

“What is it that you need? Nancy will see you tomorrow morning at 9:00, and here are directions to her house. It’s only a fifteen-minute drive from the hotel. She is not quite sold on Jackson hiring you. She thinks the police are quite capable of finding who murdered her husband, so be prepared for some antagonism from her. And a room has been booked for you at the hotel.”

“Thank you, Lemmonee. I appreciate you doing that for me. I would think she would be glad