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

After witnessing the passionate show of affection, I drove around the block again. I drove by Nancy’s house and slowed down just enough to photograph the license plate number on the white Toyota. I then drove toward the highway to Envyton County. As I did so, Duffy’s dog popped into my mind. After ringing the doorbell, I had heard a dog barking but saw no evidence that there was one while I was in the house. Was Nancy keeping him locked up somewhere? I wondered.

CHAPTER 10

I arrived in Envyton County just before noon. Since neither Marjorie nor Rebbie has returned my phone call, I had a couple of hours to kill before my 2:00 pm appointment with Joe and Holt Junior. I followed Main Street on into the middle of town. I stopped at Den & Cher’s Burger Joint and ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and iced tea. I sat at a window table at the back of the restaurant to eat and to watch the other customers come and go. The food was quite good. After eating, I decided to ride by Marjorie’s house on the off chance she was home. I took the passenger list from my bag and held onto it.

After putting my trash in the trash receptacle, I walked up to the counter and asked the cashier if she knew where Puddle Flank Road was. She didn’t, so I asked to speak to her supervisor. The supervisor was very helpful. She knew where it was and gave me directions.

After giving me directions, she said, “If you wait a minute, I think I have an Envyton County map in the back. Where you are going is not the best part of town. I don’t think it is a good idea to be wandering in that part of town not knowing where you are going.”

“Thank you. A map would be nice. I’ll be careful.”

After she showed me on the map where I needed to go, I thanked her earnestly. With the map and the supervisor’s written direction, I walked out of the restaurant thinking it’s going to be a good day. I drove next door to the Exxon station, filled up on gas, and then headed east on Main Street.

Fifteen minutes later, I was turning onto Puddle Flank Road. I knew exactly what the supervisor meant when I had turned off East Main Street and headed north past a couple of streets. The area contained run-down houses and unkempt yards. Some of the houses were boarded up.

Every other house on Puddle Flank Road was boarded up. Surely, Marjorie didn’t live on this street. I found her address on the right side of the street, 2916 Puddle Flank Road. It was boarded up, too. I sat in my car and stared uncomprehendingly at the house. What was going on here? It looked like no one had lived in this house for a few years. The grass and weeds were knee-high. Trash and soda cans were sprinkled in the grass and weeds. I rechecked the passenger list. I did have the right address. Since there was no one walking on the street I could talk to, I figured the best thing to do was call Lemmonee to make sure I had the right address. She answered on the first ring.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Lemmonee. It’s Vett.

“Hey, Vett. How are you today?”

“I’m fine. I was hoping you would be back home by now. I know you had a doctor’s appointment this morning.”

“Yes, I’m back now. Everything is fine. What’s going on?”

“I’m in Envyton County at the address of Marjorie Brown. It’s a boarded-up house in a bad part of town. It looks like no one has lived in this house for years.”

“Marjorie is a regular. She’s been on several of my tours. I can’t see why she would provide us with an address that she doesn’t live in.”

“Every time I have been on one of Brightness’s tours, the reservation lady verifies my address to see if it has changed,” I explained.

“A tour reservation can’t be completed without doing that. We need to make sure we have your correct address to send receipts, trip information, and tour catalogs, and so on. You would think Marjorie would know that since she had been on several trips. I don’t remember there being a mention of return mail for her address. Give me a minute, and I will get my passenger list.”

Two minutes later, Lemmonee was back on the phone. “Vett, I have her address as 2916 Puddle Flank Road in Envyton County.”

As I listened to Lemmonee, that feeling I get that tells me something is not right with this whole thing made me wonder if Marjorie Brown was an alias name. I don’t know why I thought about this. It just popped into my mind as things do when I am working on a case.

“That’s where I am. I don’t see any piled-up mail or literature anywhere around the front of the house or in the mailbox. I thought you would want to know about this. Well, thanks, Lemmonee. Since Marjorie nor Rebbie called me back yesterday to accept a visit from me today, I decided to drive by Marjorie’s house on the off chance she would be home. Not a good idea. Not a good idea to ride by Rebbie’s house either.”

“Sorry, they haven’t telephoned you back. Thanks for letting me know about Marjorie’s address. I will call it into the office. They told me they both retired from the post office. You’d think they would know how important it is to provide your current address to the companies you deal with. I guess some people just don’t think and don’t use their common sense.”

“Yeah, I guess not. My mother says that common sense is not that common; some people just don’t have it. Have a nice day, Lemmonee. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye, Vett.”

It was now 1:00 pm. Since I had time