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

“You got to understand small-town living; everybody knows of everybody. You know how that is. I didn’t know them personally, but it hurts us all when a member of our community is murdered. I just wish the police would find out who murdered the daughter, uh, I mean the niece,” Holt Junior elaborated.

“How did you feel having Duffy for a driver knowing that he was once married to Sybil Lloyd, and he was a suspect in both the murders?”

They both hesitated a moment.

“He was cleared of murdering Ms. Lacecap, and there is no evidence that he murdered her niece,” Joe interjected.

“This is true, but traveling with a man that was a murder suspect didn’t that make you feel ill or warily or wonder about him?”

“Of course it did. What recourse did we have? We wanted to travel. We had no say in who our driver would be,” Holt Junior informed me.

“There are other tour bus companies.”

“None in the area like Brightness. You can’t beat Brightness’s price, customer service, comfort, and enjoyment. Their motor coaches are so spacious and reliable. I’ve never been on a bus that broke down,” Holt Junior said. He was overselling Brightness. I wondered why.

We talked about what we each liked about Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, what we enjoyed about some of our priors tours with Brightness, and then my hour was up. As I stood up to leave, I gazed round the room and then took a careful look at the end tables’ photos.

“I see you love to hunt. These photos are nice.”

“Thank you. Yes, I do love to hunt and target practice. That’s Holt Junior and my hobby. See this photo of Holt Junior and me together,” Joe said, picking up a large framed photo from the end table near him, “I won first prize in our local deer hunting contest.”

“And I won the next year,” Holt Junior said as a big smile appeared on his face. “We both have won a few times since then, but it is nothing like that first time. That first time makes you beam for weeks, and the memory stays with you forever.”

“You must know a lot about guns. I’ll remember that if I am ever in need of one.” I didn’t need one because I already had one. I said what I said to build a connection with them.

“We sure do. I’d like to show you my gun collection the next time you are in town. Holt Junior has a collection, too. We travel to all the local gun shows and love it. Well, uh, I’m glad to help you any time you need it,” Joe said, smiling from ear to ear.

“One last question, as young men, did either of you visit Ms. Lacecap’s business?” The alarmed look on both their faces told me that they had.

“Uh, we did once or twice as all young men in the county probably did,” Holt Junior explained.

I walked out of Joe’s house ill at ease. I never warmed up to Holt Junior, yet I sensed he was a devoted friend to Joe. There was no false benevolence on his part where Joe was concerned, yet something was amiss. The question of why someone would stand around chitchatting outside in cold, foggy, and misty weather bounced around in my head.

CHAPTER 12

I arrived home at 5:15 pm. Gam came home at 6:00 pm with one of my favorite dinners—shrimp fajitas with spanish rice, refried beans, pico de gallo salad, cheese, and sour cream. After preparing four flour tortillas with the fixings, we sat down to eat. As we ate, I provided him with details of my trip.

At 8:00 pm, I stepped into a hot bubble bath and stayed there for thirty minutes. Afterward, I quickly dried my tired body and hastily put on my pajamas. I brushed my teeth, then ambled out of my bathroom to my bed and fell in. But I found it arduous to fall asleep. My mind was stuck in Joe’s house, listening to him say, “After using the restroom, we stood around outside talking for a bit, stretching our legs.” I knew this was a revelation for me because it was plaguing me. Once I understood the meaning, it’ll let go of me. This is how my revelations work sometimes.

The ceiling became my focal point. I stared at it waiting for the answer to appear. Except for Gam moving around in our office down the hall, the house seemed unusually quiet. I turned and looked at the clock on my nightstand. It was 9:35 pm. I lay awake until 10:00 pm, then jumped out of bed.

“To hell with this. I might as well wash a load of clothes since I can’t sleep,” I said out loud. I gathered all my dirty clothes from my overnight bag and headed for the laundry room.

“Vett, I thought you were asleep,” Gam called out as I walked by the office door.

“I can’t sleep. This case is on my mind. I thought I would wash a load of clothes to get it off my mind.”

“You’re going to wash clothes this time of night?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait. Come here for a minute.”

Annoyed at being derailed, I inertly walked to him. He took the clothes out of my arms, put them on the floor, and then pulled me onto his lap.

“Looks like someone is getting impatient. You never have all the answers at the beginning of a case.”

“I know. I can’t seem to get one little piece of information out of mind.”

“What is it?”

“Remember, Joe and Holt Junior are the two men I told you that went looking for Duffy after we were all settled on the bus. They were the last two passengers to come back alongside the bus. Joe said that after using the restroom, he and Holt Junior stood around outside talking for a bit, stretching their legs. Who would do this in the kind of weather we had? It was bitter cold, foggy with