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

“It’s the name of a Black man Jackson’s sister, Lanta, was in love with in her younger years. He is the brother and uncle of Ms. Lacecap and Diantha Lloyd, respectively. They’re the Lacecap Hydrangea Murder victims.”

“So how does Whirley fit into all this and Duffy’s murder?”

“I don’t know yet, but he does. I don’t understand anything about Duffy’s murder at this point. The pieces aren’t fitting together, and I keep getting more pieces. Today, Jackson mentioned Whirley. Now the name is swimming around in my head like I’m supposed to know it. Damn it: I don’t know what it means.”

“Yeah, you do know something. You just said the pieces aren’t fitting together. So you have pieces. Why are you stressed out about this case? You’ve got another week. You’ve solved every one of your cases in two weeks or less. So what’s bothering you?”

“This is my first case for a company, a business. I just don’t want to mess it up. You know, I don’t want to let Jackson down.”

“You won’t. You’ve never let down any of your clients. And speaking of businesses, I think you should get your PI license. I heard the application process is easy to complete. The application fee is $25, and there’s a fingerprint fee. I’m not sure what the cost for that is. You’re already doing the work of a private investigator, so you might as well be licensed.”

“As Solardette said to me last Saturday, ‘Great minds think alike.’ I’ve been thinking about doing just that. I think it will help me get more work from businesses.”

“You don’t need to worry about finding work. It’s kind of uncanny how cases just fall into your lap. I’ve never seen anything like it. As soon as you solve one case, in a few weeks—sometimes the next day or while you are on a case—another one just magically appears. It’s unnatural. So unnatural. Now, do you want to tell me about the information you do have on your case,” Gam said so lullingly.

Gam’s soothing voice and gentleness in changing the subject calms me down every time. In my stressed out fever, I don’t see him doing it. But once calm, I see clearly what he has done. He thinks he is clever, and he is.

“Well, what happened seems impossible—a murder in a rest area maintenance room without anyone seeing anything. So the impossible truly happened, or people don’t understand what they saw, or people are hiding what they saw. I think the latter two are more likely.”

“Why?”

“Because at the rest area thirty-six people from Brightness Bus Tours and other restroom area guests were going in and out of the restrooms. So the Brightness group saw something. They had to. They saw other people, but the people I questioned thus far say they saw nothing. That can’t be. So why didn’t they say, I saw so and so walking to the bus ahead of me, or I saw so and so go into the restroom as I was leaving, or so and so walked out of the restroom with me. They didn’t say anything like this.”

“Perhaps, your question to them meant what did they see other than people.”

“Perhaps, but I got the feeling some of them were going out of their way to make sure I understood that they didn’t see anyone or anything. Do you know why I worded the question the way I did? It’s because I didn’t want to ask leading questions.”

“Okay, I see your point.”

“This whole investigation is progressing illogically compared to my other cases.”

Gam shook his head, then said, “It doesn’t appear to be progressing at all if your pieces don’t fit each other.”

“Not true. Some pieces fit together, but those two or three pieces don’t connect to anything else.”

“So what does this tell you? Are you stalled?”

“I wouldn’t say stalled, more hindered by the lack of my ability to see yet where the pieces connect.”

“Hmm, interesting foresight. Something is twirling in your mind. I can see it. What is it?”

“I’m beginning to believe that Marjorie Brown, Rebbie Shields, and Gwen Sonnack are the missing pieces of the puzzle. They’re not following the norms of civility.”

“What! Just because you have made several unreturned phone calls to them, they are now murder suspects?”

“Wait, hear me out.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Remember, I’ve met them. I’ve read them. They’re the type to treat people politely even if they don’t like them. I see them behaving in a socially acceptable manner. Trust me. There’s a reason for the unreturned phone calls.”

“Alright, you’ve read them and had a chance to study them. You do that well, so I accept your assessment. However, I don’t see how murder fits in. Nothing you’ve told me about the case implicates these three women. You’ve given me bits and pieces. Why don’t you start from the beginning? Let’s walk through this thing. Then by the time we get to Serenity, we can put it aside and enjoy our long, sought-after weekend.”

“Okay, I hear you. You don’t want my case to interfere with our weekend. I promise I won’t let it. Are you sure you want to walk through it with me?”

“I do. Proceed ahead.”

“Okay, you asked for it. Here it goes. There are several indisputable details. The main one is Duffy was shot seven times in the chest inside the rest area maintenance room.”

“Tell me again the time of night the murder took place.”

“Between 8:16 pm and 9:01 pm. We arrived at the rest area at 8:16 pm. After using the restrooms, Lemmonee and all the passengers were back at the bus by 9:01 pm. Duffy’s body wasn’t found until 9:55 pm. So you could postulate he was murdered between 8:16 pm and 9:55 pm.”

“What does the police report say?”

“He was murdered between 8:16 pm and 9:01 pm. And I think this is an indisputable detail. He couldn’t come back to the bus between those times because he was already dead. I think this time frame is of utmost importance. Everyone