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

“Hmm,” Gam said as he drove in silence. I had proffered an unbreakable scenario for him to consider, or he was formulating a rebuttal.

“There is another scenario I considered surrounding the time frame. If Duffy’s murder took place after 9:01 pm, then Joe McClain and Holt Pruitt, Jr. could be considered suspects. They left the bus to look for him around 9:11 pm- 9:13 pm, somewhere around there. They returned to the bus around 9:20 pm or thereabout. Forensics people didn’t even consider this, though. They had good reasons.”

“Yeah, they did. There’s a big difference between a body that’s been dead for thirty-five minutes or so and a body that’s been dead for an hour and forty minutes or so. Plus, if your scenario was true, where was Duffy? What was he doing all that time away from the bus?”

“My thoughts exactly. He knew better than to leave his passengers alone for any extended amount of time. He was responsible for our safety just like Lemmonee was,” I explained.

“Another thing, where Joe and Holt Junior are concerned, a murderer would not be that obvious. If the murder occurred after 9:01 pm, Joe and Holt would be obvious suspects. They wouldn’t have taken a chance like that, uh, go murder Duffy, then get back on the bus. Everyone on the bus saw them leave. They definitely would be considered suspects,” Gam explained.

“Agreed. None of the male passengers I’ve spoken to remember seeing Duffy in the men’s room.”

“So it’s possible he never made it to the men’s room. Since he was the last to leave the bus, someone could have grabbed him soon after he locked the bus door. It was foggy and misty, hard for anyone to see anything. He could’ve been dragged to the back of the building. Terrible murder, terrible night,” Gam said wearily.

“That’s been rehashed several times. The maintenance room does not have a back door, only a front door between the ladies’ and the men’s restrooms. There is a large trash dumpster in the back of the building. And there is a small room where recyclables are kept until the pickup day.”

“Is that room big enough to hold a body?”

“Yes, but contained no evidence of Duffy having been there, uh, no blood, nothing. Plus, if someone shot him there, why move him to the maintenance room? Moving him presents another opportunity to be seen.”

“Plus, forensic can tell if a body has been moved,” Gam said.

“So I wholeheartedly agree that the murder took place in the maintenance room at the time the police report states. The murderer was one of the passengers or was waiting at the rest area for Duffy. In either case, it was a planned murder.”

Shaking his head in wonderment, Gam said, “If this is true, it will be the first time in my many years working for the Sheriff’s Office that I’ve heard of a planned murder at a rest area.”

“There’s a reason why the murder was committed there. I don’t know it yet, but I will.”

“Some days in my job, I wish I had more of your optimism.”

“I’m not always in a glass-half-full mood, as you very well know. So moving on, all the passengers, including me, were sequestered on the bus. The state police questioned all of us. What information they ascertained is unknown to me. I assumed they didn’t get much because a suspect has yet to be arrested, and they are using the TV media to gain leads.”

“From what I’ve heard, they don’t have a suspect. This is open information that has already been disclosed,” Gam said.

“So moving right along, the big question is, why was Duffy murdered?”

“This is where the Lacecap Hydrangea Murders come in?” Gam asked.

“Correct, amigo.”

“I assume you could not come up with any other theory for the murder.”

“That is also correct. Since I can’t walk into the state police and ask for their theory and another theory for his murder has not surfaced, the Lacecap Hydrangea Murders is it.”

“It’s odd that Diantha Lloyd’s murderer has not been caught. There are so many cold cases in Virginia that need to be solved,” Gam said contemplatively.”

“I know, I know. It’s a shame that Diantha is still one of them. Anyway, remember it was Jackson who made me aware of Duffy’s connection to the Lacecap Hydrangea Murders. So deep down somewhere in his soul, Jackson may believe Duffy murdered Diantha,” I explained.

“Or he was just doing due diligence, making the investigator he hired aware of all the facts. This way once you found out about the murders, you could not come back to him and ask why you didn’t tell me about this.”

I countered with, “Or he is protecting his youngest sibling, Lanta.”

“Hmm, from what you’ve told me, I don’t believe so. You have no evidence. You said Lanta was now in her early seventies, and she was in love with Ms. Lacecap’s brother more than fifty some years ago. That was before the murders occurred.”

“Yeah, I know. According to Jackson, she has kept in contact with him.”

“Vett, that’s not unusual. People who grew up with one another, people who went to elementary school, and people who went to college together do keep in contact with one another.”

“You may be right. I’ll keep her on the sideline. One detail, though, regarding the Lacecap Hydrangea Murders that has me in a bit of a quandary is people’s reaction to the murders.”

“What do you mean?”

“Joe, Holt Junior, and Carolyn all live in Envyton County where the murder occurred, and all have a selective memory or a vague memory of the events. They didn’t know the murdered victims and only knew of Duffy. They didn’t know either of the victims personally.”

“I assume Joe and Holt Junior didn’t know Carolyn, and Carolyn didn’t know them.”

“Correct.”

“Not unusual. Not everyone living in the same county knows everybody else.”

“True, true, but Carolyn is not telling the truth. For one thing, her version of what Marjorie said when she walked