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

that this was a well-planned murder. The handgun could have been a .22 seven shooter like mine.”

“It’s possible, but there are other types of .22 seven shooter revolvers around.”

“Okay, fine. Let’s continue with my profile. What age group do you think would more likely be a newbie?”

“That’s easy. The young and the elderly,” Gam said easily.

“The elderly, meaning fifty and over.”

“Yes.”

“There were no young people on the Tennessee trip. I would say everyone was at least forty-five and older. This brings me to assume the murderer was over forty-five and recently learned to shoot a .22 caliber revolver.”

“That’s a good assumption.”

“I guess it makes sense.”

“Baby, a .22 makes a lot of sense for a perpetrator to use who only needs to get close enough to shoot into the heart like Duffy was shot.”

“Good point. I am on my way to profiling this monster. First, I need a motive for the seven shots. Why did the murderer shoot Duffy seven times?”

“Wait, wait. Now you are a profiler?” Gam asked jokingly.

“You’re really funny. I mean, really funny. Gam, the comedian. You don’t think I can do it, do you?”

“Just kidding. I believe you can do anything you set your mind on doing. You’ve proven that. You’re already said emotion was involved. What else was involved?”

“Absolutely, emotion was involved. Revenge, passion, hatred, and detest are the emotions that come to mind. One of these emotions was the motive.”

“How do you decide which one?”

“I think I’ve got it. I have an idea rolling around in my head, so I need for you to listen carefully to help me to find the motive. I need to find out why it happened, why the murder took place in the maintenance room, and why seven shots.”

“How are you going to do that?” Gam asked.

“By doing what Dimma and I do. I run certain aspects of the case with her. She sits quietly, listening. When I’m done, she repeats back to me what she heard. This helps me get a different perspective. Since she is not here, you’ll be my Dimma. I’m going to sum up the case in a couple of paragraphs, and then you tell me what you heard. Are you ready?”

“I am.”

“On a bus tour from Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Duffy Radley, the bus driver, drove the bus to the Jefferson Springtop rest area at 8:16 pm. The passengers and the tour guide returned to the bus side after using the restrooms. Duffy did not. At 9:55 pm, he was found murdered inside the rest area maintenance room. He had been shot seven times. All shots were in the heart area. The weapon was a .22 caliber handgun. There were no defensive wounds on the body. There were no injuries to the body except for the bullet wounds. No evidence of forced entry to the maintenance room was found. The murderer had covered the body with plastic before the shots were fired. No evidence, fingerprints, DNA, shoe prints, or fibers were found at the scene.

“Duffy had worked for Brightness Bus Tours for six years. He was married for the past two years and was known to drink, but not while working. He didn’t have any money problems. Some people say he was not well-liked by the community he lived in and could be belligerent at times. Customers of the bus tour company liked him. Ten years ago, he was a suspect in the murder of Ms. Lacecap, a brothel madam, and in the murder of her daughter/niece, Diantha. He was cleared of Ms. Lacecap’s murder, but the family believes Duffy murdered Diantha and was involved in Ms. Lacecap’s murder. Before the murders, Duffy was married to Ms. Lacecap’s daughter Sybil. They were separated at the time of the murders. So why would someone murder Duffy at a rest area? Gam what did you hear?”

“Well, I heard. . . .”

Before Gam could finish telling me what he heard, I had my motive. My inner voice spoke it to me.

When Gam finished telling me what he heard, he said, “Well, what is it? You know something. I see it in your face.”

“The motive is revenge, as I suspected. This was a volatile murderer. Somehow, Duffy hurt this individual’s heart tremendously. There was no damage to Duffy’s body except for his heart area. The murderer hurt Duffy where the murderer was hurt.”

“You’ve profiled a perpetrator over age forty-five who Duffy caused a great deal of pain. By shooting Duffy seven times, the perpetrator was inflicting tremendous pain on Duffy.”

“Yes, and don’t forget the murderer was new to handling handguns.”

“Where do you go from here?” Gam asked.

“I want some evidence. What evidence was present at the scene?”

“The police didn’t find any, right?” Gam asked.

“There must be something. I need for you to be Dimma again. Listen to my questions about evidence, then tell me what you heard.”

“Okay.”

“Here goes. What evidence is available to show that Duffy was abducted or not abducted? Was Duffy bound at some point? Why was he killed in the maintenance room and not out in the open? What did the murderer do before and after the murder? Why did no one see the murderer?”

After Gam repeated the questions to me, he said, “Baby, there is no evidence because, as you’ve said, this murder was planned down to the last detail. It was impeccably carried out.”

“That’s evidence, Gam. It takes time to plan a murder such as this. This was not a drive-by shooting. Duffy was not shot out in the open. The murderer needed Duffy in a secluded place to shoot him seven times. Shooting him seven times in the open leaves an opportunity to be seen.”

“That’s true.”

“Think about the planning. The murderer needed to practice, practice, and practice the entire event. How many times did the murderer visit the rest area? How did the murderer know maintenance personnel would not be at the rest area that time of night? The murderer had to practice using the .22 handgun and had to practice pulling