Sequestered with the Murderers

by Dr. Sandra Tanner

  “They’re at the vegetable garden! I know they are there. You’ve got to listen to me.” I knew I wasn’t making sense, but I knew they were there.

  “What! What are you talking about?”

  “Holt Junior told me that he and his wife have a big vegetable garden at their old farm. Marjorie and Rebbie are there. Please trust me on this.”

  “Why would they be there?”

  “They’re being held there. They saw something on the Tennessee trip home they shouldn’t have seen.” The words coming out of my mouth surprised me, but I kept talking. “They saw Whirley. He was not on the Tennessee trip with us. He shouldn’t have been at the rest area.”

  “Vett, you are not making any sense.”

  “Please go and find them. They are being held somewhere around the plot of land used for a vegetable garden. There are no vegetables in the garden now. I know who murdered Duffy, and I will explain everything to you later. Please save them.”

  “Alright, calm down. I’ll put in a call. We’ll go check it out. Did you know Marjorie and Rebbie worked for Ms. Lacecap? They were both prostitutes.”

  “No, but that explains how they could easily recognize Whirley.”

  “You stay put. Let me make a few calls, and I’ll call you back. Are you okay?”

  “I am. Just two quick questions before you go. Is it okay to share the information you gave me?”

  “I prefer you keep it quiet until after Armie is picked up tomorrow, but if you must provide information to Jackson Stevens, ask him to keep it quiet until after 5:00 pm tomorrow. All my ducks will be in a row by then.”

  “Okay, I will. Now my last question. Did Gwen Sonnack leave a suicide note or a letter for Carolyn Broadbent?”

  “Good gracious! How do you know so much about what is going on in my county? My God, Vett, what else do you know. Uh, no, she didn’t. But I’ll tell you this, those two sisters of Ms. Lacecap had no love for Duffy. They’re the ones, along with Whirley and Sybil, who kept the story circulating that he murdered Ms. Lacecap and Diantha. Give me a couple of hours, and I will call you back.”

  “What! Did you say they were Ms. Lacecap’s sisters?”

  “Yes. You didn’t know?”

  “I do now, and it all makes sense.”

  “What makes sense?” Detective Rivers asked.

  “I’ll tell you everything when you call me back.”

  CHAPTER 27

  After Detective Rivers hung up, I sat holding my phone, stunned at the information that had flowed from my mouth. I could only assume that Marjorie and Rebbie were in immediate danger. The urgency had to be made apparent to Detective Rivers. And God used me.

  I got up and went to the ladies’ room. I then went into the kitchen to Aunt Clove’s office. She was on the phone but gave me the sign to wait. After twenty seconds, she said goodbye to who she was talking to and hung up the phone.

  “Are you ready to continue with the walk-through of your case?”

  “No, I no longer need to do that. I think I have everything I need. Thanks for being open to doing that. I talked to Detective Rivers longer than I had planned, and I now need to call Jackson, then finish some paperwork.”

  “Not a problem. Any time you need help, I am willing.”

  “Detective Rivers and some of her people will be here at 9:30 tomorrow morning. I’m helping them get information to close the Diantha Lloyd murder. They are going to wire my phone, and I’m going to talk to their suspect. I’ll tell you more about it later. If any of them get in your way tomorrow, let me know.”

  “Vett, are you okay. You seem worn out compared to earlier.”

  “I’m okay. I just need to get this conversation with Jackson over with.”

  I walked back to my office, then paced back and forth across the room five times.

  “The hell with it. I’m going to give Jackson a piece of my mind,” I shouted. I punched in his number as I sat at my desk. He picked up on the first ring.

  “Hello.”

  “Jackson, it’s Vett.”

  “Hi, Vett. How are you?”

  “Not so good, Jackson. I’m quite upset with you. I expected our handshake agreement to be a matter of integrity and truth.”

  Jackson became quiet, then he said, “I can tell you are upset, but our handshake agreement was based on integrity and truth.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell me the real reason you hired me?”

  “I hired you to investigate Duffy’s murder—to find out who murdered Duffy.”

  “At the beginning of my investigation, why did you tell Lemmonee to make sure I spoke with Armie Bledsoe?” This was a leading question. I didn’t know for sure that he had done this.

  “Because Armie and Duffy were good friends.”

  “Even now, you are not truthful. The number one reason you hired me is to find out if Armie Bledsoe, the number one suspect in the murder of Diantha Lloyd, actually committed the murder. You knew the Lacecap Hydrangea Murders would once again become a media circus once the connection to Duffy became known. And the media, this time, might get a hold of Armie’s name as the number one suspect in Diantha’s murder. A number one suspect that works for Brightness Bus Tours, which would not look good for the company. You didn’t care about Duffy. You knew Duffy didn’t murder Diantha. Why couldn’t you tell me this?”

  “Vett, I’m sorry. I was looking out for my company.”

  “I’ve never had someone ask for my help, then lie to me—not trust me.”

  “I’m sorry. I never meant to do that.”

  “Why didn’t you just fire Armie when you found out?”

  “I had no reason to do so. He was a model employee. I couldn’t use the reason that he is a number one suspect in a murder case. I was not supposed to know this. Plus, as you probably know, he has on retainer a lawyer that is supposed to be very good at what he does.”

  “I see. Well, let me give you one piece of advice. If you ever hire a private detective again, hire one you trust and provide the truth. It will speed up the process.”

  “I trust you. It’s just that I owe loyalty to someone else in this matter.”

  “Yeah, I know, the person who told you that Armie is the number one murder suspect.”

  “I hope because of our agreement you will keep that information private,” Jackson said.

  “I will as long as you reciprocate.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to hold up to my end of our agreement and give you the information you hired me to find. I ask that you keep this information to yourself until 5:00 pm tomorrow, Friday.”

  “Vett, this is not an issue. I agree to do this.”

  “Armie Bledsoe did murdered Diantha Lloyd. The Envyton County authorities have what they need to arrest him. Tomorrow he will be arrested. You should not have any contact with him between now and 5:00 pm tomorrow.”

  “I see. I can promise not to have any contact with him at all. This information is not what I wanted to hear. Whether you believe me or not, I truly wanted him to be innocent. This does sadden me quite a bit. So he had nothing to do with Duffy’s murder?”

  “Duffy’s murder was committed by Holt Pruitt, Jr, Carolyn Broadbent, Gwen Sonnack, Whirley Lloyd, and accomplice Sybil Lloyd and Joe McClain. Carolyn and Gwen are Ms. Lacecap’s sisters.”

  “Her what! Did you say her sisters?”

  “Yes.”

  “But Duffy didn’t recognize them, did he?”

  “I am ninety-nine percent sure he didn’t. I say this because Nancy said Duffy didn’t mention them to her, and he normally tells her about people he find worthy of note on his trips. His first wife’s aunts on one of his trips would have been interesting news. Especially since he knew that family thinks he was involved in the murder of their loved ones.”

  “I don’t know, V
ett. It’s probably only been ten years since he saw them last. That’s not a lot of time to forget what someone looks like.”

  “Carolyn and Gwen wore heavy makeup and wigs on the trip. Carolyn wore glasses that she didn’t need. Carolyn told me she and Gwen didn’t have any conversations with Duffy. This makes sense to me now. They went out of their way to avoid Duffy. I hardly recognized Carolyn when I met with her. Without the wig and heavy makeup, she was a totally different person. Take my word for it. Duffy didn’t recognize them.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. He probably didn’t. So how could all these people have committed the murder?” Jackson asked. “Oh my God, are you saying my passengers were sequestered on the bus with the murderers?”

  “Yes, they were. Joe McClain and Sybil Lloyd didn’t shoot Duffy, but the others did.”

  “Four people shot Duffy? The autopsy said Duffy was shot seven times.”

  “He was. I’ll tell you how it happened. First, I must tell you that Holt Pruitt, Jr. is the father of Diantha Lloyd. Please don’t ask me how I know this. There is proof. I’ll tell you how the murder went down. I’m just not sure how many shots Whirley and Holt Junior fired or what order the murderers fired their shot. My conclusion is this: Whirley Lloyd was waiting in the maintenance room. When Duffy walked by the maintenance room, Holt Junior and Joe quickly pushed him in. Whirley quickly covered his mouth and nose with a mask of nitrous oxide. Holt Junior came into the room as Duffy was pushed in and quickly covered the front of Duffy in plastic that Whirley had brought in when he came in. Joe stood outside as a lookout person. Carolyn and Gwen were standing by outside, though it looked like they were waiting to go into the ladies’ room. After Duffy was covered in plastic, Whirley shot Duffy twice with a .22 caliber muzzled revolver he had brought with him—once for him and once for his sister, Mildred Lloyd, better known as Ms. Lacecap. Holt Junior then took the revolver and shot Duffy three times—once for him, once for Sybil, and once for Diantha. He then quickly leaves the room. Holt Junior and Joe become lookouts as Gwen quickly enters, shoots Duffy once, and quickly leaves. Then Carolyn enters, shooting Duffy once, and quickly leaves. Gwen and Carolyn walk back to the bus. Whirley quickly leaves the maintenance room with the gun, locking the door behind him while Holt Junior and Jim are standing around as lookouts. Whirley walks away into the parking lot, but not before he is seen. This is where the snafu in a well-organized clever plan occurs. Holt Junior and Joe walk back to the bus. I would venture to say all this took less than five minutes. That’s why no one saw or heard anything suspicious.”

  “So what was the snafu?”

  “It was Marjorie Brown and Rebbie Shields. They saw Whirley, though they thought he was coming from the men’s room. They had worked for Ms. Lacecap and were ex-prostitutes. So they knew well the handsome six feet seven inches tall, slender Whirley Lloyd that walked with a pronounced limp. Even in that awful weather, they recognized him.”

  “That must have been a shock to somebody.”

  “Oh, it was. On the bus on the way home, Marjorie approached Carolyn and probably said something to the effect of ‘Whirley, that son of a gun. What’s he doing now? Rebbie and I saw him outside.’ The person that heard this exchange thought Marjorie said, ‘Where is the gun now?’ Marjorie has a deep Southern playful accent, so I can understand the confusion.”

  “So it stands to reason that Carolyn, Gwen, Marjorie, and Rebbie all knew each other?”

  “Yeah, they did. I imagine it was a huge shock for Sybil, Carolyn, Gwen, Holt Junior, Joe, and Whirley to find out that there were two passengers on the trip that knew who Carolyn and Gwen were. What are the odds? I imagine the six of them had a quick conference call regarding the unperceivable snafu in their well-thought-out and clever plan, then decided to proceed with it anyway. After the murder has taken place, at the rest area, the same two passengers see Whirley. How likely is that to happen, but it did.”

  “Wow. I can’t even imagine planning a murder to that extent only to have two passengers possibly foil the whole thing. Did you ever get in contact with Marjorie and Rebbie?”

  “That’s another story. They couldn’t contact me. They were being held captive. The Envyton County Sheriffs are currently rescuing them as we speak. So, I’ll know their story soon. I believe Holt Junior and Whirley kidnapped them to keep them quiet and locked them up somewhere on the Pruitt farm until they could figure out what to do with them.”

  “Why did they decide to commit murder now?”

  “I can only surmise that Holt Junior seeing Duffy on different Brightness bus trips laughing and enjoying himself while his daughter lay rotting in a grave for almost ten years infuriated him to no end. It wouldn’t have taken much for him to convince the Lloyd family that it was time for them to be the jury and executioner. The Lloyd family knew Holt Junior was Diantha’s father; Duffy never knew this. They were so stuck on Duffy being the murder of Diantha and involved in the murder of Ms. Lacecap that it ate at them and shrouded their judgment. I guess since the tenth anniversary of Diantha’s murder was approaching and the police had not arrested Duffy, they devised an elaborate plan to murder him. They just couldn’t take the strain of the loss of their loved ones. Their loved ones were dead, and the man they believed murdered them was enjoying life, and he even had the audacity to remarry, as they probably saw the whole matter.”

  “So sad.”

  “Yes, it is. Duffy didn’t murder Diantha. The man who claimed to be his friend did. How sad is that?”

  “This is awful. Thank you, Vett, for getting answers for me.”

  “You have what you need to begin spinning a story to protect your company. I will give my information to the state police tomorrow before 5:00 pm. So you are not to mention any of this until 5:00 pm tomorrow. Agreed?”

  Jackson didn’t say anything for fifteen seconds.

  “I agree. And Vett, I won’t be spinning anything. It will be the truth.”

  “We’ll see. Please honor your promise to keep this information to yourself until 5:00 pm tomorrow. Can I trust you to do this, Jackson?”

  “Yes, Vett. You have my word. You can go ahead and send your final invoice to me.”

  “There is no final invoice. The retainer you gave me takes care of everything.”

  “I am sorry we are ending our arrangement on such a sour note. I hear in your voice your disappointment in me. Is there anything I can do to make this right?”

  “I don’t think so, Jackson. I hope my work meets your expectation.”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “Then this ends our arrangement. Thank you for the opportunity. Goodbye, Jackson.”

  “Goodbye, Vett.”

  I hung up the phone and let out a big sigh of relief. I trust Jackson to keep the information to himself as he said he would. I didn’t tell him that I believe Gwen committed suicide because, with Marjorie and Rebbie’s kidnapping, the plan had gotten out of hand. She was probably the weakest link in their plan. And she couldn’t cope with the idea of going to prison. Jackson could figure that out for himself. All I needed now to relax fully was Detective Rivers’s phone call letting me with know that Marjorie and Rebbie are okay.

  My stomach growled as I got up from my chair. I hadn’t eaten anything since the biscuits Aunt Clove brought into my office earlier. I used the ladies’ room, then walked outside to get some fresh air. I walked back and forth in front of my restaurant for ten minutes. It was just what I needed. I walked back into my office, picked up the phone, dialed the kitchen, then ordered a cheeseburger, a garden salad, and iced tea.

  I turned on my computer and began answering e-mails. I felt renewed. So when Luis Lopez came to my mind, I keyed in the Danville News Source newspaper and began searching for articles on his missing daughters.

  EPILOGUE

  Marjorie and Rebbie were found Thursday evening on the Pruitt’s farm in a barn basement near a land plot u
sed for a vegetable. They were in poor health, primarily dehydrated, but were expected to recover.

  On Friday morning, the telephone call I made to Armie Bledsoe went as planned. After expressing condolences again on the loss of his friend, I said, “I’m nowhere close to finding out who murdered him, so I’m reviewing information from the people who have previously talked to me. I need your help.”

  “Sure, sure, anything you need,” Armie said.

  After verifying several of the details he had previously given me, I said, “I still believe the murder of Diantha Lloyd is connected to Duffy’s murder, but I don’t have any evidence.”

  And then Armie said quite definitively what Detective Rivers and her two associates wanted to hear. They had been eagerly standing around my desk, guiding me through the questions they had prepared.

  “I do hope you find who raped and murdered Diantha. The Envyton County police don’t seem to be doing anything. That bunch of blue lacecap hydrangeas Diantha had with her meant she was meeting someone. She had them with her to give to someone. Why can’t they find that person?”

  Detective Rivers and one of the associates high-fived each other and began a two-step jig. The other associate kept calm and pointed to the last sentence for me to say. I just wanted to get off the phone. They had what they wanted.

  “I don’t know, but I am going to keep looking. Armie, is there anything else you remember that can help me find Duffy’s murderer.”

  “No, Vett, but if I do, I will call you.”

  “Thanks for your help, Armie. Have a nice day. Goodbye.”

  “Goodbye, Vett.”

  As soon as I got off the phone, Detective Rivers made a phone call to one of the people waiting outside Armie’s house.

  “It’s a go. Pick him up now,” Detective Rivers said.

  What Detective Rivers said yesterday about Armie was true. He was so cocky—so sure of his own ability. He was absolutely sure others knew Diantha had a bouquet of blue hydrangeas with her at the time of her murder. I could hear that assumption in his voice. Being cocky definitely doesn’t mean you’re smart. Keeping a high price brilliant lawyer on retainer and not following his advice to not talk to anyone without him being present is not an intelligent idea.