Sequestered with the Murderers

turned on the shower just as the phone rang. I ran back to my bedroom to answer it.
“Hello.”
“Is this Vett Brayborn?”
“Yes, it is. Who am I speaking to?”
“Vett, this is Jackson Stevens from Brightness Bus Tours.
“Hi, Jackson. How are you?”
“I am fine. How are you today? I again apologize for the sequestering you had to go through last night. Nothing like this has happened to Brightness before.”
“Jackson, I’m fine. Really, I am. I don’t blame you. Under the circumstance, I know it couldn’t be helped.”
“Lemmonee said you would be understanding. My reason for calling so early is that Brightness wants to hire you. Lemmonee believes you can help us get in front of this situation quickly.”
“Why do you want to get in front of it quickly? Hold on for a moment. I was just about to jump into the shower when you called. Let me turn the shower off . . . . Okay, I’m back.” I sat on the edge of the bed, eagerly awaiting Jackson’s answer.
“We want to get in front of it to protect the company. I’ve just gotten off a 7:00 am emergency conference call with the board of directors and Lemmonee. We all completely trust the state police to find out who did this horrible thing. However, we know your background and believe you can get answers quickly. The quicker we get a handle on this and bring it to a conclusion, the quicker we can quell any negative talk that would put Brightness in a negative position. I want to mitigate damage to the company. I believe you can help us.”
“Jackson, some negative talk and damage are to be expected in situations like this. You’re going to be damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Even when the company is vindicated by the media, there will be people who think Brightness didn’t do enough to prevent Duffy’s death. There are going to be some people who are afraid to travel with Brightness again. You should expect that some damage will surface in the form of lost revenue.”
“I understand that, Vett. But there is something about Duffy I don’t think you know.”
“What is it?”
“Have you heard of the Lacecap Hydrangea Murders that took place in 1996?”
“Vaguely. The murders took place in Martinsville, right?”
“No, in Envyton County, west of Martinsville. Mildred Lloyd, better known as Ms. Lacecap, was found murdered in her parlor on the first floor of her Envyton brothel. As best the medical examiner could tell, Ms. Lacecap died at 10:00 pm, Sunday, January 28. Sunday was the only day of the week she did not conduct business. She was stabbed to death. The homicide detectives think the incident was a robbery gone badly since the entire inside of the house was ransacked. Ms. Lacecap was known to keep a beautiful and clean house, and she was thought to have kept large sums of money in her house because of the nature of her business.”
“What do you mean by the nature of her business? Was she really a madam? She really ran a house where men paid for prostitutes?”
“Yes, Vett. By many accounts, she was a nice lady. She was Black, heavy-set, sixty-five years old, never married, and loved lacecap hydrangeas. In the summer and fall, beautiful colorful lacecap hydrangeas bloomed all around her house. She was known to create beautiful arrangements of the flowers and give them to people. Arrangements were placed inside her house and on her front porch, too. There were only two things she loved more than her hydrangeas, her daughter Sybil Lloyd and her niece Diantha Lloyd. Diantha was the daughter of her younger unmarried sister who died giving birth to her.”
“Wait, I know the name, Sybil. That name was mentioned on the bus last night in regards to getting revenge on Duffy.”
“Duffy was married to Sybil at the time, though they were separated. Sybil kept her maiden name after they were married. She was one of those feminist women, always involved in fighting for women to have the same rights as men. She and the rest of her family believe Duffy had something to do with Ms. Lacecap’s murder because he had a close relationship with the two men seen running away from the house at the time of the murder. Diantha had seen Duffy talking with the two men the day before. Duffy was arrested. Three years after the murder, a judge acquitted him of all wrong doing, citing the case against him was based largely on circumstantial evidence. The two men seen running away from the house were convicted of the murder. Sybil claims they stole $10,000 from her mother, but the money was never recovered.”
“Where were Sybil and Diantha at the time of the murder?”
“They were both at Sybil’s house watching TV. They were cleared of the murder.”
“I gather the two men that were convicted didn’t settle the score for Sybil and her family?”
“Well, it may have been if Diantha had not been murdered in August of that same year. Sybil, forty-five at the time, and Diantha, thirty at the time, were raised as sisters. They took over the brothel business after Ms. Lacecap was murdered. It is my understanding they did quite well for the six months after Ms. Lacecap’s murder. After Diantha’s murder, Sybil let the business go. She just closed shop.”
“Wow, to lose your mother and sister in a matter of months. This must have devastated Sybil.”
“From what I heard, it did. Diantha, I think, is the main reason the community shunned Duffy. She was a beauty, very shapely, and known for her surgically-enhanced breasts. She was found deceased on the morning of August 11th in some wooded area in the park where she was known to jog and take walks. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the back of her head. And she was also raped. Since a bouquet of hydrangeas was found near her body, it is believed she was meeting someone.”
“I