“Well, Logan says he stayed because, when he refused to help Danny kill Rachel, Danny then said something like, ‘Did you think I was serious? I was just putting you on, dude,’ and Logan was convinced that he wasn’t serious about killing her,” Thompson answered and continued.

“However, he started to get ‘freaked out,’ to use his term, because Danny wasn’t acting like himself. The last time he appeared at the door, he had seemed calm and had turned on the garage light. This time he seemed jumpy and wild-eyed, shouted, and stood in the dark. He refused to give Logan his cell phone, and then he abruptly went back into the house. Logan says that at that point he got spooked; he found a pipe sitting in the corner, placed it on the passenger seat, and then fell asleep. He didn’t wake up until around 4 a.m., when Danny opened the garage door.

“We believe that Danny committed the murders sometime between midnight and one o’clock, prior to when he asked Vonda to help murder Rachel.”

Everyone at the table was speechless, confused, and dubious about the whole picture, but no one interrupted Thompson.

“Vonda said that he next saw Danny around 4 a.m. At that time he appeared to have showered and changed his clothes and his demeanor was very different. He seemed very calm. Vonda asked if he could have his cell phone back, and Danny gave it to him, along with Rachel’s car keys, and told him to leave her car in the lot at the senior center. So Logan left, and then discovered several voice messages concerning the calls Danny had made to his friends. He then got into his own car and drove to his manager’s house, and they called Tony Turner, who was on vacation in Italy.”

Now Sam had to speak up. This was his sister and nephew who had been murdered. He generally didn’t trust the cops, and this was clearly an example of a small-town force blowing an investigation. He was apoplectic that they would believe such an outlandish story. Additionally, they were clearly overlooking one very important and obvious fact. He tried to maintain his respectful demeanor without success as his question turned into a statement and then an accusation.

“Officer, it’s hard enough to believe that somebody would just take a nap with all this craziness going on, but, excuse my language … how the hell can you believe this Vonda creep would sleep through the sound of several gunshots? The house isn’t that big. Come on, this is total nonsense.”

He rolled his eyes and looked around the table for support. Before anyone could respond, Thompson replied abruptly.

“Well, that’s the point I’m coming to. There weren’t any gunshots.” Thompson was dreading telling this part of the story to the family, but the moment had finally arrived.