Mystery: The Card Counter: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) by James Kipling Read Free Book Online

worried.”
    “Dad, it’s not that bad,” Cassie said as if she was amused by the whole act of the concerned father.
    Just as she said that, my cell phone went off again. This time it was the ringtone that indicated that it was work. I immediately picked it up. “This is Walker.”
    “Jake, it’s Flo.” I could tell by the sound of her voice that she had something for me. “I’m back at the campus.”
    “What’s going on, Flo?” I quickly asked. I stood there and could tell by the dead silence that was in the room that all three of them were interested in what was going on. I stood there, not showing any emotion as Flo told me. I sighed deeply and even groaned a bit as I suddenly realized that I wasn’t going to spend that much time with the girls today. “I’ll be right there.”
    Before the girls could say anything, I raised my hand to take control of the discussion. “I have to go back to work.” I turned back to Sandy. “Are you sorry for holding that test back from me?”
    “I am, Dad,” she begged. “I really, really am.”
    “Alright.” I went into my wallet and fished out some cash and gave it to Cassie. “Take the girls out for pizza and a movie, on me.” As I handed the cash to my eldest daughter, I held her hand and looked her in the eyes. “You’re staying here with me all week. No questions.”
    Cassie paused for a moment. “What’s going on, Dad?”
    “They found another body on campus,” I answered, and I could sense the fear in all three of my girls’ eyes. “This killer has struck again. We found another body, this time in one of the dorms.”
    “Which one?” Cassie demanded.
    I paused for an answer, but felt she needed to know the truth, and it wasn’t as if she wouldn’t find out anyway. “Yours.”

 
4
     
    This was the last thing I wanted to hear from Flo, but there’d been an ache in my gut that told me there was going to be another victim. It was just a matter of time. I could tell by the brutality of the first murder that the suspect would probably do it again. Someone with that much pent-up anger was most likely impossible to control. So, finding another victim; getting that rush from assaulting them; and having power over them... it was all too great to resist. It was, therefore, very common for killers who exhibited that much control and sadism to become addicted to killing. The playing card was another dead giveaway. If there was another at this scene, chances were that we had a serial killer on our hands. Sometimes I hated being right.
    I drove back to the campus for the second time that day, and this time, I went past the Arts building where the first crime scene was still being guarded, and made my way to the second crime scene: Cassie’s dormitory. I’d gone there before when Beth and I had toured it months before Cassie’s first year on campus, so I had no trouble finding it. It was a nice building, and while I wasn’t too keen on the idea of her living in a co-ed dorm, she obviously was behaving herself enough because I hadn’t received any calls, so that was a good thing. I parked my car behind a few police cruisers that still had their lights on. As I stepped out of the car, I was met with a barrage of reporters who were in a complete frenzy about another body found on campus within 24 hours of the other. It took a few minutes but I finally managed to get into the dorm and make my way to the second floor as instructed by my partner, who was already there and looking through things with forensics.
    I’d noted the last time I was there that the dorm rooms were small, just a little bigger than jail cells. Big enough to live in with another person, but too small to have a party, which I honestly thought was the reasoning behind their cramped dimensions. I looked in through the door and there it was: another body with a tarp draped over it. I walked past Flo without saying a word, and she let me be, long enough to walk up to the body and take a