Mystery: The Card Counter: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery)

by James Kipling

  “It is,” I confirmed as I stepped inside. “I want to thank you for coming out to help her. You may have saved her life. She was here to talk to you as well. Since she didn’t make it, I decided to come out and make sure we had a word with you about your daughter.”

  “Which one?” he asked.

  “Jasmine,” I answered.

  “What about her?” Roberts asked.

  “I know what happened to her prior to her death,” I answered. I could tell by the redness that was coming into Mr. Roberts’ face that he knew exactly what I was talking about. “I’m also aware of the illegal activity that was used to cover up that horrible crime.”

  After telling him that, he seemed to calm down a bit. “Are you going to arrest someone over this?”

  “I will, but right now we have a bigger problem,” I said as we sat down in the living room with him. “Someone is attacking and killing students on campus. I think our suspect is killing these people to avenge what happened to Jasmine.”

  “At least someone is,” Roberts commented.

  “I understand your frustration, Mr. Roberts,” I said as I did my best to take his side. “Had I been aware of this, I would have arrested the lot of them immediately. What they did to her was inexcusable, and as a father of three girls, I’m unspeakably disturbed that the University went to such lengths to cover this up.”

  “The press was no help, either, especially since all they wanted to do was cover that stupid spending scandal,” Mr. Roberts said with a stark tone that amplified his bitterness over what had happened. “It was as if money was more important than my little girl’s life.”

  “Mr. Roberts, I need to know if someone took her death really badly, I mean, to the point where killing someone for retribution wasn’t beyond their state of mind.” I waited patiently, but he seemed dumfounded. “What about her boyfriend?”

  “He transferred away after that happened,” Roberts answered. “He wasn’t much of a man if you ask me. He’s not capable of this kind of violence.”

  “What about her family?” I asked. “Was there someone in Jasmine’s family who couldn’t handle her passing and the injustices that followed?”

  “You’re talking to the wrong Roberts,” he answered. “Most of our family was stunned, but I can’t think of someone who might do this.”

  I couldn’t blame him for saying that. It’s hard for anyone to think that a member of their own family was capable of taking life until it actually happened. I paused for a moment and turned back to the old man. “What about your wife? How did she handle Jasmine’s death?”

  “Ex-wife,” Roberts answered. “We divorced less than a year after Jasmine passed away. She took her death very badly. She quit her job, went into a psych hospital for a while before she got back out and made a new life for herself.”

  “If she eventually moved on, it sounds doubtful it could be her.” As I said that, I noticed there was a big family portrait on the end table across from me. I walked over and picked it up to take a look. Mr. Roberts was there, along with his four kids. Jasmine was the oldest, so she was in the back between her two parents. I looked over at Jasmine’s mother and my jaw would have hit the floor if it wasn’t permanently attached.

  I knew who she was. It took me a moment to recognize her, because her hair was a different color and because the photo was taken more than a few years ago. But I knew who this was and it changed everything. I put the frame down and paused for a moment. “I have to go,” I suddenly said.

  “Is everything all right?” Mr. Roberts asked.

  “Everything will be all right,” I assured him as I shook his hand. “Thank you very much for your assistance. I will update you on everything when I get a chance.”

  “Thank you, detective,” Mr. Roberts said as he watched me leave and closed the door behind me.

  As I walked back out to Agent Collins, at a quick pace, he could tell something had happened. “What’s going on?” he quickly asked.

  “We need to get back to the station,” I replied as everything was finally beginning to make sense. Not only did I now know why someone had tried to run over Flo earlier today, but I was certain that I might also know who our killer was.

  15

  As we were driving back to the station, I brushed off Collins’ questions in favor of being able to jump on the phone and made a call. I waited a few moments for the line to pick up. I cleared my voice and tried to sound as calm and casual as possible. “Hi there, I’m looking for Tina Carlson.”

  “I’m afraid she’s not in,” the secretary at her station replied.

  “Do you have any idea where I can find her?” I asked.

  “She’s out on the field, following a lead.”

  “I understand.”

  “Can I take a message?”

  “Sure, let her know that Detective Walker called and that I would like her to call me back as soon as possible. I have an exclusive for her.” I hung up and slouched back in my seat.

  “Not a good time to be calling women,” Collins said. “Especially the press.”

  “I know what I’m doing.” I dialed another number with my cell phone and called Captain Bancroft. “Sir, I need you to tell me if Tina Carlson from Channel 4 is out there in the press room at the station.”

  After a bit of a pause, he came back. “No sign of her. What’s going on?”

  “She might have a connection to our suspect.” As I hung up, I could see Collins had a look on his face. Clearly, he was getting onto the same page I was. “Carlson is her maiden name. Apparently she went back to it after divorcing her husband. Prior to that, it was Tina Roberts ˗ mother of the young Jessica who died on campus two years ago.”

  “Do you think she’s our suspect?” Collins then asked.

  “She might be, but for now we have to at least consider her a person of interest,” I honestly answered. “She had a long stint in the psych ward after Jasmine died. If she’s not our killer, there is a very strong chance she might know who is. It would explain why the suspect didn’t want us to talk to Mr. Roberts.”

  “We’ll get our agents to look out for her, especially those still at the hotel,” Collins said as he jumped on his own phone and started talking to his people.

  This was putting me into a very awkward position, as I’d been consorting very closely to Carlson without any idea of what involvement she might have had in the case. I had no idea how I was going to get around this, but at the moment I was more concerned with protecting human life than I was with my own reputation.

  Even if this case and my bad luck ended up ruining my career, I would gladly accept that rather than let our suspect take another victim. Once back at the station, we scrambled to our own places and started going through old materials and looking for any connection to the new information we now possessed. I rushed over to the office where I’d left Officer Jones and she was still in there, working hard on my case. “Drop everything you’re doing. We have a new lead.”

  Officer Jones seemed almost too happy as she tossed many papers aside. “What do you have for me?”

  “Tina Carlson from Channel 4,” I answered. “I need you to go online and look for videos of reports going back to the very first killing. I want you to find videos that were made or produced around the times of the other out of state killings. I want to know where she was on all those days.”

  “I’ll get right on it,” Jones said as she hit the net and started to search online for the videos I had asked for. I was very impressed with how Jones had been conducting herself during this investigation. I was going to have to make a glowing recommendation for her on her next review date.

  I went back to my desk and started to think back to the conversations I’d had with her. She was already at the campus before I was the first time, but she was also at the Bennett’s house before I was, despite the fact that we never released the name to the public.

  At first, I’d thought she just made a lucky guess, but it could have been someth
ing much more sinister than I’d originally thought. A part of me was excited over the fact that we might have broken the case, but at the same time another part of me didn’t want it to be her. Still, I had to go where the evidence led me rather than where my heart wanted me to go, which is why I’d asked Jones to look up the videos for me.

  I needed someone who was not emotionally involved to check her out, rather than myself. If this got any worse, I might have to hand this case to someone else rather than fuck it up from the inside out. Things could get uglier before they got better, but right now I had to concentrate on finding out what she was doing when the other boys met their doom. More importantly, I needed to find out where she was right now.

  Before I could think about it any longer, Jones came rushing out of the room. “Detective Walker, you need to see this!”

  I jumped up from my seat and scrambled into the small office where Jones was doing her work. “What do you have?”

  “Look at this video,” Jones said as she pointed to the monitor. She hit play and the video was of Tina doing a report about an economic summit between delegates from several states. Jones paused the video and looked back up at me. “The same day this video was made, one of our victims died in the very same city.”

  “Dammit,” I said as I backed away from the computer. “Keep working on it. You have no bigger priority right now.”

  “Understood,” Jones said as she got back to work.

  “What the hell was that about?” Collins asked.

  “That was Carlson reporting from the same city that Jerome was in the same day he died,” I answered. “She just went from person of interest to prime suspect.”

  “That doesn’t bode well for you, my friend,” Collins said as we walked towards my captain’s office.

  “I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it,” I said as I knocked loudly on the Captain’s door. “Sir, it’s Walker and Collins.”

  “Come in!” my boss yelled out.

  As we entered, I thought it would be best to be blunt. “We need a search warrant for Tina Carlson’s house, and by need, I mean yesterday.”

  Captain Bancroft could have been knocked over by a feather from the statement I’d just made. “What is her involvement in our case?” he asked.

  “She might be our suspect,” Collins answered.

  “I’ll get right on it, but it might take a few hours.” He picked up the phone and started calling some judges to issue the warrant.

  As I left the office, I jumped back on the phone and dialed. A few moments later a secretary answered the phone. “News desk.”

  “I need to speak to your manager, Jim Evans,” I quickly replied.

  “Can I ask who’s speaking?” the secretary asked.

  “Tell Jim that Detective Jake Walker is calling and he owes me one.”

  I waited on the phone for several minutes and then finally someone came on the line. “Jake, this had better be the last time you insist that I owe you.”

  “Give me what I want and not only will we be square, but I’ll owe you one instead,” I replied.

  “Sounds good to me,” Jim said. “What do you want?”

  “Tina Carlson, I need to speak to her right now.”

  “Can’t do that. She’s out tracking a lead.”

  “I’m not asking, Jimmy. I need to see her right now.”

  “I can’t tell you where she is. It might compromise her story.”

  “The only thing you’re doing is compromising my case.”

  “What the hell do you want her for?”

  “She has vital information that could bring a killer to justice. I need to speak with her as soon as possible.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  “Jimmy, I want to know exactly where she is right now or I’ll have you charged with interfering with a federal investigation.”

  “You wouldn’t!”

  “I can also add manslaughter to the list if you don’t help me right now and someone gets killed because of it.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Like a heart attack,” I replied without hesitation. “Spill it, Jimmy.”

  I paused and listened as Jimmy finally gave me the information I was looking for. Collins was walking by and he could tell from how wide my eyes went that I didn’t like the answer I had just heard. “Thanks for your help, Jimmy. See you around.” I slammed the phone back down on my desk to end the conversation. “Fuck!”

  Collins could see I was visibly upset. “What’s going on?”

  “Tell your man to bring the car out.” I ran back to my desk and took off my suit jacket and picked up a tactical vest.

  “Where is she?” Collins asked.

  “She’s at our hotel,” I said as I quickly grabbed my coat. “She’s outside the same hotel where all our players are. After what happened to Flo, she must be panicking and is ready to make a move to end it all right now!”

  We bolted for the garage and Collins’ man was already there with the car revved up and ready to roll. Once in the car, we peeled off and started to soar back to the hotel with lights on and sirens blaring. I had the vest strapped back on and ready to go. I checked my firearm to make sure it was loaded and ready to rock.

  I had to be ready for anything. Tina was running out of time, and if she was our suspect, there was no telling what she was doing stationed outside the hotel where all those players were hiding out. We needed to get out there as soon as we could. I could hear Collins calling his men who were still out there to be on the lookout for her just in case she tried to go in before we arrived. For all we knew, it was already too late.

  16

  As our car pulled up to the hotel, it had barely come to a stop when I leaped out of the vehicle, drew my sidearm, and proceeded into the lobby. As I walked in, I turned to Collins. I tried to look around and take everything in, but it was difficult as the lobby was chock-full, and it would take forever to find Tina with all these tourists running around. I turned to Collins, who was right behind me. “Tell your men to stay where they are, no matter what happens. Stand their ground until they hear from us.”

  “What are you going to do?” Collins asked.

  I walked over to one of the walls in the lobby and pulled the fire alarm. The concierge was at the table, and saw me pull it and gave a scowl. If the gun and the tactical vest wasn’t enough, I took out a badge and flashed it in his smug face. “This is not a drill. I want everyone outside right now!”

  The hotel staff did as they were told and ushered everyone out of the hotel. I still didn’t see Tina anywhere, but with less people around, it made things a little easier. As I was looking over guests as they were leaving, we heard a shot ring out. I turned to face Collins. “That was the second floor.”

  Collins nodded. “Someone’s making a move on our people.”

  We dashed through the lobby and hit the stairs. The stairwell was full of people trying to evacuate the hotel, but Collins and I had no trouble getting up the one flight to arrive on the second floor. We paused for a moment and Collins opened the door as I walked through, gun raised and ready to shoot.

  The first hallway from the stairwell was empty. Chances are people from this floor were either out already or hiding in their rooms, afraid this was a trick to get them to wander off to be killed. I wouldn’t blame any of the players for taking chances with the fire, but I couldn’t afford to watch out for them all.

  I knew there was no fire so I wasn’t going to call for all the players to get out and risk exposing them to Tina, who could be anywhere on the floor, eager to kill as many players on this team as possible. It had been one thing to try to get them all out at the same time with the drill – there was safety in numbers – but I wouldn’t roust out single players and ask them to try to make it out alone, or even with an officer. If they weren’t already out, they were better off in hiding.

  With Collins behind me, I didn’t have to worry about my six as I wandered down the hallway looking for any
sign of the woman, or that one of the rooms had been entered. That’s when I saw it: one of the doors had a dent in it.

  Someone was banging on the door, demanding to be let out. I stopped at the door and tried to remember who was in there. I disregarded it when I heard a commotion coming from down the hall. There was another shot and I followed Agent Collins as he darted down the hall, but as he turned the corner, Tina was waiting for him with gun drawn, and she fired at him.

  One of the bullets caught him in the left arm and it knocked him down to the floor. I peered around the corner and Tina hesitated when she realized it was me there. Obviously her feelings were more legit than I’d thought, as she seemed unwilling to turn her gun on me. I, however, had no such feelings, especially for someone who was my suspect. “Drop it, Tina!”

  She hesitated again. “You need to understand, Jake.”

  “All I need to understand is that if you don’t drop that gun, I will put you down,” I said as I never took my eyes off of her, even to see if Collins was alright. I stood there, waiting for her to respond and possibly give me a sign that she was going to surrender. I never got one.

  Things got even more complicated when two people came into view further down the hall from where Tina was standing. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see that Melvin and Cassie were trying to get out, and had picked the wrong hallway to do it. Tina turned around, and the moment she recognized one of the players is when I ran out of options.

  She started to swing her gun around in an attempt to shoot at the football player and my daughter, leaving me no choice. I fired two shots, sending them across the hallway and into Tina’s chest. She slammed back violently against the wall and slid down, leaving blood marks on the wall. Only seconds after hitting the floor, she stopped breathing. It was over.

  I looked back down the hallway and saw that Melvin had shielded Cassie with his own body, which told me that this boy at least had serious potential. I slowly walked over and helped Cassie to her feet before giving her a big hug. “Are you alright?”