Mystery: The Card Counter: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (18 page)

“We need to include Joey in this conversation. I hear he and Wally had a falling out that year and I need to know why.” I waited patiently as one of the other coaches left the table and came back a few moments with one of the other players. “Joey, take a seat.”

“Who are you?” he demanded, not holding back on the attitude.

“The man who might get you out of this detention,” I said as I waved the badge in his face. “I need to know what happened two years ago between you and Wally. I heard you two were BFFs until something happened.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Joey confessed.

“I really don’t care.” My patience was wearing thin. “Wally is dead, as are others, and you guys are next on the killer’s hit list if you don’t talk to me. The sooner we find this person, the sooner we can all get the hell out of here.”

Joey paused for a moment. “It happened at the annual party after the fall semester.”

“The one at the sorority house?” I asked.

Joey nodded. “Yeah, that party.”

“What happened there?” I asked.

“Wally and the boys got completely trashed that night, which we weren’t allowed to do with a bowl game coming up in less than a month,” Joey said. I could tell the coaches were less than impressed, but hardly surprised. “Wally was the star of the team, and not only did he do whatever he wanted, he rarely if ever took ‘no’ for an answer from anyone.”

“Even from someone like Jasmine Roberts?” I asked.

“Especially from someone like Jasmine Roberts,” Joey confirmed. “He wanted her big time that night and things got out of hand quicker than we anticipated. By the time I got in there, it was already too late.”

 “What the hell happened?” I asked. I had a good idea based on how he described it, but I needed him to confirm what my gut was telling me.

“Wally was hitting on Jasmine most of the night, but she wanted nothing to do with him. Later in the night, when he was seriously trashed, he and a few of the guys cornered her in her own room and he forced himself on top of her.”

“Dammit,” one of the coaches cussed to himself.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I said as I tried to piece it all together. “This would explain why someone would want to go after Wally, but why the whole team?”

“Well … when Wally was finished with Jasmine, the other players that were helping him all got a turn as well,” Joey answered. “By the time me and a few guys showed up to break it all up, she... she’d been raped several times over. We really don’t know how many of those bastards got their hands on her in there.  None of us really stayed friends with that group after that, but we didn’t know what to do, either.  You gotta understand they were the top dogs on the team,” he said softly, obviously feeling some guilt that he hadn’t been able to do more. As he ought to be.

“And then two months later, Jasmine took her own life,” I added.

“I had no idea this happened,” Coach Vessel said, clearly disgusted.

“I believe you,” I said as I kept taking notes. “This might be the trigger for our killer. The incident that is stoking the flames as this person tries to avenge what happened to Jasmine.”

“It would certainly explain a lot,” Joey admitted. “I wish I could’ve been there to stop Wally. That’s why the two of us stopped speaking. Many think it was because of the spending scandal, but this happened around the same time. I didn’t give a shit what gifts he got – I just couldn’t believe they’d ganged up on Jasmine like that.”

“How did this not make the news or get to the Dean?” I asked.

“The Dean knew about it,” Joey answered. “University officials convinced Jasmine not to tell the police by threatening to close her sorority house.”

“So she was forced to keep quiet?” I repeated. They had forced her not to bring this to the press or the police. The star quarterback who was destined for the big leagues and fame would have had his career cut short if he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The fact that the press was too busy reporting on the spending scandal, it must have made it easy for them to shove this under the carpet. Then players started to transfer to other colleges and those were the players that were attacked in other states. I hated it when I was right, that this city was in fact ground zero for this killer and she had come back to finally finish things and settle the score. “Thanks, Joey, you’ve been very helpful.” I dumped what was left of my food and exited the banquet hall as quickly as I could. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Flo, who I hoped was up and possibly back to work after getting the night off.

She picked up after a few rings. “You’re lucky I’m already awake.”

“After talking to the players, I’ve narrowed the field for you,” I said as I walked into the lobby. “Jasmine Roberts is our connection to the killer. She was attacked by the players and assaulted two months before she took her own life.”

“That would certainly explain the sexual assaults,” Flo concurred.

“This person wants these players to go through what she did before they die, to experience her pain and know what they did to her.” I took a deep breath. “Flo, go out and visit the Roberts house as soon as possible. They might be able to narrow the field by telling us who took her death the hardest.”

“Good call,” Flo said as she grabbed her coat. “I’ll head out now.”

“I’ll try to get hold of Agent Collins and brief him on what we have.” I hung up and went back to my room. I holstered my main gun under my armpit and put my suit jacket back on. I was getting so close to breaking this case, I was itching to get there soon, but I needed to stay here until I could get another detective out to take over the babysitting duties.

I texted Captain Bancroft and asked him to send someone out ‘cause I was close to breaking the case. That would get him moving. I needed to get out of here, but had to be patient. I did a quick head count after breakfast to make sure no one had snuck off again. After what had happened to Cody and his friends, everyone was present and accounted for.

I then went back to the lobby and waited for someone to relieve me at the hotel. About an hour later, I was really beginning to lose my patience. I was ready to jump on the line and call the Captain, but hesitated when I saw Agent Collins arrive. He was there with several other agents. “Peyton, what’s going on?” I quickly asked.

“There’s been a development,” he answered. “I’ll leave two of my men here to watch the kids. You need to come with me.”

I followed Collins to his car. “What’s happened? Another body?”

“How long has it been since you heard from Flo?” he quickly asked.

A chill went up my spine. “I haven’t heard from her since I called her this morning. I told her to go out to the Roberts’ house to interview her family.”

“Flo was attacked,” Collins said.

“What the hell happened to her?” I demanded.

“Someone ran her down with their car,” another agent said as he pulled the van out into traffic and drove away.

“Holy fuck!” I shouted out loud. “Where is she?”

“Mr. Roberts came out and called an ambulance, and she was taken to General,” Collins answered. “She never got a chance to interview any of them. Someone came into the road and ran her down as she was crossing the street in front of the Roberts house.”

“Do you think this was our suspect?” I asked.

“Why was Flo out there?” Collins asked.

“I think we found the trigger that may have started all this,” I answered.

“Let’s move to the Roberts’ house,” Collins shouted to the driver. “It’s clear our suspect doesn’t want anyone to speak with the Roberts family.”

“How is Flo doing?” I asked, more concerned for my partner than the family at the moment.

“We don’t know,” Collins answered. “It’s pretty bad. They’re going to try to get her into surgery very soon.”

I felt bad about what had happened to Flo. She should have taken a back-up unit with her, but obviously thought this was just a routine interview and felt it wasn’t necessary since we were already stretched thin.

She’d made a mistake and might pay for it with her life. The suspect was likely watching the Roberts’ house, so when he or she saw Flo walking towards the house, our person ran her down to prevent her from getting to the truth.

I was anxious to get to the Roberts’ house and find out for myself what was going on. As the truck pulled up, I instructed the driver to park on the same side as the house and to cover us as we stepped up to the house.

There was a good chance our suspect could be watching so I pulled out my piece and kept it at my side as I stepped out of the van and walked through the Roberts’ front yard. I rushed up to the door and knocked, waiting a few moments. Finally a man around my own age came and answered the door. “Mr. Roberts?”

“Who are you and what the hell do you want?” Mr. Roberts asked.

“My name is Detective Jake Walker. I need a word with you.”

“Is this about that officer that was run down earlier today?” he asked.

“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.

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.”