Mystery: The Card Counter: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (3 page)

But I got an even bigger surprise, as much to my relief, I saw Cassie waving. She recognized my car and must have had a feeling I’d be here. It was likely that she, and many other students, had all walked over from the dormitories to see what the hell was going on. Once I got out of the car, I walked over to where Cassie was and gave her a big hug. I had feared the worst and it was so good to see her. “What are you doing out here?”

“I’m with my friends, I’ll be fine,” Cassie answered. “I also thought you might be out here, too. I didn’t want you to panic.”

Cassie was one smart girl. She knew I would have been panicking on the inside, especially if no one had told me what was really going on. I put a hand through her long hair and smiled. “Stay back and don’t get too close. I want you guys to head back to the dorm in 10 minutes. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm. I could tell she had no intention of listening to a single word I said. She was 21 and living on her own. She called the shots and I was just a part time parent she saw when she needed a little extra cash and an urge to crash or do laundry at my place.

Relieved that my worst dreams had not become a reality, I was able to take a deep breath and finally get back to work. I quickly walked over to where Flo was, and she could tell from how I was interacting with Cassie that I hadn’t been told very much. “You should have called me,” she quickly started. “I would have confirmed it wasn’t Cassie. It’s not even a woman.”

“It’s not?” I called back to her. That was odd. Most of the time when we responded to a homicide, it was a woman. Usually when men got into a tussle, they just bruised each other up and then went their separate ways. Rarely did it ever come to us.

I followed Flo to the side of the Arts building where there was a narrow path between that building and the science hall. That’s where the tarp was, and I could tell by the officers there that this wasn’t going to be a pretty sight. The Captain never kept people back unless it was something he didn’t want on the front page. The kind of sight the police would prefer to keep out of the limelight since this was someone’s son, someone’s brother.

I walked up to the tarp, knelt down beside it, and quickly lifted the canvas to take a peek. It was way more gruesome than I’d imagined. The victim was on his stomach, bound and gagged with one of those rubber balls that had straps. It was a common item ... something that you can get at any sex shop. There would be no point trying to trace it. The victim’s hands were bound behind his back with a pretty solid pair of handcuffs. I looked at his back and then back up at Flo. “Someone hit him with a Taser.”

“I noticed that, too,” Flo confirmed. “It would explain how he managed to get the victim bound without a fight.”

“How many stab wounds are there?” I quickly asked as I noticed the obvious cause of death. After being bound by his assailant, it was clear enough that the boy had been knifed to death, as there were several lacerations in his back.

“I counted over twenty stab wounds,” Flo answered. 

“Not a nice way to go,” I replied as I kept looking. There was blood coming out of every wound. “This wasn’t a quick killing. Whoever did this made sure it was slow and very painful. He was tortured.”

I lifted the tarp to see the real reason why the victim had been covered in the first place. His pants and underwear had been pulled down to his ankles. “Damn,” I said as I put the tarp back down. “The blood from his anal cavity suggests that he was sexually assaulted. The flow also suggests that the assault occurred prior to his stabbing. It would explain the need for a ball-gag.”

“So he could rape the victim without having to keep a hand over his mouth,” Flo said as she connected the dots. I could tell why Captain Bancroft had wanted me out here: this homicide was going to generate a lot of media based on how brutal it was.

“It would appear so,” I concurred. “This boy suffered a great deal before he died. It would suggest that it might have been personal.”

“Maybe it’s just a psychopath?” one of the officers suggested.

“I sure hope not,” Flo quickly countered. “If it’s personal, then this is likely a one-time thing. Psychos leave a much higher body count.”

“Any cameras?” I quickly asked.

“Not in this corner,” Flo answered. “It’s a massive blind spot back here.”

“I was afraid of that,” I called back as I stood up and started to walk around. Committing a crime this brutal in the one spot where not a single camera could see it wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to see. This person was not only quick and brutal, but also smart. “Either the killer took the time to scout this area out long before the crime was committed, or he’s a student and lives here.”

“I don’t like those options,” Flo frankly confessed.

Before I could say something else, the Captain came over to speak with us. I could tell that, like me, he wasn’t very impressed with the scene. His anger was a little more projected than my disgust so I could tell he knew something that I didn’t. “What do you know?” I quickly asked.

“The victim’s name is Wally Bennett.” The Captain handed over a small bag that contained evidence. “We found his wallet just around the corner. The killer dumped it in the trash can. I’m going to have forensics dust it for prints.”

“You’re not going to find any,” I quickly called back. “This killer is too meticulous to leave something like a print lying around.”

“We’ll check anyway, just to be sure,” Captain Bancroft replied defiantly.

“Bennett,” I said to myself. “Why does that name that sound familiar?”

“You don’t watch much sports, do ya, Jake,” the Captain replied.

“With three girls, not really,” I confessed. “I take it this Wally isn’t just your ordinary student, then?”

“Try the star quarterback,” the Captain answered. “The media is going to freak out when they find out who’s here.”

“You have no idea,” Flo chipped in. I was thinking the same thing but had restrained myself from voicing that opinion out loud.

“What is she talking about?” the Captain asked.

“You haven’t taken a look?” I asked, gesturing to the canvas.

“I haven’t,” the Captain replied. “How brutal was it?”

“Very,” Flo answered.

“On a scale of 1 to 10?” he asked.

“Spinal Tap,” I answered. It was not the answer he wanted to hear but it was my way of telling him that out of 10, this was an 11 on the gross-out meter.

“Shit,” he muttered as he took out a cigar and lit up. I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the scene a bit to speak. “What the fuck happened?”

“Based on what I’ve seen, the victim was tazed and then dragged to this spot because it’s a blind spot to all the cameras,” I started.

“Fuck, then the killer knows this place,” the captain replied.

“It would suggest that,” I agreed, “but it could also suggest that the killer did some advanced scouting, which would suggest extreme premeditation. We can’t rule out either at this point.”

“How was he killed?”

“He was bound and gagged and then stabbed over twenty times.” I paused for a moment. “It looks like he was also sexually assaulted.”

“Jesus Christ,” Captain Bancroft said. He looked like he was going to vomit. “So what you’re telling me is that our star quarterback was bound, gagged, raped, and then stabbed to death?”

“That about sums it up.”

“Fuck me.”

“We’ll know more when we get the autopsy report.”

“This kid was guaranteed a spot in the NFL˗”

“It looks personal,” I interrupted, refusing to let that detail distract me. “Whoever did this wanted Bennett to suffer. The whole point of using the gag was to make sure he couldn’t make a sound when being raped. The killer wanted him awake, to feel everything.”

“Son of a bitch,” the Captain cussed again. This was the last thing he needed on his plate. He had gotten word that it was brutal, but he wasn’t prepared for it to be this bad.

“We need to start talking to his friends,” I suggested.

“Need to see if anyone was following him,” Flo added. “Or if anyone was sending threats to him by mail or email.”

“We’ll start rounding people up,” the Captain said, unable to take his eyes off the tarp. Underneath it was the worst media image he could ever imagine. Tabloids and news outlets were going to have a field day with this one. “How much of this can we keep under wraps?”

“I’m not sure,” I honestly replied. “There’s only so much we can hold back. The last thing we want to do is downplay it only to have another body turn up.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” the Captain replied.

“We have to prepare just in case.” I could tell just the thought of a serial killer was making the Captain very, very nervous. Before, when we’d had to deal with a serial killer in our city, the last guy in charge of homicide lost his job. Captain Bancroft was his replacement. Now it was his turn to be in the hot seat and he didn’t relish the thought of having to fight for his job. High profile cases tended to put the spotlight on the entire department, so he wasn’t the only one nervous about this.

“All right.” The Captain took one more deep puff and then put out his cigar before putting it back into his coat pocket. “I’ll take care of the media. You and Flo find this piece of shit and do it quickly.”

“What do we do now?” Flo asked as she walked over.

“We should let forensics do their thing and get the body the hell out of here as soon as possible.” I made a motion to one of the buildings. “We need to speak with the Dean as soon as possible, also.” As we left the crime scene for forensics to go over, I could see the flashes and questions being yelled at our Captain as he fielded questions from the media.

I could hear him making the usual statements: all measures were being used to find whoever did this and our best people were on the case. Thanks, Chief, no pressure. We crossed over to the administration building that was a short skip from the Arts building where the body had been found. It was around six in the morning, but a lot of people were in, thanks to the events going on outside. I slowly walked up to the main desk and flashed my badge. “Detective Walker to see the Dean.”

“Yes, sir,” the secretary said as she picked up a phone and made a call. A few seconds later, she put it down. “Both the Dean and the President of the University are waiting for you in his office.”

“Thank you,” I said as I walked away and down the hall. I had been here a few years ago when I’d registered Cassie. I also knew my way around because I’d graduated from this place before joining the force. I knocked on the door and was called to enter. “Gentlemen, I’m Detective Jake Walker, and this is Detective Florence Harris.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the Dean said as he stood up from his desk and shook our hands. “I’m Richard Jackson, Dean of Arts. This is Oswald Butler, the University’s President. We are deeply saddened by what is going on here.”

“Have you identified the body?” President Butler asked. It was clear he was concerned the victim might be a student, and was most likely hoping it was a homeless man that had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Still bad for the image, but nothing compared to a student getting killed.

“We have,” I answered. “He’s a member of your student body.”

“Who is it?” Dean Jackson then asked.

“We need to speak with the football coach,” I stated.

“Shit,” President Butler said. A high profile student didn’t make this easier.

“He’s a member of the team,” I filled in. “It’s the quarterback. We need to know if anyone has been making any threats against any players on the team. I realize college sports can be competitive, but any threat sent in could be a clue that will lead us to a suspect.”

“What are you trying to find?” the Dean then asked.

“We need to make sure that no other players are at risk,” Flo replied. “We have to make sure that there isn’t someone out there who is gunning for the whole team, or to establish if he had a personal vendetta with the victim.”

“I’ll talk to the coach and our IT people. If anything was flagged by them, I’ll have them sent to your station,” President Butler answered. “We don’t want anyone else to get hurt, so we’ll get this taken care of as soon as possible.”

“I appreciate that,” I said as I fished a card out of my wallet and placed it on the Dean’s desk. “Call me if you guys find anything. We’ll be in touch.”

As we left the office, I had a feeling this was going to be more political than anything else. I’d been playing dumb with the Captain back at the scene when talking about football. My brother was a die-hard college football fan and I remembered a lot of things he’d told me about this upcoming season.

Wally was a candidate for the college player of the year. If he even lived up to half the hype going into this season, he was going to be a top 10 pick at next year’s draft. A promising career had been brutally cut short by someone who didn’t like him very much. The murder was too vicious to be someone from a rival team. Whoever committed this heinous act clearly hated Wally a great deal, to the point where he’d tortured the poor boy for at least a half hour before finally putting him out of his misery. “We need to speak with the victim’s family. See if they were getting any threats, as well.”

“Think this one is personal, Jake?” Flo called back from a few stairs behind.

“It sure looks like it,” I answered, but as I said that to her, I noticed something out of place. One of our people from forensics was in the lobby. They were looking for me, and I knew exactly what that meant: they’d already found something.

Flo and I walked over to the member of our forensics team in the lobby. “What did you find?” I quickly asked.

“This,” she answered as she handed over a clear plastic bag. Inside the bag was a small playing card. “We found it stuffed in the side of his sock. It was the only one there, which is what triggered our curiosity.”

“Fuck,” I said as I looked at the card. It was the ace of hearts. I handed it over to Flo for her to look over. “Thoughts?”

“I’m getting that feeling this isn’t going to end with one body,” Flo commented. She was never one to hold back her opinion, and she wasn’t often wrong.