Ring Around the Rosy Read Online Free PDF

She couldn’t catch her breath.
    Dave pressed the playback. It was
almost ten o’clock. He took the tape out and put it in his pocket.
    “The shades will have to wait. I
have to get this to the station. Want to ride along?”

 

 
 
 
 
 
    Chapter Three

 
    “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Look out
Jack, I’ve got a candlestick.”

 
    He tightened his hold on the
victim’s neck, squeezing the life out of him, taking pleasure in the way Jack
struggled. Jack’s face turned red, then purple as the life slipped out of him.
Finally, he released his hands on the breathless body and let it fall.
    He laughed as Jack’s head hit the
water fountain.
    “Not so nimble now are you, Jack?”
    Jack opened his eyes, grabbed his
throat, and struggled to get up.
    He grabbed the candlestick and bashed
Jack over the head. “Not so quick, Jack.” He clasped his hands around Jack’s
neck again, squeezed, and finished the job.
    He stood, rubbed his hands
together and stared at his victim. “You always thought you were the best,
didn’t you? The best receiver on the football team. The best in track. Oh, you
were a quick one, all right. You had the speed. And you had every girl in
school after you.”
    He pulled a rag from his knapsack
and stuffed it into the bowl of the water fountain, turned on the water, and jammed
a stick under it to keep it on. Standing back, he watched the water overflow
and drip onto Jack’s head.
    Then he picked up Jack’s left hand
and curled his fingers around the candlestick. In his right hand, he stuffed
the nursery rhyme. “Not such a big shot now, are you?”
    After cleaning up, he turned to
leave, stopped, looked at the victim one last time, and smiled.
    “That’s another one to mark off
the list.” He hurried out of the park.

 
    * * *

 
    Susan couldn’t believe her luck.
Spending the evening with Dave was fun, but being involved in a police
investigation would be a valuable learning experience. Ernie couldn’t take this
away from her. Besides, she liked being with Dave and wasn’t ready for the
evening to end. And, to get an inside look at the investigation. Well, that was
a no-brainer. And now Dave knew she wasn’t the killer. She couldn’t have
planned a better alibi. Not that she liked having to provide one.
    After Dave booked the tape into
evidence, he signed it out and took it across the hall.
    “Jim, play this and see if you can
get the distortion out. Let’s see if it’s male or female. You know the routine.
Oh, this is Susan Weston. Susan — Sergeant Jim Dahl, our voice technician.” He
motioned for her to have a seat.
    “Jim will play the tape and try to
get a clear voice and distinguish an inflection. We know the calls were made
from a phone booth near your apartment. That’s why I asked you to come along.”
Dave grinned at her. “I didn’t want to leave you alone there, especially
without those shades. This call came shortly before we came back.”
    Susan just couldn’t get a read on
this guy. Just when she thought he enjoyed being with her and was maybe a
little attracted to her, he ruined it with a comment like that. Dumb jerk. Not
that she cared, anyway.
    Did she?
    She’d better watch herself; she
was treading on thin ice here. And she was beginning to hate that grin. It
seemed like every time he grinned at her that way, it was a putdown of sorts.
Hurt and annoyed, Susan glared at him. How stupid. She should have known he
couldn’t be attracted to her. She was just his connection to this case, nothing
else. Damn these feelings he provoked in her.
    Susan moved away, plopped in a
chair and turned her attention to Sergeant Dahl while he listened to the tape
with headphones on, turning dials. Her scanner squawked. “All units respond to
Ridge Oak Park. Reports of a male body.”
    Dave twirled around and looked for
the scanner. Susan held it up, but it wasn’t the type you could respond to. He
ran out of the office.
    She raced after him. No way was