Twisted: A Tracy Turner Murder Mystery Novel (The Tracy Turner Mystery Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

you needed to get something done. Her directions were spot-on and I found Joseph Pale in the exact place where she had said he would be.
    Joseph was a croupier who worked at the roulette wheel and was as pale as his name tag suggested. His waxy porcelain skin was almost as white as his starched long-sleeved shirt, a stark contrast to his black waistcoat with the patterned red Regency insignia and matching bow tie. He saw me approach, lowered his head, and glared at me through his dark bushy eyebrows.
    Bent over the roulette wheel, he revealed a milky-white, bare dome about the size of a golf ball on the top of his head. He used some force and a well-worn thumb to dislodge some grime on the shiny stainless steel detailing on the wheel. Puffing through his nose, he knitted his eyebrows in deep concentration. He brought a couple of fingers close to his open mouth and licked them as you would a stamp and rubbed in circular motions over the offending spot.
    “Joseph, I was wondering if I could talk to you about Frank Walters.”
    “Yeah, who’s asking?”
    “I’m Tracy… Tracy Turner, PR and Events. Millie sent me.”
    “Oh yeah,” he said, lifting one of his shaggy eyebrows. “What about him?”
    I hesitated, feeling this was not going to be easy. “He was killed this morning. Shot.”
    He pouted and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, so?”
    “Well, I was wondering if you could tell me more.”
    “Don’t know no more.”
    He was not cooperating, I had to approach this in another way. “I… I spoke to Catalina this morning.” The sound of her name accentuated the gentle curves at the end of his drooping lips. Was it a smile? I tried to look for any other signs, but he averted his eyes so it was hard to tell.
    “She found the body,” I said, trying to build up a rapport.
    “Catalina, she’s a brave girl,” he responded. This time the curve was only a fraction wider, but there was no mistaking the momentary glint of joy in his dark eyes.
    “Yeah, well she said that you can… that you would be able to help me.”
    “Maybe I can. Why you asking?”
    “Well, Ryan is my friend and the police arrested him this morning. I don’t think he did it. I want to help him. Catalina and I, we both want to help him. Can you tell me what you know please?”
    “All I know is that Mr. Walters was up to his eyeballs in shit,” he said.
    “That is to say…?”
    “He had a gambling problem.”
    “He played poker?”
    “Poker takes skill. He played right here on this table, every night, sometimes in the day.” He nodded his head and pushed out his lower lip. “Dumb man’s game if you ask me. He’s been at it for years.”
    “Catalina said that his luck ran out last night. What did she mean?”
    “He’s been coming here for a long time. He used to win some, but he had not won a roll in three nights straight. So last night he drank some more and talked some more and put more down, but nothing. He didn't win nothing.”
    Then he lowered his voice and covered his mouth with his hand. I held my breath.
    “When Bruno Burns came in, that’s when things got real bad. They started shouting and name calling. Frank followed Burns into the bar. I heard he broke Burns’ chin. Got his lucky ring broke in the fight.” He looked away and nodded his head and mumbled, “Dunno ’bout it being lucky in here; at least it kept him from being dead.”
    “What happened next?” My heart pounded.
    “Dunno. I was just minding my own business. Don’t wanna mess with the Burns sort,” he said, his eyes narrowing into slits.
    “Who is he? Burns I mean.”
    His eyes grew wide and then darted upward toward a security camera. His right cheek twitched twice and he began to munch on the nail of his thumb. “I’m gonna say nothing no more.” He pulled a cloth out of his pocket and once against focused on the roulette wheel. He began to polish it with fierce concentration.
    Our meeting was over.

CHAPTER THREE
    Wisps of information that I