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- Herausgeber: Next Chapter
- Kategorie: Krimi
- Sprache: Englisch
After the cards were dealt, one player didn't make the cut.
At a local poker tournament, a player is murdered after the first game day. A suspect is booked for the murder, but something doesn't add up.
To root out the real killer, Niki joins the tournament. But is the deck stacked against her?
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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MURDER IN THE CARDS
NIKI DUPRE SHORT STORIES BOOK 1
JIM RILEY
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Next in the Series
About the Author
Copyright (C) 2020 Jim Riley
Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter
Published 2022 by Next Chapter
Cover art by CoverMint
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author’s permission.
To the most beautifully
You always were and always will be
The only sure thing about luck is
that it will change.
Bret Harte
(1836-1902; American author and poet)
True luck consists not
in holding the best
of the cards at the table;
luckiest is
he who knows
just when to rise and go home.
John Milton Hay
(1838-1905, American statesman, diplomat, author, and journalist)
CHAPTERONE
Carol Robertson was on a roll. Never had the poker gods been so kind to her. And at such a big tournament. The schoolteacher could not believe her success at the Louisiana Women’s Poker Open in St. Francisville. When she needed a seven of clubs, it came. When she needed the ace of diamonds, the dealer turned on the river card.
At the end of this unbelievable opening day, she transformed a ten thousand dollar entry fee into one hundred eighty-five thousand in chips. Enough to pay off her small two-bedroom house. Only eighty other players remained for a run at the final table.
After some bad luck, including two acrimonious divorces, Carol felt like celebrating. She rarely drank and then only in moderation. But tonight was different. She had a reason to get excited. One hundred eighty-five thousand of them. She wanted to extend this day for as long as possible.
Many other players started at the bar much earlier. Especially those that were knocked out of the tournament. Some of those by Carol. They turned to greet the petite educator on her arrival.
“Hey, look who we have here,” one said. “Can you make a bloody Mary appear out of nowhere like you did those cards?”
“I wish,” Carol said. “I’ve never been so lucky in my life.”
“No, dear,” another said. “Once or twice a day is lucky. To get the right card every time on the river is something else.”
Carol could only nod. The river card was the last card revealed of the five on the board. Each player used those and the two individual cards they held to make a hand. The majority of river cards dealt in the tournament improved her hand immensely.
“What are you saying?” Carol asked.
“Who are you sleeping with to get the perfect card every time?” The woman smirked. “You must be better in the sack than you look.”
Carol could not control her temper. That had been an issue in her failed marriages. Now it was an issue here. She had just had one of the best days of her life, and this lady, Ann Clement, made it sound as if she had cheated.
“Ann, take that back this minute,” Carol shouted. “I had a tremendous day. Maybe if you weren’t such a whore who slept with anything in jeans, you’d have one now and then.”
The only apt description of the action that followed could only be called a pure cat fight. The dozen women backed up clawing and scratching with loud screams and curses. They pulled hair out by the roots. They gouged eyes. They tried to choke each other. A lot of frustration vented. None of them knew why they fought. It just seemed the thing to do.
