Free Mystery: The Card Counter: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) by James Kipling Page B

my astute detective skills, meant that the sun had risen and it was morning.
    When my vision focused, one of my daughters was at the side of the bed, staring at me. “Abbey, is everything all right?”
    “You were very mean to Mommy,” she replied.
    I immediately sat up and quickly rubbed my eyes to clear my sight and to give myself a moment to figure out the correct response. “I’m very sorry about that, baby. Daddy was just angry. The next time I see your mom, I’ll apologize.”
    Abbey paused for a moment and then finally smiled. “Okay.” I smiled back and then asked her what she would like for breakfast. She paused for a moment and then quickly answered, “How about some eggs?”
    “How about your favorite omelette?” I suggested.
    “Okay,” she answered. She gave me a hug and left the bedroom to give me a little space while I got out of bed.
    I took a deep breath, hopped out of bed, and went to the bathroom to freshen up. After I brushed my teeth, tossed a little water on my face, and left the bathroom, I realized that Sandy was still in her room, reading a book. “Aren’t you coming down to help with breakfast?”
    She looked up from the book, some cheesy vampire romance novel for teens. “I thought I was grounded. What’s the point?”
    I paused for a moment and thought about it. “Are you sorry for what you did?”
    “Yes,” she answered.
    “Do you plan to keep your mother and me in the loop on your studies?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you’re done,” I answered. “Come on down and help make breakfast. You don’t burn the toast as often as I do.”
    Her answer couldn’t be more obvious as she quickly put down her crappy book and led the way down the stairs to the kitchen. I fried up some mushrooms and bacon before starting the girls’ omelettes. I then stuffed the mushrooms and bacon into the omelettes while cooking them in separate pans. I used to work in a diner when I was younger, so cooking stuff like this was second nature to me.
    I flipped a few omelettes while Sandy happily made some toast. Abbey poured some orange juice and things seemed as normal as they had been during the good times of my marriage. Usually on Sunday mornings, Beth and Cassie would sleep in and I’d wake up with my two youngest and cook breakfast with them. Things seemed that happy again as we worked well as a team, like we had many times before. When I was finished making everyone’s eggs, we sat down at the table and talked about boys, school, and other feeble things while we ate.
    It was only a matter of time before the hard questions came, but I was silently ready for them. Sandy asked first. “Dad, why are you so mad at Mom?”
    “She did something really bad,” I simply answered. “You know that.” That was about as far as I was willing to go with that.
    Usually I was good at keeping secrets, but like their mother, when I first knew her, I had a hard time keeping secrets from the girls. I felt bad when I lied to them, but I often had to because I didn’t want to scare them with the insane and horrifying things my job forced me to see and work around. What I did for a living wasn’t pretty, but I happened to be rather good at it, so I preferred to do it rather than force someone else to endure it on my behalf. Flo seemed to be a natural, as well. As I thought about her, something must have psychically alerted her because I got a text message from my partner less than a minute later. It read:
    All players and staff are safe. No reports of an attack on campus.
    I took a deep breath and sighed. The girls could tell I’d read something on the phone that made me do that. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were worried that I’d been summoned back to work. “This is a good message. They just told me that everything was all right and I’m not needed. Not yet, at least.”
    The girls were happy for that and our day continued on a peaceful note as we cleaned the kitchen and watched one of the