Child's Play by Merry Jones

Author:Merry Jones
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781608091911
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Published: 2017-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

But I didn’t call Stiles.

I might have, except that, soon after I got home, Becky called and told me to turn on the news.

The reporter was at the scene of a murder, in the middle of his report. He was standing outside Pete’s Deli, recounting how the body had been discovered behind the building by a woman walking her dogs.

“Can you believe it?” Becky asked. “It was behind Pete’s. Right near the school.”

I tried to listen to the reporter. He said the victim had just turned twenty-one, was a senior at Community College, studying art.

I was confused. People got killed in Philadelphia every day. Why was Becky so upset about this one? It didn’t seem connected to either Mrs. Marshall or Joyce.

“Didn’t you hear what they said about her?”

“No. Why, what did they say?” My heart did a two-step in anticipation.

Ty’s face came onto the screen. What? Why?

“Elle. She’s Ty’s old girlfriend.”

My mouth opened but would make no sound.

The reporter was reviewing Ty’s history. The screen showed a younger Ty with his now dead father, and then as a young teen with his arm around a girl, presumably the murder victim. A voice explained that Ty had been convicted of killing his father and that he’d been released only weeks ago, just before Stephanie’s murder. It wasn’t yet known if Ty had been in touch with Stephanie, but police were looking into it. A clip of the dead girl’s mother began.

“Stephanie was a joy. A beautiful joy.” Her hair was uncombed, her eyes dazed. She talked on.

“So what do you think, Elle?”

I thought my blood had stopped circulating.

Becky had theories. “Maybe he called her and she wanted nothing to do with him. What if he’d been obsessing about her the whole time he was away, and then he found out she’d moved on? That might have made him mad enough—”

“So you think Ty’s going around killing anyone he’s mad at?”

“Well, who else could it be? It’s a pretty big coincidence that this girl got killed right after he got out. Just like Mrs. Marshall.”

Gooseflesh rippled up my arms. Becky was right. I turned off the television, didn’t want to watch a reporter exploit a mother’s grief. Was Ty really the killer? I recalled him slurping up an ice cream float, savoring trees and fresh air. Was that guy—a kid with bad skin and dimples—really a savage murderer?

“Think about it,” Becky said. “So far, there are three dead women. All of them had their throats slit, and all of them had connections to Ty. Mrs. Marshall was his childhood nemesis. Joyce taught his sister, Katie—”

“That’s no reason for him to want to kill her. Joyce adored Katie.”

“Still, it’s a connection.” Becky was on a roll, didn’t stop to think. “And now, his old girlfriend Stephanie Cross. What are the chances?”

“Wait, who?” The gooseflesh spread from my arms onto my neck and back. “What did you say her name was?” I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket. Reread the list.

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