Black Jack: A nail biting, hair-raising thriller (Jack Ryder Book 4) by Willow Rose Page A

since then.
    But I couldn’t tell Betsy Sue that and this was her way of reaching out to me. This was an opening; she was actually speaking and communicating with me. How could I say no to that? What harm would one game do?
    “Sure.”
    The girl picked up the cards and started shuffling them in the same way I remembered the dealers do at the casinos. I stared at her completely baffled at her way of handling the cards so professionally.
    “I take it you have played before?” I asked.
    She didn’t answer and started dealing. I looked at my cards. A five and an eight. “Hit me,” I said. She turned a card. The queen of hearts. “Argh.”
    “Bust. House wins.” She collected the cards.
    She dealt new cards. I asked for another hit. “Who taught you to play this?” I asked.
    “The doctor,” she said.
    “Would the doctor play with you?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “Who else would you play with?” I asked while she gave me another card. “Hit me again.”
    She put down another card leaving me on twenty.
    “I stand,” I said.
    She shrugged and gave herself another card making her hit precisely twenty-one. “Sometimes I could convince Miss Muffit to play, but she always lost.”
    “Miss Muffit liked to play too? Who else liked to play?”
    “All the girls liked to play,” she said. “It could get really boring at the house sometimes.” Betsy Sue looked at me. “House won again.”
    “You’re good,” I said making a mental note that there had been several girls, more than just Miss Muffit. It made my heart throb thinking that this doctor apparently had kidnapped many girls and kept them hidden.
    “One more please.”
    “So who would you say you liked the best of the girl at the house? Who was your best friend?”
    “Millie. She was fun to play with.”
    “Millie, huh? Why was she fun to play with?”
    Betsy Sue shrugged, then dealt another round. I asked for a hit again.
    “Who else was there with you?” I asked.
    “You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” The girl said.
    “I’m curious. Did you like it there at the house?”
    “I guess. It was my home. It was all I knew. I was born there.”
    I wrinkled my forehead. “You were what?”
    “You need to get those ears checked,” she said. “You always ask me to repeat things.”
    “Okay, you’re right. I heard you the first time, I just found it hard to believe. I mean your parents say you were born at a hospital and that you lived with them the first five years. Did the doctor tell you that you were born at the house?”
    Betsy Sue shook her head. “No. Rachel told me she took care of me when I was a baby.”
    “Aha. Rachel. Is that one of the other girls at the doctor’s house?”
    Betsy Sue laughed. “No, silly. She used to live there.”
    “What do you mean? She escaped like you did?”
    Betsy Sue shook her head. “No. She can’t leave the house.”
    “So what do you mean that she used to live there?” I asked annoyed. This was making no sense at all.
    “Are you playing cards or what?” Betsy Sue asked.
    “Of course, sorry, hit me again.” I looked at the card but didn’t really pay attention and asked for another hit. “So what did you mean when you said she used to live there?” I repeated.
    “She lived in the house till her dad killed her.”
    Again with the ghost stories! I need answers! Damn it. I need to find my son.
    I fought the urge to get mad at Betsy Sue, but held it back. I had to remember what she had been through. Of course she had a hard time dividing reality from her fantasy. This doctor had held her hostage for five years. It was vital that I kept her talking now. She was the only one who could lead me to this doctor.
    “So tell me more about the doctor,” I said. “What did he look like?”
    Betsy Sue shrugged again. “House wins,” she said and gathered the cards before she added. “Again.”
    She dealt us new cards and I realized she wasn’t going to answer my question.
    “What can you tell me