Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Laura Scott (free e reader .TXT) 📕

anxiety every day? No. He didn’t want that, and mostly he hated that she was imprisoned by it. That was no way to live. But he wasn’t responsible for her choices, either.

Rhett met them as they turned the corner. “Hey, I was coming to give you the news. We got the warrant, and guess what we found in Terry Helms’s financials?”

“Proof that Terry had something to do with buying the land on Pine Road?”

Rhett’s grin was full of satisfaction. “James Kreger isn’t a real person, as we suspected. But we found papers where he secured a loan through the bank—it didn’t go through any of the loan officers, but Terry himself. There are statements that the loan is being paid, but we haven’t gotten far enough to see if Terry is actually paying on the land—we didn’t get the warrant to cover the scope of Terry’s personal finances, only information pertaining to the land.”

This was excellent information. “Where is Terry now?”

“Station. We asked him to come in, and he obliged. Of course, Poppy threatened to haul him out of the bank in cuffs.” His eyes held amusement. “Aren’t you supposed to be in a hospital bed? You have a mild concussion on top of other injuries.”

“I have too much to do and too little time.” They didn’t talk much about the move to Atlanta. It was bittersweet. “We need to see what’s on this SD card.”

Rhett gave him grief over not following the rules. Typical, but in the end, he conceded and Colt and Georgia climbed in the SUV, since his truck was totaled.

Inside the station interview room, Terry Helms sat in the folding chair, his big, meaty hands resting on the table. Colt hobbled in with his crutches, and Georgia followed.

Terry’s eyes widened. “What happened to you?”

“I have a feeling you already know.” Colt finagled into a seat.

Time to get to the truth.

TWELVE

“I didn’t try to kill anyone! Not Jared and not you, Georgia.” Terry folded his arms over his massive chest, and protest radiated in his eyes.

“What about Dandy?” Colt asked.

“What about her? I didn’t kill her. I’m not a murderer.”

“Someone is. We have proof that those boys falsified their addresses using land purchased with a fake loan. One you signed off on. The jig is up.”

Georgia pursed her lips.

Okay, that may have sounded a bit like Scooby-Doo.

Terry remained silent, but he hadn’t asked for a lawyer. Any minute Colt was bound to see Reggie Leeway waltz through the door. “You know what we’ve already uncovered. Before it’s over we’ll find more. Help us now. If you didn’t kill anyone, then come clean on the rest. You’ll more than likely get a slap from the NCAA for your part in illegal recruiting to Ole Magnolia.” Of course, he’d lose his job for falsifying documents, and have to face fraud charges for the Pine Road address.

He knew it, too. It showed in the slump of his shoulders and the defeat on his face. “I bought the land through a fake name. Fake address. Handled all the paperwork so no one would be the wiser. Yeah, I did that. I may have helped families get loans that they may not have been able to receive at another bank, but they legit have paid off those loans or are still paying on them. But that’s helping them.”

“Who’s involved? I want it all and maybe it’ll go toward helping you. Can’t say for sure.”

Terry huffed. “We love our town and our team. We did it to help boys who deserved to go pro or at the very least play college ball. We did it to put our town and team on the map in football. We win championships. Nothing wrong with that.”

Except it was cheating.

“Who is we?”

Terry massaged the back of his neck. “Me, Duncan, Sunny and Joe Jackson.”

So the coach at Ole Magnolia was involved. A nice little thing going. Colt would be sure to give the NCAA a call after this interrogation. Terry’s story unfolded the way they’d suspected—they poached players from other districts to come play for them with loan offers, monetary offers as well as sealed deals with Ole Magnolia if they continued to perform in their high school career. It kept the coaches in the spotlight and won them championships and fame, not to mention Coach Flanigan received some kickbacks from the college for bringing them top players—according to Terry. Coach had yet to admit that.

“What about Jared? Did you offer him the deal at Ole Magnolia?”

Terry nodded. “We gave him tickets to a concert he was wanting to attend and about ten grand.”

Ten grand! Wow.

“But he died and that was that. Never even asked for the money back. It was a tragedy.”

“How kind of you,” Georgia stated dryly.

But Jared was going to go play for State. Terry and Coach had no idea he’d changed his mind—or Terry was lying.

“Jared changed his mind. Did you know that?”

“No. None of us knew that, though Duncan suspected. Said Jared had come in and wanted to talk to him—seemed upset and he figured it was a change of heart. Said he’d talk to Gerald and see what was going on, but then we found out Sunday morning that Jared had been murdered.”

Colt paused. “Gerald knew Jared had accepted an illegal offer to play ball?” He and Karen had both denied those allegations. All these years.

“Of course.”

Gerald knew. Karen knew. They must have hidden that to protect Jared and their reputations. They wouldn’t have been arrested for it. Might have to give back the money if the NCAA requested them to. If they hadn’t hidden it, then investigators could have gone down a recruiting angle avenue long ago. Colt made a note to call them on it and find out why they felt the need to keep it concealed.

“Talk to me about Georgia’s attacks, Dandy Martin’s and Harry Benard’s murders. If you did it, or if you’re an accomplice, I can talk to the DA and he might be willing