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

members can recruit for colleges. The NCAA prohibits anyone other than paid staff writing, calling or directly meeting with a person to recruit for colleges. But it happens. Quietly. High school athletic teams are determined by school district zones in Mississippi. There is no recruiting. However, there are some exceptions, such as teachers can send their children to any school district of their choosing as a perk, and then you can request going to another school, but there have to be mitigating circumstances such as heavy involvement in sports or activities—usually for upperclassmen who have already contributed to the school.”

Georgia put a carafe of coffee on the kitchen table. “I think a booster approached Jared with monetary benefits to play football for Ole Magnolia, and because of the fake addresses used by players at Courage High, it’s highly possible that the boosters recruiting high school boys also are involved with Coach Flanigan and possibly the college coach, Joe Jackson.”

Steep allegations, but they held water.

Georgia laid Dandy’s notebook on the table and explained Dandy’s notes and Georgia’s theory. “This is what the attacker wanted besides shutting me up permanently. He came into my house Friday night before I arrived. I thought it felt funny and noticed a foreign smell. But ignored it. Then he went all offensive lineman on me. But he didn’t get the ball.”

Georgia may have hated Colt playing ball, but she’d always had a love for the game. They’d gone to all of the Mississippi State games and even talked about seeing an NFL game for their honeymoon someday. But marriage never came. She’d dumped him with a lame excuse.

I don’t want to get married, and what’s the point of dating if I don’t want a husband?

He’d been confused, shocked. Since when?

Since now. I think it’s best for us both to call it quits.

I don’t get a say? He’d gone from confused to angry and ready to fight for them. But her eyes held steel, and it was a done deal.

Rejected.

Gone.

Like Mom.

Dad had called the play, and it had run out exactly as he’d said. And if he’d been right about that, then he was probably right about all the other things wrong with Colt. But he’d been fighting those words, too. All his life. On some level, he did understand what Georgia fought. His thoughts weren’t anxious, but they were damaging nonetheless.

He snapped from the past while Georgia continued to explain her thoughts.

“I’m not sure who Dandy interviewed—if anyone. She didn’t note anyone’s statements. I suspect she was gathering evidence quietly then planning to either pass it on to me, as the investigative reporter, or start the interview process herself. She never breathed a word to me prior to her passing.”

“I can’t imagine why.” The Georgia he knew would have been on it like flies on a horse’s rump in summer.

She returned his remark with a flat expression. “She died before she ever had the chance to uncover the full story.”

Mae pushed her empty coffee cup to the side. “That raises a question then. Did she actually die in a legit carjacking gone wrong, or did someone stage it in order to shut her up?”

Colt and Georgia exchanged glances. It had crossed his mind in the news office, but he hadn’t voiced it. One podcast using fake names and speculation sent a killer to Georgia’s doorstep. Dandy’s questions may have done the same. Someone was desperate to keep a secret and a possible murder quiet.

“Where did this carjacking take place?” Poppy asked.

Georgia told them what she knew and pulled up the story on her laptop. Dandy Martin had been stabbed multiple times in a carjacking that appeared to have gone wrong on a Saturday evening at the Wolfchase Mall in Memphis. MPD noted that there had been a string of car thefts in the parking lot and had asked women in particular to be careful. But no other victims had been murdered. Only Dandy. That alone was questionable.

Mae grabbed a pen and scribbled on her notepad. “I’ll get in touch with Memphis PD and get the case information. If there were parking lot cameras, I want to see the footage. I’ll find out the make of the knife used. That could be helpful.”

“If they had decent footage, they’d have a photo of the killer. It would have been plastered on the local news already.” Poppy stirred more creamer into her coffee. “Worth a shot, though.”

“Jared Toledo’s death may not tie to an illegal recruiting ring,” Rhett offered. “All we have is circumstantial evidence. We need something concrete, but since the case is reopened, we should run all angles Georgia mentioned.”

Colt agreed. “Jared didn’t have many conflicts. He was a likable guy, but there is one hater. Chance Leeway.”

“Who’s Chance Leeway?” Mae asked.

“Played for our rival high school—Southern High. Both he and Jared were QBs.” He tossed Mae a grin. “Quarterbacks. And he’d made some threats against Jared after the last game before Jared died.”

Rhett noted that and thumbed through files. “I assume he was interviewed fifteen years ago. If so, it’ll be in the case notes.”

“Let’s narrow down the possible suspects in an illegal recruiting ring Georgia noted in her podcast—the real names,” Colt said.

“Obviously your Cougars coach,” Poppy said. “I’d add the old assistant coach, Harry Benard, too.”

Coach Duncan Flanigan and Harry had been a duo for a long time. Surely, one would know what the other was doing.

Georgia tapped her chin with her pointer finger. “Harry Benard is now the head coach for Southern High School.”

“For real? He left the Cougars for the Tigers?”

“A year ago. There was a big falling-out between him and Coach Flanigan when he accepted the head coaching job. The whole town called Harry a traitor. Knowing all our Cougar plays. According to most folks—like Sunny Wilkerson—Harry was taking our plans of attack right into the enemy lines.”

Sunny Wilkerson was on the top of Colt’s list as far as boosters went. He’d had time to shoot at them and make it