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

well. In high school he never could grow a beard, and it continually irked him. But he wasn’t a boy anymore. The awareness of how much of a man he was made its point every time he entered a room.

“Rhett said you were going to church.” Guess he’d drawn the short stick. If only she could muster the moxie to go into the church and not freak out for an hour and a half.

“I said I might go.” He shot Rhett a quick glare. “I haven’t had much peace and quiet in the last couple of weeks. Sitting with my Bible and a cup of coffee sounds great, and I’m pretty sure God will speak to me through His word here or there.”

Georgia scooched closer to him for privacy. “I know this is about babysitting me. I don’t want to be your ball and chain, Colt.”

He cocked his head, then that same spark of amusement she was familiar with lit in his blue eyes. “Well, I didn’t ask you to marry me, Georgia Jane.” His eyebrows twitched north. He was real proud of his witty comeback.

Georgia couldn’t help but grin, though the pang of regret thudded against her rib cage. Marriage never would have worked between them. Her anxiety would cause problems and fights like in the past, and he would have finally gotten tired of it and left her in the end. She wouldn’t have blamed him. “Yeah, well... I assure you, you wouldn’t want that, either. I’m the weight everyone is dragging around, and I hate it.”

“No one is dragging you around. You ain’t but a buck ten. We’re carrying you. Now, knock off the self-deprecation and tell me what you want for breakfast. We’re imposing, and the least we can do is cook. We’ll expense it, so don’t start in with how we’re dipping into our pockets to protect you. It’s our job. Let us do it.”

Not much rebuttal there. “Fine. I have waffle mix and bacon and—”

“You had me at waffle. Show me where everything is and I’ll whip us up some.” Colt clapped his hands and rubbed them together then looked at Rhett and Mae. “Y’all want waffles?”

“Does it snow in Colorado?” Mae asked.

“I want a waffle,” Poppy exclaimed as she entered the living room.

“You always want to eat,” Rhett remarked.

“Are you calling me fat?”

“I’m calling you habitually hungry.” He frowned and helped himself to a cup of coffee.

After breakfast, the team left and Georgia helped Colt clean up the dishes, then they sat on the couch waiting for the Sunday service to stream.

“How do you think Coach Flanigan will react when you question him?” she asked.

Colt’s lips turned down, and he cocked his head.

“I don’t think he’ll react well, either.”

He adjusted the laptop and turned up the volume. “Coach is a big fish in a little pond and has been for years. He’s made his career on producing star athletes. His entire identity rests on that. His office is one big trophy case to himself. He won’t like anyone questioning him regardless if he’s involved or not.”

Not to mention he’d won more state championships than any other coach in their division. “I know. He was steamed when I interviewed him for the school paper after Jared died.” She hadn’t suspected him, but she did hammer him on being lax with his players and allowing them privileges that could have gotten them in trouble.

“You mean when you went all Scooby and the gang. Pretty sure he made me run bleachers extra hard that day thanks to you reprimanding him for not putting cameras in the athletic training room and accusing him of allowing athletes to smoke dope and bring girls into the room at all hours of the day and night.”

“I never thought that was smart, and it did happen. Nobody will convince me he didn’t know what was going on under his own nose. He told me, ‘Boys will be boys, Miss Thing. If you suspect Colt is cheating on you, ask him. Don’t try to guilt me into installing cameras so you can feel better about your boyfriend.’”

Colt gaped. “No, he did not. You didn’t think that, did you?”

“No. I trusted you completely, Colton. He shifted it on me to avoid focusing on his negligence and turning a blind eye.”

“Well, he’s going to be off-the-charts angry when he finds out you’re taking another swing at him for something else. Unless he’s the killer, and he’ll simply shoot at you...again.” Colt paused and held her gaze, then they both broke into laughter. Much-needed laughter.

“Or it’s not him. Chance Leeway is a good lead,” Georgia said. “What did he say in his statement from fifteen years ago? He was always a sore loser.”

Colt shifted on the couch. “He lawyered up pretty fast—perks of being a criminal defense attorney’s son. He claims to have been at the Dairy Freeze that Saturday night, and his two best friends backed him up.”

“Any trace evidence you can retest?”

“Industrial carpet fibers that couldn’t be placed at any one particular business. And Jared went all sorts of places and worked part-time for his stepdad, so they could have come from the dealership. But a print was found on his watch. No comparable match back then, but we’re going to run it again and hope for a hit. Someone who wasn’t in the system then might be now.”

Georgia hoped so, too. They didn’t have much to go on.

“Mae got the name of another major booster heavily involved in Courage High sports as well as Ole Magnolia. Terry Helms.”

“He’s one I was alluding to in the podcast.” President of the First Hope Bank & Loan. He’d been a football king in his own right. Played for Ole Magnolia. Big donor to the college and all up in the Courage team’s business.

“And a good friend of Sunny and Coach Flanigan.”

“I wish someone would have thought of this fifteen years ago.”

“No reason to. I’d like to swing by your office later and get the list