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

“I know,” he murmured into her hair. “I know.” He held her tighter. “I’m so sorry this is happening. I’ll do everything in my power to see this guy is caught and does time.”

She melted into his embrace, feeling safer than she had in a long time. His reassuring words slipped into the marrow of her bones. She inhaled his masculine scent and burrowed deeper, then caught herself. Oh, no. No, she couldn’t allow any kind of feelings to wiggle their way into her heart. Feelings of safety would turn to dependence, and then that would snowball.

Then she’d care and end up where she started with him all those years ago.

She pulled away. “I know you will.” She rubbed her arms where he’d once warmed them.

He searched her eyes with a puzzled brow. Her withdrawal had been abrupt, but it was in their best interest to keep things professional.

A few minutes later, Poppy and Rhett burst inside with the tin, and the lady at the desk hustled it into the examining room.

Now it was all a waiting game.

For her dogs’ lives.

For hers.

Colt had finally coaxed Georgia to leave the vet clinic. Dr. Reed had informed them they’d caught the symptoms early. The dogs had been given crushed-up ibuprofen in the tin of treats. Kate at the feed store hadn’t sent a tin this morning, which meant the killer had purchased the treats and laced them with the crushed pills. To lure her out for sure and maybe to even get rid of Wyatt and Doc so they couldn’t alert her to his presence. There was no sneaking up on Georgia with the dogs.

Dr. Reed wanted to keep the dogs for a couple of days to monitor them and make sure kidney function was proper. They were safer there anyway. Georgia had agreed to leave and accompany Colt to the patch of land on Pine Road, but she’d been distant since she pulled from his embrace. He wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong, but he felt the sting of rejection. He’d been there before with her. Withdrawing then pushing him from her life.

Better to rub out the sting and take it as a warning that getting close wasn’t an option. There were many reasons. He could recount them all over and again. Time to draw the line between caring because it was his job and they were friends and caring because he wanted more than friendship and a professional relationship. The latter wasn’t possible. No point even entertaining the fleeting thought.

Now he pulled over on the shoulder of the road. The black mailbox with the numbers 4214 peeked out from the growth covering it.

“I’ll be honest, Georgia. If Coach or one of the high school boosters are recruiting, the NCAA committee may only slap them with a fine. They could go right back to doing it again. I mean, Ole Magnolia might lose TV exposure if they’re involved. Right now it’s looking like there is some sneaky business going on with recruiting kids from other districts, but even so, the worst that may happen is a few penalties and public knowledge that they were cheating to win.”

“That doesn’t seem like enough to threaten my life or kill Dandy—if we find out it was staged to look like a carjacking.”

Colt sighed. That’s what had been bothering him all night as he tossed and turned. “No. Which means something else is going on. Penalties for infractions happen all the time in sports. That’s why there’s an entire committee devoted to investigating them. That’s not enough to send someone after you—so it must tie to the murder of Jared. By poking around in the illegal recruiting ring, you’ve stumbled onto something far more sinister.” His cell rang. “It’s Mae.” He answered and put her on speaker.

“Okay,” Mae said. “I think we have some coercion goin’ on. I spoke with Miss Thompson—Moore Thompson’s mother. He’s one of the boys who is using the Pine Road address. She refuses to talk to me without a lawyer present. So I tried Tyler Burgess’s mom. Same story.”

“They may be afraid of losing the scholarship to Ole Magnolia. It’s out there now. The boys will have to move unless the school keeps it under wraps, but Georgia knows, so expect it to come out in a news article.” He grinned, but his joke didn’t reach Georgia. She barely even smiled.

“Right, but I’m seeing a pattern,” Mae said. “Single moms. Athletic boys. No dads in the picture. These mamas would be desperate to see their babies go to college, so fudging addresses would be tempting if an offer came through. And someone has gotten to them and given them the ‘I want a lawyer’ spiel. Is it worth pursuing? Poppy says they’ll get a slap on the wrist and probably have to go to their rightful districts. I feel kinda bad for these mamas.”

“If they’re that good of a player, they’ll get a scholarship without having to cheat. There are consequences to cheating and deceiving. It’s not fair to boys who are doing things the right way. But I do feel bad.”

“I agree, but Poppy says it’s competitive out there. And if the coach or a booster is working with the coach at Ole Magnolia, then it’s a guarantee only because of that under-the-table deal. They might not get it any other way.”

Colt hated to see boys miss out on college, but this wasn’t why he was in Magnolia. The NCAA could decide what to do about the boys. His job was to find out who had killed Jared, and if this infraction led to his killer—that’s where his focus needed to be.

“We need to know who offered her the fake address. A lawyer is going to counsel them to cooperate. Either way, now that it’s out, their sons aren’t going to be allowed to play for Courage High. What school districts will they end up playing for?”

“They both live in the