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

best friend, full of faith, but he was a teenage boy and Alice Parker had been a looker fifteen years ago. “Could there have been a relationship that would explain her prints on his watch? They’d have to have been fresh, I would imagine. Maybe that night...she was at Rascal’s before he died.”

Gerald’s color returned, bloodred. Colt had crossed a line but it unfortunately needed exploring. “If you are suggesting that my son had an illicit affair with Alice, then you didn’t know him at all.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to cover every angle, even the ugly ones, Gerald. I guess she can explain herself. But we have a direct link between them. We’ll be looking good and hard.” He slid his gaze to Amber, who remained silent. “Now’s the time to tell what needs told if there is anything.”

When no one spoke, he motioned Georgia to follow him down the attic stairs, each step reminding him of the searing wound from the fire. Colt didn’t expect anyone to follow him out or wish him well. He’d just cast a stone at their son.

As they reached his truck, Georgia sighed. “You don’t think Alice Parker and Jared...”

“No. But he was there in the summers. Holiday breaks. Occasional weekdays. Who knows? But bases weren’t covered fifteen years ago and the case went cold. I can’t afford not to cover them now.”

She laid her purse on the floorboard. “I understand. It could be as simple as she reached out and grabbed him because he forgot his jacket. Chance said he laid it on the chair and searched it when Jared went to the restroom.”

“Maybe.” He started the engine. “If Alice had come forward about seeing Jared the night he died, then a simple answer like that would be believable. But she didn’t.”

“If she’s linked at all to Chance or his father, she might have been too afraid to talk. Reggie Leeway is a powerful man.” Georgia situated Colt’s crutches so they wouldn’t fall on her. “You need to rest that leg at some point.”

No time. They were close. He called his team as he backed out of the drive. “Hey, I got news.”

“Us too,” Poppy said. They were on speakerphone as well. “Go first.”

He laid out the new info and where they were headed. “What do you have?”

Rhett spoke up. “I got in touch with Tyler Burgess’s mom, and she admitted that Harry Benard approached her about using the address, but it was Reggie Leeway who called her after Georgia’s attack and told her to respond with ‘no comment’ if she was questioned by anyone. He said she’d be rewarded monetarily. But she said it wasn’t worth it.”

“Harry’s dead. That dog won’t hunt.”

“True. That’s not all, though. We got a call earlier from Carter Wagoner, one of athletes who used the address the year the land was purchased. He said that his dad was out of a job and they were going to lose their house, but then they didn’t. Next thing Carter knows, he’s transferring to Courage High and his dad told him it was for the best and not to ask questions. Guess where the house loan went through?”

“Terry Helms’s bank.”

“And guess what that did?” Poppy asked.

“Got you a warrant for bank records regarding the students’ families who used 4214 Pine Road.”

“Well, you took all the fun out of that,” she huffed.

Rhett cleared his throat, and Colt could imagine him rolling his eyes at Poppy’s dramatics. “We did. With a different judge. We’re on our way there now. If he was falsifying information, we’ll find it. Anything at all to do with 4214 Pine Road is within our scope.”

“Keep me posted.” He hung up.

Georgia grinned. “Terry is involved. And Coach Flanigan—probably Sunny Wilkerson. One of them has been attacking me and probably killed Dandy—but what about Jared?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem connected to the athletic department. What if Jared accepted the offer to play for Ole Magnolia without telling his parents? He was eighteen. Then changed his mind and was going to tell the coach the night he died that he was reneging on the deal so he could play for State instead. Maybe the phone call stopped him short. Or maybe he did tell Coach and he conveniently left that part out. Coach could have asked him to meet him later—after the workout. Then killed him. Or he could have told Terry or Sunny, and one of them killed him.”

“Why kill him and bring him back to the training room?”

“Throw the scent off him. Because it makes no sense. But more likely he was moved because the killer didn’t want the location of his murder discovered. It would reveal the killer’s identity.”

They parked along the curb near the courthouse and walked inside. After going through security, they entered the clerk’s office. Alice Parker might have aged fifteen years, but she didn’t look a day over forty-five or-six. Her hair hung at shoulder length, dark and wavy, and her sharp green eyes matched her business suit. She did a double take. “Colt McCoy!” Then she noticed his crutches, and a mother’s concern radiated in her tone and facial expression. “Honey, what on earth happened to you?”

“You hear about Georgia’s house?”

“Yes. I heard after lunch. I’m sorry, hon. That’s awful. Where are you staying? I’m gonna bring you a pie.” Yes, because pie would help, but in crises that’s what folks did. Bring food.

“Thank you. I’m staying at the Magnolia Motel with the cold case unit.”

A flash of disapproval flared in her eyes.

“I’m gonna cut to the chase,” Colt said. “We ran old evidence, and this time we got a hit on prints from Jared’s watch. They’re yours.”

ELEVEN

“Well, that went about as expected,” Georgia said through a frustrated huff as Colt pulled out onto the main highway. Alice had been appalled that they would even think to implicate her in a murder. She’d loved Jared like her own son and would never have harmed him.

“Did you believe her when