The Lakeside Conspiracy (18 page)

CHAPTER 71

Max woke up before Michelle and quietly slipped out of bed. He threw on the same clothes for the third day in a row. They were definitely starting to smell like it too. He took the elevator to the lobby and ordered two cups of coffee to go. He checked his phone while he waited—still no call or text from Ms. Jones. It was only a few minutes after 7:00. He’d wait another hour before trying to call her.

She was really the only hope Max had. He knew some bad stuff was happening, but he couldn’t prove anything. What did he really have? A picture of skid marks and a cracked rear bumper on Dante’s car? That didn’t prove anything. The police ruled the accident was mechanical failure. His cell phone picture wasn’t going to change that. Not unless there was someone within the police department who’d come forward. But who would do that? And why?

Jack Murphy was dead. Killed the morning Max had flown to New Jersey. He had no idea why someone would want Jack dead. Bill Jackson had said something about Jack not being a team player. Max didn’t believe Bill was capable of killing someone though. Bill was probably trying to avoid meeting the same fate as Jack.

Bill seemed to confirm that somehow the Pioneers Athletics Foundation was involved. What did that mean though? How were a dead high school player, a dead president of the high school booster club, a scared athletic director and two guys—at least one of whom worked for the Pioneers—connected? And what was so important that it was worth killing over?

As Max took the elevator back upstairs, he was hit with how surreal this all was. He was a football coach, not a policeman, not a spy. Michelle was, or had been, a schoolteacher. She wasn’t an undercover government operative. They weren’t Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And yet here they were, on the run while trying to solve...he wasn’t even sure what they were trying to solve.

Max opened the door to the room. The shades were still drawn and Michelle was still in bed. He quietly shut the door and set the coffees on the dresser.

“Max?”

“Yeah, Shelle,” he said. “I brought some coffee.”

“Oh, good,” Michelle said, “but that can wait. Come back to bed.”             

CHAPTER 72

Max and Michelle checked out of the Hilton after enjoying the best night they’d had in years. It would have been even better if they weren’t in possession of a stolen car and Max wasn’t a suspect in Jack Murphy’s death. Other than those things though, it had been a great night…and morning.

Max and Michelle sat down on a bench overlooking the river. Max should have been preparing his team for the Fort Smith Northside game and Michelle should have been teaching school. Instead, they were in Branson, Missouri trying to figure out their next steps.

The Lakeside Police Department had covered up what Max was convinced was Dante’s murder. He couldn’t trust them. And he couldn’t trust his boss, Bill Jackson, who was definitely involved in whatever was going on. The key player was still Ms. Jones. If he could talk to her, he’d know what he was up against.

“Try calling her again, Max.”

Max took his phone from his pocket, said a silent prayer and touched the screen to call Ms. Jones. He held the phone to his ear and hoped. One ring. Two. Three. Four. Five. “Hello?”

“Ms. Jones, it’s Coach Henry. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mr. Henry. It’s time to make this right. Some people have to pay for what they done.”

“Yes, they do, Ms. Jones. If you’ll tell me where you are, my wife and I will meet you. And together we’ll make this right.”

Dante’s mother told Max where she was. It was a hotel in Eureka Springs about twenty minutes from Lakeside. She said Jack Murphy had paid for her to stay there for five nights. He’d also given her $200 for food and said he’d be in touch with her, but then she never heard from him.

Max and Michelle walked a few blocks to an Enterprise car rental. It would be the third rental car in three days. One he’d damaged and abandoned. One he’d stolen. He hoped this one would be incident-free. He wasn’t sure if the rental car company in New Jersey had flagged his license or if the Lakeside Police Department had put out an APB, so they rented the car in Michelle’s name.

It was a little over an hour to get to Eureka Springs. Considering how far they’d come, it wasn’t much time before they’d have answers. But knowing how things had gone, there were no guarantees.

As they got in the car and began the drive to Eureka Springs, Michelle said, “Can I just say…I’m really into fugitive sex?”

CHAPTER 73

It was 1:52 p.m. They agreed to meet Ms. Jones in the lobby of the Basin Park Hotel at 2:00. The Basin Park was one of a number of hotels in Eureka Springs which were supposedly haunted. Al Capone’s sister was believed to have stayed there at one time as well. Now it was known as a romantic get away in the heart of downtown. Unfortunately, there was nothing romantic about this visit.

They parked in a lot across the street and made their way to the hotel. They had no reason to think she wouldn’t be there, but little reason to think she would. She had to be scared and if someone else had gotten to her, she might just as easily have decided not to go through with the meeting.

At 1:58 p.m., Max and Michelle entered the lobby of the hotel. There was no sign of Ms. Jones. They bought some coffee and sat down to wait. At 2:03, Ms. Jones entered the lobby. Max stood up to greet her.

“Ms. Jones, have a seat. This is my wife, Michelle.”

“You didn’t bring anyone else, did you?” Ms. Jones said.

“No, Ms. Jones, we’re alone,” Max said.

“Can we get you something to drink?” Michelle asked.

“I’ll have some water,” Ms. Jones said.

Michelle left to get the water. Ms. Jones sat down across from Max. He could see she was tired and afraid. She scanned the room, keeping her eyes on every person that entered the lobby. Max understood. He’d been doing the same thing lately.

Michelle returned with a bottle of water and sat down next to Ms. Jones.

“Ms. Jones, I know there’s something really big going on, but I feel like there’s one or two puzzle pieces missing—and you know what they are,” Max said.

Ms. Jones took a sip of water and nervously looked around the lobby. “I never should have listened to him,” she said. “It all sounded too good to be true.”

“Who, Ms. Jones?” Max said. “What was too good to be true?”

Ms. Jones started to cry and Michelle put her arm around her. “Tell us what happened, Ms. Jones,” Michelle said.

She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “It was almost two years ago,” she said. “Right after Dante’s sophomore year of high school.” She took a sip of water. “He had such a good season. Most valuable sophomore in all of Alabama. That’s when he came.”

“Who came?” Max said.

“Mr. Murphy,” she said. “He showed up at the house one day.”

“Jack Murphy?” Max said. “Jack Murphy came to your house? In Alabama?”

“Yes, sir,” Ms. Jones said. “It was early December, after the playoffs. He just showed up one day.”

Max and Michelle looked at each other hardly able to believe what they’d just heard. “What did he want?” Max said.

“Well, he asked if he could talk to us about an opportunity,” Ms. Jones said. “He said it was an opportunity for a better life.”

“What exactly did he say?” Max asked.

“He said if we moved to Lakeside, Arkansas, he could set us up in a nice house and get a good job for me,” she said. “He said the schools there were good and the football program was good, too. He said it would be a real good opportunity for Dante.”

“Then what happened?” Max said.

“Mr. Murphy said there was just one thing we had to agree to,” she said.

“And what was that?”

“He said when Dante graduated from high school he had to go to Northern Arkansas State,” she said. “That was the only condition. We could get the house and the job as long as Dante played for the Pioneers.”

Things were starting to come together now. “So what happened?” Max asked.

Ms. Jones started to cry again. Michelle hugged her tight.

“After Dante’s junior year at Lakeside, he started getting all these letters and phone calls from other schools,” she said. “He said he wanted to take some recruiting visits to schools like Alabama, LSU and Arkansas. He said he wanted to play in the SEC.”

“What did you tell him?” Max said.

“I tried to tell him he couldn’t,” she said. “I tried to explain the agreement.”

“But?” Max said.

“But he kept insisting. He said they’d understand.”

“So what happened?” Michelle asked.

“Mr. Murphy, he came to the house one night,” she said. “He said he understood how Dante might want to go to another school, but he said a man had to stick to his word.”

“I guess Dante didn’t like hearing that,” Max said.

“No, he didn’t,” she said. “He said he was going to an SEC school and then the NFL. And once he done that, he’d pay that money back to Mr. Murphy.”

So much was making sense now. Max had always wondered, but never asked, why Dante had moved to Lakeside. If he had, he might have been able to put a stop to this. He might have been able to save Dante’s life.

“Mr. Murphy didn’t like that, did he?” Max said.

“Not at all,” Ms. Jones said. “He said I better talk some sense into Dante.” Ms. Jones was crying harder now. “It’s my fault. I couldn’t make him understand.”

“Ms. Jones, it’s not your fault,” Michelle said. “You can’t blame yourself. Dante deserved to go to the school he wanted. What happened to him was not your fault.”

“Ms. Jones, I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but what do you think happened to Dante?” Max said.

“Oh, I know they killed my baby,” she said. “I know they did. If he wasn’t going to play for the Pioneers, then they was probably afraid he might tell on them.”

“Ms. Jones, you said that Mr. Murphy set you up in the house you’re in. Does that mean you own the house?” Max said.

Ms. Jones was quiet. She wiped tears from her eyes and took a sip of water. “I don’t really know,” she said. “We just got to Lakeside and Mr. Murphy gave us a house. We never paid nothin’ for it. Not even electricity.”

“Ms. Jones, did Mr. Murphy ever indicate whose house it was?” Max said.

“No,” she said. “He just handed me the keys and said they were lookin’ forward to havin’ Dante in a Pioneer’s uniform someday.”

“Ms. Jones, you’re doing great,” Max said. “Just a couple more questions, if you don’t mind. When Dante started showing interest in other schools, what happened next?”

“Like I said, Mr. Murphy said a man had to stick to his word,” she said.

“But Dante kept talking about SEC schools?” Max said.

“Yes, sir,” she said. “He was real stubborn about it. I couldn’t get him to understand.”

“What did Mr. Murphy do at that point?” Max said.

“He told me he really liked Dante and all, but it wasn’t gonna be a good situation if he didn’t become a Pioneer,” she said.

“What did you think he meant by that?” Max said.

“I thought maybe we’d have to give back the house or somethin’,” she said. “I sure didn’t think it meant they’d kill my baby boy.”

“Ms. Jones, one more question,” Max said. “After Dante’s accident, when did you hear from Jack?”

“It was a couple days later,” she said. “He come to the house and said he was real sorry about Dante’s accident. He was real upset about it. He even started cryin’.”

“Ms. Jones, thank you for being so honest with us. Now I’m not going to lie to you, this is a serious situation. There are people who don’t want what you just shared with us to become public,” Max said.

“I know that, Coach Henry,” she said. “But they messed with the wrong woman when they killed my baby.”