The Lakeside Conspiracy (19 page)

CHAPTER 74

When Bill’s phone rang and he saw who it was, he answered immediately. “Yes, sir?” Bill said.

“I don’t like how this is going,” the man said.

“Yes, sir, I understand,” Bill said. “I’ve tried to reason with them.”

“It seems that Coach Henry was able to elude a couple of our guys and actually took a wallet off one of them,” he said.

“That explains it,” Bill said.

“Explains what?” he said.

“Did your guy have an ID in his wallet that links him to the Pioneers?” Bill said.

“He may have,” he said.

“They know!” Bill said. “They know your guys are linked to the university!”

“Calm down,” he said. “That doesn’t prove anything. Not without the mother.”

“Yeah, and with the mother they know everything!” Bill said. “You said you could take care of this!” Then Bill hung up.

CHAPTER 75

Max didn’t know how long it would take him to figure out his next steps, but he had to keep Ms. Jones safe, so he paid for three more nights at the hotel and gave her some money for food. He assured her things would be okay and he’d been in touch soon. She thanked Max and Michelle for caring about Dante and wanting to make things right.

Max and Michelle walked outside and headed to their car. They now had the missing piece to the puzzle. They just weren’t sure what to do with it. At least not yet.

Dante had been the top high school sophomore in Alabama. Someone had to make the decision to send Jack Murphy down there to make the offer. Clearly, that someone was connected to the university. Making that connection was serious. If a university employee or booster was involved in bringing Dante’s family to Lakeside with the understanding he’d go to school at Northern Arkansas State—that would be a major infraction that would result in severe penalties against the Northern Arkansas State football program.

Understanding there was now a connection with the university was shedding light on other aspects of the story. The Lakeside Police chief was a former football player at NASU. As was Bill Jackson.

Max had known there were a number of NASU alumni around Lakeside, but he’d had no reason to suspect their involvement in Dante’s death. Or in Jack Murphy’s death. Or to think the two guys chasing him and Michelle were connected to the university.

Max had never actually stopped to consider what Alex Martin and his partner were tasked with. What instructions were they given? Warn Max? Threaten him? Worse? And who gave that order?

What was clear now was that Jack Murphy had been operating on behalf of the Pioneer’s Athletic Foundation—the arm of the football program tasked with raising millions of dollars. What was unclear was who exactly knew of Jack’s recruiting program. And even more importantly, who sanctioned it.

The other thing Max had failed to consider was how his involvement might look to others. He knew he had nothing to do with illegal recruiting, but to others, Max would look as guilty as everyone else—especially since he was the Lakeside head coach and Dante had played a season for him.

If Max went public with allegations regarding Dante’s recruitment to play for Lakeside and eventually Northern Arkansas State, it would mean forfeiting their wins from last season. He’d also certainly lose his job and probably never coach again.

What would be far more serious though were the consequences for Northern Arkansas State. For years, they’d been a well-respected football program. Joe Patterson had built the program into one of the best in the nation. It was by no means a Southeastern Conference caliber program, but some SEC schools were no longer willing to play them for fear of losing.

Joe Patterson was only the second head coach in the history of the school. He was in his 43
rd
season at NASU and 37
th
as head coach. And at 75 years of age, he was still going strong.

What Max had to find out now was how high up the Dante scandal went. He didn’t even want to consider the possibility that Joe Patterson was involved.

CHAPTER 76

Max looked at his phone. It was 2:45 p.m. He should be leading a Monday practice in forty-five minutes. Instead, he was trying to figure out how to get justice for Dante’s mother, how to keep himself and Michelle one step ahead of whatever awaited them back in Lakeside and possibly keep himself out of prison for killing Jack Murphy.

“Max, help me understand why Jack or anyone with the university would risk bringing Dante to Lakeside the way they did,” Michelle said.

“It really comes down to winning football games,” he said. “Winning means happy alumni. Happy alumni means more donations. More donations means better facilities, which means better recruits, which means more wins. Most likely, Dante would have finished out his high school career in Alabama and then played for Alabama or Auburn. Someone decided it was worth stealing him from them and bringing him to Northern Arkansas State with a stop over at Lakeside High School.”

“And they’d be willing to get caught?” she asked.

“There’s so much money involved in college football, Shelle,” he said. “Forbes published an article last year that showed the revenue generated by the top twenty-five university football programs. Those schools accounted for over $1.2 billion in revenue. And that was just the top twenty-five schools. There are over a hundred Division-One schools. With that kind of money at stake, they’re willing to take risks.”

“So I guess someone would be willing to kill, too?” she said.

That was really what it had come down to. Someone, and that person was not yet known, had been willing to kill Dante. Was it to keep him quiet? Had someone simply tried to scare him and gotten carried away? Or did they mean to send a message? Maybe Dante would serve as a warning to others in the future.

Max thought back to the morning Jack had mentioned a new player moving to Lakeside from the Dallas area. He’d been confused at the time when Jack had said, “You’re welcome.” Now it was making sense.

It was somebody’s job to identify up and coming high school players. It was Jack’s role to pay them a visit and make them “an offer they couldn’t refuse.”

Whatever player Jack had in mind had never materialized. Maybe the powers that be were getting nervous. Maybe they wanted to get the situation with Dante worked out before bringing anyone else in. Max tried to think of any other star players who had moved to Lakeside during his time on the coaching staff. He couldn’t think of any and wondered if Dante was the first.

“Shelle, I’m not sure anything would surprise me at this point,” Max said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if other schools were doing the same thing. What better way to steal a top recruit from another school than to throw some money at a needy family while the kid is still young?”

Max and Michelle walked to their car. Once they got in, they realized they didn’t have anywhere to go yet. “I think we need to stay out of Lakeside for at least another night,” Max said. “We need a game plan before we go rolling back into town. If Lakeside’s Police chief is in on this, then I might get picked up the moment I show up at school. Let’s see if they’ve got a cabin available at the Enchanted Forest Resort.”

“Okay, I’ll give them a call,” Michelle said.

Max saw Michelle grinning. “What’s so funny?” he said.

“Do you really not have a game plan or are you just trying to get another night in a hotel with me?” she said.

“Well, I really don’t have a game plan,” he said.

“But?”

“But I’m trying to get another night in a hotel with you,” he said. Then added, “Satisfied, Miss Smarty Pants?”

“Very,” she said, still grinning.

CHAPTER 77

The Enchanted Forest Resort had a cabin available. The property was a little north of downtown Eureka Springs and had a number of secluded, luxury cabins. Max and Michelle had stayed there for their tenth anniversary. It was before Sarah had gotten sick and before he’d taken the head coaching position at Lakeside. It was before life had gotten complicated. Before he’d gotten angry. He knew that was an issue he would still need to deal with if he and Michelle were going to be truly healthy.

They stopped at a grocery store before heading to their cabin. Each cabin had a full kitchen, so Max offered to cook dinner while Michelle took a bath. Max prepared a salad, gluten-free chicken piccata and sautéed zucchini. As he cooked, he tried to formulate a plan for the next day.

He felt like he had enough information. Now it would come down to whom he would take it to. He couldn’t go to the police, at least not the Lakeside police. He wasn’t even sure which law enforcement agency would have jurisdiction over something like this? The sheriff? The state police? The FBI? Maybe he should try contacting the NCAA.

No matter who he approached, he realized how easily this could all blow up. For a lot of people, but mostly himself and Michelle. There was no guarantee he would come out of this looking squeaky-clean. As the head coach, he was responsible for what went on in his program. Clearly, Dante was an illegal player. No one would care that Max hadn’t even known about Jack Murphy providing a house for the family and a job for Ms. Jones.

Max would have to do some soul searching on that one. He should have asked questions. He should have looked into Dante’s situation. Some people might give him a pass since he’d been dealing with the death of his daughter, but it didn’t really excuse it. The buck had to stop with someone. And as the head coach, the buck had to stop with him. And that’s when Max realized what he had to do. The plan came together in an instant.

But it could wait until morning. Tonight was another night in a hotel with Michelle.

CHAPTER 78

Their cabin was the Hilltop Hideaway, which came with a two-person hot tub in the master bedroom. Michelle enjoyed a bath while Max finished preparing dinner. The circumstances that brought them there were right out of a mystery novel, but if Michelle had learned anything over the past several years, it was that life was a mystery as well as being messy. And by messy, she meant painful, complicated and confusing.

Max really seemed to be genuinely trying now. Even in the midst of their present difficulties, he was trying to win her heart back. He’d almost lost it for good. She’d almost let Chris steal it. She had felt the last ember of love for Max being extinguished and then she’d gotten the text from him. The one where he’d asked what made her feel loved.

At first, it had made her angry. It was a question he should have known the answer to. And at the time, it was a question Chris did know the answer to. Chris hadn’t needed to ask. He knew what she needed. He knew what made her feel loved and special and beautiful and wanted.

She’d let things go too far with Chris. Of course that was a nice way of saying it. At the time, it had felt right and good. At the time, she’d been able to tell herself that she deserved to feel loved and wanted again. She wondered what Max might suspect. Did he know how close he’d come to losing her and how close she’d been with Chris?

It had only been forty-eight hours since Max had shown up in Seaside Park and had seen her kissing Chris goodbye. It felt like years though. Maybe it was the adventure or danger they’d experienced together, but she felt a reconnection with Max. And that’s all she ever wanted anyway. She knew Max wanted it too and had already seen him working hard to love her well.

“Shelle, dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” Max called from the kitchen.

She looked at herself in the mirror and grinned. “Coming,” she called from the bedroom.

CHAPTER 79

Michelle sat down at the table. Max had opened a bottle of Pinot Noir, so she poured a glass. He was finishing up the meal in the kitchen and hadn’t noticed her dinner attire. She took a sip of wine and said, “What are we having?”

Still focused on getting their dinner plated, he said, “Oh, don’t worry, it’s something you’ll like.”

“Well, it smells good, whatever it is,” she said.

“I promise you’ll love it,” he said.

“I’m sure I will. Anything for dessert?”

“Um, no, I hadn’t planned anything for dessert. Sorry.”

Michelle took another sip of wine. “That’s okay. We’ll figure something out.”

Max came out of the kitchen and saw Michelle already sitting at the table. Topless. He set the plates down and said, “Wow!”

Michelle took a sip of wine and said, “Yes, dear?”

Max sat down without taking his eyes off Michelle. “You know it’s really not fair.”

“What isn’t?”

“Oh come on, like you don’t know. Romance for a woman means dinner and talking and feelings and candles. Stuff like that.”

“So?”

“And then all you have to do is show your breasts and I can’t think about anything else.”

“Mmm, this smells so good,” she said. “What is it?”

“Chicken picatta,” he said. “So I’m really supposed to concentrate now?”

“Why don’t you say the blessing so we can eat,” Michelle said. “I’m really hungry.’

Max prayed, but with his eyes open.

They were quiet for a couple minutes while they ate, then Michelle said, “This is all going to work out, Max. You know that, right?”

“Do you mean us or everything happening in Lakeside?” he said.

“Both,” she said. Michelle took a sip of wine and set her glass down. “Max, there’s something I have to…”

“Hold on, Shelle,” Max said looking at his phone. “It’s Ms. Jones.”