“Yeah,” Lyman mumbled. “We’re clear.”
“Good. I’ll see you tonight.”
Lee hung up his phone and tottered toward the clerk’s office. He stopped when he saw Jeremy sitting on a bench with his head buried in his hands. Lee tapped him with his cane, prodding Jeremy to look up.
“What are you doing? I thought I told you to go make sure Josh keeps his big trap shut,” Lee grumbled.
“I—I was but they took him away. And I started thinking.”
Lee sat down next to him. “Oh, boy. This is dangerous.”
“No, Dad, I’m serious. There are some things happening here that I’m not real comfortable with.”
Lee put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, none of this makes sense to me.”
“Why all the sudden empathy for your cousin? I never had the impression that you two were getting along.”
“Look, Josh can be a real jerk when he wants to be, but he doesn’t deserve this.”
“Maybe, maybe not. What we get in life and what we deserve are often at opposite ends of the spectrum—for both good and bad. It can be a murky mixture when it’s all said and done. We often get just as many good things that we don’t deserve as we do bad things.”
“But nobody deserves to be framed.”
“Jeremy, nobody’s framing Josh.”
CHAPTER 27
CAL DIALED GATLIN’S NUMBER and hoped he might persuade his former boss to bend the rules for him. He’d done it before when Cal was closing in on a story that sent tremors through the sports world. But he was on staff at the paper then.
“Cal, how are you?” Gatlin said.
“Is that a serious question?” Cal snapped.
“I was hoping that maybe you’d have found someone willing to take you on already.”
“I’m still twisting in the wind—which leads me to why I’m calling you.”
“And that is?”
“Have you been able to find any proof that this bastard sabotaged my career?”
“We’re still working on it, but it hasn’t been easy. Everyone is tight-lipped and the tech guys I’ve tasked with digging into it are finding some anomalies on those sites—but they haven’t been able to find out anything in the way of proof.”
“So, you’re telling me that they’re putting extra encryption on certain pages that supposedly prove I’m a plagiarist?”
Gatlin grunted. “Something like that.”
Cal glanced at Kelly and started seething. “That ought to be proof enough right there.”
“You know I believe you, Cal. But my hands are tied right now.”
“Well, you might want to untie them after what I’m about to tell you.”
“Go on.”
“This is far beyond the common ‘sports star thinks he’s above the law’ story. Josh Hood is being set up.”
“Whoa! What? He’s being set up? Who? And why?”
“I can’t get into all that right now, but I’ve got a story that has award-winner written all over it—and I’m going to make it available exclusively to someone. I just thought I’d offer it to you first.”
“Cal, you know I can’t do that right now—”
“Suit yourself. I’m just trying to repay you right now with a half-billion hits the paper’s website is going to receive after this story breaks. And the crazy thing is, there’s still more that I’m learning about.”
“What could be crazier than what you just told me?”
“You’ve obviously never been to Millersville.”
Gatlin chuckled. “No, I haven’t. And based on what you’re telling me, I have no intention of going there either.”
“Believe me, we plan to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Kelly’s still with you?”
“Yeah, and she’s got photos to go with the story as well.”
“Photos, too? Hmmm. Let me see what I can do.”
“Just be prepared to break your freelance budget, Jim. I’m not giving this story away for free.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“Just do me a favor and give me a call when your tech guys unearth some proof that Wilfred Lee tried to sully my good name. Because I can’t wait to expose him for the low-life scoundrel that he is.”
“Will do. And be safe, Cal.”
“Always. Later.” Cal hung up and let out a deep breath.
He shook his head as he looked at Kelly.
“That bad, huh?” she said.
“Yeah, nothing yet on clearing my good name and reputation. And I don’t know if he’ll be able to run this story.”
“Someone will take it. It’s too good.”
“Not yet. We still need to find out what was happening with the overturned truck this morning and what else is going on at The Gentleman’s Club. I think they’re all connected somehow.”
“In the meantime, we’ve got a basketball game to catch. Should I take my camera?”
“Of course. The only hint of hope I detected in Gatlin’s voice was when I mentioned we might have pictures with the story.”
She slugged him on the arm. “I knew you needed me for this.”
***
THE POPULATION OF MILLERSVILLE was just over 4,500 people. And there was a seat for every one of them in the Miller County High School gymnasium—better known as the Lee Center—with plenty more for visitors. Cal had seen small colleges with half as many seats as Miller County’s arena, and this was small division high school basketball. However, it had more than enough space to accommodate the media crush in town along with the ESPN crew broadcasting the Hoops Spectacular Showcase game between Miller County and the Bowman Academy of Gary, Indiana.
Cal and Kelly settled into their seats close enough to the media row where they could hear the sportscasters hyping up the matchup.
“If there are two states that take their high school basketball more seriously than Kentucky and Indiana, I haven’t seen them,” stated one of the young announcers.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, Allen, and I can tell you that there aren’t,” responded the other. “When it comes to high school basketball, this is what it’s all about.”
“But tonight the big story centers around Josh Hood, Miller County’s McDonald’s All-American who earlier today was charged with murder. He’s suspected of not one, but two murders. And it’s rocked this small town.”
“That’s right, Allen. Everyone I spoke with here is defending Hood and saying that it’s a witch hunt by the federal government. Nobody believes he did it.”
“That includes school officials who have given Hood the go-ahead to play tonight in this epic clash of small town titans in prep basketball.”
Cal snickered at the over-the-top hype job from the two announcers regarding the two schools. Both teams had players that would be on the rosters of major college basketball programs next season, but the talking heads made it sound like this was the second coming of Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson.
Along the baseline, TV camera crews jammed against the wall, leaving barely enough room for each team’s cheerleaders. Reporters sat in a small area designated for media. With just 12 seats for the more than 20 media members in attendance, Cal and Kelly were both amused at the larger market reporters trying to muscle their way into the section and demand a spot. The verbal sparring escalated to the point that the Miller County athletic director had to cordon off a small section in the upper corner of the visitor’s section to accommodate the overflow media members.
Cal observed that if the current legal quagmire Josh Hood was facing bothered him, he wasn’t showing it. He dominated the game, scoring 45 points and hitting a three-pointer with ten seconds left to seal the victory for the hometown team.
After the final buzzer sounded, students stormed the court to celebrate. Kelly grabbed a few final snapshots and they headed for the exit.
In the lobby, Cal felt the crowd moving as if it were o
ne unit. The giant blob pushed its way toward the door. Then someone recognized Cal.
“Hey, this is that jerk reporter who stirred all these lies up about Josh!” one student yelled.
“Get him!” yelled another.
Before Cal could move, the crowd turned from a blob to a mob as he absorbed several blows to his back and stomach.
“As soon as we get outta here, run for the car,” Cal told Kelly.
She nodded and focused on exiting the building as quickly as possible.
In a matter of seconds, the roar of angry students and Miller County fans had nearly grown deafening. Their nasty epithets were barely distinguishable to Cal as he tried to keep his head down and protect his face.
He looked down and noticed his feet crossing the threshold and down the concrete steps. Without hesitating, he began shoving away the people in front of him, pushing some in the back to clear a path for him. In a matter of seconds, he’d broken free of the crowd and looked up to see Kelly nearly at their car. He dug into his pocket and unlocked the car with his fob. Glancing over his shoulder, he realized he’d gained enough separation from the crowd to make it to their vehicle before he could be attacked again. Then he looked straight ahead.
Less than twenty yards in front of him stood several hefty-looking farmhands. One of them held a baseball bat and thumped it in his hand as he swaggered toward Cal.
“Hey, hey, guys. I don’t want any trouble. I just want to go home.”
The guy at the front with the bat stopped and spewed a stream of tobacco juice that landed just shy of Cal’s feet. “Maybe you should’ve done that after the first warnin’.”
“Look, I don’t know what you think I’ve done, but I—”
“Shut your pie hole. We don’t want any trouble either.” He pounded the bat into the palm of his hand again. “We just wanna mess you up and make sure you never come back to our town again.”
Cal’s eyes darted back and forth as he surveyed the situation. He needed to figure out the best escape route past one of the thugs in his way.
Who can I take?
The answer was no one.
He looked behind him to realize the once-distant mob had now caught up to seal him in.
Without waiting another second, he darted toward the smallest guy and tried to make a spin move. He’d seen Eric Dickerson’s highlights hundreds of times and figured he could emulate one of his football heroes. It didn’t happen.
As Cal spun, the smaller man—who still carried a sizeable girth advantage over Cal —spun too and knocked him to the ground. Before Cal could clamber to his feet, the man with the bat pulled him up by his shirt.
“Now, where should we start?” he said as he broke into a guffaw.
Just as he drew his bat back, a horn honked and a pair of headlights blinded everyone in the crowd. It was Wilfred Lee.
He stuck his head out of the window as the crowd parted enough to allow him to pull alongside the center of the action. “Now, is that any way to treat one of our guests, Travis? Let’s drop the bat and the attitude. We don’t want any more bad coverage from the media. It’s bad enough out there as it is. And Mr. Murphy here was just trying to do his job and made a mistake. Let’s be big enough people to let bygones be bygones, okay?”
The bat-wielding man nodded. “Yes, sir.” He dropped the bat to his side and slunk off with the rest of them.
Cal, still in shock that he avoided a beat down, looked at Lee. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Good. Now, that’s my final gesture of goodwill you’ll ever encounter. If you don’t drive directly to the hotel, pack your things and get outta town, I won’t step in the next time Travis has a bat. In fact, I’ll give him a call and tell him where you are. Are we clear?”
Cal nodded and turned to walk away.
“I’m serious, Cal. Dead serious,” Lee hollered out of his window as he started moving forward again.
Cal put his arm in the air, acknowledging he’d heard.
Before he could get to the car, Kelly rushed up to him. “Are you okay?”
He groaned and grimaced as she hugged him. “I’d be better off if you didn’t squeeze me like that again.”
“I was so scared, Cal,” she said.
“You weren’t the only one. I thought that was it.”
“I was looking for our hidden key box in the wheel well because I was thinking about running them over to save you.”
“That’s the last thing we need—you running people over in this godforsaken town. We still have little Maddie to think of.”
“Which is exactly why we need to leave town right now,” she said.
They both climbed into the car.
Cal slammed the door. “We can’t leave now. There’s too much at stake here.”
“Yeah, like our lives. Let’s go.”
“But, Kelly—”
“Cal, you could’ve been killed back there. This isn’t up for debate. We’ll figure everything else out later. Let’s just go.”
He sighed. “Fine. But there’s one more thing we have to do before we leave.”
“What’s that?”
“We need to talk to Justin Palmer.”
“Let’s call him instead.”
“All right.” Cal turned the ignition and the car roared to life. He handed his phone to Kelly. “Dial his number.”
He put the phone to his ear. “Straight to voicemail.”
“I’m sure he’s fine.”
Cal whipped his head toward her. “In this town? I think not.” He paused. “We’ve got to go check on him again, at least see if he’s there. But I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Then let’s check on him tomorrow—over the phone, okay?”
“You know that’s not going to happen, Kelly. We’re going there now.”
She thrust her hands upward and punched the roof of the car. “Cal Murphy—you are one stubborn fool.”
Neither said a word as they zipped along the two-lane road and past the hotel. After a few moments, Cal’s cell phone buzzed, breaking the silence. Kelly picked it up and started reading the message.
“Who is it from?”
“Tom Corliss.”
“What’s it say?”
“Your hunch was right. We’re going to announce tomorrow that we’re releasing Josh Hood in light of new evidence and making another arrest.”
“Text back and ask him who?”
Kelly punched in the question on his phone and hit send.
Corliss responded but before she could read it, the phone flew out of her hand as their vehicle lurched forward.
“What the—” Cal said as he tried to keep his car on the road. He adjusted his rearview mirror just in time to watch the truck behind him barreling toward him again.
Crunch!
“Cal, pull over. I knew we should’ve gone straight to the hotel!”
“You’re not helping, Kelly.”
“What do you suggest I do then?”
“Hold on!”
Another smack, but this time it wasn’t a gentle bump. The truck roared behind them and pushed them off the road. The car slid into the ditch and stopped abruptly. Air bags deployed as Cal and Kelly lay motionless. Smoke smoldered from beneath the hood. The crumpled mass of metal that was once their car appeared to be headed for a short trip to the junkyard.
Cal regained his bearings, slapping the air bag out of his face.
“You all right, Kelly?”
“Nothing feels broken,” she mumbled.
“Good. Let’s get outta here. Grab my phone and we’ll call Corliss to see if he can help us out.”
Cal turned to open his door but it swung open for him.
“You two aren’t goin’ anywhere.” A man wearing a patch over his right eye jerked Cal out of the car before knocking him out.
He walked around the other side of the car for Kelly, who fumbled for Cal’s phone as she tried to scramble out of the car. The man ripped her door open and grabbed her by the
shirt. She screamed even though she knew it would be a futile cry for help.
“You aren’t goin’ anywhere either, princess,” he said and punched her in the face as well.
The man picked up the phone and scrolled through the messages on the screen.
“Wilfred Lee is not going to like this,” he said as he shoved the phone into his pocket. He slung both bodies over his shoulder and started traipsing through the woods.
“You two always wanted to see The Gentleman’s Club, didn’t you?”
CHAPTER 28
JUSTIN PALMER KICKED at the dirt floor and tried to hit the wall with his fists. The chains constrained his movement, preventing him from getting any farther than two inches from the wall.
“Ahhhh! I’ve gotta get outta here,” Palmer screamed.
He looked down his wrists now oozing blood.
“I swear, I’m gonna kill that—”
“Stop saying that,” Hannah interrupted. “You’re not going to kill anyone and you know it. You’re not a killer, Justin.”
“Maybe. Not yet.” He slumped back to the ground and laid flat on his back, quiet for a moment. “We’ve gotta get you out of here.”
She sat up. “Be honest with me—what are they gonna do to me?”
Palmer threw his right hand over his forehead. “Trust me when I say this: you don’t wanna know.”
“But I do. I need to prepare myself for what’s going to happen.”
“If they do to you what I think they’re going to do, you can’t prepare for it. But don’t worry. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you or anyone else. I’m gonna shut this place down.”
She laughed, mockingly. “Geez, Justin, who do you think you are? Rambo? You’re just gonna rip the chains out of the floor and kill all these guys.”
“If I have to.”
More snickering. “I’ve always thought you were a gentleman, just not a delusional one. Now I’m beginning to wonder.”
“I have lots of rage, even more so now that I know what they’re doing here.” He paused. “And now I know that they are the ones responsible for my daughter’s death and something that happened to my wife a long time ago.”
“They’re not responsible for your wife’s sickness, are they?”
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