by Gregg Stutts
“We can’t even get to our car,” she said.
And then the phone Max had taken off the guy started to ring. He looked at Michelle who looked at him and shrugged her shoulders. The caller ID said “Mike.” Max touched the screen to accept the call but didn’t say anything. Instead, he dropped the phone on the ground as he heard someone on the other end saying, “Hello? Hey! Where are you?”
Max watched as the guy in the car opened his door and got out with a phone to his ear. He was walking quickly toward the restaurant, then started to run. Max could hear him yelling, “Answer me! Alex? Where are you?” He opened the front door to the restaurant and went inside.
Max grabbed Michelle’s hand and started running toward their car. At the last second, he saw the other guy’s car was still running, so he and Michelle quickly got inside and were out of the parking lot before the guy inside knew what was happening. A few minutes later, they were again headed south on highway 65 toward Arkansas.
Max took a deep breath and exhaled. “Wow!” he said.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” Michelle said.
“Wow!” Max didn’t know what else to say.
They rode in silence for a minute while they caught their breath and tried to stop shaking. After he was able to talk again, Max said, “I think we learned something.”
“What?” Michelle said.
“Those weren’t professionals,” he said. “If you and I can get away from them, then they must be amateurs. Right?”
“I guess,” Michelle said.
“Think about it. No gun on the guy I knocked down. The other guy runs into the restaurant yelling his buddy’s name and leaves the car running. Who does that?” Max thought for a moment. “Yeah, there’s no way these guys are professionals. They’re freakin’ idiots!”
“So now what?” Michelle said.
“Think about who’s been involved in this,” Max said. “Dante and his mother. Jack Murphy. Bill Jackson. And these two clowns we just ditched.”
“Okay?” Michelle said.
“I still think we need to find out what we can from Bill Jackson,” Max said. “If I’m right, he’s going to trip himself up. It’s time to call him, Shelle.”
Chapter 68
Max handed his phone to Michelle so she could get Bill’s number. He also gave her the wallet he took off the guy he’d knocked out. “Before you call Bill, check out the wallet,” he said. “We know their first names. Let’s see what else we can learn.”
Michelle looked through the wallet. “He’s got $18,” she said. “His name is Alex Martin.” She kept looking. “He’s got a Bank of America Visa card. And it looks like he’s a member of the “Pioneers Athletics Foundation.”
“Alex Martin?” Max said. “That sounds familiar. Why do I know that name?”
Michelle finished going through the wallet and said, “That’s about it.”
“Shelle, do a search for Alex Martin and Northern Arkansas State football,” Max said. “If I’m right, he played there a few years ago.”
Michelle typed in the search and waited. “I don’t have a great connection here,” she said.
While they waited, Max felt like some things were beginning to come together. He was convinced they weren’t dealing with professional criminals. If he had to guess, these were people who got in over their heads. Maybe they did something they shouldn’t have, something that didn’t seem too bad at first, but then it all spiraled out of control.
He remembered reading in one of Chuck Colson’s books about how Watergate had gotten out of control. After the break-in, Nixon’s inner circle knew if they all stuck to their stories, the whole thing would blow over. All they had to do was hold the lie together and they’d get away with it. But they didn’t. John Dean broke ranks and blew the whistle. That’s when it all unraveled for Nixon’s administration.
“Shelle, what if Dante heard or saw something he wasn’t supposed to?”
“Like what?”
Max thought for a minute but couldn’t imagine what it could be. “I don’t know.”
“Did Jack see the same thing?” she said. “How would they be connected?”
“What if there is a connection somehow?” Max said. “What if they got involved in something that went bad? It just got out of hand. Maybe like Watergate, someone broke ranks. And when they did, it started to unravel and people had to be silenced.”
It occurred to Max that Jack might have actually been trying to warn him. What if he’d gotten involved in something and regretted it and was trying to make things right. Maybe whoever was in charge didn’t think he could trust Jack any longer.
“Okay, I’ve got it,” Michelle said. “You were right. Alex Martin graduated from Northern Arkansas State four years ago. He played fullback.”
“I knew it,” Jack said. “He looked like one. And felt like one. What else?”
“Now he works for the Pioneers Athletics Foundation as an alumni liaison.”
Alex Martin was a new piece to the puzzle. Somehow, he was connected to all this, but he wasn’t a key player. Max was sure of that. He was just following orders. He’d heard the way he’d talked on the phone. He’d said, “sir.” And it was someone Alex didn’t want to disappoint. Exactly how this was connected to Dante and the Lakeside football program was the piece Max was missing, but it was the piece that he needed to figure out to get them out of trouble.
“How’s your connection?” Max said.
“It’s good for now,” Michelle said.
“Okay, it’s time to call, Bill,” he said.
Chapter 69
Michelle found the number in Max’s phone and dialed it on hers. Max was giving her instructions, but she cut him off. “Hey, I’ve got this. Just listen.” She winked and put the phone to her ear.
The phone was ringing. Bill wouldn’t recognize the number, so Michelle wondered if he’d even answer. And then on the sixth ring, he did. “Hello?” he said.
“Bill? This is Michelle Henry. Can you hear me okay?”
“Michelle? Yeah, I can hear you fine. Where are you?”
“Bill, I don’t have long. We stopped for gas. Max is inside getting some coffee.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“I don’t know. Somewhere in Missouri. Look, you’ve got to help me. Max is acting all crazy.”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“I just watched him knock some guy out and then he stole a car. Bill, he’s crazy. He keeps talking about solving the crime. That’s all he talks about. Solving the crime. Solving the crime. I don’t know what to do, Bill.”
“What crime is he talking about?”
“I don’t even know, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with Dante’s mother.”
“Michelle, what did he say about Dante’s mother? Tell me exactly what he said.”
“I don’t think he’s telling me everything, but I get the feeling she told him whatever he needed to know, to, you know, solve the crime.”
“Okay, Michelle, you have to listen to me. You have to convince Max to meet with me. And it’s very important that he brings Ms. Jones. Do you understand?”
“Bill, I’m scared. I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Michelle, listen to me, it’s nothing we can’t fix. Tell Max that if he’ll be a team player, we can all come out okay on this. I promise.”
“Wasn’t Jack a team player, Bill? I’m just so scared.”
“Listen, I know things got a little out of hand and Jack thought he could just walk away. But see, he wasn’t being a team player. He started looking out for himself and they weren’t gonna go for that.”
“Bill, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Who are ‘they’?”
“That’s not important right now. What’s important is that Max gets back here and brings Ms. Jones. Is that clear?”
Michelle paused for a moment and looked over at Max and smiled before she played the card that might just give th
em a key piece to the puzzle. “Bill, when you say ‘they’, would you be referring to the Pioneers Athletic Foundation?” There was silence on the line.
Then Michelle said, “Thank you, Bill.” And then she hung up.
Chapter 70
Michelle looked at Max, broke into a grin and said, “Oh yeah! I’m good!”
“I know, Shelle! That was awesome! What did he say?”
“It’s what he didn’t say. When I asked him about the Pioneers, he froze, Max. I could tell he was stunned.”
“Oh, you did so great, Shelle! That was amazing!”
“Yeah, that wasn’t a bad performance, was it?” she said still grinning ear to ear.
“Okay, so what did we learn?” he said. “We know this somehow involves the Pioneers Foundation, right?”
“No doubt about that,” she said. “We’ve got Alex’s wallet and Bill’s almost admission.” Michelle was trying to replay the conversation. “They’re really scared of whatever Ms. Jones knows.”
“Yeah, so we know Ms. Jones and the Pioneers Foundation are big pieces to the puzzle,” Max said. “I’m just not clear on what they have to do with it.”
Max kept trying to piece it all together. There was a relationship between the Pioneers and the Lakeside football program. Jack had been a part of it. Bill still was. And Dante and his mother were involved. But how?
“Ms. Jones knows something they don’t want anyone else to know,” Michelle said. “And they’re scared of her.”
“We’re really close, Shelle, but I’m afraid that without whatever she knows, we’re stuck. And in danger.”
They drove in silence for several minutes, then the adrenaline that had kept Max revved up was suddenly wore off. “Shelle, we’re driving a stolen car. We just left our other technically stolen and damaged rental car in Ozark, along with a guy I may have almost killed. I think we need to stop for the night and regroup.”
“I agree.”
“I say we stop in Branson for the night. We’ll get rid of this car somewhere and find another way back to Lakeside tomorrow.”
Max pulled off highway 65 at the exit for Branson Landing. “How’s the Hilton Promenade sound?” he asked. “I can leave the car in that parking lot along the river. No one’s gonna find us tonight.”
Five minutes later, he dropped Michelle off at the Hilton. “Go ahead and check us in,” he said. “I’m gonna leave the car way down at the far end of the lot.”
Max found a spot, parked and turned the car off. Before leaving it, he looked around to see if there was anything that could help them. It was also a rental and the two guys they took it from didn’t have much with them. He shut the door and thought about tossing the keys into the river but kept them just in case he needed it again.
It was a ten-minute walk back to the hotel. Fortunately, it was a beautiful late-September night in southwest Missouri. He and Michelle had enjoyed a number of romantic getaways and mini-vacations in Branson. Even as adults, they loved going to Silver Dollar City and riding the roller coasters. And during the Christmas season, they loved coming up to see all the lights, but hadn’t been back since Sarah had died.
He wasn’t used to seeing so few people at Branson Landing where the Hilton was located. It had lots of shops and restaurants, but on a Sunday night in September, it was almost deserted. It actually made Max more vigilant. He was careful to check out everyone he saw. And if he saw a guy with a busted nose, he’d know to start running.
He thought about the forearm he’d delivered to Alex’s face. It was a vicious shot, but it had been necessary. Alex might not have been a professional killer, but he was hunting him and his wife. That was all the reason Max needed to take him down.
He made it back to the hotel without incident and hoped the rest of the trip back to Lakeside would be as uneventful. He wasn’t counting on it though. He saw Michelle waiting for him in the lobby and realized they had no luggage. No change of clothes. No toothbrushes. No nothing. They’d left her bags in the other car.
He sat down next to her and said, “There’s a Walgreen’s a couple blocks from here. Why don’t you text me a list of what you need while I walk over there?”
She walked to the elevator while he headed out to the store. As he entered the Walgreen’s, he received the text with her list of items. He went up and down the aisles, filled a basket and checked out. On his way back to the hotel he texted Michelle to ask for her room number. She sent it to him and he took the elevator upstairs.
He got out on the seventh floor, found the room and knocked. A moment later, Michelle opened the door with the chain in place. She was standing behind the door, so Max could only see her face. “Hey,” she said and closed the door slightly to unhook the chain. When she opened the door fully, he was surprised to see she was only wearing a black bra and a matching thong.
He hadn’t expected to see her dressed, or not dressed, the way she was. It had been over a month since they’d even lived together. And much longer since they’d shared a bedroom. “Um, here’s the stuff you wanted,” he said, feeling a little uncomfortable.
“Can you put it in the bathroom for me?” she said.
He set the bag in the bathroom and removed his toothbrush and toothpaste. He stepped out of the bathroom and said, “Should we do breakfast at 8:00?”
“Sure, that sounds good,” she said.
He stood near the door and waited, but Michelle was just sitting on the bed turning on the television. “I want to see how bad the storm damage is in New Jersey,” she said.
“Yeah, good idea,” he said still waiting near the door. He watched Michelle flip through the channels until she found FOX News.
After watching for a moment, she looked at Max. “What are you doing?”
“I need my key,” he said.
“Did you forget something?” she asked.
“What? No, I mean the key for my room.”
Michelle genuinely looked puzzled. Then she grinned like she had in the car after tricking Bill. “Max, you’re in your room.”
“Oh, well, I guess I just saw the one bed…” he said without really finishing his thought.
“Would you get over here?” she said. He sat down next to her. “It hasn’t been a great couple of years, Max. We’ve both made mistakes,” she said. “You, more than me.” She paused for a moment and said, “I’m kidding.”
“I have made more mistakes than you,” he said. “Way more.”
Michelle smiled and said, “Yeah, we have some work to do, don’t we?”
“I’m committed to doing whatever I need to, Shelle.”
“Me too,” she said. “I have tell you though, the way you came to Seaside…the escape from the storm…getting away from those two guys today…well, it’s kind of arousing.”
“Arousing?” he said.
“Very,” she said as she pointed the remote at the television and turned it off.
Chapter 71
Monday, September 30
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 the only hope he had. Bad stuff was happening, but he couldn’t prove anything. What did he really have? A picture of skid marks and Dante’s cracked rear bumper? That didn’t prove anything. The police ruled the accident was mechanical failure. The picture on his cell phone 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 said something about Jack not being a team player. Max didn’t believe Bill was capable of killing someone though. Bill wa
s 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 a 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? It just didn’t make sense.
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.
