by Gregg Stutts
He 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
They checked out of the Hilton after enjoying the best night they’d had in years. If it wasn’t for the fact that they’d wrecked and abandoned their rental car the previous day, were in possession of a rental car they’d stolen after almost killing a guy and Max wasn’t a suspect in Jack Murphy’s death, it would have been even more special. Other than those things though, it had been a romantic night…and morning.
They sat down on a bench overlooking the river and enjoyed the warmth of the late-September sun. Max knew he should have been preparing his team for the Fort Smith Northside game and Michelle should have been teaching school, but instead, they were in Branson, Missouri trying to make sense of a situation that was straight out of an episode of Law and Order.
The Lakeside Police Department were covering up a crime. Max felt sure Dante had been murdered and they knew it. No matter what their next steps were, he knew 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,” Michelle said.
Max 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 two hundred dollars 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. He hoped this one would fare better than the other two. In case the rental car company in New Jersey had flagged his license or if the Lakeside Police Department had put out an APB, they rented the car in Michelle’s name.
Eureka Springs was only an hour away, which gave them time to buy some clothes. Max was happy with a pair of jeans and a shirt, which took all of three minutes to find. Michelle took a little longer, but finally settled on a dress from the clearance rack. They took turns changing in the back seat of the car before grabbing a quick lunch and getting on the road.
As they travelled south on highway 65 toward Arkansas, Max kept trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, but without Ms. Jones, it just wasn’t coming together.
“I like my new jeans,” Michelle said.
“Yeah,” Max said.
“And my shirt,” she said.
“Uh huh, yeah, me too,” he said.
“And can I just say…I’m really into fugitive sex?” Michelle said.
Max shut the radio off and looked at Michelle. “You what?”
“Um, let’s keep our eyes on the road, dear,” she said.
“No wait, what did you say?” he said, looking straight ahead, which she wasn’t making easy.
“You know, fugitive sex. Being on the run together adds an element of excitement.” She squeezed his leg and reclined her seat, “I think I’ll take a quick nap.”
For the remaining fifty minutes of their drive, Max didn’t think about Dante or Bill Jackson or Jack Murphy.
Chapter 73
It was a few minutes before two o’clock. They agreed to meet Ms. Jones in the lobby of the Basin Park Hotel at two. 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.
Max and Michelle entered the lobby of the hotel, but Ms. Jones wasn’t there. They bought some coffee and sat down to wait. Ten minutes later, there was still no sign of her. Max pulled his phone out to call her when she walked into the lobby.
“Ms. Jones, have a seat. This is my wife, Michelle.”
“You didn’t bring anyone else, did you?” Ms. Jones said.
“No, ma’am, we’re alone,” Max said.
“Can we get you something to drink?” Michelle asked. “Coffee?”
“I’ll have some water,” she said looking around the lobby.
Michelle left to get the water and Ms. Jones sat down across from Max. He could see she was tired and afraid. She continued to scan the room, eyeing every person that entered the hotel. 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 pieces missing—and you know what they are,” Max said.
She took a sip of water and nervously looked over her shoulder. “I never should have listened to him,” she said. “It all sounded too good to be true.”
“Who, Ms. Jones? Who are you talking about?” Max said. “And what was too good to be true?”
Ms. Jones began to cry. Michelle put her arms around her and hugged her tight. Losing a child was something they both understood. “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? 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,” she 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 handed her a tissue.
“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 S
EC.”
“What did you tell him?” Max said.
“I tried to tell him he couldn’t,” she said. “I tried to explain the agreement.” She lowered her head and started at the floor then squeezed her eyes shut.
“But?” Max said.
“But he kept insisting. He said they’d understand.”
“So what happened?” Michelle asked.
“Well, Mr. Murphy, he came to the house one night. 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, sir, 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 back Mr. Murphy for the house.”
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 got pretty upset. 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 were 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 one day 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.”
“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.”
“And 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, we’re all in pretty deep here. There are people who don’t want what you just shared with us to become public,” Max said. “But we’re going to do whatever is necessary to keep you safe and make all this right. The people responsible will be held accountable.” Max looked at Michelle, then back to Ms. Jones. “I can promise you that.”
Michelle handed Ms. Jones several more tissues. She took a moment to wipe her eyes and compose herself. When she lifted her head, the look on her face reminded Max of the moment he’d been loading luggage into the car after a weekend getaway he and Michelle had taken at a mountain cabin. About twenty yards from him, two small bear cubs ran out of the woods. It only took Max a couple seconds to realize where there were cubs, there would be a momma. And at that moment, the biggest black bear he’d ever seen stepped into the clearing and stared at him.
He hadn’t seen that look again until Ms. Jones looked at him and said, “Coach Henry, they messed with the wrong woman when they killed my baby.”
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.”
“That explains it,” Bill said.
“Explains what?”
“Did your guy have an ID in his wallet that links him to the Pioneers?” Bill said.
“He may have.”
“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!” 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.
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 after high school—that would be a major infraction resulting in severe penalties against the Northern Arkansas State football program. It would make national headlines, at least in the sports world.
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 knew there were many NASU alumni around Lakeside but had no reason to suspect their involvement in Dante’s death. Or in Jack Murphy’s death. Or to think the two guys chasing them 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 him? Threaten him? Worse? And who gave the 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 had nothing to do with illegal recruiting, but to others, he would look as guilty as everyone else—especially since he was the Lakeside head coach and Dante had played for him.
If he 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.
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 forty-third season at NASU and thirty-seventh as head coach. And at seventy-five years of age, he was still going strong.
