Lakeside Mystery Series Box Set

by Gregg Stutts

  “So, I take it the Freedom Protection Act isn’t exactly protecting everyone’s freedom?”

  “No, it’s not. Dan said it got drafted in secret and pushed through for a vote. He said the whole thing was very suspicious.”

  “So, what would be worth killing over?” Max said. “I mean, come on, this is Lakeside, Arkansas. We’re not exactly big time here.”

  “From what Dan said, the law actually restricts speech. He believes it’s a serious violation of the Constitution.”

  “Then how did they even vote to pass it? Why would they pass a law they know will be overturned by a court?”

  “That’s exactly what I asked Dan,” Willy said.

  “And?”

  “He said there were only a couple council members—he didn’t say who—that worked on the language. Dan thought they were getting some outside counsel, but he didn’t know from whom. He said they were given the act to read, were told it was vetted by an attorney, and that it was going to be passed. And that it would be in everyone’s best interests to vote in favor of it.”

  “So, basically, they were threatened,” Max said. “Nice.”

  “I don’t have the exact wording, but Dan said the law would place restrictions on speech. As an example, he said any church within the city limits would be required to submit their sermons for review.”

  “Oh, that can’t be, ” Max said as he stood up. “There’s no way that’s going to happen. Right? I mean, come on, this is still America.”

  “Any churches found to not be in compliance run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status with the city. They could also be shut down.”

  “Come on, Willy, there’s no way.” Now Max was the one pacing. “Who even decides what’s appropriate speech?”

  “The Freedom Commissioners,” Willy said.

  “The who?” Willy’s story was becoming more and more unbelievable. “Willy, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were putting me on.” He studied Willy’s face. “Are you?”

  “I wish I was. The law calls for three commissioners to draft guidelines and to hear all complaints. It’s not just churches though. It’s everyone, Max. Everyone in Lakeside will, by law, be required to abide by the guidelines developed by the Freedom Commissioners.”

  Max sat back down and rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on.

  “There’s more, Max.”

  He tried to relax and rubbed harder.

  “Dan said it looked to him like speech and guns were just the first rights the council was going after,” Willy said.

  “Well, it sounds to me like requiring churches to submit sermons for review is already going after freedom of religion,” Max said. “Has the council ever read the First Amendment?”

  “Or the Second Amendment,” Willy said.

  “So, Lakeside will be like Detroit and Chicago, huh? No handguns in the city limits?”

  “He didn’t get specific, but I got the sense it was something more restrictive than that. Like all guns. Hunting rifles. Shotguns. Handguns. All of it,” Willy said.

  “I just find all of this a little hard to believe,” Max said.

  “Well, we’ve got to get the word out and have this thing overturned,” Willy said.

  “That shouldn’t be hard. I’m sure we can rally enough pastors and their congregations who aren’t going to stand for some government official telling them what they can or can’t say.”

  “Add in the hunters and we should have more than enough votes,” Willy said.

  “Yeah, I don’t even think this is going to be fight,” Max said. “I can’t imagine any scenario that would cause people to give up their rights like that.”

  Chapter 10

  Tuesday, June 3rd

  “Max.”

  He moaned and rolled over. “Just five more minutes.”

  “Max,” she said, giving him a shake.

  “Sorry, Shelle. Was I snoring?”

  “That’s not it. I think it’s time.”

  “What? You’re having contractions?” He was fully awake and sitting up.

  “For the past few hours,” she said. “They’re about five minutes apart now.”

  “What time is it?”

  “A little after six. I’m going to call the doctor.”

  “Do I have time to take a quick shower?” he asked.

  “A quick one,” she said with raised eyebrows. “Hey, look at me. Quick.”

  He was in and out in five minutes and by 6:25, they were on their way to the hospital. By the time they got to the end of their street, Michelle’s contractions were three minutes apart. Another one hit as they left their neighborhood. She held Max’s had and squeezed hard as she breathed through it. Her nails dug hard into the back of his hand at the peak of another one. When it was over, he said, “I’m as relieved as you are after that one.”

  Even though it was dark and his eyes were on the road, he could sense Michelle glaring at him. He quickly glanced to his right and caught the look on her face. Clearly, she was trying to comprehend what he’d said. In that moment, he could choose to apologize, say nothing, or try to defend his comment. He chose wrongly. And knew it even as the words were coming from his mouth. “I mean look at the nail marks on the back of my hand.” He held his hand out for her to see.

  In almost fifteen years of marriage, not counting a few moments of passion in the bedroom, Max was able to count on one hand the number of times Michelle had actually cussed. But she set a new record in reaction to his comment. In no uncertain terms, she made it crystal clear that a nail mark on the back of a hand did not now nor would it ever under any circumstances ever even come close to a labor contraction.

  He was able to recover by admitting he was an idiot and didn’t know what he was saying. Michelle nodded her head in agreement just as the next contraction began. This one was intense enough for her to scream…rather loudly, Max thought, but chose to keep it to himself.

  “You better go faster!” she said. “This baby is coming!”

  He flipped on his flashers and pushed harder on the accelerator. The speed limit was 45 mph. He was going 60 mph and would have gone faster, but the road had just enough twists and turns to make it unsafe. Another contraction ninety seconds later convinced him he could take it up to 65 mph.

  “We’ll be there in ten minutes, Shelle,” he said. “Just hold on.”

  “It’s not up to me!” she screamed at the peak of another contraction.

  They rounded a turn and Max slammed on the breaks to avoid an 18-wheeler that was jack-knifed in front of them. They came to a screeching stop less than twenty feet from the back end of the trailer.

  “I don’t believe this!” Michelle rolled her window down and screamed. “MOVE YOUR TRUCK!! NOW!!”

  Max crept closer. He couldn’t see the driver anywhere. He tried to squeeze by on the left side of the road where it looked he might squeeze by. He inched forward a little further until the front of the 18-wheeler was just an inch from his front right bumper. His left front bumper was only an inch from a large oak tree. He rolled his window down and leaned his head out to get a better look at how close he was. There was maybe an inch to spare between the tree and his truck. He expected to hear a scraping sound against the truck at any second.

  As they crawled past the tree, Max saw the damage to the bark and realized it was the exact tree Dante had hit head-on the previous summer. It was the exact spot he had been run off the road and killed. He thought about showing Michelle, but didn’t think she’d appreciate the irony at the moment.

  It took several excruciating minutes, but they barely squeezed between the truck and the tree and a moment later were accelerating back up to speed. “How ya doin’, Shelle?” he said as their speed again hit 65 mph. “We’ve got a straight stretch here for a couple miles.”

  He heard a loud pop and hit the brakes. “Oh no, I think we’ve got a flat tire!”

  “It’s not a flat! My water just broke!”

  He rel
eased the brake pedal and stomped on the gas. “We’ll make it, Shelle!” he said as they hit 70 mph.

  “I don’t think so! I feel her head!”

  “Oh Lord! Hold on, Shelle! Just a few more minutes!”

  “We don’t have a few more minutes! She’s coming right now! Stop the truck!”

  Chapter 11

  Max slowed down as quickly as he could while also coming to grips with the reality that he was about to deliver his daughter. He’d watched the doctor and nurses deliver Sarah, but that was over fifteen years ago. And it wasn’t like he was taking notes thinking he’d ever have to actually do it someday. By himself. On the side of the road. In the front seat of his truck.

  “Max! Stop the truck! Right now!”

  “Okay, Shelle, I’m…”

  “NOW!”

  He braked harder and brought the truck to a stop on the shoulder, unhooked his seatbelt and helped Michelle lie down, then ran to the passenger side door. By the time he opened it, Michelle had already lifted her dress and was pushing.

  “You were right, Shelle, I see her head.”

  “AAAHHH!!!”

  “Okay…okay, Shelle, we can do this.”

  “AAAHHH!!!”

  “Good, Shelle! You’re doing great! Her head is halfway out.”

  She tried to catch her breath for a moment before the next contraction. When it came, she screamed again and pushed. “AAAHHH!!!”

  Max slid one hand under the baby’s head and tried to guide her out while Michelle pushed again. And suddenly, her head was out, quickly followed by the rest of her. “I’ve got her, Shelle! I’ve got her! She’s out!” He cradled her in his arms. “We did it, Shelle! I mean, you did it! But I helped a little. Well, you know what I mean.”

  It took only a moment for her to let out a small cry and begin to breathe. He set her down on the seat between Michelle’s legs, grabbed Michelle’s robe from her bag and wrapped the baby in it. “Oh, Shelle, she’s so beautiful. Here, let me…” He was about to place the baby on Michelle’s chest when he stopped. “Shelle? Shelle?!” Shelle!” She wasn’t responding and was losing color. She looked almost grey. “Oh no! No, no, no! Shelle! Please wake up!”

  Then he saw it. She was bleeding. More than what could be normal. It was much more than he’d seen in their bed. And it was still coming. She was bleeding to death right before his eyes.

  Chapter 12

  Willy and Rose stepped onto the deck just as the sun was just beginning to peak over the trees on the eastern shore of the lake. “I love this time of day,” Willy said.

  “So peaceful.” She looked at her husband as if she hoped he’d say it would always be this way.

  But he didn’t. “I don’t have a good feeling,” Willy said. He took a sip of coffee and closed his eyes. “I hope I’m up for whatever’s coming.” He sighed deeply. “Not as young as I used to be.”

  “No, we’re not, are we?” she said. “But Joshua and Caleb were in their eighties when they conquered the Promised Land.”

  Willy enjoyed the sight of his wife as the morning sun danced across her face. He smiled as he remembered how worried he’d been in his twenties about whether he’d find her attractive, as she got older. There’d never been anything to worry about. She was more beautiful now than she’d ever been.

  “So, you’re saying our best years are still ahead of us?” he said.

  “I don’t feel like I’m in my eighties. Do you?” she said.

  “Oh, I might be a step or two slower than back in the day, but I’m all right.”

  “And I might have a wrinkle or two that wasn’t there on our wedding day.” She winked at him.

  “You do?” he said with a grin. “I guess I hadn’t noticed. To me, you’re as sexy as the day I met you, Rose.”

  She smiled and shook her head. “You haven’t changed in sixty years.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re looking for some action, aren’t you?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said with mock indignation.

  “Well, I’ll make a deal with you. You run a couple errands for me and then I think we should take a little nap after lunch.”

  “Deal!” he said.

  They sat quietly for a few minutes listening to the breeze blowing through the trees.

  Suddenly, Rose said, “We need to pray…”

  “…for Max and Michelle,” he said.

  “And the baby.”

  Chapter 13

  “Shelle! Oh, please wake up!” He was holding the baby while trying to shake Michelle, but she was unresponsive and looking worse by the second. He touched her chest to see if she was still breathing. She was, but barely.

  “Oh, God! Please help me!”

  He laid the baby down on Michelle and raced around to the driver’s side. As he got in, he saw his shirt was soaked with blood. He started the truck while holding the baby steady on Michelle’s chest. Just as he put the truck in drive, he saw a police car with lights flashing racing toward him.

  He jumped from the truck and began waving his arms. The cop squealed his tires as he skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. Before Max could even explain, the officer was out of his car and calling for an ambulance.

  “It’s my wife!” Max said. “She just had a baby, but something’s wrong! She’s bleeding. A lot!”

  The officer ran to the passenger side, quickly assessed Michelle and said, “We can’t wait.” He pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the umbilical cord. “Take the baby and get in my car. I’ll get your wife.”

  Max got into the backseat of the squad car with his newborn daughter and watched as the officer lifted Michelle from the truck and carried her to the car. He laid her in the backseat next to him with her head on his lap.

  He turned his car around and within seconds, they were racing toward the hospital at over 80 miles per hour. Max listened as the officer radioed ahead to let them know they were four minutes out with an unresponsive woman who’d just given birth and appeared to have lost a large amount of blood.

  “Oh Shelle, please baby, hold on.” He caressed her face with one hand while holding the baby with the other. “Oh Lord, please let her make it.”

  The moment they pulled into the emergency entrance, medical personnel were waiting with a gurney. They pulled Michelle from the car and began working on her as they were wheeling her inside. A nurse took the baby from him and ran inside with Max right behind her. He followed her into an examining room and watched as two young nurses examined the baby then were joined by a doctor. “Your daughter is fine,” she said a minute later, but then turned to one of the nurses and said, “But page pediatrics. I want them to take a look.”

  “What about my wife?” But the doctor was already gone.

  The younger of the two nurses took his hand and said, “I promise you your wife and daughter are in good hands. Why don’t you come sit down?” She led him to a waiting room and asked if she could get him anything. He shook his head.

  He pulled out his phone. His blood-covered hands were shaking so badly he dropped it. The nurse picked it up and handed it back to him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and tried to calm down. After a moment, he touched the screen to call Willy who answered on the first ring.

  Before he could say a word, Willy said, “Max! Rose and I are praying. What’s wrong?”

  “I’m at the hospital…” He could hardly talk. “It’s…”

  “The baby? Is the baby okay, Max?”

  “It’s Michelle.”

  “We’re on our way.”

  Chapter 14

  Willy and Rose arrived twenty minutes later and found Max in the family waiting area. Rose held his hand and prayed quietly. Willy was praying too, but was also pacing. He knew if God were going to listen to the prayers of any two people, it would be Willy and Rose.

  Almost an hour after they’d arrived at the hospital, Dr. Hadley opened the door to the waiting area. Max was hoping the
news would be as good as it had been last time he’d spoken to him. “She lost a lot of blood,” he said.

  “Is it the polyps again?” Max said. “Those aren’t serious, right?”

  Rose covered her face with her hands as her eyes filled with tears. “Please…”

  “No, it’s not the polyps. It’s called a placental abruption. It’s when the placenta pulls away from the uterine wall.”