by Gregg Stutts
Max sat down and watched as Willy quickly slid the credit card into his wallet, signed the receipt and put it facedown on the table. “Let me at least pay my portion,” Max said, but when he reached for the receipt Willy grabbed it and insisted it was his treat.
“So, no more secrets.” Max said, not sure if she was making a statement or asking a question. At the moment, he felt confident either was appropriate.
The two men stared at each other for a moment.
Willy winked and said, “No more secrets.”
Chapter 78
Willy and Rose got an adjoining room at the motel. Until they had a plan of action, everyone agreed going back to Lakeside should wait. Max agonized the rest of the afternoon and into the evening before finally calling Dave Turner to tell him he would need to run practice again on Thursday.
It was almost midnight when he and Michelle finally fell asleep. The next thing he knew, she was nudging him to wake up. It took a moment for him to realize his phone was buzzing on the bedside table. “Josh? Are you okay?”
“Hey coach,” Josh said. “It’s been really crazy. I was on my way to work earlier, when my boss called and asked if I knew anything about a missing cell phone.”
“What? How would he know about it? What did you say?”
“I lied. I said I didn’t know anything.”
“Did he say why he was asking?”
“Something about some men who showed up at the store asking about it. I guess once I turned it on, these guys used the GPS to track the location. I had it turned on at the store, but not at home.”
“Look, Josh, I’m really sorry, but I’m afraid I’ve gotten you involved in something…even bigger than I thought. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about that, coach.”
“Josh, are you sure you have the files that were on the phone I gave you?”
“Sure do.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in Lakeside in the morning. Can you meet me at the park near the marina?”
“Sure thing, coach. What time?”
Max looked at Michelle who’d been following the conversation as best she could. “8:00 tomorrow night, okay?”
“Works for me, coach.” No one spoke for a moment, then Josh said, “This is a pretty big deal, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it’s big, Josh.” He started to hang up. “Wait, Josh! Is there anywhere you can go besides your apartment?”
“Like to sleep?”
“Yeah, to sleep. To stay out of sight. At least for a couple days.”
“I guess,” Josh said. “Maybe my fiancé’s place.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” For the second time that day, Max couldn’t be sure if he was making a statement or asking a question.
Chapter 79
Thursday, August 14th
After a long, agonizing day, Willy and Max pulled into Lakeside Park just a few minutes before eight o’clock. The dark clouds made it feel later than it really was. The wind coming off the lake was beginning to whip the trees around, scattering leaves and twigs around the parking lot. Willy backed into a parking spot that gave them a view of both entrances to the park as well as a clear view of the marina.
“It was just ten days ago,” Max said.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Willy said. “I’m sorry I got you involved. I should have realized what was happening.”
“What are you talking about, Willy? How could anyone have known what was really happening?”
Willy was quiet. He rubbed his face. Then turned to Max. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“That’s Josh’s car,” Max said. “Flash your lights so he knows it’s us.”
A moment later, Josh’s car turned toward them. Max got out as Josh pulled close.
“Hey coach,” Josh said. “Sorry I’m little late.”
“It’s all good, Josh. Do you have it?”
He handed the flash drive to Max. “Must be pretty important, huh?”
“Josh, I think the less you know, the better.”
“I hear ya, coach. Just let me know what else I can do.”
Max shook Josh’s hand, pulled him close and hugged him tight, then watched as Josh got back in his car and pulled away. He got back in the van and said, “Let’s get back to the motel and see what we’ve got,” Max said.
The two men were back in Fayetteville before nine o’clock. Max plugged the flash drive into his laptop, found the folder Josh had set up and began scrolling through text messages, contacts, pictures, documents and notes.
Most of it seemed irrelevant and incomplete. After half an hour of searching, he was starting to feel like it was a waste of time. “What if there’s nothing here, Willy? Then what?”
“There’s got to be something here,” Willy said. “They wouldn’t be so concerned with this phone if they didn’t know it contained something they wanted kept secret. Keep looking.”
He was starting to get sleepy as he continued to scroll through the files when he came across a picture that stopped him cold. He stared at it and tried to make sense of it. Why would he even have this picture? And who would have taken it?
“Take a look at this,” Max said.
“I hoped we wouldn’t see that, but I’m not surprised,” Willy said.
Chapter 80
“Dan was having an affair with Blair?” Max said. “And someone took a picture.”
“More than likely it was a hidden camera,” Willy said.
“But why?”
Willy squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his forehead. “See if this makes sense…she wants to pass this law…she needs the votes on the council…”
“But we know she had the votes. They only needed four out of seven votes to pass the law. She didn’t need Andy Reynolds or Dan Jenkins. She had herself and four other votes.”
“Maybe the picture doesn’t have anything to do with the vote,” Willy said.
“What are you saying?” Max said.
“Okay, what about this…what if Andy and Dan knew something?”
“Like what? What would be so important that she’d resort to killing other members of the council? I mean, we’re talking about our little town of Lakeside, Arkansas.”
“Max, you’ve said it yourself…where’s the media? Where are the court challenges?”
“Or the conservative groups?”
“I think people are afraid. The culture is shifting. Speaking the truth isn’t popular anymore,” Willy said.
“And who wants to speak out against a gun ban in a town where five people were just shot to death and then someone shoots up the park and wounds innocent children?”
“Exactly. And common sense is now considered hate speech.”
“But I still don’t see how it all fits together,” Max said.
“Go get your legal pad,” Willy said. “There’s something we’re missing.”
Michelle and Rose had fallen asleep in the next room. Max quietly retrieved his legal pad and went back to his bedroom where Willy was waiting. It was after eleven o’clock. He set the pad down and turned to the page with the Freedom Protection Act notes:
1. Two city councilmen are dead: Andy Reynolds and Dan Jenkins. Both voted against the Freedom Protection Act. Dan said the law got drafted in secret, then everyone on the council was coerced into voting for it.
2. Two of the council members who weren’t part of drafting the law were now dead.
3. Is Dan’s murder linked to his conversation with Willy or the meeting at the marina?
4. The cops arrived at the marina right after us. How did they know Dan Jenkins was dead? Who called them?
5. Four cops are dead, killed by the men in the black SUV. The cop who was shot and dumped in the lake wasn’t scared of them and was cooperating with them before he was killed. He was even bringing them to Dan’s boat when they killed him.
6. Someone erased Dan’s phone almost immediately after it was active.
7. Freedom Protection Act. Out
laws guns. Freedom of speech restricted.
“Do we know anything we didn’t before?” Max said.
“I think we’re down in the weeds,” Willy said.
“What are you talking about?”
“We’re in the weeds. The details.” Willy was pacing now. “Think big picture.”
“The city council passes a law to ban guns and limit free speech…” Max began.
“But they call it the ‘Freedom Protection Act.’ Who would possibly be against protecting freedom?” Willy said.
“But they’re not protecting freedom. They’re doing just the opposite.”
“Precisely, Max. So who stands to gain?”
Chapter 81
Friday, August 15th
“I know who doesn’t stand to gain,” Max said. “Me, if I don’t get some fresh air. I’m about to fall asleep.”
“Let’s take a walk, Max.”
It was almost 1:00 a.m. when they exited the side door of the motel. “I keep thinking about your question, Willy. Who stands to gain?”
“And have you come up with an answer?”
“I’m not sure. Have you?”
The two men paced up and down the parking lot. “Max, think about the town we’re in.”
“Fayetteville. Great place to live. Home of the University of Arkansas…” Max was going to add more when Willy interrupted.
“And how about Lakeside?”
“Well, also a great place to live. Vacation spot. Home of Northern Arkansas State.”
“College towns, Max.”
“It’s late, Willy. You might have to just tell me what you’re thinking.”
“A college campus. An institution of higher learning. A place where ideas are shared and debated.”
“At least they used to be,” Max said.
“Exactly. They used to be. But now it’s not popular to say certain things. Truth isn’t truth any more. Truth has become a matter of opinion. And if your opinion is out of step with the majority or even the vocal minority, then you’re shouted down,” Willy said. “The Freedom Protection Act really isn’t all that far-fetched. Not in this culture.”
Max sat down on the curb. He was sensing the pieces coming together now. He took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s bigger than Lakeside, isn’t it?”
Willy nodded in agreement.
“It’s bigger than the state.”
“Keep going,” Willy said.
In the distance, they heard a train approaching. The track was less than a mile, but sounded much closer.
Max stood up. The two men walked for another minute before Willy spoke. “We’re only seeing in part, Max, and there’s no way to understand world events unless we view them through the lens of Scripture. We have an enemy whose nature is to lie. Jesus called him the ‘father of lies’.
“Okay…”
“The apostle Paul said that, ‘love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.’ Where you find love, you also find truth, Max.”
And suddenly, Max felt like all the dots were connected. “This is way bigger than Lakeside. It’s a cultural shift away from the truth or at least the truth we’ve known. Now the truth is whatever somebody wants it to be. Or…what the government says it is.”
“Exactly,” Willy said.
“God, help us,” Max said.
Chapter 82
When his alarm sounded at 5:30, Max turned it off before it could wake Michelle or Carrie. He took a quick shower, got dressed and at 6:00, met Willy in the lobby for coffee. They found a couple chairs away from the front desk to talk privately.
“What if Andy knew something about the Freedom Protection Act or the people behind it and shared it with Dan. Maybe one or both of them threatened to go public with what they knew. Whatever the case, Blair had a problem on her hands,” Max said.
“I guess that’s possible,” Willy said. “So she had Andy killed and makes it look like a suicide?”
“After seeing what happened to Andy, Dan would be in fear for his life. He reaches out to you for help. Before we can meet with him, somebody kills him. My money is on Blair.”
“It sounds plausible to me,” Willy said.
“Then why did the four guys in the SUV show up and kill those cops? That’s what I’m having a hard time with,” Max said. “We know Blair is involved with them. Maybe they work for her. I know she had dinner with one of them. I’m guessing the leader.” Max paused. “The question is, do we have enough to confront her?”
“Do we have enough?” Willy closed his eyes and was quiet for a moment. “I think we try it.”
“And how do we do it?”
“We start with the picture of her and Dan,” Willy said. “She might have been using it to blackmail Dan, but she made the mistake of letting him hold onto an electronic copy. It wouldn’t look good if it became public and everyone knew she was having an affair with a married man and one of the two people who voted against her.”
“Want me to call her?” Max said. “Set up a meeting?”
“Let’s do it,” Willy said.
Max still had Leon’s phone, but it was no longer in service. He found the piece of paper with Blair’s cell number and called her. It rang six times, but there was no answer. “Leave a message for her?” he whispered.
“No, just try again,” Willy said.
Max tapped the redial button and waited. Just when he was ready for it to go to voicemail again, he heard, “Hello?”
She sounded like he’d woken her up. He motioned to Willy that he was going to step outside for this conversation. “This is your favorite football coach,” Max said on his way out the front door of the motel.
“I have nothing to say to you,” she said. “I’m hanging up now.”
“You can do that if you want, but then I’d be forced to go public with this very compromising picture of you and Dan Jenkins. And that’s putting it politely.”
“Football coach and blackmailer. Nice. But that would be a very big mistake.” She sounded like her teeth were clenched tight. “It would be…let me see, how to say this politely…a mistake you’d be unlikely to recover from.”
The sun was beginning to pierce the darkness as Max paced the parking lot. The temperature hadn’t dropped much below eighty and neither had the humidity. Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. “If I didn’t know you were being polite, I could easily misinterpret that as a threat.” He used his t-shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Blair laughed. “It’s not a threat at all. Consider it a public service announcement. It’s kind of like swimming in the ocean. You always have to watch out for riptides. Get caught in one and sometimes you get pulled under before you even know what’s happening. Some people are more suited for…the kiddie pool. Like the one at your motel.” She laughed again. “Of course, sometimes accidents happen and people can even drown in a few inches of water.”
It was like a punch to the stomach. He felt lightheaded. His legs felt weak. She either knew where they were staying or she wanted him to think she did. She was trying to rattle him.
“By the way, Coach Henry, don’t you think your time would be better suited spending a little more time with your team? I understand you’ve been absent from practice and if I’ve been properly informed, you have a scrimmage tomorrow.”
He sat down on the curb, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “You’re talking a good game, Blair, but I know you don’t want this picture or anything else I’ve found, being made public. So, we’re going to meet and I’m going to tell you how things are going to be.”
After a moment of silence, she said, “Meet me at Pete’s Bar and Grill on Main Street at nine o’clock tomorrow night,” she said, and then hung up.
Chapter 83
Max went back inside the motel and was immediately grateful for the cooler air. He bought a bottle of water from the vending machine and drank half of it. He sat down next to Willy and held the cold bottle against his forehead.
“
How did it go?” Willy said.
“How did it go?” Max stared at the ceiling. “How did it go? Well, she agreed to meet.” He wiped his forehead and drank the rest of the water. “Tomorrow night at Pete’s. Nine o’clock.”
