Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Laura Scott (speed reading book .txt) 📖

his own time. It had gone live last night, and Colt had been awaiting the sharp thoughts of Christi Cold, aka Georgia.

He hadn’t seen Georgia or been home in forever. It was the kind of place pictured in movies that women went gaga over during Christmas time—the ones that always ended with a happily-ever-after and the hometown boy winning the girl’s heart.

Colt had almost had that story. Until Georgia had rejected him after graduation. Dad always said she was too good for a boy like Colt, that one day she’d wise up and run out on him like Mom had.

Dad had been right.

He shook out of the memories and listened to the host of the show in a new light and with a new voice—Georgia’s.

Colt’s cop radar had gone to wailing last night during the podcast. The case had been eerily similar to Jared’s murder case. His gut had nagged him all day until he had made the quick decision to have his analyst get him the address for the host, whom he now knew to be Georgia. Which meant the case was definitely about Jared, though she’d used fictitious names, as she did with most of her cold cases. According to the podcast, Georgia had gained some insight from information she’d garnered that could possibly allow him to reopen the case.

He turned up the volume and listened.

“My interviews with former classmates and closest friends of Johnny Toliver...”

She was fudging or using old resources. Colt was Jared’s best bud and he hadn’t received a recent call from her.

“...all said he carried large amounts of cash and had expensive concert tickets in his possession. Front row. Pricey, friends. Pricey. Not that Johnny didn’t come from a wealthy family—he did. But he rarely had that kind of money on his person. What I want to know is how he got it. I’ll tell you how—in my opinion. I’ve discovered valid information that points to illegal athletic recruiting going on in one of Mississippi’s finest high schools. I admit I haven’t been able to put it all together as of yet, but I intend to, and if it pans out, I’ll follow up with a sequel podcast. It’s possible Johnny was approached and offered a nice, fat cash settlement and maybe even those concert tickets if he signed with the prestigious Ole Magnolia University.”

This recruiting angle had never been investigated. The case had gone cold fast. Most everyone on their old Cougars football team suspected the QB from rival Southern High—Chance Leeway—as the murderer, which Georgia had noted with an alias name. Chance had made threats after a game. But he’d alibied out.

How did Georgia discover this new information? As far as Colt was aware, Georgia was not on any police force, but she had always dreamed of being a big-shot investigative journalist. Maybe she was. Colt had never kept tabs on her. It hurt too much.

“I suspect Johnny got cold feet, though. An upstanding young man known for his integrity and strong faith, he may have succumbed to temptation, but the conviction weighed heavy on his heart. If he tried to give back the money, not attend Ole Magnolia on a full athletic scholarship and report the illegal recruiting, then more than one person had motive to kill him. I believe it could have been the high school coach. Though the town thinks he’s above reproach, I know for a fact he’s not. It could have been the coach from Ole Magnolia, or even a booster at the high school or college level, and there are several prominent ones who had pull. Or maybe they were in on it together.

“I say let the dog hunt and see what tree he goes barking up. My mama used to tell me that time will lift the truth to the surface and it’ll bob in the water of lies for all to see. It’s only a matter of a time.”

That statement should have rung his bells last night. Georgia had always quoted her mama’s line about truth. It was one of the few things Georgia said she remembered her mama saying. He’d been so focused on his own thoughts she’d sparked from her armchair detective work that he’d missed that line.

Until now.

If Georgia was onto something, then she could be in danger and not even realize it.

“Would you rather die a violent death and have your killer brought to justice or die quickly and the murderer never be found?”

Georgia Maxwell snapped to attention and caught her colleague Susan Towers’s mischievous gleam as a gust of wind caught the Magnolia Gazette’s wooden sign, the wrought iron squeaking. “You are morbid,” Georgia said. “Why aren’t you writing for the crime news?” Georgia had been working for the Magnolia Gazette for the past ten years, covering the classifieds as well as the investigative reporting. Though there wasn’t much crime to report, and she wasn’t complaining.

Susan feigned innocence. “What? It’s a valid question. We both know you dabble in true crime.” She was referencing Georgia’s popular podcast, Dead Talk. Georgia had brought it to life a year ago thanks to her love of mystery, thirst for justice and interest in true crime. In the first six months, it had become the number one cold case podcast series, coming to fans live every Thursday evening at seven.

“Yeah, well, you’re not supposed to know.” Georgia frowned. “You’re nosy.” Susan had discovered a couple of her podcast notes in her desk drawer one afternoon. Georgia had never intended on telling anyone she was Christi Cold—her voice-modified alias. That would be sharing intimate information, and she preferred keeping people at a nice, safe distance.

“I’m nosy? You’re the one with information that links an illegal athletic recruiting ring to Jared’s murder fifteen years ago. Bold statement, Christi. Where’d you snoop to find that nugget?”

She didn’t snoop, per se. She found it when she cleaned out Dandy Martin’s desk after her tragic death four months ago. Georgia had tried to tell her not to