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

go running off to Memphis to shop alone at the Wolfchase Mall. A string of carjackings had been reported on the news. Dandy had laughed and told her, You gotta live, Georgia. See you on Monday. I’ll be fine.

But she hadn’t been fine. She’d been the first of the carjacking victims to be murdered.

Georgia might not be living her best life, but she was alive. Too many people she’d cared about had been ripped from her thanks to an unsafe world.

Susan followed her gaze to Dandy’s desk and clearly put the pieces together. “Dandy had investigative news?”

Georgia nodded.

“How did she get onto a story like that? Did it lead to Jared?”

Fifteen years ago, the case had been all over the news, the town. The state. Blunt-force trauma to the back of Jared’s head. Killed in one location—which they never determined—and relocated to the athletic training room at Courage High. Go Cougars.

Georgia peeked at her two Shetland sheepdogs napping at her feet. Wyatt and Doc were her little companions. She called them therapy dogs, which was her way of justifying her attachment to the fur balls. A year ago, when Grandma had passed away, Georgia spiraled into a colossal meltdown. Didn’t even leave her house for an entire month out of paralyzing fear. Dandy had recommended she see a Christian counselor.

She’d been seeing Celeste ever since, and she’d agreed the dogs were good for Georgia.

Finally, Georgia felt like she had answers to problems that had made her feel as if something was wrong with her all her life. No longer was she simply “Georgia the worrywart.” The diagnosis of anxiety with panic disorder hadn’t labeled her so much as helped her pinpoint the reason for her extreme fear and worry. She now had a ball to tackle and a field to run it down for the touchdown—mental health and freedom. Every day she picked it up and used her coping skills and prayer to make it another yard.

Some days were better than others.

She hadn’t forfeited her prayer for complete healing. That was an everyday prayer. And each day the same Scripture whispered to her heart: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Not the answer she wanted to hear, if truth be told, but she was learning to lean into grace in ways she never had before.

Susan snapped her fingers. “I asked how she got ahold of the story.”

“Sorry. She got a letter from an anonymous parent after covering a school board meeting. Apparently, they were voting on students who moved school districts but had requested to stay at Courage High for the remainder of their school careers. One of the freshman students who played in the band was denied, but another freshman who played football for Coach Flanigan was granted permission to remain. The letter stated that they knew of a football student using a false address at 4214 Pine Road here in Magnolia and no one was saying a word about it, but to go check it out.”

“Did she?”

Georgia nodded. “Dandy’s notes confirm that 4214 Pine Road is nothing but a mailbox with the address numbers sitting on fourteen acres of woods.” What were the kids doing? Pitching tents and bathing in a creek? No. It was a lie.

“Wow.” Susan frowned. “Athletes always have been able to break rules. At least around here.”

“For real. All I have are Dandy’s beginning stages of notes. Two players are currently using the same address but live in other school districts.” If Dandy had come to her, she could have already looked into it. She was the investigative reporter.

Susan unwrapped a green apple Jolly Rancher and winced as if she hadn’t been expecting the tart flavor. “How did you come up with the illegal recruiting ring?”

“Dandy did. She had a list of students from years past who had also used the Pine Road address but lived in other districts. Those students then went on to receive full athletic scholarships to Ole Magnolia University. In another column, she had a list of students who literally moved from the Southern High school district to Courage High’s district to play football, and those kids also went on to receive full rides at Ole Magnolia.”

“Okay, so? Coach produces. He’s only lost two state championships in the twenty-five years that he’s coached. If I knew my kid had a better shot at a full ride to college, I’d move, too.”

“I agree. But falsifying addresses sends up a red flag. It proves something deceptive is happening. Some of her scribbled questions and notes made sense. I decided to look into it myself. Guess what I found out?”

“What?”

“Five years ago, Coach moved from a modest home, what he could afford on a teacher’s salary, to a big fat-daddy place on Knob Hill. Miss Earlene has been a housewife her whole life.”

“They might be good stewards.”

“My gut says there’s something going on. And so did Dandy’s. Did you know that last year Curt Walker went to Ole Magnolia on a full athletic ride? Did you know he went to Southern High for his freshman and sophomore years, and when he transferred to Courage High his junior year, he rolled up in a brand-new Silverado?”

“And?”

“His dad works for a manufacturing plant and his mother works part-time at the dry cleaner. Neither of their vehicles are anything to write home about.” It was there in Dandy’s notes with the distinct question: Are incentives being given in order to come play at Courage High and even Ole Magnolia? “Jared was seen with a lot of cash and front-row tickets to Aerosmith. Those were super-hard to score.”

“But Jared already lived in the Courage High school district. Why offer him a monetary gift? He wasn’t playing in any other district or planning to move.”

“But he was planning on attending and playing football for Mississippi State until