by Gregg Stutts
The Lakeside Conspiracy
Copyright © 2015 by Gregg Stutts All rights reserved.
Cover illustration by Ashley Bumgarner
Editing by Nikki Sievert and Amy Stutts
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This book releases on March 23, 2015, which is the 10th anniversary of my father’s death, so I dedicate it to him.
He was a great husband, dad and friend.
Note From the Author:
Thank you for purchasing this book. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. If you do, can I ask you to write a review and tell your friends to look for it on Amazon?
I’m currently (as of mid-March 2015) working on the sequel and plan to release it in May 2015. If you’d like to read some of it before it’s released and help me choose a cover, then sign up for my weekly newsletter by clicking here.
When you sign up, you’ll also get a free copy of my book, “Friend and Lover.” For additional marriage resources, visit my website: http://www.greggstutts.com/
Thank you for reading,
Gregg Stutts
CHAPTER 1
Max slammed the front door, got in his truck and squealed the tires as he backed out of the driveway. It was another bad morning with Michelle. Preceded by another bad night. And another bad day. He tried to remember the last good day, but couldn’t.
Then he tried to remember the last time they’d had sex. He couldn’t remember that either. After a minute, he gave up thinking about it all and turned his thoughts toward the day ahead.
He’d been mostly pleased with the first three weeks of practice. They had holes to fill and a lot of work left to do, but they were on schedule. The boys were working hard and had a great attitude.
Max always looked forward to the start of football season. It was his favorite time of year. Some people liked Christmas or the start of spring, but nothing compared to putting the pads on and getting back on the field. He had loved playing the game and now he loved coaching the game. He especially loved coaching high school kids.
But football was not only a love. It was a refuge. For brief periods of time, it let him forget about things off the field. Things he had no control over.
Suddenly, a police car with lights flashing and siren blaring was coming up fast behind him. He cursed out loud as he slowed down and pulled to the shoulder. A speeding ticket was all he needed. Before he could stop though, the car went by him.
He pulled his truck back onto the road; relieved he hadn’t been pulled over, but slowed down anyway just to be safe. A mile up the road, he saw the police car and a fire truck parked on the shoulder. An ambulance was arriving from the other direction. Max slowed down to take a look and saw a black Dodge Charger had slammed head-on into a tree. A sinking feeling came over him. He felt so weak it was hard to even brake.
The only person he knew in town with that kind of car was Dante Jones, his best wide receiver. Max stopped just beyond the police car and parked on the shoulder across the street from the accident. As he got out of his truck, he recognized one of the paramedics as on old teammate, Jimmy Wilson.
“What happened, Jimmy?”
“Looks like he just lost control,” Jimmy said. He hesitated, then added, “It’s Dante.”
“I was afraid of that.” Max felt sick to his stomach. He put his hands on his knees and bent over. Then he asked the question he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer to, “How bad is it?”
Jimmy just shook his head. “He probably died on impact.”
Everyone in town knew Dante even though he and his mother had only lived in Lakeside a short time. Only in a small town in the south would everyone know a 17-year-old high school student. But not every high school student could run a 4.32 forty and was already being heavily recruited to play at most SEC schools. Dante also had a big personality and loved everyone. And everyone loved him. Most kids in his position thought a little too highly of themselves. Somehow Dante was able to stay grounded.
Max got back in his truck and slammed both fists on the steering wheel. “Why?!” he said through gritted teeth. After a moment, he started the truck and put it in gear. He glanced behind him before pulling onto the road and saw them pulling Dante from the car. He turned away, but not fast enough. He would regret seeing Dante like that.
Just before pulling onto the street, Max rolled his window down and yelled, “Jimmy!”
“Yeah?” Jimmy said from across the street.
“Did you notice the rear bumper?” Max said.
Jimmy looked at it and said, “Pretty banged up. What about it?”
“Do you think that happened in the accident?” Max said.
Jimmy looked around at the road, the skid marks and then back at the car. “Don’t know. Why?”
“Just seems strange, that’s all,” Max said. “If he hit the tree head on, then I wouldn’t think the rear end would be so damaged.”
“Maybe it was already like that,” Jimmy said.
“It didn’t look like that after practice last night. I know because he was showing the car off to some of the guys.”
Jimmy just shrugged his shoulders. “That’s police work.”
Max rolled his window up and watched Jimmy walk away. Before he drove off though, Max snapped a picture of Dante’s car with his phone.
CHAPTER 2
Less than a mile from the accident, Max saw the sign he passed everyday on his way to the school. “Welcome to Lakeside, Home of the Northern Arkansas State University Pioneers.” NASU was the largest employer in the region and had a long and proud football tradition.
The Arkansas lottery scholarship and easier-to-get student loans had led to increased attendance at most Arkansas universities. NASU’s student population had grown from 9,000 to over 14,000 in the past five years.
It was a great place to live and go to college. Lakeside was nestled along the northeast shore of Beaver Lake. It had a small town feel, but all of the amenities that come with living in a college town.
The university was known for strong academics, but was most known for football head coach, Joe Patterson, who was entering his 37th year as the head coach at the school. Joe was responsible for building one of the best mid-level conference football programs in the nation.
Max had played under Coach Patterson and had even been offered a coaching position at one time, but Max preferred coaching at the high school level.
After graduating from college, Max moved away from Lakeside for a time, but had come back to take the job of offensive coordinator at the high school. After four seasons in that role, he was promoted to head coach.
Ten minutes later, he arrived at the school, still feeling sick. He regretted seeing them pull Dante from his car. He knew that would be something he’d never forget. He drove around back to the field house, next to the new stadium. Work on it was almost complete. They’d be dedicating it at their first game in just four days.
Max knew football practice wasn’t the way anyone wanted to spend Labor Day, but they had no choice. You could bet Fayetteville was practicing. Considering the news about Dante he’d have to deliver, he wondered if it would be best to cancel. It only took an instant to dismiss that idea though. Staying on schedule and on plan would be better. Wallowing in the pain and sadness wouldn’t change anything. Max had learned that lesson. The team would understand. They had a job to do. And a game to win.
Because of the accident, Max was running late, but was still surprised to see someone else already parked at t
he field house. It was only 6:35 a.m. His assistant coaches wouldn’t usually arrive for another twenty minutes. There’s no way it was a player’s car. They didn’t have roll call until 8:10 followed by practice at 8:30.
As he pulled up next to the other vehicle, he saw Jack Murphy get out. Jack was the football booster club president. Had been for years. His two son’s had graduated years ago, but Jack stayed on in his role. No one seemed to mind since it was a thankless job. Being the booster club president meant one thing—fundraising, which Jack was very good at.
Jack was always driving the latest model vehicle. The black Cadillac Escalade he’d just exited from was no exception. He walked around to meet Max as he got out of his truck, which was not even close to the latest model. “Morning, Jack,” Max said. “You’re up early on Labor Day.”
“I’m up early everyday, Max. Don’t like to miss anything,” Jack said. “Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, sure,” Max said. “Come out to watch practice? We don’t start until 8:30.”
“Actually, I came out to see you, Max. Only take a minute.”
“I really don’t have a lot of time, Jack. Can this wait?”
“Take a walk with me, Max,” Jack said as he headed toward the stadium.
Max followed him, feeling annoyed at the intrusion and wondering what Jack could possibly want this early in the morning on a holiday when most people were sleeping in or getting ready to spend the day on the lake. Max was already running behind and still needed some time to prep for the meeting with his coaching staff and think through how to break the news about Dante to the team.
Jack had something on his mind though. And people in Lakeside learned you don’t say “no” to Jack Murphy. Max would let him get it out and then he could get on with the important business of the day.
Jack took a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the padlocked gate to the stadium. Max didn’t have a key yet, but he wasn’t surprised Jack did. “It’s a beauty, isn’t it, Max?”
“Real nice stadium,” Max said.
“Nice? It’s the best damn stadium in the state, Max.”
“We’re glad to have it,” Max said. “The boys are looking forward to Friday night.” He tried to sound grateful or enthusiastic or whatever it was he was supposed to feel, but it wasn’t working.
He couldn’t stop thinking about Dante. He’d just seen him. Just talked to him. And now he was dead. Someone dying that young wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. Max felt familiar emotions rising in him, but he knew he couldn’t go there and did his best to push them away.
They walked out to the fifty-yard line where a large red dragon had been painted. The sun was just starting to peak over the treetops on the visitor’s side of the field, which illuminated the top two rows of red seats on the home side of the field. It looked like a fiery red streak had been painted across the home stands. Other than a few finishing touches on the press box, the stadium was complete.
“The home stands will seat seven thousand, Max. Seven thousand! That’s damn good for the state of Arkansas,” Jack said. “Especially for a town of just thirty thousand people. The visitor’s side holds another three thousand.”
“We’ll do our best to fill it up,” Max said. He could hear the heaviness in his own voice.
“So tell me, Max, how are things looking?” Jack said. “Feeling good about this year’s team? Are we gonna see the Lakeside Dragons win us a championship this year?”
“I feel good about this team, but we’ll know a lot more after Friday night.”
“Good, good. So ya feel like there’s a good spirit among the boys?”
Max wondered what Jack was fishing for. “Yeah, great spirit,” Max said.
“Team first. Right, Max? Team first. What is it they say? There’s no ‘I’ in team?”
Max had no idea what Jack was getting at, but knew he had an agenda. “Yeah, Jack, team first.”
“That’s good, Max. That’s real good. Ya know nothing kills a team quicker than someone puttin’ themselves before the team. Can’t have it, Max. Can’t have it.”
Max didn’t reply. At this point, he didn’t think Jack was really even looking for one. He’d come out to say something, so it was best to just let him say it. Jack started back toward their cars, but stopped suddenly and said, “You’re a team player, aren’t you, Max?”
“Am I a team player?” Max stopped too and said, “Is there something you want to say, Jack? If there is, then just say it, because to be honest, I’m not in the mood for this.”
“This is what, you’re third season as head coach, Max?”
“Yeah, third season.” Max was tired of Jack’s game. Whatever it was. He thought about telling him what he’d just seen, what had happened to Dante. Maybe that would get Jack off his back.
“We’ve still got all the pieces for a championship this year, don’t we?” Jack said.
He wasn’t sure what Jack meant by “still.” Max could feel his face getting red and wondered if the vein in his forehead was showing like it sometimes did when he was angry. If he didn’t get away from Jack now, he was sure he’d regret what he might say or do.
Fortunately, Jack was done. “Max, that’s all I’ve got. Just remember—team first. Can’t have a bunch of individuals thinking they’re above the team.”
They passed back through the gate and Max headed toward the field house while Jack locked the gate and got back into his vehicle. Just before Max walked inside, he heard Jack call out, “Terrible thing!”
“What’s that?” Max yelled back.
“Dante,” Jack replied. “Terrible thing about the accident.”
Max just stared at Jack. Stunned.
“Let’s hope no one else gets hurt, Max,” Jack said as he rolled up his window and drove off.
Max took several deep breaths and tried to calm down. He knew there was a lot more happening in that conversation than he realized. If he had the time to think about it, he might figure it out. But there wasn’t time. He looked at his watch and went inside the field house. He started a pot of coffee and then wrote out the meeting agenda on the white board.
Ten minutes later, his assistant coaches were seated around the table. Max took a sip of coffee and said, “Let’s get started.” As he turned to write something on the board, he couldn’t help wondering how Jack already knew about Dante’s accident.
CHAPTER 3
Max pulled his truck onto the highway to head home. It was 6:45 p.m. Practice had ended at noon and the coach’s meeting was over by 2:00. It still gave his coaches and players time to enjoy a cookout or a few hours on the lake. Three years ago, Max would have left at 2:00 with everyone else, but there was no point now. He doubted Michelle even expected him home before 7:00 p.m.
At the stoplight, he pulled his phone from his pocket and realized he hadn’t looked at it all day. He swiped his finger to unlock it and saw the picture of Dante’s wrecked car. He’d broken the news to the coaches and players that morning. Dante was a popular guy, so there were lots of tears.
They’d all agreed to go ahead with the day’s practice. Max only felt mildly guilty about manipulating them into that consensus. He knew it was best for them. Yes, they would need time to grieve, but life had to go on. They might as well learn that now.
After he’d broken the news, a captain led the team in a prayer and everyone agreed to dedicate the season to Dante. Max was glad someone else had offered to pray because it sure wasn’t going to be him.
The light turned green and Max set his phone down. Michelle had texted him around 5:00 and asked what time he’d be home. He felt bad he hadn’t replied, but surely she knew by now how crazy his schedule was during football season. She couldn’t expect him to drop whatever he was doing to respond every time she wanted something. Of course, that was only an excuse and he knew it.
He passed the scene of Dante’s wreck and slowed to take a look. Other than a scraped up tree and some skid marks on the road, you’d never have known the
re’d been an accident. If he hadn’t seen it this morning, he would never have known this was where his best player had died.
Max knew life was more than football, but he was concerned about replacing Dante. He was the best wide receiver on the team, by far. Last season had been his first at Lakeside after moving from Birmingham, Alabama. Max never did get the whole story on why he and his mom had moved to Lakeside. It had something to do with her job, he thought. It didn’t really matter. He was just glad to have him.
Dante had been an all-state player as a sophomore in Alabama. Last season at Lakeside, he’d broken the single season state record for receptions and receiving yards. He was named to the all-state team and was ranked as the top junior recruit in the state of Arkansas.