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Sure enough, Ben’s phone was on top of Coach’s desk. The phone was there, but Ben wasn’t.
“Where’s my brother?” Callie cried, her voice wobbling with emotion.
A muffled sound came from inside the closet. Cade hurried over to the door and found it was also locked. This time, no matter how hard they tried, her key wouldn’t work.
“Hold on,” Cade said, searching the top of the coach’s desk until he found what he wanted. Kneeling down in front of the door, he took a paperclip and tried to release the lock, to no avail.
“Try this,” Hope said, and handed him a fingernail file.
All the while they worked to open the closet, they could hear kicking and muffled sounds coming from the other side.
After several tries, Cade managed to unlock the door. Once open, they discovered Ben tied up inside, duct tape across his mouth. Cade removed it first before undoing the binding around his arms and legs.
“It’s Coach.” Those were the first words out of Ben’s mouth. “He’s the one giving us the drugs.”
“Coach Simmons?” Hope asked, stunned, finding it hard to believe. She gulped as her brain assimilated what Ben was saying. It wasn’t a student who’d been dealing drugs. It was the coach. In that moment, it felt as if all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out.
“What a mess,” Coach Simmons said, shocking them all as he strolled into the office. “Let me assure you this isn’t what it looks like.”
“You’ve been drugging your players?” Hope asked, before she could stop herself.
Coach’s demeanor changed immediately. He glared at Callie and Spencer before turning his attention to Ben and Cade. “I don’t know what lies these kids are telling you. I trust you are smart enough not to take their word over mine.”
“He’s lying,” Ben cried. “Coach is giving the whole team enhancement drugs.”
“The boy lies,” Coach insisted.
“If that’s the case, why was he tied up in your closet?” Cade demanded. He’d placed himself in front of the teens and Hope, facing the coach. Spencer was having none of it and stepped around Cade to stand at his side, wanting answers as badly as Hope did.
“Ben gave me no choice,” Coach said, with a deep sigh of regret. “This is the biggest game of the season. If Ben were to go to Dean Wilcox or Principal Wentz with his lies, they would call off the game. I couldn’t let that happen with scholarships on the line. I realize I might have overreacted by tying him up,” he conceded, “but I didn’t feel I had any choice.”
“Perhaps the authorities should be the ones to sort all this out,” Cade suggested.
“Yes,” Spencer insisted. “We need to call the sheriff. What you did was wrong.”
“That’s unnecessary.” Coach immediately rejected the idea.
“I’m not lying,” Ben shouted.
“You’re blowing this all out of proportion,” Coach Simmons continued, making light of the accusation. “It’s not drugs like heroin, or meth, or anything like that. There’s no way I’d endanger any member of my team by giving them illegal drugs.”
“Then what are these?” Ben asked, holding out his hand with a number of different-sized pills. “There’re several bags of them in the closet. Look for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“Those are the same pills I found in Ben’s backpack,” Callie said, glaring at Coach.
Coach Simmons frowned, as if to say this was all a simple misunderstanding that would easily be cleared away. “Those tablets are harmless.”
“Steroids?” Hope asked.
“And a few others…nothing that would do the team any physical harm, let me assure you.”
“My brother doesn’t believe that, and neither do I.” Callie wasn’t letting up. “You should be in jail for what you’re doing. Ben hasn’t been the same person since you started giving him those drugs. Scott, either. My brother never had a temper like this. He’s aggressive and unreasonable. Scott, too.”
“Callie’s right,” Spencer added angrily.
“Why would you feel you had to give the team anything?” Hope was probably naïve to ask. For Coach to take such a huge professional risk was beyond her comprehension.
Coach looked as if it were the stupidest question he’d ever heard. “Why do you think?”
