Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(105)

After she did, he moved to the window. “It’s clear!” he yelled.

He still held the rifle on Andi. “Where are the diamonds?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Andi said.

Uncertainty crossed his eyes, and he turned to Jillian. “Where are the ones you stole?”

“You think I’m crazy enough to tell you?” she said.

“Let me tell you what’s going to happen if you don’t. First, I’m going to shoot your kneecap off. Do you know how painful that is? But, if that doesn’t loosen your tongue, I’ll shoot the other one, before I start with your friends here.”

He’d do it too. Andi made eye contact with Maggie. Maybe if they both rushed him, but they’d have to do it before his partner got here. Maggie barely dipped her head.

Suddenly Spencer grabbed Maggie. “You move, and she’s dead,” he said, looking at Andi. “And there won’t be any of that judo stuff, either.”

Footsteps stomped on the porch.

“That should be Adam. Open the door,” he said, turning the gun toward Andi.

Just as she pulled on the door, Maggie elbowed Spencer in the throat. Grabbing his throat, he bent over, and she cracked his nose with the heel of her palm, sending him backwards while she twisted his rifle out of his hands.

Andi slammed the partially opened door, bringing a loud yelp and a thud. She grabbed the .38 on the floor and swung open the door. The second man lay on the porch. Holding the gun on him, she knelt. Andi’s head swam. “Will?”



The paramedic slammed the bay door on the ambulance. A few minutes later, the ambulance eased down the drive, followed by a second ambulance—the one Andi refused to ride in.

“I hope Jillian makes it,” Andi said. She still hadn’t processed all that Jillian had told them.

“How’s your leg?” Will asked.

“Hurts.”

“You should have gone with them.”

“You know how I feel about ambulances. Besides, that paramedic just got back from Afghanistan. He did a good job of cleaning it up and telling me I need more antibiotics. I’ll go to the ER when we get to Memphis.”

Will wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Thanks for helping, but you took too many risks.”

“Don’t start. It’s over.”

And it was. Jillian had given David a full statement about what happened eighteen years ago, and he was on his cell phone to his brother in the FBI. Brad had ridden with the county sheriff to take Spencer and Adam to the county jail. They would be extradited to Memphis, probably Monday.

“I’m glad it’s over too.” Will squeezed her waist. “Do you think Spencer will break first or Adam?”

“Adam.” He struck her as the weaker of the two. She turned as Maggie and David made their way to where they stood.

“What did your brother say?” Will asked.

“He put me on hold while he called the governor. Olsen will sign a fifteen day reprieve tonight.”

“Why didn’t he just release him?” Andi said.

Maggie smiled. “It doesn’t work that way. All the legal ends have to be tied up, but Jimmy will be told within the hour that he’s getting a reprieve and why.”

Andi leaned against Will. They had done it. An innocent man would go free.

“Think it would be okay if I called Jimmy and told him?” Will said.

David slapped him on the back. “If it were me, that’s what I’d be doing. We’ll wait for you in the car.”

The helicopter would pick David and Maggie up at Doskie. Andi stood close by Will as he called Walter Simmons’s number.

“Can I talk to Jimmy?” Will said when the CO answered.

“Sure can. He’s right here.”

Andi slipped her arm around Will’s waist while they waited, and he pulled her close for a second, releasing his hold when Jimmy came on the phone.

“Yeah?” Jimmy’s voice trembled.

“It’s over!” Will said. “Jillian confessed. She shot Stephanie.”

Andi had leaned closer or she wouldn’t have heard his whispered response.

“Thank you, Jesus.”

“Absolutely.” Will grinned at her.

“But it was Jillian? How? Why?”

“Andi and I are coming to the prison. We’ll explain it all then. I just had to tell you that it was over.”

“Thanks, Will. I’ll never forget this.”

Will disconnected, and they both released deep breaths.

Then his eyes widened. “You can’t go to the prison. We have to get your leg seen about.”

“I think they have an ER in Nashville. Closer too.” She forgot about the wound in her thigh as she looked up at him, and he held her gaze. The tenderness in his blue eyes almost cut off her breath.

“Taking you to the hospital is getting to be a habit. Kindly stop it,” he said, his voice husky. “It terrified me when I realized you were in the cabin and Spencer was there with a gun.”

“You risked your life for me.” No one had ever done that for her before. “Thank you. But I’m sorry I almost knocked you out.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “All in the line of duty, ma’am,” he said and caressed her jaw with his thumb. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”