Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(2)

A call light flashed, and Stephanie said, “I’ll take care of that.”

“I don’t believe you.” Lacey grabbed her arm. “He’s not worth it, Steph. Don’t do it. He’ll discard you like yesterday’s news when he gets tired of you. Look how he treated Jillian.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Stephanie shook her hand off.

She turned, and several passengers in first class averted their gaze. Heat crawled up her neck. Hopefully, they’d only heard the tail end of the conversation. She lifted her chin and flipped a switch in her brain. Everything except her duties faded for the next ten hours as they winged toward Memphis International Airport.

Once they were off the plane, Stephanie hurried to the parking garage.

“Can I catch a ride?” Lacey asked.

She was tempted to say no, but that was silly. If Lacey wanted to get on her case, she could do it at her parents’ old house they shared with three other women. A house her parents would be returning to as soon as they found a buyer for her mom’s dream home. “Sure.”

Lacey got in the car, and Stephanie drove her small Miata toward I-240. In the passenger seat, Lacey sighed.

“When do we have to be out of the house?” she asked. “I know Jillian has found an apartment near Memphis State so she can finish her degree in her off hours, but I just wondered how much time we had.”

“By the end of the month.” Maybe she should have taken the diamonds. Ten thousand dollars would go a long way to help her parents until her dad could get another job, and then maybe they wouldn’t have to move.

No. It was wrong, and besides, her dad wouldn’t take money from her without knowing where it came from. To escape her thoughts, Stephanie turned on the radio and cranked up the volume. Strains of “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” filled the car.

Lacey switched the music off and faced her. “When do you deliver the diamonds?”

Stephanie had hoped that Lacey would decide to drop that subject. “It’s not really any of your business, but I’m not.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well, I can’t help that.” Stephanie was too tired to argue with her.

“Look, I know you want to help your parents, but you were out of this business. God knows I wish I were. JD would give you money if he cared about you.”

“I don’t want anything from him.” It would do no good to argue with Lacey about whether she was smuggling diamonds or not. When her friend got something into her head, there was no changing it. “And please, never mention anything about JD and me around Jillian. It would crush her to know what happened.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t want her hurt, either,” Lacey said. “But you should have thought about that before you got involved with him.”

“They weren’t seeing each other when I dated him, and I thought their relationship was over.” It had almost killed her when JD and Jillian got back together, but her pain wasn’t Jillian’s fault. Stephanie slowed to exit the interstate. No, she owned that mistake. And Lacey was right. She and Jillian not only worked together but also lived in the same house. Stephanie should have known it would get sticky.

Her friend shook her head. “I’ve never seen what you two see in him. Jillian says it’s because he’s exciting and she’s never bored, but how about you?”

“No one else ever made me feel the way he did,” she said. That was hardly an explanation, but she didn’t know how else to explain her attraction to JD. It wasn’t so much his good looks, which he had plenty of, but the way he carried himself, the confidence he exuded. He was the kind of man mothers warned their daughters to stay clear of. Her friends didn’t understand why she seemed to be drawn to men with bad-boy attitudes.

She understood. These men, who could have anyone they wanted, chose her. And she believed she would be the one who would reform them.

Except it hadn’t worked. Especially not with JD. Stephanie doubted anyone could tame him. He’d caught her in a vulnerable moment and then used that mistake to continue a relationship in secret once he and Jillian reconnected.

She turned into the drive and pulled to the back of the house to her pottery studio. “Be careful you don’t make the same mistake with Adam Matthews.”

“Adam is not like JD.”

Stephanie snorted. “He’s a man, isn’t he?” She opened her car door.

Lacey put her hand on Stephanie’s arm. “Wait. I’m your friend, and I hate to see you get back in this mess. You stopped once, don’t get involved again. If I had your courage, I would stop too. So would Jillian.”

She sighed. “I don’t know how to be any clearer. I. Am. Not. Smuggling. Diamonds.”

Lacey’s eyes narrowed. “If that’s true, then you better watch your back. JD can be very vindictive.” She bit her bottom lip. “And I don’t think you should talk to the cops. They might not believe you once they know you smuggled a package of diamonds through customs.”

“It’s the only reason I’ve kept quiet. My dad would be so disappointed in me if he ever found out. But I’m not doing it again.”

“Good.” Lacey opened the passenger door. “I’m going upstairs to take a nap.”