Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(35)

“Just a minute, Mr. Simmons. I have someone I’d like to hear our conversation. Sergeant Hollister is working on another case that might be tied to this one, and I want to put you on speaker, if you don’t mind.” Just maybe this would be enough to change Brad’s opinion.

“Fine with me.”

Will hurried back to his friend’s office and put the phone on his desk. “Andi called and said one of the Riverbend COs almost died in a car wreck last night. This call is from the corrections officer we talked to yesterday about Jimmy’s letter. I’d like you to listen in.”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“He thinks this officer took Lacey’s letter.”

“Okay, I’ll listen, but I’m not sure it’ll change anything.”

Will punched the speaker button. “Can you hear me, Mr. Simmons?”

“Hear you just fine.”

“Sergeant Hollister is here with me,” Will said. “Why do you think this Johnson took the letter?”

“I’ve suspected him of taking things from the prisoners before. Wasn’t anything I could prove, just a hunch. I talked to a few of the other guards today after we found out about the accident, and they all said he’d asked questions about Jimmy almost every day. Things like if he got any unusual mail or phone calls. And one of—”

“Mr. Simmons, this is Sergeant Hollister. Didn’t the other officers think that was strange?”

“Since he didn’t ask the same person every time, nobody thought much about it. Lots of times, we talk about the prisoners. Helps to know what’s going on with them and if we need to be on the alert. If a prisoner gets bad news from home, he’s liable to do most anything.” Simmons hesitated. “But Johnson seemed more interested in Jimmy than anyone else.”

“Did you mention the letter after Jimmy received it?” Will asked.

“Ah . . .” Simmons cleared his throat. “I mentioned it to the other COs when I went off duty, and they told Johnson—he works the day shift. Another guard said he saw him near Jimmy’s cell right after the shift changed. Jimmy was working in the kitchen.”

The question now was, who was Johnson working for? “Do you know why he was so far from Nashville?”

“That’s what I was about to say a minute ago. You have to understand that Johnson is always talking about all these things he’s gonna do, and it wasn’t always easy to tell when he was lying or just bragging. Yesterday at lunch, he told one of the other officers that he was taking off for Vegas next week, that he was coming in to a big sum of money.”

“Did he say where it was coming from?”

“No. Sometimes he said he had this rich dude in his back pocket, but he never mentioned a name.”

Brad leaned toward the phone. “Do you know what caused the accident?”

“No, but I’d be surprised if it had anything to do with his truck since that Silverado was his pride and joy. It could have passed a Marine inspection, inside and out,” the CO said. “Did hear one of the other officers say his brother investigated the wreck and that something went wrong just before the bridge across the Tennessee River. Johnson was thrown out before the truck went into a ravine. They say he’s critical, maybe paralyzed.”

Will picked up his phone. “I appreciate that you called me. I’ll check this out.”

“I didn’t particularly like Larry Ray,” Simmons said, “but if someone tried to kill him, I wouldn’t want to see them get away with it.”

“I’ll let you know what I find out. You be careful yourself.” Will’s thumb hovered over the disconnect button. “Oh, wait. Was Johnson married?”

“Getting a divorce.”

After Will disconnected, he shifted his gaze to Brad. “One more piece of circumstantial evidence to add to the pile.”

“It could mean nothing,” Brad said. “Wrecks happen every day.”

“You think it’s another coincidence?” Will chewed his thumbnail as scenarios swirled in his mind. “But let’s just say someone messed with the truck. Maybe tampered with the brakes—it’d be hard to tell. And let’s take it to the extreme—say Jimmy didn’t kill Steph, and whoever did was paying the corrections officer to spy on Jimmy. When he discovered that my cousin received the letter from Lacey, the guard stole it, thinking he could cash in.”

Brad tented his fingers. “But even if what you say is true and someone wanted Johnson dead, why would they tamper with his vehicle and take a chance on what happened—him not dying? Why not just kill him outright?”

“An outright murder would bring a lot more investigation into his activities, where an accident would hardly cause a ripple.”

Brad shook his head. “You’re grasping at straws. There’s no way to prove any of that.”

“And you don’t want to see the possibility that someone other than Jimmy killed your sister.”

“How many times do I have to tell you—your cousin confessed and the investigating officer found his prints on the gun and that he’d struck her before. I don’t want my family put through another investigation when it’s unnecessary. It was bad enough the first time.”

“That investigating officer was George Barnes.”