Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(39)

“He doesn’t have one right now. The public defender who had his case retired.”

She frowned. “I see. And this evidence you mentioned?”

“It’s a letter stating he didn’t kill Stephanie, and that the author has evidence to back up the claim.”

She absorbed the news with little expression. “Do you have the letter with you?”

“No. It was stolen from Jimmy.”

“Okay. Then is this person willing to come forward?”

He leaned forward in the chair. “Unfortunately, she’s dead.”

“Will, you’re not talking about Lacey Wilson, are you?”

He nodded.

She slipped her reading glasses back on. “I thought for a minute you had real evidence. No jury would ever seriously consider anything that poor woman had to say. She was my friend, but she was also depressed and paranoid.”

“How long have you known Lacey?” he said.

“Since we all lived in the house with Stephanie and flew together . . . I guess eighteen or nineteen years. She had a tendency to depression even then.”

“Let’s suppose what she wrote is true,” Will said. “That someone other than Jimmy killed Stephanie. Can you think of anyone in her circle of friends or acquaintances who might have wanted her dead?”

She gave him a look that reminded him of detention.

“Let it go.”

“I can’t.”

“I suppose any number of women who lost their boyfriends to her,” she said with a laugh that was devoid of mirth.

“How about you? Where were you the night she was killed?”

Laura Delaney’s face flamed. “Are you insinuating that I had something to do with her death?”

“No. I just asked where you were.”

“I don’t remember. Probably in the house studying. That was when I was working full-time and trying to go to law school at night.” She pressed her fingertips together. “Stephanie had a restraining order against your cousin, not that it did any good.”

“Do you know why?”

She tapped her chest. “Because of me, after Jimmy hurt her. I’d been begging her for weeks to do something about him, but she didn’t want to get him into trouble with the law. One day I needed her car keys to run to the store, and I walked in on one of their fights. I heard them yelling when I came out of the house, but then it went quiet. When I entered the studio, I understood why.

“Stephanie lay on the floor and Jimmy stood over her, his body weaving back and forth. Maggie was there and she was rooted to the floor. I thought Stephanie was dead. I shoved Jimmy out of the way and felt her pulse.” Laura looked up at Will. “She was alive, so I yelled for Maggie to call 911. That’s when Stephanie groaned and tried to sit up. She insisted that we cancel the call, but it was too late. She refused to press charges. She did get a restraining order later that day.”

Laura shook her head as if to clear it. “It wasn’t the first time he’d hurt her. When he wasn’t drinking, Jimmy was the sweetest guy you’d ever meet. But he was a different person when he was drunk. He had no filters.”

As much as Will hated to admit it, she was right about his cousin. And if Stephanie had been killed from a blow to the head, he wouldn’t argue that Jimmy was innocent of her murder. But his cousin hated guns. He would never have shot her.

Will noted Laura’s answer in his notes. “My aunt said she thinks Stephanie was into something illegal. Do you know what it might have been?”

She stared at him. “You’re kidding.” When he didn’t answer, she pressed her mouth in a thin line and leaned back. “No, I guess you’re not. Look, I realize Jimmy is your cousin, but I hope you won’t try to paint the victim in this case as a criminal.”

“Of course not. I just thought you might know what my aunt was referring to.”

“I don’t, and if the only evidence you have to clear your cousin is something Lacey Wilson wrote . . . well, let me put it this way. If I took this evidence to a judge, he’d laugh me out of his courtroom. If you have nothing else to add to this, I need to get back to work.” She returned to her file.

“Before I go, you seem to know Adam Matthews pretty well. Did any of you fly with him eighteen years ago?”

She looked up from the file, a slight frown lowering her brows. “Uh, yes. We all worked for the same airline. Now, if you’re through . . .” She glanced toward the door.

“Actually, I’m not. I have a couple more questions I’d like to ask you.” Will looked down at his notepad then back up at the DA. “Your husband, Spencer. You met him when you both worked for the airlines?”

Laura scowled. “That’s correct, but I fail to see what that has to do with anything.”

“I’m always looking at connections. Four flight attendants, living in the same house, your husband also was a flight attendant, and he married you, but did he ever date Stephanie? Or the other two women?”

“You’ll have to ask him that.”

“You don’t know?”

She shrugged. “Who my husband dated before we married is of no consequence to me. I landed him.” She smiled at her own joke, then shrugged. “Actually, he dated both of them, Jillian first. She never knew about Spencer and Stephanie. According to Spencer, there wasn’t much to their relationship. After they broke up, they remained friends. Most of the men Stephanie dated remained friends with her after she moved on to another conquest.”