Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(53)

She handed her brother a copy, and Brad pushed it away. “Steph’s case isn’t a cold case yet, and the Wilson case is still a possible suicide. I’m not even sure why the three of you are here,” he said as his cell phone rang. He glanced at the ID. “I need to take this. Excuse me.”

Will drummed his fingers on the granite. They were here because if it turned out Lacey Wilson was murdered, that case could very well be tied to Stephanie’s. After Brad stepped out of the room, Will scanned Andi’s sheet. “You don’t have an address for Jillian.”

“I know. She corresponds with Mom, and I plan to ask her for it later.”

Will turned to David. “Did Madeline Starr say whether she’d take Jimmy’s case?”

“She started on the paperwork late this morning and plans to Skype with him this afternoon.”

Tension eased in Will’s shoulders. If anyone could get a stay, it was the defense attorney. He wrote that on his notepad. “She didn’t take your head off?”

David laughed. “Nah, she owes me one after this morning.”

Before Will could ask the details, Brad stepped back into the room, much more subdued than when he left. He took his seat and folded his hands on the table. “Where’s that list Andi had?”

“What made you change your mind?” Will asked.

A flush crept up Brad’s neck. “That was the medical examiner, and it looks like I owe you an apology.”

“What do you mean?” Will said.

“Scrapings from Lacey Wilson’s fingernails revealed particles of skin beneath them, and it wasn’t hers. But the clincher is, she had no carbon monoxide in her blood stream.”

“What?” Will said.

“The tox screen showed three times the normal dose of amitriptyline in her blood. The antidepressant coupled with a glass of wine is what killed her. By the time she realized what was happening, she could only put up a token fight. He’ll be releasing a ruling of homicide later today.” Brad shook his head. “Not what I expected.”

Will did a mental fist pump that his hunch had been right. “I wondered why she was drinking when she planned to drive to Riverbend that day. Whoever killed her must have slipped her the drug in her wine and then washed the glass.”

“But what’s the motive?” David said.

“That’s easy,” Andi said as she massaged her back. “She knew who killed Stephanie and she was going to tell.”

Brad held up his hand. “If she knew all these years, why did she suddenly decide to reveal it now? And if Jimmy didn’t kill Steph in a drunken rage, who had a motive to kill her?”

Will drew a cross on his notepad. “Where Lacey is concerned, I think she’d lived with this knowledge as long as she could.”

“Surely she wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell the murderer what she was going to do.”

Brad was right. But maybe she told someone else, and they passed the information on. “Have you gotten her phone records?” Will asked him.

“She only had the cell number, and I should get the phone records before five today.”

“How about recent calls?” David asked.

“Erased . . . except for two Andi made to her Tuesday evening.”

“So,” Andi said, “whoever killed her deleted the calls?”

“According to the neighbor, Lacey was OCD—erasing phone calls might have been automatic.” Brad rubbed his chin. “There’s one more scenario I think we should consider. Jimmy could have had her killed from prison. It’s happened before, and your cousin has nothing to lose.”

Will pressed his lips together, mostly to keep from taking his friend’s head off. He couldn’t understand why he was so resistant to Jimmy being innocent. “But she wrote to him. The impressions left on her notepaper prove that.”

Brad rocked back in his chair. “The impressions don’t show what she wrote yet. Only his name. We’ll have to wait until it’s examined by the electrostatic machine, and until then, Jimmy is still my primary suspect for Stephanie’s murder.”

“How about the corrections officers?” Will asked. “One saw the note, and the other one is in a coma in a Nashville hospital. How did Jimmy get that done?”

“We still have to look at the possibility that Johnson’s wreck could have been an accident,” Brad said. “And maybe Jimmy paid off the other corrections officer.”

“No.” Andi shifted in her chair. “That man wouldn’t take a payoff. I’m in Will’s camp.”

David raised his hand. “Let’s look at everything calmly and compare the two scenarios.”

Brad checked his watch. “Adam Matthews’s flight is due in thirty minutes.” He stood. “I want to be there to question Lacey’s ex-husband again.”

“Do you mind if I go with you?” Will asked. He turned to Andi. “I’ll drop you off at your parents’ house first.”

“I’m not sure which gate,” Brad said, “but it’s flight 651 if you want to meet me there.”

After he left, Andi said, “I’m sorry he’s being such a pain.”

“Why is he so dead set on Jimmy being guilty?” David asked.

“No clue,” Will said. He gathered the notes and slid them in his briefcase.