Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(59)

A subdued quiet had fallen on their conversation, and when the dessert was delivered, he really had no appetite for it. A man’s life hung in the balance and he was eating dessert? He took a couple of bites. Evidently, Maggie had the same thoughts as she pushed her half-eaten brownie away. “Are you ready to leave?” he asked.

“Yes.”

As they walked out of the restaurant, the sun hung low in the western sky, creating a breathtaking sunset. “Do you mind if I walk you home?”

“You don’t know where I live.”

“Has to be close if you walked.”

She ducked her head. “I would be honored. It’s this way.”

David inhaled. “I love the way it smells in the spring. Do you smell that honeysuckle?”

“Right now all I can smell is garlic,” she said with a laugh. “But, yes, I do smell it. Reminds me of home.”

“Senatobia, Mississippi.”

“Yep.”

They walked north, past warehouses. “You really should take Donovan’s advice and not walk here after dark.”

“I’ll take that under consideration,” she said with a straight face.

He glanced at her. Maggie Starr’s head came to about his chin, and even in the silky blue dress, she exuded a competent, don’t-mess-with-me aura. Her comment probably had been tongue-in-cheek.

Suddenly her left arm shot out, stopping just at his Adam’s apple, and he reacted instinctively, grabbing her arm. She slipped out of his hold and twisted his arm behind his back.

“I forgot to tell you. I have a blue belt in tae kwon do. If this had been a real situation, I could’ve flipped you on your head.”

“Thank you for restraining yourself,” he said, rubbing his arm. “But there are guns out here, you know.”

“Which is why I rarely walk from my place to the Spaghetti Warehouse. But tonight, I figured I’d get a ride home . . . or at the least, someone with a gun to accompany me on my walk.”



Andi checked the rearview mirror, and when the street was clear, she pulled into the drive and behind her apartment. Once there, she sat in her car, processing the afternoon. It was almost six. She wasn’t sure where the last couple hours went.

The euphoria from discovering the imprints on the stationery was fading. Andi took a shivering breath. She’d promised the station producer the third video on runaways by morning, and hours of work stretched ahead. For once, she wished she’d let someone else edit their film, and just as quickly discarded the idea.

She reached in her bag for the ibuprofen bottle. The documentary was her and Treece’s baby, and no one else was touching it. But she needed a little boost to get the work done, and it would be better to take the pills now before she went upstairs to Treece’s prying eyes. Something nagged at the back of her mind as she swallowed them, but she couldn’t pin it down.

Andi climbed the back stairs, marveling at the red-gold sunset. Living on the second floor had its perks. And that reminded her of Mrs. Casey. She always missed their landlord when she went to visit her daughter. Brad had called the older woman and talked with her after the breakin, and she’d been stunned someone had broken into Andi’s apartment.

At the top of the steps, she knocked on Treece’s back door instead of going into her apartment. Maybe she’d had a chance to work on the segment that would air tomorrow. When there was no answer, she knocked louder.

“Hold on a minute,” her friend called through the door. “Let me turn off the alarm.”

Alarm? That’s what had pinged Andi’s brain. Had she set hers this morning? While she waited for Treece, she unlocked her door and pushed it open. When the alarm didn’t sound, her stomach tightened. She’d forgotten. Again. The thing wouldn’t do any good if she didn’t arm it.

Andi scanned the room, and everything seemed okay. She returned to Treece’s side just as she opened her door. “Did I wake you?”

Treece stretched and winced. “Not really.”

“How’s your shoulder?”

“Hurts. I’ve been icing it. But I’m getting pretty good at using my left hand.”

Andi wanted to ask if she’d worked on the documentary, but Treece seemed about to burst. “Did you get out today?”

“No, but Reggie came over.”

“I imagine he had plenty to say about me.” Andi twisted her hands. What if Reggie had talked Treece into quitting the team? She did not want to lose Treece, not as her working buddy or her friend. “I probably deserve whatever he said.”

“Yes, you do. But we didn’t spend much time talking about you.”

A smile played at the corner of Treece’s mouth, so it couldn’t be too bad. “Give.”

A full-blown grin lit up her face. “He asked me to marry him.”

“What! Get outta here!” She snatched a quick look at Treece’s left hand. “You didn’t say yes?”

“I said I’d think about it.”

“Why did you do that? Reggie is a great guy and he loves you.”

“He smothers me.”

“Oh.” There was that. “But only because he worries about you . . . because of me.” Her heart sank at the truth of her own words. How many times had she put Treece in danger to get a story? Besides last night, at least three other times came to mind.