Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(6)

Andi stared at her friend. She’d been researching Jimmy’s trial?

Before she could say anything, Treece continued. “And another thing, he’s Will Kincade’s cousin. How do you handle it with him?”

Will was her brother’s best friend, and lately her heart had been reacting strangely when she was around him. She placed a carrot in the wooden bowl and attacked it with the blade. “We don’t talk about it.”

“Here, let me make your salad before you turn everything into mush.” Treece took the knife away from her. “How do you feel when you think about your sister’s death?”

Andi pinched her mouth together as her friend raked the carrot into a bowl of lettuce and dropped a handful of grape tomatoes on top. “Horrible, Dr. Phil. That’s how I feel. And angry that Jimmy is alive and Stephanie isn’t. Anything else?”

“You haven’t forgiven him.”

Andi narrowed her eyes, ignoring the dart of guilt pricking her conscience. “Forgive him? How do you expect me to forgive him for taking Stephanie’s life? I was ten when she left home for college, thirteen when she died, and I never got the chance to really know her. Satisfied?”

Treece palmed her hands up. “Sorry, didn’t mean to rile you. So how’s it going with Will? And don’t tell me you’re not attracted to him.”

“Give me a break. I haven’t had time for a boyfriend. Besides, I know better than to fall for him—he only sees me like a sister. No way would it ever work out. And how about you?”

“We’re not talking about me.”

Andi wasn’t going to let it go that easily, not if it would shift the conversation to Treece’s boyfriend problems. “Have you called Reggie? Or answered any of his texts?” She raised her eyebrows, waiting. “See, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like to get up close and personal.”

Before Treece could say anything, Andi grabbed her apartment key. “And now I’m going to go across the hall and get my bottle of raspberry vinaigrette.”

Andi fled the apartment, leaving Treece with her mouth gaping. Sometimes she pushed their friendship too far. She worries. Andi pushed the thought away. Living next door to Treece at times was like living at home with her parents.

Andi unlocked her door and frowned. She didn’t remember leaving the living room light on. Had to do better than that if she was going to cut her electric bill.

She was halfway to the refrigerator when the unmistakable click of the door shutting stopped her. The apartment plunged into darkness. Andi froze, her heart pummeling her chest. She turned to run, but rough hands yanked her back in a chokehold. Cold steel pressed against her temple.

“Yell, and your friend dies along with you.”

The raspy whisper raked her senses. Andi’s mind whirled, seeking an escape. As if he read her thoughts, he tightened his grip around her neck, cutting off her air.

“Where are they?”

Black dots swam in her vision. She tried to answer him. “What—”

His arm relaxed slightly, but the gun barrel pressed harder against her head. “I won’t hesitate to kill you,” he said. “Now where are they?”

“What? I don’t know . . .” Her lungs cried for air.

“The diamonds. You have them. They belong to me.”

“I . . . can’t . . . breathe . . .”





2

ALL DAY THE COLD APRIL RAIN had fallen from clouds that belonged more to winter than spring. The dampness seeped through the window into Jimmy’s bones, but he couldn’t pry himself away from the window where halos ringed the overhead lights. Night 5,935 here at Riverbend. His birthday. And it would be his last. Tennessee’s ban on executions had been lifted.

“Shelton, you got mail.”

Reluctantly, Jimmy turned and nodded at the corrections officer who had been here almost as long as he had. Except Walter Simmons went home every morning. “Is it from my lawyer?”

That was meant as a joke—he hadn’t heard from his public defender in years.

Walter grinned. “Looks like a woman’s handwriting, and not your mama’s.”

Jimmy blinked. His mama was dying a slow death from heartache, but she wrote him every week. He’d gotten her birthday card yesterday—one of the few times he’d actually received mail early.

What other woman would be writing to him at Riverbend? Curiosity moved him from the window to the small opening in the door to accept the letter.

“Don’t know why you’re just now getting it. It was sent weeks ago,” the officer said.

He stared at the envelope. Like Walter said, the writing on the envelope bearing his name did indeed appear to be a woman’s handwriting, and the flowery script was nothing like his mother’s.

He slid his finger under the flap and removed the single linen sheet with the name Lacey Wilson embossed at the top. Below it, a March 17th date. Nineteen days ago.

Dear Jimmy,

You may not remember me. I was one of the flight attendants who roomed with Stephanie Hollister.

He remembered Lacey. Petite blonde with brown eyes. She’d been kind to him at a time when he wasn’t the nicest person to be around because of alcohol. He continued reading.

First, I want to apologize for not coming forward sooner. I have no excuse except I was afraid to. Even after I became a Christian three months ago, I couldn’t make myself take responsibility for what I did, really for what I didn’t do. But I want you to know there hasn’t been a night that I haven’t thought about you and your circumstances. When I saw in the paper your date had been set, I knew I had to do something.