Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(78)
After another half hour of rereading the reports, he leaned against the sofa and rubbed the muscles in his neck. Tomorrow would be a long day, and he needed to get to bed, but he was wound like a compressed spring. His gaze landed on the morning paper, and he opened it up, scanning the headlines. That wouldn’t help him relax, so he turned to the sports page, then remembered the play-off game tonight that would determine who U of M played in the final round. Maybe he could catch the score.
Will turned on the news just in time to catch the sports report. Yes! He pumped his fist. The team he thought the Memphis team could beat won and would advance to the play-off. With a sigh, he turned the TV off and scanned the rest of the paper, stopping at a page he loved to read.
Today’s “Days Gone By” section featured a front page from the nineties. “Kidnapper Loses Last Bid for Parole” was the headline. He scanned down the page, noting that on that date, Hurricane Floyd was dying out after devastating the coast of North Carolina. Then his gaze caught the word diamond in another headline. “African Nations Work Together to Rid Supply Chains of Conflict Diamonds.”
A quick scan of the article told of how diamonds were being smuggled into the US through various channels. According to the article, an elaborate network of airline employees was smuggling rough diamonds from Sierra Leone through cities like Paris, Brussels, and London. The diamonds were bringing in millions to fund the civil war.
Was it possible? No, surely Stephanie wasn’t involved in anything like this. Will had read articles on conflict diamonds and the staggering amount of money that could be made by corrupt officials through diamond smuggling.
But how about the couriers? The ones actually bringing the diamonds to the States? How much did they make? Will dialed Brad’s number. “How’s your dad?” he asked when Brad answered.
“Much better when I left. Where’d you go?”
“Home. I’m going over Stephanie’s case files.” He hesitated. Brad sometimes reacted the same way as his dad. “Andi’s heart operation . . . was it life-threatening?”
“No. Well, Mom and Steph thought it was, but actually, Andi could have waited until she was older to have it. That’s what Dad wanted to do—wait until he had a job and the money or insurance to pay for it.”
“So why didn’t she wait?”
“Le Bonheur accepted her as a patient, and the doctor waived his fee. Dad would have paid every penny of it back, but Stephanie had a hundred-thousand-dollar life insurance policy with the airlines, and when it came in, they applied it to Andi’s operation. It didn’t cover the whole cost, but the balance was manageable for Dad. Why do you want to know?”
“No particular reason.” He couldn’t tell Brad what he suspected yet. “I found a blood panel in the file, and Jimmy had amitriptyline in his system.”
“You’re kidding. Just like Lacey.”
“Yeah. I figure the killer thought if it worked once to knock someone out, it’d work again. Once she was out, he could put her behind the steering wheel and start the motor. I bet he didn’t figure on the drug killing Lacey outright since it didn’t kill Jimmy.”
“I wonder if that came out at the trial?”
“I don’t know. Maggie has the transcript, and I faxed the report to her.” It was good to have Brad fully on board. “I’m going to Nashville tomorrow to ask Jimmy if he ever used GHB recreationally. Want to ride with me?”
“Yeah, depending on how Dad is.”
“Good. I had an email from the state trooper too. A TBI agent will be at the body shop examining Larry Ray Johnson’s pickup tomorrow and I’ll check on that as well.” Will started to hang up, but Brad cleared his throat. “Yeah?”
“Look, you know how Dad can be sometimes. He’s really sorry about what he said. Do me a favor and talk to him.”
“Sure. If he gets to come home tomorrow, I’ll do that. See you around nine.” Brad might change his mind if he knew that Will thought Stephanie was involved in diamond smuggling. Heaviness settled in his stomach as different scenarios worked through his mind.
Another thought hit him. What if Stephanie had decided to keep a few of the diamonds? And what if Lacey Wilson knew where she hid them? Could that have been the evidence she had? He searched for the electrostatic latent image report and found the letters he was looking for.
Dear Andi,
Jimmy Shelton didn’t kill Stephanie, and I can tell you who did. Actually, you have diamonds in your possession—
Evidently she didn’t like how she’d started the letter and marked through the words and started over.
Dear Andi,
I have information that will exonerate Jimmy Shelton in the death of your sister. I contacted him, but he never responded.
He skipped down to a line in the letter on the next page.
and I let fear and greed overcome what I knew was right.
What if diamonds were why Lacey Wilson was killed? And maybe even Stephanie?
25
ANDI PUT A DOLLAR BILL in the drink machine and punched the button for a bottle of water. Her brother had left the hospital thirty minutes ago to pick up clothes so he could spend the night with their mom.
Her fingers shook as she took out two more Lortabs. What was this, four today? Or six? Couldn’t be six. And when did she exchange the ibuprofen bottle for the prescription bottle? Oh yeah. She’d only had four left and had grabbed the others when she went home to change.