Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(88)

“She pit-fired her art pieces in it. Sometimes I wonder if she’d lived whether she’d be this famous potter by now.” He looked away. “Sometimes I wish Dad had torn down the studio.”

David understood why, and he certainly would have understood if Tom Hollister had torn the building down. After his wife’s death, David would have moved out of their house if it hadn’t been for uprooting his daughter. Still thought about it sometimes, even after five years. “I’ll start with the filing cabinet.”

Brad nodded as his cell phone rang. “It’s Treece.” He answered and listened. “Right now?” he said. “Okay.” He pocketed his phone. “She wants me to come to the hospital and talk to the girl who was shot Wednesday night.”

“Go ahead. I’ll keep working.”

“I won’t be long.”

After Brad left, David started with the file cabinet, going through every piece of paper. An hour later, he dragged a two-step footstool to the cabinet and sat down to go through the bottom drawer.

A shadow crossed the door, and he looked up, recognizing Brad’s mother. She was petite like Andi but with lighter hair. She frowned, clearly not remembering him. “Mrs. Hollister, David Raines. We met at a fundraiser once.”

“Oh, now I remember, Lieutenant, and call me Barbara,” she said. “Have you discovered the reason someone broke in to the studio?”

“Not yet.” She seemed reluctant to enter the building. “You can come in, if you’d like. The crime scene unit is finished.”

“I’ll stand here.” She flattened her lips but scanned the room from the doorway. “This is the first time I’ve looked inside since that night.” She took a step back. “If you need anything, I’ll be in the house.”

He followed her outside. “Do you know of any hiding places in the studio?”

Her mouth relaxed, and a tiny smile tugged at the corners. “Stephanie didn’t realize I knew she’d found it, but yes, there is one. Tom’s grandfather built this house, and he made a hidden compartment in the mantel. It’s where he used to keep his cash. Steph kept her diary there. I never read it, of course.”

He hated to ask her to come back inside. “Could you tell me how to find it?”

She squared her shoulders. “I’ll show you. I just realized how silly I’m being by refusing to enter the studio.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do.” She marched through the door to the fireplace. “It’s right here.” She turned a piece of molding on the mantel, and a thick panel slid back. “What’s this?” she said and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

“Here,” he said, examining the two-inch board that hid the opening. No wonder it didn’t sound hollow when he tapped it. The grandfather was a smart man. “I have on gloves, let me take them.”

When she handed the papers to him, he spread them out on the table and scanned the writing. “Is this Stephanie’s handwriting?”

Barbara peered over his shoulder and caught her breath. “Yes. Those are the cities she used to talk about flying into.” Suddenly she straightened up. “Do I need to leave since this is police business?”

“You don’t have to leave, but maybe you shouldn’t read this.”

“I understand,” she said and backed away.

David returned to the papers. There were four pages with writing on front and back, and they looked like some sort of log. The last page contained a journal entry.

Jillian is upset. But I know she’s taking diamonds out of her shipments and replacing them with inferior rough stones. JD will be furious when he finds out when I go to the FBI.

I should never have let him talk me into bringing those diamonds into the country, but at least I only did it once. I should have gone to the FBI then. What if customs had searched my purse yesterday? I can’t believe he stashed those diamonds in my purse. He’ll come back tomorrow looking for them, but I’m taking them to the FBI. Until I do, they’re safe in the horse sculpture. Can’t tell Laura

He looked for another page, but there wasn’t one, and he flipped back to the first page and tried to make sense of the log.

Delivered to AJ:

Paris—November 10 - 3 - SH

Paris—November 12 - 5 - JB

Paris—December 3 - 9 - L

Paris—December 10 - 10 - JB

Paris—December 20 - 9 - L

The list went on. As he studied the pages, his heart sank. Will believed the four flight attendants in the house were smuggling diamonds into the States. David had hoped it wasn’t true, but what if this was a log of their activities? SH had to be Stephanie, but her initials appeared only the one time. JB must be Jillian Bennett. The two Ls listed—was that Laura or Lacey? And who was AJ?





29


WILL LEANED FORWARD to view the image on the scanner. The stone Andi found showed clearly along with two more in the horse’s belly.

The tech beside him whistled. “That’s a good-sized diamond.”

“Looks like it’s about the size of a quail egg.”

The tech pushed a button, and a scale appeared. “If a quail egg is an inch and a half by three quarters of an inch, yeah. How many carats do you suppose that is?”