Justice Delayed (Memphis Cold Case #1)(96)

Walter’s face grew serious. “Your cousin Will called an hour ago and said that he died.”

“That’s sad,” Jimmy said. “I didn’t like him, but I hate he died. Do you know if he ever woke up?”

“Never did. Will asked me to run something by you.” Walter whacked the ball across the net. “Do the initials JD mean anything to you?”

Jimmy’s muscles turned to Jell-O, and he dropped his hands, letting the ball sail past him. “What did you say?”

“Are you okay?”

Chaos reigned in his head. He had to sit down, and he stumbled to the chair. JD. It’d been so long since he’d heard that nickname, he’d almost forgotten, and it triggered an avalanche of memories.

Jillian and Spencer. Him and Stephanie. Double dating. Then it all changed when Spencer made a play for Steph at a time she was angry with Jimmy and his drinking.

“Leave now, or I’ll kill him and make it look like a murder-suicide.” He sucked in air. It was the memory that had eluded him for years.

Stephanie cradled in his arms. Spencer putting the gun in his hand. Jillian arguing.

Jimmy looked up at Walter. “Do you know what this means?” Without waiting for an answer, he said, “I really didn’t kill Steph.”

Walter took out his phone and dialed. “I’m calling your cousin.”

“Let me talk to him,” Jimmy said, and Walter turned over the phone.



A call beeped in on Will’s phone, and he looked at the ID. Walter Simmons.

“Hold on a second. I need to take a call.” He switched calls. “Walter?”

“No, it’s Jimmy. You wanted to know if I knew anyone who went by the name JD. Well, that made me remember something.”

Jimmy paused, and Will heard him take a deep breath. “Go on.”

“It’s just . . . I can’t believe they did this to me.”

“Did what?”

“I remember everything now. Spencer telling Jillian if she didn’t leave, he’d kill me and say it was a murder-suicide. And get this, Stephanie told me once that Spencer’s full name is James Spencer Delaney Jr., and that some people called him JD. When he went to law school, he dropped the nickname, but he started using his middle name, Spencer, so he wouldn’t be confused with his father. So JD could refer to him.”

Will gripped the steering wheel. Nothing was ever simple. “This will help. Thanks, Jimmy.”

“It’s me who should be thanking you. And Will . . . if this doesn’t turn out the way we want, don’t feel bad. You’ve done all you can do.”

“It’s going to turn out, okay? Got that?”

“Yeah, cuz. I got it.”

Will switched back to Brad. “JD could be Spencer. Have you heard from Andi?”

“No. And neither of them answer their phones. But I put an app on her cell phone, and it works off a satellite. Let me see if I can get her location.”

“Do you know what town they were going to?”

“Doskie, Tennessee,” Brad said. “I have her location. I’ll text it to you.”

Will pulled over to the side of the road and googled Doskie on his phone. He’d already passed the exit.

“What time were they supposed to get to this town?” he asked when Brad called him back.

“Should have gotten there around noon. I’ve sent you the address that pops up on this app. It looks like they might be somewhere beyond it, though.”

“I’ll find her. You find Spencer.”

“Gotcha. And be safe.”

Will tapped on the address Brad sent, and relief spread through him. He was only about twenty miles from their location.





33


A QUARTER OF A MILE PAST A NARROW SIDE ROAD, the road turned from gravel to dirt, and the trees seemed to close in on them. Andi eased the Corolla over ruts and potholes. “Do the instructions say anything about a dirt road?”

“No. Maybe we should have turned on that side road.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Maggie said.

“We should have asked how far the house is.” Andi glanced down the steep hillside. “These are not hills, either.”

“I’d call them mountains myself,” Maggie said. “Do you think Mrs. Darby is really Jillian?”

“I don’t know, but she did get nervous when I mentioned my name. And did you notice how thin her hands were? They didn’t match her body at all.”

“Come to think of it, her face was thin too. Can you think of a better place than this if someone wanted to hide out?”

They drove in silence, going deeper into the forest.

Maggie leaned forward and peered through the windshield. “I think we’re lost. Find a place to turn around,” she said. “We need to go back and get better directions.”

Andi scanned the woods. The trees were so thick, it was impossible for sunlight to break through. Her scalp prickled. What if someone had followed them up the mountain? “There’s a fork ahead. I’ll turn around there.” She glanced toward Maggie. “Do you happen to have a gun on you?”

“Don’t carry one, but for once, I wish I did.”

She put the car in park. “I need to get out and see how to turn around, but first . . .” She opened the console and searched for the Swiss Army knife she kept there. Once she found it, she slipped it in her right boot.