Sedona Law 4 by Dave Daren (ready to read books TXT) 📕

“The judge will set a trial date,” I answered. “And between then and there, we go to work like crazy gathering evidence.”

“Well, what about this Judith lady?” Gabriel asked. “Will they take that into account tomorrow?”

“Likely not,” I said. “Because of the timing, the prosecutor is probably talking to her now, and we will know by the end of the day whether he’s going to accept the confession. But even if they don’t accept it, she will be a valuable witness for us.”

With the conference call looming in about an hour, I sat down with the clients and decided to find out what they knew about Malone.

“I know AJ has briefed you on our people of interest,” I said. “One in particular is a state senator named John Malone. Do either of you two know anything about this man?”

To my surprise, Julianna and Gabriel exchanged uncomfortable glances.

“Ooooh,” Julianna said long and drawn out.

“What?” I asked.

“John is involved?” she asked. “How so?”

“What we know is that he had business dealings with both Judith Klein and Marvin Iakova,” I said, “and that he was there the night of the murder.”

She glanced at Gabriel again and sighed.

“It’s your call, babe,” he told her with a shrug.

“So,” she said. “He was kind of this unspoken figure for…” Her voice trailed off, and she played with her fingers.

“Julianna,” Vicki said gently, “whoever you are protecting, isn’t protecting you. It’s you and the state of Arizona in the ring right now, and if we’re going to help you, we need you to be honest.”

She started to cry. “I know. It’s just--” her voice got lost in her tears.

AJ handed her a tissue, and she calmed down a bit and then just looked deeply sad.

“I need... I need a minute,” she said. “Gabe, just…”

Then she left the room. Gabriel sighed and looked us over as he stood.

“John Malone,” he said, “was the secret ‘sugar daddy,’ if you will, for one of the other girls. And the fact that he was involved, shows she was involved, and she left us out to dry.”

He shook his head in disgust and followed Julianna into the other room. I turned to Vicki and AJ who had their mouths wide open in shock.

“Well, that was an unexpected development,” I said.

“Yeah,” Vicki said. “We need to know which girl.”

“Olivia,” was Julianna’s tearful response from the doorway.

“Olivia?” I was shocked.

“Julianna,” Vicki said, “we are not certain that she, or Malone, were involved in the murder.”

“I am,” she said resolutely. “John hated Beowulf and has wanted him out of the picture for years. John thought that Beowulf took advantage of all of us, and there was a lot of stuff about money that John didn’t understand. We had a lot of agreements, and ways of looking at money, and our earnings, that made sense to all of us. But, to an outsider, that would seem shady. He thought that Beowulf brainwashed all of us, and that’s why Olivia needed so much money from him.”

“So,” I said, “you think Malone killed Beowulf?”

“If he was there, and Beowulf turns up dead, yeah,” Gabriel said. “The feeling between those two was mutual. I’ve heard Beyo rant on and on about John.”

“How did Olivia know John?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Julianna said. “I just know she’s always been in contact with him, as long as I’ve known her.”

“Do you know anything about Marvin Iakova?” I asked.

Julianna shook her head. “Marvin Iakova? The TV station guy? No, just what you know growing up around here, and that he promoted our event, which was really cool of him, by the way. I wish I could have enjoyed it.”

“Malone is connected pretty deeply to Iakova,” I said. “So, from what you know personally of Malone, do you know anything about Marvin Iakova?”

She shook her head again. “No. I’ve never heard anything about him.”

My phone alarm beeped. The conference call with the devil himself was upon us.

“Alright,” I turned to Vicki, “can you wrap this up here? I gotta…”

“Yeah,” she said. “So the arraignment tomorrow is at ten a.m.”

I stepped out of the room as Vicki took over with details for our court appearance in the morning. I settled into my desk just minutes before the call and glanced over my notes. This new development changed a lot about my line of questioning, and with Malone’s lawyer on the other line, I would have to tread lightly. I penciled in a few changes and dialed the number to his direct line.

“Senator Malone,” he answered curtly.

“Hi, Senator,” I said. “It’s Henry Irving.”

“Yes, Mr. Irving,” he said. “Go ahead. I have my attorney Evan Williams on the other line.”

“Hi, Mr. Irving,” Evan introduced himself.

“Hello, Mr. Williams,” I said.

“Go ahead with your questions,” Malone said.

I raised an eyebrow. Sedona interviews and depositions were all done with a certain degree of small town friendliness. I wasn’t used to the cold formality of high politics.

“Yeah,” I said. “What we are investigating is the murder at the Sedona Performing Arts Hall on the night of--”

“I am aware of the murder in question,” Malone interrupted.

“Right,” I said. “My understanding is that you were there that night?”

“I was,” he said.

“I understand that you are close associates with Marvin Iakova, who was sponsoring the event?” I asked.

“As any online search will tell you,” he answered, “I have had a long professional and personal history with Marvin Iakova.”

This guy wasn’t going to warm up to me, so I decided to stop beating around the bush.

“What can you tell me about that night?” I asked.

He drew a deep breath, and his tone was clipped and formal. “I was invited to attend the performance on that night by a