Sedona Law 6 by Dave Daren (ebook pdf reader for pc .TXT) 📕

I said. “Used to manage her when she was younger. He also had a five year contract with James that he appears to have had no intention of honoring.”

AJ’s marker squeaked as she scribbled away on the whiteboard.

“Then there’s also Gary, the soft spoken one that tipped us off about Kelsi and Roy.”

“Why did he do that?” AJ asked.

“He said it’s because he cared about Kelsi and her kids and thought that he should tell us everything that was out of the ordinary on that trip,” I said.

“I don’t buy that,” Vicki motioned with her finger as she looked down at her notes. “I think he’s got some other motive.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“What if he’s got a thing for Kelsi?” she wondered.

“Hmm,” I said. “That reads more plausible than he just wants to set the record straight. But, how would outing her infidelity be in his interest?”

“Revenge, jealousy?” AJ brainstormed.

“So Gary’s jealous because Kelsi married James and cheated on him with Roy? Not likely.”

“Or maybe he wants to get back at Roy,” AJ theorized.

“Because Roy ruined Kelsi’s marriage?” I prompted. “I don’t see that one either.”

“Maybe he’s just dumb and really did just want to ‘set the record’ straight,” Vicki concluded.

I laughed. “Alright so we need to delve more into Gary’s motives. Let’s make a note of that and move on.”

“So there’s Roy, Gary, Steve and Tim,” AJ made a chart of stick figures.

“Let’s talk about Tim,” I said. “Hothead extraordinaire.”

“That’s the only thing we have about him,” AJ said.

Vicki tapped away on her tablet. “I forgot I ran background checks on all of these guys. Tim used to sell crystal meth.”

“He’s a drug dealer?” AJ was aghast.

“Smuggling,” I connected. “Drug dealing is smuggling. What if he changed from meth to elephant tusks?”

“Steve,” Vicki said. “Is clean as a whistle. Not even a traffic ticket.”

“I told you why,” AJ said.

“He grew up in a family that’s off the radar,” I remembered.

“Right,” AJ said. “There are only records on him dating back as far as when he decided to put himself on the radar.”

“Okay,” I said. “So could it have been anyone else?”

“We have Irwin Montague,” she said. “Who’s on the run.”

“Isn’t he always?” AJ retorted.

“Pretty much,” Vicki said. “Ever since we put his mom in jail anyway.”

“And the day I met Kelsi,” I remembered, “she was defensive of Reba and Irwin. Why is that?”

Vicki and AJ nodded and AJ put the question in our mind map.

“And I also found out Irwin’s associate Tony Sanchez at the shipping company is in jail for selling marijuana and unlicensed herbal supplements,” I said.

“Is that really what he’s in jail for?” Vicki asked. “Or is that just what his friends at the shipping company told you?”

“I assume that’s true,” I said. “I’ll make a note to get the arrest record on that.”

“We’ve also got all the financial records for the Matthews, Roy, and the band itself.”

“Why did we subpoena Roy’s records?” Vicki asked.

“Because he handled the money for the band,” I said. “And if there’s criminal activity, he would likely be funneling money back and forth from the band’s account to his personal account, and also linking it with the Matthews accounts in some way.”

The three of us sat and stared at the mind map, the handful of questions with no answers weren’t even the right questions.

“Alright,” I finally said. “Let’s chase the few loose ends we have and see if we can open up more loose ends.”

It was at the moment we heard someone come in the front door. We all craned our necks toward the open door frame to the conference room.

“Hello, anyone here?” Landon called out.

AJ face dropped and then she dropped the marker in her hand, and ran out of the room squealing.

“I didn’t know he was coming home,” Vicki said.

“I don’t think she knew either,” I said.

We heard them laughing in the main room, and so Vicki and I joined them.

“Hey guys,” Landon greeted us.

Landon was a tall and lanky hipster, with an ironic beard, and dark hair pulled back into a half ponytail. Today he wore a plaid shirt, jeans, and black combat boots.

“Hey Landon,” Vicki gave him a side hug and I shook his hand. “Good to see you.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve been hearing all about this new Paradigm Productions. Sounds exciting.”

“It’s Phoenix,” AJ told him. “Henry’s brother.”

“I know Phoenix,” Landon looked at her incredulously. “He went to high school with us, remember?”

“Right,” she said. “But now that I know him as Henry’s brother, now he seems different.”

“Yeah,” Landon said. “He had this band with watermelons or something.”

Vicki and I rolled our eyes.

“The watermelon band,” I muttered.

When I first moved back home, Phoenix was into this spontaneous music thing, where they would go into the grocery store and have random flash mob concerts with the produce. I was glad he grew out of that phase.

“Is that why you came home?” I asked.

Landon nodded. “To surprise AJ of course.”

AJ smiled and leaned into him.

“But,” Landon said, “Phoenix and I have been talking on Messenger for months, and I hear the studio’s really going to happen. Thanks to you,” he smiled awkwardly at me.

“I invested in something that I believed is a good project,” I said. “This is all Phoenix’s project.”

“And I told you about Leila Jaxson,” AJ said.

“Yeah,” he said. “She sold the company to the Irving’s, and now they’re going to make your screenplay about them?”

I laughed. “Landon, can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure,” he said.

“Could you possibly make us sound a little more narcissistic?” I joked. “I don’t think you quite hit the note just right there.”

Everyone laughed AJ blushed.