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

you’d know what to do with them. You don’t make lemonade, you tell those lemons to go to hell! I didn’t raise you to stand here and let yourself be made a fool out of.”

“Did they read the charges against you?” Julianna spat. “Was your name read out? So, how is this your problem, mother?”

“Julianna, you’re just upset,” she said.

“How about you, Chloe?” Julianna turned to the other dancers, her eyes bright with anger. “Olivia, did they read your name today?”

“Wait,” Chloe said, “What did I do? How did I get into this? I just came to support you.”

“Julianna,” Vicki jumped in. “Why don’t we take a breather?”

“No,” she pushed Vicki away. “All I wanted, all I wanted, was to get away from all of this. Do you know that? That’s all I wanted. I just wanted to get out. I wanted to be free. That’s what this whole thing was all about.”

I raised an eyebrow at Vicki. Her language was a bit disconcerting. What did she mean by “this whole thing”? Was she talking about breaking up with Beyo and running off with Gabriel, or was she actually talking about the murder? For the first time, I wondered if she was actually guilty.

“Julianna,” Olivia reached out to her, and Julianna pushed her away. “Don’t say these things. Stop.”

Julianna continued, “I didn’t want this, any of this anymore. And now, now…”

Gabriel looked on haplessly and then unlocked the car.

“Let’s go home,” he said gently.

“Just go,” she waved at Chloe and Olivia. “I don’t want you here.”

Chloe and Olivia looked shocked as Julianna got into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. Gabriel looked perplexed and hovered out of the driver’s seat.

“Come on, guys,” I said. “We’ll take you home.”

Gabriel shrugged, got into the car, and backed out, while Olivia and Chloe looked on. Then they sped off. Zondra yelled after them and stormed off to her car.

“She needs some time,” Vicki consoled Chloe and Olivia. “It’s been a long stressful day for all of us. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” Chloe sighed. “Let’s go.”

It was a long quiet ride back to Sedona. The arraignment had given us all a lot to think about. I dropped the dancers off at their respective houses. When I arrived at Michael Knapp’s house to drop off Chloe, he was in the driveway.

“Why don’t you guys come in for a cup of coffee?” he asked.

“We can’t,” I said. “I’ve got another meeting.”

The head of the Performance Arts League nodded.

“How did it go?” he asked as he hung off my driver’s window.

I shrugged. “Entered a not guilty plea. Going to trial in six weeks.”

He didn’t seem surprised by the information. “I hear a lot of things. You’re pissing some people off.”

“I know,” I said. “Occupational hazard.”

“Just be careful,” he said. “Everyone in this town is connected by just a few degrees.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“John Malone,” he said, “knows everyone that’s anyone in this town, and he’s about to ruin you.”

“Is that right?” I asked.

“I don’t know what he’s got on you,” he said. “But he’s about to turn everyone against you. So, I’m just warning you to be careful.”

“Thanks, Michael, but I got this,” I said.

He shrugged and nodded and tapped my car in a dismissal gesture. “I know you do,” he said. “See you around.”

“Jesus,” I told Vicki as I backed out of Michael’s driveway. “Blackmail. This guy’s dirtier than we thought.”

“Yeah,” she said. “We’ll ask Marvin if he knows what Malone’s got up his sleeve.”

“If he’s still on our side,” I said.

“We’re about to find that out,” she said.

After a long and winding drive, the GPS took us to a six story luxury high rise. I whistled.

“Yeah,” I said. “This would be where he lived.

“Penthouse?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said. “What else would he have?”

“So,” she said. “How are we approaching this interview?”

We checked in with a security guard at a guard tower.

“Iakova?” he read from a clipboard.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Go on through,” he smirked. “Good luck.”

I rolled up the window, and we both laughed.

“Unfortunately, I know what he’s referring to,” Vicki said.

“Yep,” I said. “And I’m not trying to overthrow his empire. I just want to know what he knew about the murder, and what he knows about Malone and Olivia.”

“You think he’ll tell you all of this?” she asked.

“I doubt it,” I said. “It’s worth a try.”

I drove past an extravagantly manicured landscape and then pulled into a circular drive, where a valet attendant greeted me. I raised an eyebrow at Vicki, and we grabbed our bags and let the valet take over.

“I didn’t know places like this existed in Sedona,” I told her.

I watched in the direction where a strange college guy with shaggy hair, earrings, and a fancy uniform had just taken off with my car.

“So,” Vicki said. “I’m putting this place on the list for Susan Burkewitz.”

“Yeah?” I asked. “This is where we’re moving?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “This is so where we’re living.”

“As long as that kid doesn’t take off with my car,” I muttered.

A doorman ushered us into a lavishly decorated lobby, with pristine white linoleum, deep mahogany fixtures, and seating areas in white and gold. A concierge and a couple of other uniformed types purposefully strode throughout the lobby, and I took the elevator up to the penthouse apartment, and I had to enter a passcode Marvin had already texted me.

The elevator let us out onto an expansive sixth floor space. Bay windows made up all the outer walls, and the furniture was done in white, with soft lamp lighting and contemporary styled luxury furniture. Expensive art pieces filled the inner walls, with