Sedona Law 5 by Dave Daren (romantic novels in english .TXT) 📕

“Anytime,” he replied with a wink.

“Alright,” I decided as I clapped my hands together, “let’s dissolve the listening room and thank the volunteers. Then I’ll take the file over to the police station.”

Vicki and AJ broke up the volunteer group, and thanked them all for their help. I watched my dad load the file onto the flash drive. The volunteers started to dismantle all the listening equipment and load it up.

“Thanks, everybody,” my dad threw in for extra measure. “Drinks on me tonight, Slingers. Live music Saturday!”

He referred to a cowboy bar I’d had to go to a couple of times on cases, and I snickered.

“Alright, Moondust!” I heard a couple of times. “Live music Saturday!”

Everyone cheered, and they all slapped him on the back as they came in and out hauling gear out to their vehicles.

“You’re expensing the tab, right?” My dad winked at me.

I laughed. “Sure, Dad.”

He loaded the file onto the flash drive and gave it to me. “Well, then here ya go.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “I’ll personally take this over to the police.”

“Give Durant my regards,” he muttered. “He left a snotty online review of my new single.”

“Did he?” I snickered.

“Yeah,” my dad frowned, “he called it a ‘shoddy ripoff vaguely reminiscent of Irving’s glory days as a third rate opening act for CCR.’ Asshole.”

“Brutally savage,” I chuckled. “Well written though.”

“I know,” he sighed. “Maybe he’s a writer on the side.”

I laughed. “Who isn’t these days?”

He snorted. “What WordPress has done to the timeless art of literature.”

“Since when have you become the avenger of the literary arts?” I teased.

“Oh, you know,” he shrugged, “I dabble.”

“Really?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “I didn’t know that.”

He shrugged again. “I have that novel I’ve been writing on and off for about twenty years or so.”

“Oh, yeah,” I remembered. “The one about the rock star who gets abducted by aliens. I read pieces of it when I was young.”

My dad cleared his throat and grimaced. “How young?”

“You don’t want to know,” I chuckled. “I do remember something about the rock star… Guy Vann?”

He nodded, and his eyes were bright. “Anything else?”

I squinted my eyes and dug through my memory. “Guy Vann and some chick named Guinevive were stranded on a planet and had to procreate it.”

“Well,” he laughed, “you’re more or less well adjusted, so I guess it didn’t screw you up too bad.”

“More or less, well adjusted,” I teased.

“More or less,” my dad repeated with a grin. “Anyway, it’s nothing much. It’s just fun.”

“You should publish it,” I suggested, and then I added, “on WordPress.”

“That’s it,” my father replied with a shake of his head, “you’re disinherited.”

I laughed. “Well, don’t feel bad about Durant. I’m not exactly on the best terms with him, either. I think he has it out for us.”

“Oh, I don’t feel bad,” he said as he tucked his hands casually into his pockets. “I want to smash his windows out.”

I winced. “I completely did not hear that,” I muttered.

“Really?” my dad asked with a mischievous smile. “Should I say it again?”

I just shook my head. “I’ll take this to the station and try to run by Slingers afterwards.”

“Alright,” he clapped me on the shoulder, “we’ll be good and sloshed by then.”

“Good,” I laughed. “Then maybe no one will notice if I don’t show.”

He chuckled, and I went to go find Vicki before I left.

“I’m going to head off to the police station,” I told her as I stopped by her desk. “Are you going to Slinger’s with everyone?”

“I’ll probably make an appearance,” she replied. “After all, I couldn’t miss a genuine western cowboy bar.”

I laughed. “I don’t know if genuine is really the word you’re looking for, but cowboy, yes. Just … you know, play it smart. The first time I set foot in that place, Horace and some guy were both undergoing unauthorized cosmetic surgery.”

She winked at me. “You think I couldn’t handle myself in a bar fight, Irving?”

“No,” I chuckled, “I think you could. I’d be more worried about the other guy.”

“Well,” Vicki grinned, “then you’d better save us a lawsuit and get there fast.”

I laughed. “See you later.”

“See you,” she replied with a little wave.

I grabbed the flash drive and the original eight track tape and left right as the guys finished loading the last of the gear. Now they all stood around back slapping and talking about the good old days that none of them could remember.

I nodded a quick thanks to the guys and drove out to the police station. Everytime I came out here, it was a dismal affair. I supposed that was part of the punishment.

I walked in through the glass door to a drab room lit up by dim fluorescent lighting, and there was the usual buzzing bulb on its way out. In eight months, they still had not fixed that thing. Or maybe it was a different bulb, I couldn’t tell. They had Bernice on dispatch again, and I smiled a quick greeting to her.

“They ever going to fix that bulb?” I nodded in the direction of the buzzing.

“What bulb?” she asked as she took a bite of her apple. It was always with the apples with her.

“The one that’s going out over there.” I pointed to the flickering fixture about three or four lights away from the front.

She turned and looked at it with interest. “Yeah, I guess it is going out. I’ll call maintenance about it.”

“Durant in?” I asked as I signed in on the visitor’s clipboard.

“Yeah,” she said and pointed back toward an office. “He said you might be by. You’ve made some real friends around here.”

“Sorry about that,” I replied with a wince.

“No,”