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

“Oh my gosh,” Vicki gushed. “It’s unbelievable.”

It was stunning, with marble staircases, high vaulted ceilings, antique chandeliers, and gold plated railings.

“It looks like Daddy Warbucks mansion,” I remarked.

“You’re not wrong,” Jessica said. “The theatre was designed during the same time period that Annie would have been set in, so the architecture is similar. You’d be the first to be married there, at least since the renovation.”

“Right,” Vicki still flipped through the photos. She stared at one, with a crimson red rug flowing through the lobby.

“If you look at the ceiling in that photo,” Jessica said. “You can see that they’ve uncovered an original fresco. It’s been painted over at some time, but it’s got caricatures of all the famous silver stars at that time. Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, you name it.”

“Wow,” I smiled and nodded approvingly. “It is really something.”

“I’ve found the dimensions for the lobby,” Jessica said. “It’s a large space. In the early days, they would have parties in that lobby. Legend has it that Marilyn Monroe went to at least one of them.”

“I heard that growing up,” I said. “Everybody swears it’s true.”

“Well,” Jessica said. “The original bar area has been restored. So, if you wanted to do the reception there, we could. But based on the earliest estimations, a lobby that size can hold...I’d say...four hundred guests?”

“What kind of a guest list are we looking at?” I asked Vicki.

“Four hundred, huh?” I said. “That’s a big wedding.”

“Well,” Vicki smiled. “We know a lot of people.”

I smiled as I made a mental guest list. Yes, we did. Although, most of the guys I knew in California, wouldn’t understand my life now. We spent our days getting drunk, chasing women, and congratulating ourselves on how much God damned money we were making. Geez, we were all making so much money in those days. I couldn’t believe it then, and I still can’t believe it now.

I live a different lifestyle now. We still make good money, but it’s not about that anymore. It’s about building something, making a difference in this town. It’s about helping people that need help. And it’s us...me and Vicki and what we have together. I tuned back in to Vicki who was prodding me to look at a website template on Jessica’s tablet.

“So,” Vicki told me, “we’re going to do purple and white as our primary color scheme, because my dress is deep purple. I’ve already ordered it from Vera Wang.”

“Purple?” I smirked. “Your dress is purple, huh? Not white?”

“Please,” Vicki rolled her eyes. “I am so over the white wedding tradition. It is not even a thing. And your dad got married with a giant star on his crotch, so don’t talk to me about traditional wedding attire. At least I’m wearing Vera Wang.”

“He what?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.

We both laughed.

“Sedona,” I rubbed my face. “What else can I say?”

“Gotcha,” Jessica nodded.

“So what is this?” I pointed to the template.

“We want to set up a wedding website,” Jessica said. “It will be a touchpoint for your guests, and allow them to keep in touch with the wedding buzz and events. We can link it to your social media, and get the announcement out a lot faster. As a matter of fact, a lot of couples aren’t even doing traditional invitations and Save the Dates anymore.”

“I don’t know,” I told Vicki. “I think I’d like to have a paper invitation. Wouldn’t you?”

“It’s nice to have,” Vicki said. “But who checks their mail anymore?”

“Well,” Jessica said. “You could do both.”

My phone buzzed right then. It was Agent Winslow.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’ve got to take this.”

“Absolutely,” Jessica said.

Vicki watched me slip out into the hall with concern.

“Henry Irving,” I said once I’d gotten out of the room.

“Mr. Irving,” she said. “This is Agent Ashley Winslow.”

“Agent Winslow,” I said. “Good to hear from you. What can I help you with?”

“Well,” she said. “I just want to tell you that we brought in Roy Oberland for questioning, and with the information we had from Tony Sanchez’s testimony, we were able to get a confession out of him.”

“That’s great,” I said. “So the charges against Kelsi will be dropped?”

“Yes,” she said. “And on behalf on the FBI, we’d like to thank you for helping to get these guys behind bars.”

“My pleasure,” I said.

“Thank you,” Agent Winslow said. “Have a good day Mr. Irving.”

“Good day, Agent Winslow,” I said.

I ended the call, leaned against the wall, and laughed out loud. We had cracked another one. I went back into the wedding planning room, and Jessica and Vicki both stopped as soon as they saw me.

“She’s free,” I said.

Vicki jumped up and squealed. “She’s free?”

“Roy confessed to everything,” I said.

“Oh, that’s great,” Vicki said.

Jessica’s eyes ping ponged back and forth between us.

“Sorry,” I said. “We’ve been working on this smuggling case, and it’s become a monster with two heads.”

“Ah,” Jessica said. “I like to watch crime shows myself. Guilty pleasure.”

I laughed. “We’ve got our client off.”

“But we still don’t know who killed James Matthews,” Vicki mused.

“James Matthews?” Jessica asked. “Are you talking about the trumpet player that died on Sedona Nightlife?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You know about that?”

“I’ve read all the news reports and blogs on that,” she said. “It’s a freak accident, and I didn’t believe the heart arrythmia thing for a second. Those guys all hated each other, they were always arguing, the blogs say.”

I raised an eyebrow. I glanced around the pink and white room with gauze colored curtains and listened to her murder theory.

“My money’s on that trumpet,” she said. “I think the trumpet was poisoned.”

I stared at her in disbelief. The trumpet was poisoned?

“I