Sedona Law 5

by Dave Daren

  But I did have quite the network in L.A, despite what I told the barrage of wannabes who flocked to me as if I were as good as an A&R executive from Capitol Records. My network had cooled down a bit in the last eight months, but I could still light it back up if I needed to. I could definitely put in a few good words for her, if she had something.

  “It will be nice for things to slow down a bit,” Vicki sighed. “We got our conference room back.”

  We all laughed.

  “Okay, so we officially need to get better furniture in there,” I said as I rubbed my lower back. “I think I need a chiropractor after that.”

  “Oh, agreed.” AJ nodded vehemently. “Actually I’ve been looking online. There’s this table I really like.”

  “I want to stay true to the whole theme of the office, though,” Vicki chimed in.

  “We have a theme?” I asked, puzzled.

  “Definitely,” AJ told me before she glanced at Vicki. “You will love this.”

  Just then, my phone buzzed, but I didn’t recognize the number.

  “Henry Irving,” I answered.

  “Hey, Henry,” the voice said. “It’s Jim Hurley. Clare’s husband?”

  “Jim,” I replied with a smile, “good to hear from you. How are you doing?”

  “I’m excellent,” he said. “I got your e-mail the other day, and I would love to meet with you about designing your house. I’m pretty open all day today, if you want to stop by.”

  “Absolutely,” I responded. “Vicki and I will be by today before lunch.”

  “Great,” he said. He gave me the address, and then we said our goodbyes and ended the call.

  “What was that?” Vicki asked as she tilted her head at me.

  “The architect,” I told her. “Jim Hurley wants to meet with us.”

  “The dude who tried to bribe you?” AJ asked with wide eyes.

  “He didn’t try to bribe me,” I corrected her, “his wife did. But he’s a good architect.”

  “Let’s go out there now,” Vicki said as an excited light leapt into her eyes. “We’re slow.”

  “Sure,” I agreed before I glanced at AJ. “Can you take care of things around here?”

  “Not much to take care of,” AJ shrugged, “everything’s on auto-pilot.”

  “Good,” I said with a nod. “Then you’ll have some time to become Aaron Sorkin.”

  She laughed, and Vicki and I left. We drove out to the design office. It was a small building, a converted house in a strip center of converted houses. Ample foliage dotted the sides, and we made our way up a cobblestone walkway.

  “Homey design,” Vicki commented as we pulled up.

  “Oddly,” I disagreed. “Homey is not the feel we want.”

  “I know,” she said. “I want something open, airy, and light.”

  “Sophisticated,” I added. “Modern but not science fiction.”

  “Totally,” she agreed with a nod.

  We walked in, and the interior had geometrically shaped furniture, glass walls dividing the areas, and a small staff of trendy twenty-somethings ambling about.

  “Hey, guys,” Jim greeted as he met us and shook our hands.

  Jim in business casual instilled a lot more confidence in us than Jim in basketball shorts in a commune retreat center. He wore a slim fitting blue button down and gray slacks and had square framed wire rimmed glasses. He was all gray, but he looked fit, young. and virile. His smile was quick and easy, and his manner was relaxed and gracious.

  “Hi, Jim,” I shook his hand, “and I don’t think you met Vicki.”

  “Hello, Vicki,” he said, and they shook hands. “Nice to meet you.

  “Good to meet you, too.” Vicki smiled pleasantly.

  “Well, I appreciate you meeting with me,” Jim Hurley began as he glanced hesitantly between the two of us. “Although, I’ll admit I was surprised to hear from you after … ”

  “After what?” I asked as I exchanged a knowing glance with him.

  I suspected he had a reason for taking us on so quickly, but none of us were going to bring it up. He’d wanted to defraud an insurance company. He fessed up, and he was a damn good architect.

  Jim caught on and shrugged it off.

  “Well,” he continued. “Why don’t we all have a seat?” He gestured to a plush gray leather couch area, and as soon as we sat down a young, attractive assistant popped in and asked us what kind of coffee we would like.

  “None for me,” I answered as I settled into the couch. Then I crossed my legs and draped my arm behind Vicki beside me.

  “Are you sure?” the assistant asked. “We have a mini-Jitters bar for all of our clients.”

  “Jitters?” I perked up and felt like Pavlov’s dog.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “You know that coffee shop--”

  “I know Jitters very well,” I laughed. “In that case, I’ll have a latte if you’ve got one.”

  “We can do that,” she said with a smile before she turned to Vicki. “And you, miss?”

  “I’ll have a latte as well,” Vicki replied.

  The assistant scampered off, and then I turned to Jim.

  “Jitters, huh?” I commented. “I’m impressed.”

  “They’re the best,” he said as he crossed his legs, “and our clients deserve the best.”

  I laughed. “Well played. Well played.”

  “We should use that,” Vicki chuckled.

  “Get a Jitters bar in our office?” I replied.

  “Yeah,” she shrugged, “it can’t be that difficult.”

  “It’s not,” Jim confirmed with a smile. “It’s an easy set up contract we find serves our clients quite well. Well, I say our clients. It’s mainly our staff who gets the benefits.”

  We laughed, and the assistant showed up back with our lattes and a plate of pastries. We thanked her, and then she left.

  “Alright,” Jim said as we got down to business. “What can I do for you here today?”

  “I strangled a rooster,” Vicki blurted out before I could get a word in. “We have to move.”

  “You what?” I gasped as I turned to her in shock.

  “Yeah,” she answered with a cringe, “I didn’t kill it. But I made my point.”

  “Jesus, woman,” I sighed. “I drive a BMW. Do you know how fast you could get us sued?”

  “Do you know how fast I will counter sue for violating city ordinances?” she shot back.

  “A rooster, huh?” Jim chuckled. “Petunia’s roosters?”

  “You know her?” Vicki asked with a frown.

  “Yeah,” he nodded, “she lived next door to me for years.”

  “Really?” I questioned curiously. “She’s next door to us now.”

  “Those roosters made me place second in the marathon last year,” he laughed.

  “Roosters did that?” I asked.

  “Completely,” he confirmed. “I had nothing else to do but get up at five in the morning, so I started jogging on the rooster’s alarm clock. And I eventually entered a marathon.”

  “When life hands you lemons, I guess,” I laughed.

  “So,” he said, “you want to move.”

  “Well,” I rubbed my hands together, “we bought a plot of land from Andrea McClellan not too long ago, and we want to build our first house.”

  “We love your online portfolio,” Vicki added. “You have that style we are looking for.”

  “So-Cal, but not,” I rambled. “Modern, sleek, contemporary … ”

  “Light, airy, open,” she continued, “with a skylight.”

  “And a pool,” I added, “with a deck, and lots of space for entertaining.”

  “And we want to build in smart capability,” Vicki went on.

  “But it needs to be traditional,” I pointed out. “Not too avante garde.”

  “But we don’t want the soccer mom look,” Vicki groaned with a roll of her eyes. “Ugh.”

  Jim cleared his throat and smiled.

  “Yo
u’re so high maintenance,” Vicki said to me.

  “At least I’m not a chicken murderer,” I replied with a smirk.

  “Attempted murder,” she corrected.

  “Still has murder in it,” I snickered.

  Jim laughed politely. “I think we can come up with something that matches your vision. Let me show you some of my concept work.”

  He opened a book, and Vicki and I flipped through page after page, and my heart leapt at the sight of each house.

  “This is perfect,” I pointed to one image, “we can just have him rebuild this one.”

  “Oh, no wait,” Vicki pointed to another house, “this one is perfect.”

  “Oh, I agree,” I nodded, “this one is dead on our vision.”

  Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I glanced down to see who was calling me.

  It was the prosecutor.

  “Excuse me,” I said as I held up my finger to Jim.

  Vicki and Jim continued to discuss our house plans, and I stepped out into the hallway to take the call.

  “Henry Irving,” I answered.

  “Henry,” Chet Levinson replied. “Glad to catch you.”

  “Likewise,” I said.

  “I wanted to give you an update on the Steele case,” he explained. “Your client is completely free. We got a confession.”

  “What?” I asked as I blinked in surprise. “Allison confessed?”

  “Yup,” he replied. “SPD questioned her with the tapes, and she admitted to everything.”

  “What’s everything?” I questioned with a frown.

  “Two days after the tape was made,” he said, “apparently, after Jerry dismissed the film rehearsal for lunch, Allison never went to lunch. Alfred Dumont got into an argument with Jerry, and then he left just as he said.”

  “Right,” I said, “and Allison was still there, I guess.”

  “Correct,” Chet confirmed. “Allison called Ken because he’d previously left the studio in a fit of rage. She said she wanted to smooth things over with him.”

  “Ah, yes,” I remembered. “He’d walked out of rehearsal.”

  “This is what she said,” Chet agreed. “They were talking in a dressing room, while Alfred and Jerry argued. Then Allison and Ken assumed Jerry had left after Alfred, so their discussion became an intimate moment. Jerry was, in fact, still in the building, and he likewise assumed he was alone.”

  “And then he heard someone in another room,” I gathered.

  “Exactly,” Chet said. “He went to find out who was in the office, and he found Ken and Allison there. There was a fit of rage. Jerry stormed off to his office, and Allison followed him. The argument got worse, and Ken tried to intervene, and then Jerry and Ken got into an altercation. In the course of which, Allison tried to stop the fighting, by grabbing a marble bust off a shelf, and hitting Jerry with it, repeatedly. Unaware of her own strength, it only took a couple of blows before Jerry collapsed onto the floor in a pool of blood.”

  “Well,” I muttered, “that’s outrageous.”

  “It certainly was,” he said.

  “So, Ken is an accessory?” I asked.

  “He is, we have a warrant for him, but I reckon he will turn himself in,” Chet replied.

  “I’m glad to hear justice is going to be served,” I stated.

  “And you solved another one,” he chuckled. “Thanks for all of your help. We could use more of your skill around here.”

  “I don’t know,” I said suddenly. “I’m thinking about going on vacation.”

  “Vacation, huh?” Chet replied. “Well, that will be nice, too. Enjoy yourself. I’m sure we’ll see each other around.”

  “I’m sure we will,” I said.

  We ended the call, and I went back into the office with Jim and Vicki.

  “He wants to build a skylight in the bedroom,” Vicki gushed with bright eyes when she saw me. “We could lay in bed and watch the stars.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “It’s great. It all sounds great. What do you think of Tahiti?”

  “What?” she asked with a confused frown. “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing,” I laughed as I took a seat. “Nothing. What were you discussing here?”

  Jim and Vicki filled me in on their preliminary plans on the house. But I didn’t hear anything. I was on a beach, with a waterfall, and the water was so clear, the sandy bottom was still visible miles from the shore.

  As Jim and Vicki went on, I couldn’t insert much more than a generic comment on the deck or private patio off the master suite, even though these were things I had strong opinions on.

  The truth was, I needed to get some headspace. I’d been chasing down murderers for the last eight months, and I’d never really let it all in. I needed to get away from all of it. I needed it to be just me and Vicki for a bit.

  Besides, she was so wound up, she was going around trying to kill roosters. If there ever was a case for a vacation, this was it.

  We finished the meeting, and Vicki hired Jim. I just signed the paperwork.

  On the drive home, though, Vicki had much more to say.

  “Okay,” she said as we got on the road, “what was that?”

  “What?” I replied with a shrug. “‘Snuff the rooster’ over there has something to ask?”

  “Oh my gosh,” she groaned and rolled her eyes. “That is not what that song was about.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I snickered. “You tried to kill a rooster.”

  “Okay,” she sighed. “It was an accident.”

  “Yes,” I nodded sagely, “you just accidentally went over there, grabbed a rooster, and--”

  “Don’t change the subject,” she laughed. “You’re not off the hook here either, mister. You barely said two words back there. What’s going on? And what was that about Tahiti? Is the mob coming after us again or something?”

  “No,” I chuckled. “Let’s just … get out of here. Let’s leave town for a while.”

  “What?” she asked with a furrowed brow. “Are you crazy? We have a business, clients, and an employee--”

  “We’ll keep paying the employee,” I cut in, “and she’s got a boyfriend in Chicago. She’ll enjoy the break. And all of our work is on auto-pilot right now. So, let’s spend some time in Tahiti.”

  “Tahiti?” Vicki asked as she tilted her head to the side. “Isn’t that where Earnie Green is?”

  “He’s got a hut on the beach.” I nodded. “He said he can get us a deal on a villa anytime.”

  “Is this because you miss him?” she asked.

  “No,” I replied and glanced over at her. “It’s because I miss you.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “Okay,” she murmured with a small smile. “When?”

  “Right now,” I said. “Come with me right now.”

  “Can we go home and pack first?” she giggled.

  I laughed as we pulled into the drive of our house.

  The chickens ran when they saw us. Now, I knew why.

  Vicki got out of the car, and she looked at me still in the driver’s seat.

  “Are you coming?” she asked quizzically.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’ve just got to run an errand, but I’ll be back in a bit.”

  “Okay … ” She gave me a confused look, but I didn’t respond. “You sure you’re alright? You’re acting really weird.”

  “I’m fine,” I reassured her with a smile. “Really.” Then I gunned the engine. “I’ll be back in an hour, I swear.”

  She shrugged, shut the door, and walked backward slowly into the house still watching me for clues. Once she was inside, I backed out of the driveway and drove out to my parents’ house.

  “Hello,” I called out. “Anyone home?”

  My mom came in from the garden, and smiled. “Try these new vegetables I just brought in. The squash is tremendous. Take some home with you, too.”

  I held a squash in my hand, and then set it back down.

  “What’s going on?
” my mom asked and peered in the direction of the front door. “Where’s Vicki?”

  I sighed, and then my dad showed up.

  “Hey, Henry,” he greeted and clapped me on the shoulder. “Good to see you. I got a call from Durant. It was kind of interesting. He said he talked to you about being a drummer?” My dad paused and looked between Mom and me. “Wait, what’s going on here?”

  Suddenly, Harmony showed up at this point.

  “Hello?” she called out from the front door, and then she met the rest of us in the kitchen. “That kid Paul in my class has made major strides. I took him to---What’s going on? Why is everyone so quiet?”

  “Ask your brother,” my mom said with a shrug.

  “Henry?” Harmony asked as she turned to me with a frown. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m going to Tahiti for the summer,” I told my family.

  “A vacation?” my dad asked and smiled. “That sounds nice. You deserve it.”

  “You’re going?” Harmony clarified. “Wait, what happened to Vicki? Did you guys break up?”

  “On the contrary,” I grinned, “I’ve decided to get engaged.”

  “What?” my mom gasped, and then her face lit up.

  “Yeah,” I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. “I actually came by to get grandma’s engagement ring.”

  My whole family, minus the brother in South America, stood in the kitchen in shock for a moment. Then they all burst out into cheers and hugged me.

  It was a far cry from how I had come to Sedona.

  And I couldn’t be happier.

  Epilogue

  “I brought in fresh coconut,” Vicki said as she entered our hut.

  She wore a black bikini that showed off her perfectly toned and sunkissed body, and had a white sheer cover up wrapped around her waist.

  I sat on the bed and watched her move gracefully about the hut, every step with so much poise it was almost like she was a ballerina.

  “The resort beach party crew cleared out a bunch, and they were giving it all away,” my girlfriend added as she moved to the kitchenette to cut the fruit open.

  “Damn,” I whistled, but my eyes were glued to her chest. “Those are big.”

  “Uh-huh,” she laughed. “The coconuts are over here, Henry.”

  “Wait, there’s coconuts?” I teased.