Sedona Law 4 by Dave Daren (free ebook reader for ipad .txt) 📗

to do with a ban on censorship and the controversy over fake news,” she said. “This bill would make it illegal to censor pretty much any media outlet, it sounds like.”

“Free speech,” Vicki shrugged. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Well,” I said, “free speech is a tricky animal. It’s not as advantageous as you might think. Under free speech, for example, you could presumably, publish a story that the current presidential election is a fraud, and keep it going, until it undermines national security.”

“Presumably,” Vicki smirked.

“Presumably,” I said.

“But,” AJ said, “what if the story is correct? What if the presidential election is a fraud?”

“Well, sure, if you can prove it,” I said. “But if you can’t, that’s the mind fuck of free speech. Eventually you get so many people saying so many things, no one is listening to anything. And if you do that long enough, you end up with a country so divided, that it’s on the brink of a revolution... all because of oversaturation in the media.

AJ sighed and returned to her screen, “So, the bill would ban technology companies from censoring search engine results through any media server located in the state. Then, it has the long list of things that can no longer be considered libel. It’s really long.”

“Jesus,” I said. “You could argue both sides of this controversy until the day is long.”

“Yeah,” she said. “And people are. The controversy is totally out of control. According to this article, there are people saying they’ve gotten death threats on social media for either supporting or opposing the bill. Either way.”

“Death threats, huh?” I said.

Vicki caught my eye and read my mind. “You don’t think SB 1110 is behind Beowulf’s death?”

“It’s an idea,” I said, “Marvin’s reasons for bringing Ghoti in weren’t particularly strong. And I wouldn’t put it past him for manufacturing a murder for publicity. But he would have to have a motive that was stronger than that. We know he supports the bill, but we would still have to draw a connection between Ghoti and the bill.”

“Julianna is the only link between Sedona and Ghoti,” AJ said.

“I know this woman,” I said. “I’m telling you, she didn’t do it.”

“Are you sure about that?” AJ asked.

I raised an eyebrow and didn’t answer. “Find out everything you can about all the dancers, including Beowulf. We need to know who they are, what their political affiliations are, and what kind of connections they have. We also need to find out what senator sponsored that bill, and if they have any connections to any of our suspects.”

“We already know Marvin is connected to the bill,” Vicki said.

“Yeah,” I said, “But we need to know exactly how.

I spent the rest of the afternoon going blind on research. The whole thing sounded like a recipe for disaster, borrowing trouble on an unresolved and ongoing national conversation. So, Arizona, John Malone and Marvin Iakova were going to be the answer to the global fake news problem. Great. I was trying to find out exactly how he was connected, when Landon came in to pick up AJ for the night. He nodded quickly to Vicki and me.

“Hey,” he said.

AJ looked smitten as she fumbled with her purse, and the two muttered to each other quietly.

“But I’m hungry now,” he told her.

“Yeah,” she said. “There will be food there.”

“Stupid food,” he said. “Like, I want sushi and teriyaki from Fifth Street Bistro. I’ve been thinking about it literally the whole time I was in Chicago.”

“You couldn’t find sushi in Chicago?” I asked.

He turned to me. “It’s not the same. It’s Chicago sushi. They don’t know how to make it.”

“We don’t have time to stop,” AJ said.

“You guys going somewhere special?” Vicki asked.

AJ blushed and looked away.

“She’s doing a poetry reading,” Landon said proudly.

“Oh, fun,” Vicki gushed. “I forgot you write poetry.”

She shrugged. “It’s just... stupid. It’s an open mic thing at the bookstore.”

“Voltaire’s Place?” I asked.

She nodded and shrugged.

“I hear they have a talking cat,” I said.

Bella Swan was the resident black cat at the used bookstore, Voltaire’s Place. She was rumored to meow in English occasionally.

“Dude,” Landon said, “I heard it. The cat clearly said, ‘hello.’ It’s creepy as hell.”

“Well, a poetry reading is not stupid,” Vicki said. “We’ll have to read something you’ve written someday.”

“She’s good,” Landon said. “She’s really good. I love the way she describes things. The way she says things. It makes you think.”

AJ looked like she was about to sink into the floor from embarrassment. “Stop.”

“She doesn’t think it’s good,” Landon began, “so she doesn’t like people she actually knows to know about it. Only strangers... and me.”

“Landon, seriously,” she shot him a death look, and he shrugged.

“Enjoy the reading,” I told her. “And video the cat for me.”

“I will,” he said.

They laughed and left, and I watched as they both boarded Landon’s motorcycle.

“You ready to call it a night?” I turned to Vicki.

“Yeah,” she said. “Beowulf will still be dead in the morning.”

We locked up and drove the quarter mile back to our cottage. It was a cozy little place. We rented it because we made the move from LA quickly, and we hadn’t had time to house shop.

“We need to start looking for a house,” Vicki said. “Our lease here will be up soon, and we only got this place until we can find something.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m getting kind of attached to this place, though.”

“It’s tiny,” she said. “We need a place with lots of space and openness.”

“Openness?” I said. “Open for what?”

“People, for one,” she said.

“What if I don’t want to be open for people?” I answered.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“We fight the world all