Sedona Law 5 by Dave Daren (e book reader android .TXT) 📗

been all okay. But Jerry did an expose saying it was Wright Way’s negligence that caused the fall and that Wright Way was a horrible company and all of this other stuff. Jerry’s expose encouraged the worker to sue the pants off Peter and Paul personally, and they had to sell the entire company and take out second mortgages on their houses to pay the six million. They did, and the guy recovered in less than a year and got this super nice house in Phoenix.”

“Wow,” I said. “You think that would cause them to take out a hit on Jerry?”

“Not in itself,” she said, “but all the guys who worked with Wright Way got laid off. And then there’s this … Wright Way was actually a pretty cool company. I looked into them. They were connected to the Second Chance Men Center.”

“Isn’t that some kind of recovery place for felons?” I asked with a frown.

“Yeah,” she replied. “They take in felons after they get out of jail, and addicts who end up on the street, and they help them get their life together and everything. And Wright Way would give these guys jobs, because no one else would.”

“So, when they got laid off … ” I figured out.

“Right,” she nodded, “it just pissed off a bunch of ex-murderers and rapists. And they were super defensive of Peter and Paul, so when they guy took him to the cleaners … ”

“I see,” I said, “they would have tried to get revenge for him.”

“And then there’s this part,” AJ added. “That guy who screwed everyone over? He was found dead a year ago in his house in Phoenix with his throat slit.”

I blinked in surprise. “Whoa.”

She nodded. “Yeah, and the murder was never solved by Phoenix police, because they wouldn’t have traced it all the way back to bad blood in Sedona. But it’s pretty well suspected it was a bunch of Wright Way felons.”

“Wow,” I sighed as I sat back in my chair. “Horace was right, this guy has a lot of enemies.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” she agreed with a snort. “I called that guy’s wife in Phoenix. I’m thinking of going out there to talk to her.”

“Might be a good idea,” I agreed. “What else have we got?”

Vicki laughed. “Well, I’ve got a pissed off loan shark.”

“A loan shark?” I said with a grin. “This should be fun. What’s his deal?”

“His name is Allen Wagenshutz,” she replied. “He’s a shady back of the bar, wheeling and dealing type of guy, mainly does loans to the type of people banks don’t want to be in business with, if you know what I mean. But Jerry’s dealt with him from time to time. He borrowed fifty grand for a film, sold him on the premise, blah, blah, gonna be a big Hollywood movie, yada yada. The movie, of course, was stalled out indefinitely, and Allen was busting down Jerry’s door looking for the money, and Jerry was avoiding him.”

“That sounds pretty probable as well,” I mused as I rubbed my chin. “So where was he the day of the murder?”

“He said he was at the Cezanne exhibit at the art museum that day,” she replied.

“A shady underworld loan shark who likes impressionist art,” I chuckled with a shake of my head. “Alright. Was there a Cezanne exhibit at the art museum that day?”

AJ checked her phone,“Yes. There was. It ran from eleven to two.”

“That’s convenient timing,” I said. “Right during our crime period. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t hire someone, or that he wasn’t involved in some way, or that he even stayed during the entire exhibit.”

“Right,” she said. “We can ask at the museum. See what they know--”

“They’re not going to remember when one man came or went,” I interrupted, “but the production studio may have security footage, who came in and out of the keypad entrance. We’d never looked at that. Horace said something about working with Jerry’s assistant. I guess she’s in charge of the building right now.”

“I’ll put in a call to Horace to find out how to contact her,” AJ offered.

“Great,” I said. “Also, we need to put in a call to the Second Chance Men’s Center. See if we can go out there, feel it out for leads.”

“Great,” Vicki said. “I’ll tackle that.”

“Perfect,” I replied, “and I’ve got a list of neighbors I’ll talk to. Sounds like we’ve got a good plan for tomorrow, so we’ll start in on this bright and early.”

Chapter 6

Vicki and I went home that night to our little cottage with takeout from Fifth Street Bistro. We tried to make it a rule not to talk about work at home, but as always, we had no success.

“Do you think The Count killed Jerry?” Vicki asked over a roll of California sushi.

I laughed. “Are you kidding? He would have done it historically correct.” Then I frowned as she poured a purple sauce into a bowl. “What is that?”

“This,” she said with a broad grin, “is Jimi’s Red Hot, Purple Haze Salsa.”

“Wha … ?” I answered slowly.

She laughed. “It’s your dad’s new experiment. You left before he could unveil it.”

“Oh my god.” I rolled my eyes.

She giggled and opened a bag of chips, “Just try it.”

“Alright,” I sighed. Then I dipped a chip in and had a bite, and I was surprised. The salsa was the perfect amount of tangy and spicy, and my tongue tingled with the combination of flavors. I chewed slowly to savor my dad’s creation, and then I grinned as the smoky aftertaste kicked in. “You know, this is actually pretty good.”

“Isn’t it?” she mumbled around a bite of her own.

Suddenly, as we were sitting there, we heard a loud noise that could only be interpreted as