Sedona Law 6 by Dave Daren (best non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📗

knew how she was going to plea, but I hoped she would change her mind at the last second.”

“Not guilty, your honor,” she said.

“We’ll set a trial date six weeks from today,” the judge said as she banged the gavel. “Court adjourned.”

As soon as we left the courtroom, Kelsi fanned out her palms and took a deep breath. Carol rejoined us and looked at Kelsi with concern.

“Well that’s over,” Kelsi said. “I feel like my stomach is in knots.”

“Don’t worry,” Vicki told her. “We’re going to beat these charges.”

“You’re the best in Sedona,” Carol said. “We have full confidence in you.”

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” I said. “But we haven’t lost a case yet.”

“I like to hear that,” Carol said.

Kelsi just looked tired.

“We’ve got a long drive ahead of us,” Carol said. “We’ll see you around.”

“Definitely,”  I said.

Carol and Kelsi clacked through the lobby and out of our vision. I turned to Vicki.

“Here we go again,” I said.. “The rush of another criminal trial.”

“You know you live for this stuff,” Vicki said.

I laughed. “I do. I just hoped we’d get a little more experience under our belt before we take on the DOJ.”

“No you don’t,” she laughed. “You love the adrenaline rush. I’d like to think if you weren’t a lawyer, you’d be one of those extreme sports guys, jumping off cliffs.”

“Maybe,” I laughed.

“You know that’s why I love you,” she smiled.

“Is that why?” I said. “Cause I still can’t figure it out. I thought it was the hair.”

“Nah,” she said. “The ass maybe, but not the hair.”

I laughed as we exited the building and headed out to the parking garage.

“On another note,” Vicki said. “We’ve got to meet with the wedding planner this week.”

“Ah, yes,” I remembered. “Jessica. Have we officially hired her.”

“We have,” I said. “It’s just she lives in Tucson so we’ve only talked to her on the phone. She’s got an office in Flagstaff, she’ll be here later this week. We get to talk cake and invitations and all that fun stuff.”

“Haven’t you and Harmony already been doing that?” I asked.

“We’ve just been kicking around ideas,” she said. ”But, here’s the thing. And you can’t let her know that you know, or that I know, because she doesn’t want us to know.”

“That’s good because I genuinely don’t know,” I laughed.

“No, seriously,” she said. “Your mom accidentally let it slip. She’s painting a gift for us.”

“Really?” I asked. “That’s sweet. What’s she painting?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “It’s supposed to be a surprise. But, in a way, she’s part of our story, how we got together.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” I said.

We reached my car, and it beeped when I clicked the key fob.

“So,” Vicki said, “I thought maybe we could somehow display it at the wedding. Or have her paint something for the wedding. Like a backdrop, or something. I think having original art at our would be kind of cool.”

“Yeah,” I laughed. “I think I’m just going to have to give in to being artsy fartsy. I do own a production studio now.”

She laughed. “So, what about that? How much are you investing?”

“He hasn’t given me a number yet,” I said. “I told him to come up with a budget and get back to me. So here’s the thing. The first film they’re doing is AJ’s screenplay on the Harmony case.”

“What?” she asked incredulously. “Does Harmony even know?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She’s marginally into it from what it sounds like. But, I didn’t even know AJ was writing that.”

“Okay,” Vicki admitted as we slipped into the car.  “I did.”

“You did?” I asked.

I sat in the driver’s seat and let the keys fall into my lap.

“Yeah,” she said. “She talked to me about it, when she first came up with the idea. She wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to finish it, or that it would be any good, so she didn’t want to involve you or your family until she was sure that her writing had any momentum. You know how weird she gets about her writing.”

“Yeah,” I said.

She reads poetry at a bookstore, but she didn’t want anyone she knew to ever attend--that included Vicki and I. I turned on the car and pulled out of the garage.

“And your mom,” Vicki laughed.

I laughed. We approached the parking booth, and I paid the ticket.

“She does have a strange fascination with my mom,” I said as I drove out of the garage and onto the street.

The light of the mid-morning was a contrast to the shaded garage and I flipped the visor down.

“I think it’s sweet,” Vicki said.

“Phoenix is all over the screenplay,” I said.

“I think it will be good,” she said. “I read a couple of scenes. It’s cute. You’ll like it.”

The drive back to Sedona took the better part of the afternoon, and it was almost the end of the day when we neared the office. I contemplated just going home and texting AJ to lock up, but then my phone beeped with a text from her.

Jim Hurley’s at the office. R u anywhere close?

Five minutes I texted her back.

“Jim’s at the office,” I told Vicki.

“Ah,” she replied. “We’d better rush back before he and AJ kill each other.”

I laughed and it wasn’t long before we got back in. Jim was waiting, and both he and AJ looked relieved.

“Jim,” I smiled. “How’s it going?”

“Hey guys,” he said. “I tried to call but your phones were off.”

“Court,” Vicki and I said in unison as we turned our ringers back on.

“Ah,” he said. “We need you to come out to the build site. The construction foreman wants to look around.