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

It keeps an ever-watchful eye on the city.”

Indeed, the structure was made of wood, and the entire building had a curved warped shape, with the gentle oval curves of an eye, with the pupil area comprised of large tinted windows.

“You would park here,” she gestured toward a cement area near us. “And then you take this canoe out to the island.”

A small green canoe floated near us, and Susan gestured.

“Come, come,” she said. “Let’s ride out there.”

Vicki and I looked at each other dubiously.

“It is a peaceful place,” Vicki tried.

“Yeah,” I said. “Susan, I’m sure that the dragon’s eye cabin will be so awesome to someone, but it’s a bit small for us.”

“Plus,” Vicki said, “we’re so busy, the coolness of the lake island would be lost on us.”

“Absolutely,” she said. She slipped on her shades. “This one will go fast, though. It’s already got a few offers.”

“I’ll bet it does,” I said. “I’ll bet it does.”

“What else do we have?” Vicki asked.

“Okay,” Susan said. “This next one you will love, love, love. If it’s size you’re looking for, I’ve got just the thing.”

Susan gave Vicki an address, and we got back into our cars and followed her out there.

“How long?” I asked.

“This one is supposed to be thirty minutes,” my girlfriend said.

“From the office?” I asked incredulously.

“From here,” she said. “From the office... forty-five.”

“Yeah,” I said. “This place had better be good.”

“I don’t think you could top the spying lake dragon,” she said.

“I did appreciate the creativity, though,” I said. “I think it would be a good place for a sci-fi writer.”

“I could see that,” she laughed. “He sits in his dragon cabin, and writes on his laptop, and comes out on his canoe in a cape and a suit of armor.”

“What else would he have?” I asked. “I mean, you couldn’t live there, and just wear jeans.”

“God, no,” she said. “The spirit of the great dragon eye wouldn’t stand for it.”

“Hopefully this place will be better,” I said.

My phone buzzed with a text.

“AJ,” I muttered as I pulled the text up and drove at the same time. “Judith’s at the office.”

“You’re kidding?” Vicki said.

“No,” I said.

I voice texted AJ, “Find out what she wants.”

“Should we go back?” Vicki asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Depends on what she says.”

The reply came quick enough.

“Holy Jesus,” I said. “She still insists she did it.”

“You should talk to her,” Vicki said. “Maybe she’s got a clue.”

We were almost half an hour away from the office by now, so I didn’t see any point in turning around.

I voice texted AJ, “Set an appointment for tomorrow.”

She texted me back. “She can only do the morning, and tomorrow is Elena’s hearing.”

“Shit,” I said. “Elena’s hearing is tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Vicki said. “First thing in Phoenix.”

“Well,” I said. “Let’s try the day after.”

“No,” Vicki said. “We need this interview.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “but I don’t want to miss your first hearing. This is a big deal.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “This is totally random that she wants to meet with you. There’s no reason other than she knows something we need to know. If you put her off too long, she’ll get spooked.”

“You want to do your first hearing without me?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “But, I also don’t want to lose this witness. The hearing will be basic common sense. I’ll be fine.”

I didn’t like it, but she was right. It wasn’t much longer before Susan took us to our next destination.

“Whoa,” Vicki said as soon as we pulled up. I just sat in silence.

The building looked like a giant golf ball etched into the earth. It was a white dome shape, with pock marks on top, and an open green lawn all around. At the base of the golf ball, were windows peeking out on all sides like creepy eyes.

“It’s definitely bigger,” she said. “Maybe because we’re lawyers, she thinks we play golf?”

“Ugh,” I said. “I detest golf.”

“You have a set of clubs in the garage,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m actually a decent player, but it’s the pretentious douche-baggery I can’t stand.”

“Isn’t that the whole point of the game, though?” she asked.

“Precisely,” I said.

She laughed. “That explains it.”

We got out of the car, and Susan grinned from ear to ear. Although, this was difficult to tell under the enormous hat that almost blew away in the wind.

“This,” she gestured, “is pure gold. This is spacious, and inviting, and has ample room to build a deck, and a pool, and whatever you like. This was originally built in 1967, so it has a whole space feel to it.”

“I thought it was golf,” I said.

“It was recently repainted,” she said. “The original color was gold, and it had that very mod space age look to it. It’s being sold now, so they remodeled it, and toned down the whole period look. Shall we have a look inside?”

Since we didn’t have to cross a moat to get to the dragon this time, we gave this one a chance.

“Let’s,” I said simply.

She took us to the front stoop. Flowerbeds lined a concrete walkway, and then we entered through a glass front door.

“How’s the insulation with all of this glass?” I asked.

“It does respond to the elements,” she said. “So, the owners built in an eco-friendly cooling system that runs on solar power.”

“Solar power?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “They’ve put solar panels at the top of the dome so it generates a lot of its own electricity. It’s not completely off the grid yet.”

“That’s… convenient,” I said.

I was all for being eco-friendly and all, but I didn’t know the first thing about