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

there, they take the tusk to Beijing, where Brent also has a house, and he sells them for millions.”

“This Corey told you all of this?” Agent Winslow’s tone was dubious.

“I told you,” he said, “we were drunk, and he said all kinds of stuff he shouldn’t have said.”

“So you were drunk as well,” Agent Johnson clarified.

“I’m Australian,” he stated. “That’s what we do, man.”

“I understand,” she said. “But, your state of mind doesn’t build an entirely credible story.”

“Okay,” he snorted. “Point taken, say what you will. But, I saw the elephant tusks, man. They were there. And you can get Corey to testify, and court order or whatever his flight records, he’s in and out of Sedona all the time. That’s based on the things ‘everyone knows,’ that I don’t have proof of. But, you could find that proof.”

“And you think that Mr. Levinson was involved in assisting Kelsi Matthews with smuggling?”

“Like I said,” he said. “I don’t know Kelsi. But, I have since heard JMB. And, in my professional opinion…”

He sighed and looked away as he groaned slowly. “Not to disrespect someone’s life work, and all that. James Matthews, may he rest in peace. But you know, I personally wouldn’t have signed them to a major label, I’ll say it that way. And, I find it an odd coincidence that he signed this band out of Sedona, the same place where he’s got his uh...little...import-export thing going on.”

The three agents all nodded simultaneously as the point sank in. I loved Jagger’s use of the phrase, ‘professional opinion.’ It worked well on the agents.

“The plant,” I reminded him.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “I forgot to tell you about the plant. So, we were on tour in Germany, and we were packing to board our return flight to New York. Brent flew out to see us, which we all thought was a nice gesture. He didn’t have to, he just said wanted to see how the show went. So we all hung out that night, and he seemed overly interested in making us like him. It was weird. He was trying to talk to us all like we were all old friends, and he was trying to get us girls, and it was just a little strange.”

Jagger made a face and paused for a moment. He stared at a point on the wall before he turned back to the agents.

“So in the morning,” he said, “we were all gathering in the hotel lobby, you know, all hungover and gearing up for a transatlantic flight. Which we were a little pissed at him because, contrary to popular belief, rock stars don’t party as hard as you might think. We blow off steam, sure. But, we work as hard as anyone, so if you want to be successful, it’s like anything, you gotta find a balance. And Brent just wanted party, party, party, all night. So, in the morning, Brent’s going around, trying to Mr. Cool Guy, and we all just want to punch the dude. And, then, he comes up to me, and he’s like, ‘Hey, Jag.’ Which no one calls me Jag. It’s so stupid. And he’s like, ‘Can you do me a solid, mate?’ And he’s American. He’s not allowed to say, ‘mate.’”

He furrowed his brow in offense and looked around at the room for confirmation. The agents were joyless but I snickered.

“So he’s like, ‘I’ll pay ten thousand bucks for a favor,’” Jagger continued. “And then I’m interested. What’s this ten thousand dollar favor? He pulls out this little cardboard box. He’s like ‘hide this in your luggage.’ I ask him what’s in there, and he’s like well, it’s this rare plant that you can only get in Germany. And you can take a couple to the U.S., but he’s already hit his limit, and he wanted me to take the last one. I didn’t know if any of that was true, and he was really pressuring me to do it. That made me suspicious, and I thought about if I got caught, I could get my visa revoked. So, I told him no, and he got violently angry. I’m not sure what happened to the plant in the end, but when I sobered up after the elephant tusk incident, I remembered about the plant.”

“So Mr. Levinson asked you to smuggle for him?” Agent Winslow asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Jagger confirmed. Then after a pause he added, “But I declined.”

“And Mr. Levinson,” I reminded the agents, “has connections to James Matthews.”

“And would you be willing to testify this in court, Mr. Campbell?” Agent Johnson asked.

Jagger sighed. “Yeah, I will. But it’s stabbing a lot of people in the back, so I’d rather not if I didn’t have to.”

“I understand, Mr. Campbell,” Agent Johnson replied. “Is that all you have?”

“Yeah,” Jagger said.

“Thank you, Mr. Campbell,” Agent Winslow said. “We’ll contact you if we have any more questions.”

Jagger rose from the table and I followed him out of the room. As soon as he walked out he doubled over and let out a deep breath.

“You okay?” Leila asked.

“Yeah,” he stood up. “That was intense. Selling out everyone you know.”

“You’re not selling anyone out,” I reminded him. “Brent screwed you over.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But he wrote me a bloody great check in the end.”

“Because I threatened his career to make him do what was right in the first place,” I said.

“That’s true,” he said. “I guess I should look at it that way.”

“I guess they didn’t find Tony,” I asked Leila.

“No,” she said. “They’re out driving around looking for him. He’s not answering his phone.”

I had tell the agents something. I stepped into the room.

“Mr. Sanchez is…” I paused.

Legally I couldn’t lie for him. I had to tell them the truth. He had been directly involved in the crime