by Dave Daren
“So what should we do with the afternoon?” I asked.
“I can think of a few things,” she winked.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she said.
Chapter 19
Her idea of an afternoon activity was not what I had in mind.
“Okay,” she slipped on her shades. “You go down this way toward the lake.”
I sighed as I followed her navigation. “I’m all for checking out this land, but now?”
“Andrea’s got another offer,” she said. “If we don’t take it now, we’ll lose it. Besides, you owe me for missing my hearing.”
“Alright,” I laughed.
The drive from our office to Andrea McClellan’s land was admittedly scenic. It took us down a long country road, with the Arizona desert all around us, in picturesque red and orange with dots of green.
“It’s a relaxing drive,” I remarked. “How far is the commute?”
“Ten minutes from the office,” she said.
“Only ten minutes?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “But it’s all country back roads, so it feels longer.”
My phone buzzed with a call.
“Julianna,” I told Vicki. “Time to tell her the good news.”
“Or bad, depending on what way you look at it,” Vicki replied.
I raised an eyebrow in agreement and accepted the call.
“Hey, there,” I said as I hit cruise control on the open road in front of me.
“Hi, Henry,” her voice sounded anxious. “How did it go?”
“Well,” I said. “It was good and bad.”
“Oh,” she murmured. “The bad news first.”
“They’re the same thing,” I said. “Olivia confessed to the murder.”
“What?” she gasped in disbelief.
“Yeah,” I said. “We have it all on tape, and you’re free to come by sometime to watch the recording. Although, I don’t know if you would want to or not. But, when she heard you were leaving with Gabriel, she wanted to leave the group with you.”
Julianna sighed. “I knew she would, and I felt terrible that I had to leave without telling her, but I couldn’t risk Beyo finding out, and I couldn’t take her with me. She’s a sweet girl, but I needed my own life.”
“Well,” I said. “The long story short is that she tried to follow you when she found out, and Beyo tried to stop her and said some horrible things about her history with Malone.”
“He could be like that,” Julianna said. “He was so cruel sometimes, particularly to her. I think it’s because of Malone.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Well, he pushed her too far that night, and she saw the dagger on the table, grabbed it, and killed him in a fit of passion.”
There was silence on the line for several seconds.
“Julianna?” I finally prodded. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, yeah,” her tone was hoarse and slight. “I’m still here.”
“I know it’s upsetting,” I started.
“It can’t be,” she said. “There’s something wrong. She would never.”
“She admitted it,” I said. “We’ve got it on tape. I’m sorry. I know this is hard to hear.”
“Then why didn’t she say something in all of this time?” Julianna asked.
“She said she told Malone because she was scared,” I continued, “and he told her not to confess and said that he would take care of you. So, he paid Judith Klein to confess.”
“Judith Klein?” she replied. “The crazy cheetah feminist lady?”
“Yeah,” I said. “She’s batshit nuts, and she did it so her genius son would have money for expensive colleges.”
“So,” Julianna said, “All of this time, Olivia has been watching me cry, and have anxiety attacks, and she knew she did it the whole time?”
“That’s about right,” I said. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this.”
“No, no,” she said softly. “You’re just doing your job. I-I can’t believe this is happening. Is this real?”
“It’s real,” I sighed. “Olivia left our office in police custody. Once she’s fully booked, you can go out there and try to talk to her yourself.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Well,” she finally sighed. “Thank you for telling me. Now that we’re in the same town, we should get together sometime.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Vicki and I would like that.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Especially considering, I apparently need to make new friends.”
I drew a deep breath. “Well, Vicki and I are here for you, whatever you need.”
“Thanks, Henry, for everything,” she said. “I’ll see you around.”
“See you,” I said, and then we walked back to the car.
Vicki let out a barely audible sigh, but said nothing.
“Well,” I said. “That was hard.”
“Poor thing,” she said. “She seems like a good person.”
“Yeah,” I said. “You should take her out, get your nails done with her or something.”
“Maybe I will,” she said.
We drove in silence for a while, the long highway in front of us. It was everything Arizona was supposed to be, open sky, open road, and the whole place felt like freedom.
“You know,” I told Vicki, “if we move to this land, we’re going to have to get a convertible.”
She laughed. “I am so on board with that.”
I flipped off the air conditioner and opened the windows and let the late spring wind lap our hair and our faces. I rounded a corner and the blue water popped up on the red and orange landscape. We drove along its edge for about a quarter mile, and then Vicki pointed.
“This way,” she shouted over the wind in the car.
She pointed to a side road off the highway. We drove down a quiet deserted street for a minute.
“Right where that fencepost is,” she said.
She pointed toward a rusted red fencepost, with some sort of government posting on it. I pulled into the driveway area, which was just a dirt clearing. We got out and surveyed the land. It was luscious, with green grass and towering trees everywhere.
“This is beautiful,” I said.
“So,” she said. “I haven’t told you the best part about this land.”
“Okay,” I said, as we slowly ambled through the green grass.
“The deal with this land is that whoever owns it, gets lucky in politics,” she said.
“What?” I asked. “That’s nuts.”
“No,” she said. “The governor used to own this land, it’s magic.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s true. He didn’t own it very long, though. As soon as he bought it, he was elected to the governor’s seat. He couldn’t develop it from Tucson, so rather than paying taxes on it, he just sold it.”
“To the McClellans,” I said.
“Who couldn’t keep it either because she became mayor,” Vicki said.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s an impressive legend.”
“There’s even a rumor that it all started with Teddy Roosevelt who bought it right before he died, and he had a shaman bless it,” she said.
“That can’t be true,” I said.
“Maybe not,” she said. “But it’s lucky land.”
“Not bad to have lady luck on our side,” I said.
“That’s a lemon grove,” she said as she pointed to a cluster of trees on one side.
The grove created a tranquil canopy, and we walked under it and then found a bubbling stream.
“It comes from the lake,” I said.
The water flowed over the rocks and was so clear that I could see the bottom three feet under.
I sat down on the side of the stream, and Vicki sat down with me. I wrapped my arm around her, and we watched the water for a few minutes.
“We’re going to live here,” I said.
“I knew you’d say that,” she sm
iled.
I laughed, and we sat in silence for a couple more minutes.
“Should I call her?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Tell her we’ll take it. I don’t care what it costs.”
Vicki pulled out her phone and stepped away from the water as she made the call. I walked along the bank and noticed a trout jump in and out of the water. I was never much of a fisherman, but maybe here I would be.
It took Vicki a long time to come back from the phone call, but when she did, she carried a duffel bag full of stuff.
“We haven’t even written the check yet,” I said. “We can’t move in.”
She laughed. “I know. I just thought we’d celebrate, though.”
“Celebrate?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ve been planning this for a while.”
She opened the bag, and it was full of picnic supplies.
“A picnic?” I asked.
“Why not?” she said. “Celebrate our wins, in life and work, and together.”
We spread out the blanket, and she opened grocery bags. I cleared my throat.
“Groceries?” I asked. “You went grocery shopping?”
“God, no,” she said. “I just bought champagne and fruit.”
I laughed. “Would you even know what to do with groceries?”
“Of course not,” she said. “Would you?”
“Hell, no,” I laughed.
We lounged on the blanket and listened to the water and drank champagne and ate grapes. Finally, she turned to me.
“I love you,” she said softly.
My heart leapt up into my throat.
“I love you, too,” I said.
Then, on Theodore Roosevelt’s land, I leaned over and kissed Vicki Park. And the rest of my life started.
End of book 4
Author Notes
Thank you for reading my novel! If you enjoyed it, and you’d like to read another story about Henry in Sedona, please leave a nice review here.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright 2020 Dave Daren