by Dave Daren
“I dunno, I just…” she trailed off. She obviously did know, she was just searching for a way to phrase it that wouldn’t get her into trouble. “The girl who painted all this killed a guy. Or so they say.”
“Or so they say?” I repeated.
“Yeah, I mean, she probably did,” she admitted, “but it doesn’t hurt to look around, you know? Make sure.”
“Why do you care?” I quizzed her.
“It’s just interesting,” she said. “I run this crime blog. It’s dumb. It’s whatever. But I run it, so.”
That caught my interest.
“What’s your name?”
“Anjanette.”
“Do you go by AJ by any chance?” I asked.
“What? Yeah!” She seemed off-put by me figuring that out. “How’d you know that?”
“I saw your blog this morning,” I recalled. “AJ’s Corner, right?”
“Well, when you say it out loud, it sounds stupid. Like a bakery or something.”
“It’s not stupid,” I assured her. “What have you found?”
“Oh, nothing, really,” she shook her head quickly. She spoke the words quickly, like modesty was her reflex. “It’s just a weird situation. Why would she say the blood on her clothes was paint, you know? It’s so easy to prove that’s not true. I thought maybe I’d look at the paint here and see if it was different from normal paint.”
“Was it?” I prompted.
“Nope,” she shook her head. “Just regular old oil paint.”
“Well, where are you going from there?”
“I was just thinking about that when you came in and I scrambled for a hiding spot.”
“Hmm,” I acknowledged. “Well…”
I sauntered up to one of Harmony’s paintings. It was a woman’s jawline where the paint wandered outside of the lines of the outline. It probably meant something profound.
“Is there any evidence within the actual paintings?” I asked aloud. “Did she ever paint the murder weapon or something, and maybe someone could have seen it and knew using the same weapon would frame her?”
“No,” AJ shook her head. “In terms of how they relate to murder, Harmony Irving’s paintings are fairly innocuous.”
“Big word,” I noted.
“I’m technically a writer,” she smirked. “And what are you, exactly?”
“An intruder, for one thing,” a new voice chimed in behind us.
AJ and I spun around. A stout gentleman with beady, watery eyes and a curly mane of grey hair approached us. He didn’t seem threatening to me, but AJ didn’t seem to relax. For someone who investigated crimes for fun, she certainly seemed opposed to getting into any amount of trouble.
“My name is Henry Irving,” I told him so AJ wouldn’t have to speak. “I’m--”
“Harmony’s brother!” he finished for me. “Under normal circumstances, I would declare that any friend of Harmony’s is a friend of mine. As I’m sure you’ve heard, however, these are not normal circumstances.”
“No, they are not,” I agreed.
“I didn’t think she had such a thing in her.” He shook his head woefully.
“Well, if it helps,” I replied, “she didn’t do it.”
“If you’re looking for evidence of that here, you won’t find it,” he said as he gave me a doubtful look. “The cops already dug through this whole place.”
“Are you one of the artists on display here?” AJ chalked up the nerve to speak again.
“Oh, no, no,” the man waved the claim away. “I’ve never quite taken to creation as much I’d like. I’m simply a connoisseur. I’m Gerard Chamberlin. I’ve owned this gallery for decades.”
“Really?” I asked. “You’ve lived in Sedona that long?” I wondered why I had never met him before.
“And I never leave,” he said proudly. “No good reason to.”
“It’s a beautiful gallery,” AJ chimed in, perhaps under the impression that buttering up the gallery owner would further minimize the chances of her getting into trouble for this.
“Thank you, young lady.” He grinned. “You two can stay and admire the art as long as you like! We aren’t getting much in the way of visitors these days considering Harmony’s no longer bothering to open up the gallery. Which is, of course, understandable.”
“I would think that lots of other people would be interested in seeing the art from a suspected mur--”
“Although, that does beg the question,” Gerard interrupted AJ as he put a thoughtful finger to his chin, “how did the two of you get in here?”
“Bye, thank you for having us,” AJ responded too quickly and moved to shuffle towards the front door.
“I used my sister’s key,” I told him to throw off the new suspicion I was sure had just popped up.
“Oh,” he nodded. “I’m just going to... make sure all the back entrances are locked.”
“Right, yes,” I nodded. “Nice meeting you.”
I trotted after AJ. She weaved through standing sculptures and past display walls until we were out of Gerard’s line of vision.
“Wow,” I teased her. “That was the least suspicious thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I panicked,” she said as she threw her hands in the air.
“Yes, I noticed,” I said with a chuckle. “I’ll have to keep you off the stand, you may fold under cross examination.”
It seemed there wasn’t much to see in the gallery. Maybe Toby would have the forensic reports and crime scene data. I wanted to see if it all made sense. Forensic reports on her clothes, security camera footage, where they found the murder weapon, where they found the body, when they said the crime occurred, and where my sister was when it happened. Once I had all this, then the fun could begin. My legal mind was in motion, and I had to remind myself this wasn’t an amusing side case, this was my sister’s life on the line. And for the time being, I needed to work with Toby to get access to this evidence. As much as I dreaded trying to have a conversation with Toby again, I still thought he might be able to turn it around once I demonstrated that we had a defense.
AJ and I walked toward the glass double doors of the gallery exit. AJ reached to pull the door open, but I froze at who I saw standing at the other side.
“What?” a familiar voice reacted to my bewilderment, her voice muffled through the door. “Is there something in my teeth?”
AJ pulled her hand away from the door.
“Do you know this girl?” she asked quietly.
I overcame my surprise and reached forward to yank the door open.
“Vicki?” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
Chapter 4
Sedona life and LA life were firmly separated concepts in my brain. My Los Angeles paralegal, Vicki, standing in front of me in Sedona took me more than a second or two to process. In classic Vicki fashion, she did not permit me any time to process this.
“I heard you were starting a law firm in Sedona,” she said.
“What?” I blinked at her. “What are you doing here?”
She brushed past me into the gallery. Gerard didn’t seem to mind, and he watched us banter from afar with a bemused expression.
“Kendrick said you’d taken up a case in Arizona,” she continued without answering my question.. “Something with murder too, not just the terms-and-conditions type stuff we usually do.”
“That’s not even possible,” I shook my head. “I’m not licensed to practice in Arizona.”
“Well, yeah, but I figured you were working on that,” she replied. “Taking on the impossible for the greater good, and that sort of thing.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here,” I pointed out.
AJ’s eyes darted back and forth between Vicki and me, unsure of how to proceed.
“I’m here to join you, obviously,” Vicki revealed. “I’m sick of being the paralegal. A great paralegal with valuable insight, sure, but you know I want to be a lawyer.”
“But why come
to Sedona for that?” I asked.
“You seriously going to ask me that?” Vicki raised her eyebrow. “How long have we worked together? Besides, you are the only partner that I actually like and--”
“Junior partner,” I corrected, “and I’m not setting up shop here. I told Sanchez that I’d be back as soon as I figured this stuff out, and he was fine with it, so--”
“Then let me help you,” she said. “We can team up.”
“You’re in the same boat as me, Vic,” I pointed out. “You haven’t passed the bar in Arizona, either. There isn’t much I can do here but advise.”
“And I haven’t passed the bar in California, either,” she quickly retorted. “I can work on that, and the Arizona Bar exam is supposed to be way easier, anyway. We can pass it together.”
“I’m not going to do the bar in Arizona,” I assured her. “You know, some people would find it creepy, you following me.”
“Your family didn’t,” she replied with a wink. “When I went to your house and found out you weren’t there, the girl who answered the door asked me how long we’ve been dating and then she told me exactly where you were.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“I told her we’d been together for a few years, but you had commitment issues,” Vicki continued, and her mouth twisted up as if it was taking all of her willpower not to laugh.
“Of course you did,” I moaned as I touched the bridge of my nose.
“She nodded and said ‘oh I totally understand. That sounds exactly like Henry.’”
“Of course she did,” I sighed.
“Then she invited me in for a coffee so that we could talk all about you and your emotional baggage.”
“Ugh,” I sighed. “Really?”
“Naw,” Vicki laughed as she poked me in the arm. “She did tell me about the case and then told me you were here, though.”
“I’m trying to see if there was anything the police missed,” I explained as I gestured to the gallery.
“I get that, but who’s the kid?” Vicki poked her thumb back towards AJ.
“Oh, I’m no one,” AJ replied quickly. “I’m just… investigating.”
“Oh, nice!” Vicki smiled broadly. “You already have an investigator. We’ll need one of those for when we open a firm in Sedona.”
“No!” I waved my hands in front of me wildly. “No, I do not. And I’m not opening a firm in Sedona.”
“No,” Vicki agreed, but I could tell she wasn’t conceding, “You’re just helping solve your sister’s case with an investigator.”
“I’m not an investigator,” AJ blurted out. “I just… investigate.”
“You should be a poet,” Vicki snorted.
“Vicki--” I tried to drum up a new argument as to why she definitely shouldn’t be here.
“Henry,” she interrupted me and walked closer to me without breaking eye contact for even a second. “I know you don’t have a law firm yet. I’m not an idiot, but I know how you operate. No one’s going to work as hard as you want them to in order to help your sister, and you’re going to want to take it into your own hands. When you do, I’ll be here to help.”
I searched my brain for ways that this could be a really terrible idea. I came up with nothing. Vicki was an amazing paralegal with a real talent for getting things done, and her help would be invaluable.
“And if one thing lead to another and you do open a firm down here, well, I’ll already be in town and my dedication will have proven me worthy of a position,” she smiled innocently. “I’ve had it up to here with LA snobs, anyway.”
“Alright, Vicki,” I finally conceded. “You can stay.”
“Oh, I was definitely not asking for your permission,” she made sure I realized.
“Okay, then,” AJ piped in and began to shuffle backward toward the door as if to leave. “It was, uh, nice meeting you guys.”
“Hey, wait, what?” Vicki furrowed her brow. “You’re going to be back in the morning, right?”
“Huh?” AJ raised an eyebrow.
“You’re the investigator, right?” Vicki asked rhetorically. “You gotta clock in for work tomorrow. As lead associate on this case, Henry has to assign you investigative tasks and set your agenda. Don’t you know how this works?”
“She’s like, seventeen,” I frowned.
“I’m nineteen!” AJ corrected me. “And sure, yeah, I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“Yeah, yes, I’ll do it, I’ll help,” she rambled.
I ran a hand through my hair and took in the crew I was suddenly putting together.
“You realize I can’t pay you two,” I informed them.
“That’s definitely not true,” Vicki snorted.
“What I meant was that I can’t hire you two,” I sighed. “I cannot legally practice law here.”
“Not yet,” Vicki shrugged her shoulders. “Luckily I took the liberty of getting a study guide for the Arizona Bar and checked out the dates for the next exam. I signed up, and I was going to sign you up, but I thought that would be a tad bit presumptuous of me.”
“That’s where you drew the line for presumption?” I asked with a chuckle.
“No, you are right,” she laughed. “I totally signed you up for the test.”
“Oh, for the love of--” I started to say, but she had already turned to AJ “We are going to need a full write up of your findings so far, and where you think you should continue looking. Call it a brief. That’s what we call them. Have it ready for us tomorrow morning.”
“Uhhh, okay?” AJ said, and her face contorted as if she was surprised she agreed to take the job.
“That’s the spirit!” Vicki said with a wide smile. “Meet back here at nine.”
“Uhhh, okay,” AJ said, and then Vicki grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door.
“Now, come on,” my paralegal urged as she yanked me along. “I want to officially meet your weirdo family. I was only there for a second, but I’m pretty sure I saw a gigantic treehouse in your backyard.”
I sighed, but allowed her to manhandle me out of the building. AJ trotted out after us.
As we walked outside, Vicki reached into my jacket.
“Um…” I flinched.
“Calm down,” she smirked as she fished my phone out of my pocket and handed it off to AJ. “Put your number in here.”
AJ obliged and punched her number into my phone. Then Vicki handed over hers next and AJ did the same.
“See you tomorrow, then?” Vicki smiled broadly.
“Yeah, totally,” AJ nodded, still a bit baffled.
AJ trotted off until she was out of sight. I waved, amused that she forgot to say goodbye. Vicki and I took off the opposite direction towards my parents car. “This is your car?” Vicki exclaimed as she climbed into the Volkswagen Eyesore.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Well, it’s my parents’. I’ll get a rental as soon as--”
“Absolutely not!” Vicki laughed. “I absolutely must be transported to and fro in this monstrosity. I love it!”
“Come on,” I deadpanned as I climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I knew you liked German cars, but I always thought you were a BMW guy and not a Volkswagen guy,” she teased me.
“Leave it alone,” I laughed.
She ran her hand across the cloth upholstery on her seat and then turned her attention to the ample space behind us. There were seats installed there now that could be laid flat.
“You could live inside of this thing,” she observed.
“I think my brother, Phoenix, lived in it for a little while, while he was taking his second gap year,” I humored her as I started up the car.
“He’s in college?” she asked.
“He was going to be after taking his first semester off,” I said. “It’s his third semester off.”
“Well, you can’t fault a guy for taking time off to find himself,” she chuckled.
“Finding one’s self is great, but I
hope he finds himself gainfully employed someday,” I said, and then we were both laughing.
She settled back into her seat and buckled her seatbelt.
“Hey, I have no place to stay right now,” she mused. “I just sort of flew down here on impulse.”
“You? Do something on impulse? No way.” I laughed again.
“Pfft,” she raspberried. “Maybe I can stay in here.”
“You cannot stay in my family’s car, Vicki.” I decided for her.
“Wow, that’s not in the spirit of generosity,” she teased. Then she slouched lower into her seat and crossed her ankles on the dashboard. One of her red-bottomed Louboutin heels dangled off her foot.
“I meant you can get a hotel,” I told her.
After a short drive, I pulled into my family’s driveway. This time, I noticed the square garden shoved against the house, an oasis from all the rocks and gravel, but an overgrowth of wildly different plants grew from it. It was as if my family had decided they were going to plant tomatoes, bought one tomato plant to test out the theory, decided they weren’t actually all that fond of tomatoes, bought a lemon tree instead, and continued that cycle over and over and over.
“I’m totally staying for dinner,” Vicki decided as she surveyed the yard. “I want to try whatever crazy vegan-stew-pie-cake-salad concoction that garden contributes to.”
“I’m sure my sister will insist on it,” I said.
“Yep,” Vicki said. “She wants to hurry along the engagement.”
“Engagement?” I gasped. “Did you tell her that--”
“Naw,” Vicki laughed. “But you know, I told her that we’ve been dating for years, and she’s gonna want to see a ring on my finger--”
“You lied to her,” I sighed.
“It wasn’t quite a lie,” Vicki said as she raised her hands. “We’ve spent pretty much every minute working together. We might as well get married.”
“I’ve spent pretty much every minute working with Ken,” I pointed out. “You remember him? My associate that you probably strong armed to get him to tell you where I went.”
“Well, if you want to marry Ken, I won’t stop you,” Vicki laughed, “but I always thought you prefered women.”
“You are too much,” I sighed, but I felt my mouth curl up into a smile.