by Dave Daren
“Steve,” Vicki said. “Is clean as a whistle. Not even a traffic ticket.”
“I told you why,” AJ said.
“He grew up in a family that’s off the radar,” I remembered.
“Right,” AJ said. “There are only records on him dating back as far as when he decided to put himself on the radar.”
“Okay,” I said. “So could it have been anyone else?”
“We have Irwin Montague,” she said. “Who’s on the run.”
“Isn’t he always?” AJ retorted.
“Pretty much,” Vicki said. “Ever since we put his mom in jail anyway.”
“And the day I met Kelsi,” I remembered, “she was defensive of Reba and Irwin. Why is that?”
Vicki and AJ nodded and AJ put the question in our mind map.
“And I also found out Irwin’s associate Tony Sanchez at the shipping company is in jail for selling marijuana and unlicensed herbal supplements,” I said.
“Is that really what he’s in jail for?” Vicki asked. “Or is that just what his friends at the shipping company told you?”
“I assume that’s true,” I said. “I’ll make a note to get the arrest record on that.”
“We’ve also got all the financial records for the Matthews, Roy, and the band itself.”
“Why did we subpoena Roy’s records?” Vicki asked.
“Because he handled the money for the band,” I said. “And if there’s criminal activity, he would likely be funneling money back and forth from the band’s account to his personal account, and also linking it with the Matthews accounts in some way.”
The three of us sat and stared at the mind map, the handful of questions with no answers weren’t even the right questions.
“Alright,” I finally said. “Let’s chase the few loose ends we have and see if we can open up more loose ends.”
It was at the moment we heard someone come in the front door. We all craned our necks toward the open door frame to the conference room.
“Hello, anyone here?” Landon called out.
AJ face dropped and then she dropped the marker in her hand, and ran out of the room squealing.
“I didn’t know he was coming home,” Vicki said.
“I don’t think she knew either,” I said.
We heard them laughing in the main room, and so Vicki and I joined them.
“Hey guys,” Landon greeted us.
Landon was a tall and lanky hipster, with an ironic beard, and dark hair pulled back into a half ponytail. Today he wore a plaid shirt, jeans, and black combat boots.
“Hey Landon,” Vicki gave him a side hug and I shook his hand. “Good to see you.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve been hearing all about this new Paradigm Productions. Sounds exciting.”
“It’s Phoenix,” AJ told him. “Henry’s brother.”
“I know Phoenix,” Landon looked at her incredulously. “He went to high school with us, remember?”
“Right,” she said. “But now that I know him as Henry’s brother, now he seems different.”
“Yeah,” Landon said. “He had this band with watermelons or something.”
Vicki and I rolled our eyes.
“The watermelon band,” I muttered.
When I first moved back home, Phoenix was into this spontaneous music thing, where they would go into the grocery store and have random flash mob concerts with the produce. I was glad he grew out of that phase.
“Is that why you came home?” I asked.
Landon nodded. “To surprise AJ of course.”
AJ smiled and leaned into him.
“But,” Landon said, “Phoenix and I have been talking on Messenger for months, and I hear the studio’s really going to happen. Thanks to you,” he smiled awkwardly at me.
“I invested in something that I believed is a good project,” I said. “This is all Phoenix’s project.”
“And I told you about Leila Jaxson,” AJ said.
“Yeah,” he said. “She sold the company to the Irving’s, and now they’re going to make your screenplay about them?”
I laughed. “Landon, can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Could you possibly make us sound a little more narcissistic?” I joked. “I don’t think you quite hit the note just right there.”
Everyone laughed AJ blushed. “I wrote the screenplay based on Harmony’s case. But it’s its own story now.”
“I’m just teasing,” Landon winked. “You guys are good people.”
“Now you’re just lying,” I retorted.
Landon laughed and it was then I noticed the flowers on AJ’s desk.
“Well,” he rubbed his hands together. “Leila and Phoenix are meeting about the company in about an hour. They invited me to join them. Are you coming?”
AJ looked perplexed. “We’re in the middle of…”
“Go ahead,” I said. “Go to the meeting. You’re still making me money.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes as she grabbed her bag. Her face was aglow in a way I hadn’t seen before. She and Landon left and as they walked out the door, she started to tell him about the screenplay.
“So, the character that was based on me, right, I changed it to this super bad ass rocker dude that’s like a trust fund kid with a Peter Pan complex.”
“No one will ever guess that one,” he laughed.
“That’s the thing,” she said. “if you disguise your characters enough, people that know you won't be able to tell. Plus, the characters themselves would have different reactions to the plot and the other characters, making it a new story.”
Landon stroked his beard as they walked out the door.
“They’re so cute together,” Vicki said and she leaned into me as we watched them through the window.
“I can’t believe he came home to work on the studio,” I said. “Poor Phoenix. He’s going to be booted out of his RV.”
“Probably not,” Vicki said. “They’ll figure it out. You know how those young guys are. Couch surfing bachelors.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I do know about that.”
“Besides,” she said. “Living on top of each other might be just want they need to get this project off the ground.”
“That’s good,” I said. “Because all I asked for was a formal proposal and I’ve seen nothing. I’m not writing a check until I do.”
“With AJ and Landon in the mix,” she said. “It will get done.”
“Alright,” I said. “I want to work on some of these loose ends. See if we can figure out some answers.”
Vicki and I went back to work, and I started in on those files I had been organizing. It was then I ran across something else Kelsi had inadvertently given me. The coroner report from James’ death.
I skimmed it, and I was shocked at what I read.
“Vic,” I said. “Come look at this.”
“What?” she crossed the room and looked over the paper.
“Are you kidding me?” she replied. “All of this time, and no one has noticed this.”
“The doctor’s report said it was a heart arrhythmia,” I said. “But this says something entirely different.”
We stared at each other in disbelief.
James Matthews was poisoned to death.
Chapter 13
“This changes everything,” I said.
“Do the police know this?” Vicki asked. “Does Kelsi?”
“Kelsi brought us the report in the first place,” I replied.
“But, she brought it by accident,” Vicki clarified. “She’s such a basketcase she may not have even read it.”
“But wouldn’t someone have told her?” I wondered aloud. “Wouldn’t this have been reported to the police?”
“Not if the doctor’s diagnosis seemed plausible enough,” I said. “Then they wouldn’t have questioned it. The coroner’s report would seem irrelevant.”
“Right,” she said. “And Kelsi never read it.
”
“If she felt like it would be too upsetting to read a redundant report,” I said. “Then she wouldn’t have.”
“I find it hard to believe that this many people would have laid down on the job. I find it easier to believe Kelsi somehow squashed an investigation.”
“Why would she do that?” Vicki asked.
“Insurance for one,” I said. “Or if she’s truly guilty for another.”
“You think she killed him?” Vicki asked.
“I wouldn’t put that past her,” I said.
“Can she do that?” Vicki asked. “Squash an investigation?”
“If she knew the right people,” I said. “And everyone in this town does.”
“You want to call her?” I said. “You’re softer with these things.”
She sighed and took the page and dialed from my desk phone and popped it on speaker.
“Hello?” Kelsi answered. She sounded like she’d been asleep.
“Kelsi,” she said. “This is Vicki Park from Sedona Legal. How are you doing this morning?”
“Eh, well,” she said. “Today’s a hard day.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Vicki said. “I’m calling about a report you mistakenly dropped off in our office.”
“Oohh,” Kelsi groaned. “There was so much paperwork. Honestly, I don’t know anymore. I can’t make heads or tails of all this stuff.”
“Yeah,” she said. “This one is different. We found in our office the coroner’s report from James’ death.”
“Okay,” she said flatly.
“Well,” Vicki continued. “The reason I am calling about it is... have you read it?”
“No,” she said. “They just e-mailed it to me, and I printed it out and then I lost it. I don’t know what happened to it.”
“You gave it to us by mistake,” Vicki explained.
“No,” Kelsi said. “I had one last week. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does,” I said. “‘It’s in your e-mail, you said?”
“Yeah,” she repeated.
“I’d suggest you take a look at it,” Vicki said. “Because the doctor’s report and the coroner’s report state different causes of death.”
“What?” the annoyance was thick in her voice. “James died of a heart arrhythmia. Can you people just leave me be? Let me grieve in peace?”
“I know it’s hard--” Vicki started.
“How can you say that?” Kelsi screamed. “Huh? Have you ever lost a husband? I don’t think so with your boulder of an engagement ring, and your designer suits. What do you know about what I’m going through?”
I reached out to end the call, and Vicki waved me away.
“You’re right, Kelsi,” she said. “I don’t know. But, I do know that according to this, it wasn’t a freak accident that your husband is gone. There is someone that’s responsible.”
She was quiet for a minute.
“You’re suggesting that James was...murdered?” her voice choked up.
“According to the coroner’s report,” she said. “He was poisoned.”
“Poisoned?” her voice cracked. “How? By whom?”
“We don’t know,” she said. “And the toxicology report said they were unable to identify the poison type. It was an unknown substance, was the phrase they used.”
“Stop,” she cried. “Stop. Stop.”
“Okay,” Vicki said. “I just thought you had a right to know.”
Kelsi wept on the phone.
“I can’t do any of this anymore,” she said. “Please don’t call me.”
I raised an eyebrow and jumped into the conversation.
“Kelsi,” I leaned into the speaker. “This is Henry Irving. Are you stating that you would like to seek new representation?”
“No, no,” she sighed. “You guys are fine. I just...all of this is too much.”
“We understand,” Vicki said. “But we have a responsibility to follow up with these findings with the police. I don’t know what they’re going to do with it.”
Kelsi sighed long and disappointed. “They’re going to go digging around asking more questions, and more questions until I’ve answered them all a dozen times.”
“I’m sorry you’re going through this, Kelsi,” I said. “We will only contact you when absolutely necessary.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“Get some rest, Kelsi,” Vicki said.
“Thank you,” Kelsi said and she ended the call.
We disconnected the phone and Vicki whistled and perched on the side of my desk.
“She sounds guilty,” Vicki said.
“That she does,” I said.
“Let me call Hal,” I said. I referred to the police chief Hal Leonard. “Let’s find out if he’s got an investigation on this in the works somehow.”
“Right,” she said.
Then I followed a hunch.
“Let’s find out about indigenous Kenyan poisons and what they can do to a person,” I said.
“Got it,” she said.
Vicki got online to research African poisons, and I got on the phone with the police chief.
“Hal Durant,” the police chief sounded annoyed.
My caller ID tended to make legal figures in this town do that. I was surprised he even picked up. I’m sure he debated it.
“Hal,” I said. “Henry Irving. How’s it going this morning?”
“Peachy,” he said. “What can I do for you, Irving?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something came across my desk,” I said. “I’m investigating this Kelsi Matthews smuggling case.”
“Uh-huh,” he said.
“And I’m sure you know about what happened with her husband on Sedona Nightlife,” I said.
“Yeah,” Hal said. “Dropped dead of a heart arrhythmia.”
Although he didn’t say it, there was a note in his tone that suggested he kind of wished the same would happen to me.
“That’s the thing,” I said. “I don’t know why you weren’t contacted by the coroner. But I’ve got the coroner’s report here that states that wasn’t what happened.”
“That right, huh?” Hal sighed deep. “What’s it say he died of?”
“The toxicology report clearly states he was poisoned,” I said. “It was an unknown substance. But James and the whole band had been in Africa for a month.”
“So you think one of this man’s band mates picked up some exotic poison, smuggled it through customs, waited until they got home, and then poison him to death?” Hal retorted.
“It’s an idea,” I said. “But I’ll fax you over the report.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Fax it on over to me and I’ll look it over and get an original from the coroner.”
“Thanks, Hal,” I said.
“You bet Irving,” he said. “You know, we didn’t used to have homicides here until you moved here. Now we have them all the time.”
“What are you suggesting?” I asked.
“I’m not suggesting anything,” he said. “I just wonder why people want to kill people once you get into town.”
“I ask myself that every day, Hal,” I said.
“Yeah,” he snorted. “Keep busy with that smuggling case. Defend people that really need defending and stop making up crimes.”
“Wow,” I said. “Alright Hal, I’ll see you around.”
“See you around,” he said and hung up.
“Geez,” I said as I looked at the dead phone receiver. “No love lost there.”
“They’re just sore losers,” Vicki said.
“Incompetent and lazy is what they are,” I said.
“Well, I guess I should wait to go down there and talk to Tony Sanchez the pot dealer,” I said.
“I told you,” Vicki said. “He’s not going to talk.”
“Where are you on the African poisons?’ I asked.
“I’m not finding really anything,” she said.
The door opened
and Jim Hurley walked in with an armful of papers.
“Jim,” I rose and shook his hand. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going well,” he said. “I just have a few papers for you guys to sign.”
“Great,” I said. “Are we still on schedule for the ground breaking next week?”
“Still on schedule,” he shot me a thumbs up.
“So Henry wanted to make some adjustments to the blueprints,” Vicki chimed in.
Jim nodded slowly. “Okay.”
I looked at Vicki quizzically.
“He wants a window seat in all the bedrooms, and scrap the wooden staircase,” she babbled. “Let’s do a winding metal one and we want to add a third story--a built out loft that could serve as a guest apartment, and let’s deck it out with a full kitchen...and a private balcony. And we also want to put an infinity pool on the roof--with a cabana and a wet bar in the center of the pool.”
Jim looked horrified. “Yeah. We can still make those kinds of changes this late,” his voice was slow and halting.
I smirked at Vicki who burst into laughter.
“I’m totally joking,” she told Jim.
Jim laughed and clutched his chest. “You were going to give me a heart attack.”
“We were watching HGTV last night--” I laughed.
“Oh no,” Jim shook his head. “Only do that before the blueprints are done. After that, just delete that whole channel.”
I signed the paperwork for the permits.
“I do like the infinity pool on the roof,” I teased as I skimmed the building contracts.
“Yeah,” Jim muttered. “I know where you live.”
I laughed. “Nah. We wouldn’t do that to you. After all, what’s a pool without a hot tub?”
“What are you, Hugh Hefner?” Jim joked. “Are you going to be having drunken parties on the roof? Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t take you for the type.”
I laughed. “Oh, yeah? What type do you take us for?”
“I take you for the ‘asleep by midnight after Netflix type,’” he said.
AJ dissolved into side splitting laughter at her desk and we all turned to look at her.
“They are,” she managed to get out between her laughter. “They totally are.”
Jim laughed. “I knew it. No judgment, I’m the same way. Out like a light before ten. When I was younger, yeah...I could party all night.”
He shook his head and whistled at the memory of days gone by. “But, once you get on the other side of thirty…”