The Wages of Cin (Cin Fin-Lathen Mysteries Book 4) by Alexie Aaron Page A

the beautiful home.
    There were quite a few people already mingling in the foyer.  I spotted Meyer, and he saluted me when we made eye contact.  I smiled shyly, feeling instantly like a sophomore at a senior’s party.  Sidney dropped his elbow and grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back of the house.  “You have to see this view.”
    I forgot about why I was there, Dave’s scrutiny, and the upcoming trial the moment I saw the water.  What was it about the Atlantic Ocean that could totally mesmerize me?
    I started to open my mouth and stopped.
    “I know, Cin, I know,” Sidney said beside me.
    I heard footsteps behind us.  “I never get tired of the view,” Tom Richards said.
    We turned around.
    “You have a beautiful home,” I said.
    Tom made a slight gesture with his head, and a waiter toting a tray of champagne appeared.  I took a glass as did Sidney and Tom.
    “Let’s toast the Atlantic: may it continue to mesmerize us,” Tom said and clicked my glass and then Sidney’s.
    “Sid, do mind if I borrow your date for a moment?”
    Sidney shook his head and looked down at me. “Don’t be too long or I’m going for a swim.”
    I thought he was serious.  I felt Tom’s hand on my back as he guided me through a maze of halls until we found his office.  Inside, Harry was sitting with his feet up on the coffee table, which was unusual.  Harry’s company manners were impeccable.  My distress was relieved when Tom sat down and plopped his feet on the table.  I sat down and manage to tuck my skirt in around me, ladylike.
    “Good, I wanted to talk to the two of you before this thing gets crazy.  I invited everyone who was involved with the band intimately at the time of Karen’s death.  I had to include a few guests who had nothing to do with the band then.  I asked Susan, my wife, to make up these cheat sheets.” He handed Harry and I tiny cards with the guest and their relationship to the band on them.  “The K represents that they could have been in Kentucky at the time of Karen’s murder.”
    “Did you know Karen?” I asked.
    “Direct and to the point,” he said.  “I’d seen her around but thought she was just another hanger on.  In the nineties, there were quite a few young women who followed the band from concert to concert.  She never had VIP status.  That means she was never asked to join the band for… well, recreational activities.  There were a number of times when she had to be forcibly removed from the green rooms.  She fixated on Elijah and stalked him.”
    Harry looked down the list and tapped it with his finger.  “I understood Manuel Rodriguez was married at the time.  Is his ex-wife here?”
    “No, she’s in Europe, but at the time, she was nine months pregnant and home in Florida, so I left her off the list.  Manny had other entertainment when he was on the road.  I don’t mean to be so cavalier about it, but after thirty years in the band management business, I’ve pretty much seen it all.  The guys were adults, and as long as they didn’t tarnish the name of the band, I pretty much left their private lives alone.”
    I saw that Sidney’s name had a K by it.  My stomach flipped, and I took a sip of the champagne, hoping to push away the stress that was building.
    “I took the precaution of hiring a little muscle, just in case things get out of hand.  When you put musicians, booze and past loves together, things can get a bit hairy.  The waiter who served you is one of them; the other was the valet who checked your name at the gate.”
    I nodded.
    “Here, the boys asked me to give you two these.”  He tossed a small communication device to each of us.  It looked like a mini cell phone.  “If you’re in trouble or see trouble brewing, just call.  Both men tonight answer to the name Toby to make it simple.  Susan and I also have one, as does my chef.  Most arguments start in the kitchen.”
    “Interesting,” Harry said.
    “I’d