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

unruly they were.  The back of his shirt was soaked through before the third song had started.  His hands moved so fast along the console, he resembled the Phantom of the Opera on his organ.
    When I wasn’t watching Sidney, I was looking at the stage.  I moved my eyes from left to right and back again.  It was after my fourth scan that I saw a problem.  One of the lights mounted on a twenty-foot-high triangular tower turned ever so slightly.  At first, I thought it was just the lighting guys working their magic, but my eyes traveled down the tower, and I saw it was no longer perpendicular to the stage.  I pulled on Sidney’s shirt.  He motioned for me to come closer.
    I yelled, “The back left light tower is bending!”
    It only took a moment for him to see what I saw.  He alerted security, and as Elijah began “Redheaded Stepchild,” four burly men in black and Harry moved quickly behind him.  Two had a long metal pole.  They managed to brace the tower before it broke loose and crashed. Harry climbed the side wall and caught the rope that was thrown to him.  He secured it to the structure offstage, and soon the large light tower was stabilized.
    The band played on, oblivious to the danger.  I doubted if anyone in the crowd looked beyond Elijah to witness the near disaster.
    “We’d like to play you some tunes from our new album,” Elijah said. “But first, I’d like to thank Alex Lathen from Barely a Bass Player for filling in for Gareth.”  He lifted his hands and clapped which signaled the audience to show their approval.  After the crowd had died down, he introduced Manuel and Meyer.
    I sat back and tried to enjoy the rest of the concert.  I wanted to be on the stage looking into what made that light break.  I had a sickening thought that it wasn’t an accident.  I was comforted that Harry was there on the scene, and I was sure he was already investigating.
    I felt a tug and saw that Sidney was trying to get my attention.  I hopped off the stool and walked up.  He turned and swung me into him.  He held me tight.  I felt the stress move out of my body as a more welcome feeling flooded my senses.
    “I’m glad you took a chance on me, Cin,” he said, keeping an eye and ear on the stage.  “After the concert, don’t run away.”
    I squeezed his hand to let him know I understood.  Then I kissed his cheek to let him know I approved.
    The new songs were received well, and I imagine that sales were good after the concert.  I hoped that the concert was covered by the local press.  I waited until the last of the stragglers left the audience before making my way to the stage.  I found that I wasn’t the only one curious about the light tower.  Harry stood there with the event manager.  He introduced us, but I admit his name didn’t register because my focus was on the tower.  I blinked twice, seeing that two segments of the tower were sawn through.  The tri-poled tower was holding fine until the vibrations from the large amps started the separated segments to bounce away from each other.
    “It could have killed someone.  If my trigonometry is right, I think Meyer and Alex would have been hurt or worse,” Harry said, showing me the figures he put together beside a crudely made drawing.
    “All I know is that I saw it bending and alerted Sidney.  Thank God, your guys got there in time.”
    “Thank God, you were out there watching,” the manager said.
    “Do you have any cameras on the stage when it’s idle?” I asked.
    “Not any that would pick up this tower.  We have the security cameras trained on the expensive equipment on stage.”
    “When was the last time the stage was inspected?”
    “Right after Simon was electrocuted.”
    “That means someone had to do this last night or today.  I would think someone would have heard the sound of sawing through metal during the day.  There were people in and out.”
    “But not until this afternoon’s rehearsal,” he informed