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

Alex, forget it.  He may have smoked a bit of weed in his younger days, but he’s been towing the sober trail these last few years.”
    “Sober people don’t get hangovers,” I commented.
    “I meant sober in reference to drugs, Cin.”
    “Harry, I think in order to figure out who’s sabotaging the band, we have to look at the murder of Karen, the groupie.”
    “That’s a long way back.”
    “Still, I think it’s connected.  I think we can weed the suspect pool of anyone who wasn’t around then.”
    “Sidney’s out then.”
    “I don’t know,” I admitted.  “He said he met Elijah when the band was touring.”
    “Find out where he was when the band was in Kentucky, Cin.”
    “Give me the date, and I’ll ask.”
    “Gee, I thought I had lost you to love.”
    I blushed.  “I just met the guy. No matter how much we click, the truth has to be drawn out.”
    “Did you have a good time?”
    “Harry, I enjoyed being with Sidney. I’ll not deny that.  But I also know that he’s got a bucket list to go through, whether he’s at death’s door or not.  He’ll be leaving for the first part of the tour soon.”
    “You’re pretty calm about this.”
    “I have no other choice,” I admitted.  “I’m not sure when I’ll see him again anyway, so I’ll just wait and see.”
    “The last few days you’ve been acting a bit reckless.”
    “I’m always reckless. That’s why I agreed to have you living with us.”
    “Please don’t take this as a criticism,” he started and put a hand through his hair before he spoke again, “You’ve been pretty much a nun with your personal life.  Then you go off kilter and end up in bed with, essentially, a stranger.”
    I thought about what he was saying.  He was right. It wasn’t normal for me.  “I think I just got caught up in the scene.  It kicked me into my teenage years, and gone was the part of me that knows better.  But, Harry, there was instant chemistry with Sidney.  I can’t really explain it, but for the first time in a long time, I felt desired and, well, beautiful.”
    “Phew, I thought that maybe I’d got you into a situation, or you were going skank on me.”
    “Skank?”
    “You know, floozy.”
    “I know floozy.”  I blushed.  “Let’s get back to work.  Maybe I can redeem myself.”
    “We need access to the band, their spouses and their entourage,” Harry said.
    “That’s going to be tough.”
    The phone rang.  Harry picked it up.  “Lathen residence.”
    “Yes, Mr. Richards.” Harry proceeded to fill the man in on what we found out so far without mentioning how we got our information.  “We need access to these people. Do you have any ideas?”  Harry listened for a while, and I saw a smile fill his face.  “That sounds excellent.  How are you going to put it together so fast?  Your missus must be a social dynamo.  She’s here.  Okay…” Harry handed the phone to me, saying, “He wants to speak with you.”
    “Mr. Richards,” I said a bit too energetically.  Harry gave me the calm down sign with his hand.
    “Tom, please call me Tom.  Harry will give you the details, but I’m giving a party tomorrow evening to celebrate the success of the concert.”
    “That’s so timely.”  I explained, “Tom, Harry and I need to interview some suspects.  Could you extend the guest list to include anyone who would have been with the band in Kentucky when the groupie was killed?”
    “You found out about that, did you?”
    “There’s not much that gets by my associate,” I said, winking at Harry.  “Also, is there a way to talk to Gareth Goodbody?”
    “He’s going to be at the party.”
    “I don’t understand. If he’s around, why didn’t he play last night?”
    “He’s contracted to the cruise line.”
    “Still…”
    “I asked the same question.  One night, what would it hurt? But he insisted that he signed an exclusivity contract.  His lawyers are looking for a loophole.”
    “I’d love