Sedona Law 4 by Dave Daren (free ebook reader for ipad .txt) 📗

was the sound of Kurt Cobain turning in his grave.”

She laughed. “I don’t know. He might have been into it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You might be right about that.”

Then, they went into some sort of folk song, and I was surprised, it was actually not bad.

“Y’all get up,” the frontman ordered in a thick Southern accent.

The crowd jumped to their feet, cheering and clapping time.

“Alright, I’m gonna need y’all’s help,” he said. “I have officially made all of you honorary members of Cabbages and Kings.”

To this, the audience roared and cheered.

“Without the royalties,” my dad qualified into his mic.

This caused the crowd to laugh even harder.

“Well,” the frontman said. “You’re not missing much.”

Everyone liked this, and the frontman smiled.

“So,” the singer continued. “Your first duties as band members, is we need you to be our percussion section. Y’all think you can do that?”

This caused a loud cheer and the vocalist went on, “Okay, so this is what we’re gonna need y’all to do. Moondust, give us somethin’ good.”

The singer turned to my dad, who went to town on his shamisen, and everyone practically lost their minds.

“So what y’all gonna do,” the vocalist said, “is this.”

He demonstrated a stomping-clapping combination, and everyone cheered as they tried it out. I watched Vicki, my mom, and sister laugh and fall all over each other trying to figure out the routine.

“That’s good,” the singer said to the crowd. “Now, let’s try it all together.”

They did about half a chorus of a song, and the crowd did the routine, and the singer did a melodramatic approval motion, which only encouraged the cheering.

“Now,” the vocalist said, “We’re gonna need some o’y’all to come on down to the front and keep us on rhythm.”

There was much more cheering as close to two or three hundred people from all over the packed auditorium made their way to the front in the darkness.

Harmony and my mom grabbed Vicki, and they all rushed to the stage. But not before Vicki grabbed my arm.

“Come on,” she laughed. “Let’s go.”

I was reluctant. Dancing was never my thing, but in the darkness, she just looked so happy.

“Alright,” I said and followed the group to the front of the stage. A large crowd had now formed, some six or seven deep around the stage. The band went into a fairly boisterous number, and the stomping-clapping routine broke out in the front dance area. I tried it out, and nearly fell over onto Vicki, and almost knocked us both over. We dissolved into laughter and finally figured it out. In the dark, about all I could see were Vicki’s eyes, and they glowed as she moved.

Her hair swished around her face, and her smile radiated. What the hell, I thought, and I gave into the music. I had never liked dancing until I met her. With her, on the dance floor, or anywhere really, the world faded away, and it was just me and her. I don’t know how long the solo went, but we were out of breath by the time the band stopped.

The house lights came back up, and there was one last cheer, as Cabbages and Kings exited the stage, and an emcee arrived.

He announced the next band would be up shortly and there was a quick intermission. Vicki and I made it back to our seats, and my ears were still ringing from the deafening music. The rest of our party wasn’t in our row, either, and I spotted my mother and sister stuck in the crowd up front as well.

Vicki collapsed in a chair and fanned herself with her palms.

“Could you see if they have something to drink in the lobby?” she asked me.

“Sure,” I said.

I slipped out to the lobby to find a concession stand or vending machine. I navigated the maze of bodies in the hallways, and it wasn’t until I got to a deserted corner that I finally found a soda machine. I dug through my pockets for change, when I heard talking. In a darkened, roped off cordon, a black clad security guard was on the phone.

“I understand,” he said, his voice rising with impatience. “But, I couldn’t just tell him no. He’s Senator Malone, for Christ’s sake.”

My ears perked up, and I slowly inserted the coins as I listened.

“He’s in the back, behind the east entrance,” he continued. “Don’t screw this up like you did the other night. You can’t miss him. He’ll be in a red Escalade.”

Chapter 10

“Holy cow,” AJ said. “This is insane.”

It was the next morning, and we were back in our office. Normally a conversation like this would happen informally in the main room. But, now with Landon behind a camera on a tripod, we had adjusted, and it became an official staff meeting in our conference room. We were getting used to the camera, at least I think.

“All we know at this point,” Vicki clarified, “is that Senator Malone was at the performance that night, and that he was lurking out back behind the east entrance.”

“That’s quite a bit,” I said. “We also know that he works frequently with Iakova, who was sponsoring the performance.”

“Then there was a dead body,” AJ said. “We can’t forget that little tidbit.”

“Then there was a dead body,” I repeated. “A minor side note.”

“Minor side note,” AJ said.

“What does Malone’s family life look like?” I asked. “I want to find out about this guy. Is he single, married, gay, what’s his story?”

AJ pulled out her phone and then summarized the screen, “He’s the typical politician. He’s got the smiling blonde wife named Amy, and two school-aged daughters, both in grade school and sports, the whole thing.”

I smiled and rubbed my tongue over my teeth and chuckled.