Unforgivable Cin An Opera in Three Acts (Cin Fin-Lathen Mysteries Book 5)

by Alexie Aaron

  “I know. The second scenario is that Dave was so mad that Kyle was trying to have his way with you that he killed him with the sword. Kyle fell on you, and that’s how the sword got pushed into you.”

  “No, Ed said…”

  “You talked to Ed?” Harry asked.

  “Ed said the wound in my stomach could only have been made by Kyle being stabbed while he was on top of me. The sword went through his back and into me. Kyle was barely alive but still had enough hate in him to…”

  “Cin, you don’t have to…”

  I held up my hand. “To kill me,” I finished. “Dave would not have left me there to die with Kyle. He’s not a maniac. He’s not that kind of guy. Tony has to know he’s not that guy. There had to be others, people who hated Kyle as much as I did. I may have just been the… Shit. I was the bait. Preston, that son of a bitch!” I spat. “Harry, put him on the list.”

  The nurse brought the wheelchair in. I sat down. I was mad, but I held it in. I smiled as a few of the nurses waved at me. There were no belongings to pack up. The flowers were long dead, and the balloons had lost their helium. After a week of Dave not showing up, I had stabbed the Teddy bear he’d sent with my knife. After that, my food came precut.

  Harry pulled up in my beloved topaz blue Z3. He put the top down. “Where to?”

  “Do I have to go home?”

  Harry shook his head.

  “Did you bring my purse?”

  Harry leaned in and opened up the glove box. There my wallet rested. I opened it and smiled.

  “If these clothes don’t fit, nothing is going to fit,” I said. “And you’re looking a little frayed,” I said, grabbing his sleeve. “Let’s go shopping.”

  “You know, you’re so illustrating a stereotype right now,” Harry pointed out.

  “I don’t care. I won’t be this skinny for long. Let’s take advantage.”

  Harry pulled out into traffic and headed to CityPlace.

  Rifiuti

  I stood there, wearing the Donna Karan outfit I’d purchased instead of paying that month’s mortgage payment. The plunging black tank balanced the full, white splatter-brushstroke, faille jacquard skirt. I had on simple black flats. I thought I looked a bit like Sophia Loren standing there. I had even practiced my hair toss. I wanted to show Dave that I had put it past me and had forgiven him for not being there to save me. I didn’t want any guilt he may have to cloud our relationship. I wanted him to take me past the trauma.

  Harry knew Dave was due to leave the station at five. His spy was Dave’s assistant Sally, who was also Harry’s alibi, sly dog. I hadn’t even known he was dating.

  Sally and I had met a few times before. She was an energetic hands-on deputy who handled Dave’s paperwork with only mild irritation. Sally had a bright mind and numerous contacts in the south Florida area. Her black skin glowed with health, and her cop-fit body was probably the first thing Harry had noticed. But knowing Harry like I did, I knew he fell for the optimistic feminist that was Sally.

  I had on black sunglasses and red lipstick. I knew I looked hot, and I was going to use it to my advantage. I had received a few favorable catcalls from the prison tower, so my confidence was high.

  Harry had dropped me off but was waiting a few rows away from where Dave had parked his truck.

  Dave walked out, carrying his battered briefcase. He wasn’t looking where he was going. He seemed deep in thought. He finally looked over and stopped. I couldn’t tell if he was happy to see me. He swallowed hard.

  I stayed silent until he was a few feet away. “You owe me a double scoop of ice cream. I’ve come to collect.”

  “I’m not supposed to get within ten feet of you,” he said evenly.

  “Is it a hard and fast rule or a suggestion?” I asked, lowering my glasses slowly before I took them off.

  “Cin, I’m a suspect.”

  “They’re crazy. Harry and I’ll get you out of this,” I promised.

  “You can’t. I couldn’t bear it if you got hurt again.”

  “Dave, seems to me, I’ve been shot at, stabbed… twice, been almost robbed of my virtue, and died. There’s nothing much else new that can happen. Someone used me and left me to die while setting you up to take the fall. My money is on Preston, but Harry has other ideas. We have no one to break the tie. How about it? Ya wanna get some revenge?”

  “I have to do this legally. I’m sorry, Cin.”

  “Where have you been?” I asked.

  “I have been warned to stay away from you by Tony and my commanding officer. My lawyer also has advised me to keep my distance.”

  My phone vibrated. I looked at the new text.

  Tony wants to speak to you, pronto.

  Tell him I’m in the middle of a massage, and I’ll call him in an hour, I typed. I jammed the phone in my pocket and put my sunglasses on. “Tony demands to talk to me. But I need to talk to you first,” I said. “Dave, what happened after Preston pulled me away?”

  “I went to get us drinks. A young man introduced himself to me. His name was Carlos something or another.”

  “He’s an intern for the opera house,” I filled in. “He was supposed to be my bodyguard during the gala.”

  “Why would you need a bodyguard?”

  “Evidently, Preston sensed that Kyle was on the prowl.”

  “I could wrap my hands around Preston’s and his intern’s neck right now.”

  “Me too, but continue, please.”

  “He pointed out a few of the patrons who Preston had assured me were around in Eldora’s day, including your Marco D’Amore.”

  “He’s not my Marco.”

  “Tell him that.”

  “Pardon?”

  “I wasn’t the only one trying to get in to see you in the hospital.”

  “Why would Marco D’Amore bother with me?”

  “I’d like to ask him the same question. Anyway, I was talking to Carlos when the stars of the opera entered the room. All that fanfare. I saw Kyle start across the room, but Antonia Aldana, the lead soprano, waylaid me. I kept an eye on Kyle, and when Marco stepped in, I concentrated on Antonia. She, according to Preston, had been Eldora’s understudy. She was more than happy to talk to me, but not in the banquet room. She took me to her dressing room on the second floor. That’s where I was when Kyle took you.”

  “So…” I stalled. “Did you get any viable information from the soprano?”

  “Some background. I got the idea that she didn’t like Eldora much. Antonia felt that Eldora had slept her way to the top and into the arms of some very rich and dangerous men. She asked about you. ‘The redhead, is she your paramour?’ I told her that you and I have an understanding. ‘I would advise you to take her away from here,’ she said. ‘The world of opera is not kind.’ I thanked her and escorted her back to the party. I didn’t see you there. I bumped into Ryan who had been searching for you too. It was about that time, Pello Viteri started complaining loudly about how Kyle had taken his peach away from him. ‘How dare that child take the ripest peach from Pello’s tree!’ he shouted. I asked him if his peach was a redhead in a green dress, and he nodded. I grabbed Ryan and Carlos and started to search for you.”

  “We found one of your shoes in the office not far from the hall. It looked like there had been a struggle. Carlos found your purse on the desk. There was a bloody handprint on it. Inside, your handkerchief was gone.”

  “I bit Kyle, and I drew blood. It’s probably his blood.”

  “We split up to search every room. I called dispatch and reported the situation. It wasn’t long before the opera security team joined us. It was Carlos who found you. He was hysterical by the time I got to him, but he held it together long enough to call the EMTs. I couldn’t believe it, Cin. I thought you were dead. There was so much blood. The look on that maniac’s face, his hands still holding that tie. Ed was there in minutes. Bill was the one who told me you were still alive. It didn’t last. You died before they could find a way to get his bo
dy off of yours. The saber had penetrated his back, through his heart, and into your stomach. They pulled him off you and jump-started your heart. God, Cin, your stomach was ripped apart and bleeding. I lost my mind. Ed brought you back and stabilized you, but you were no longer conscious, not for days. I called Harry, and he took care of the rest. I stayed at the hospital until Tony had me dragged out. It was all my fault. If I wasn’t so keen on solving Eldora’s case, none of this would have happened.”

  I reached for him, but he stood where he was. I used my words to comfort him instead. “Dave, Harry and I were already bitten by the same bug. Preston had hired us. My shrink says, ‘if I’s have no value,’ and I’m beginning to agree with her.”

  “Do you feel up to telling me your story?”

  “Are you up for hearing it? It’s not pretty, and the heroine dies. It’s a tragic opera with no music.”

  Dave looked over at me with a wry look on his face. “You can joke about this?”

  “Today I can. Where do you want me to start?”

  “After Preston left you.”

  I told him everything, every gory detail, every thought in my head, every assault, and, lastly, about dying. “I couldn’t let Kyle get his wish. I couldn’t leave you alone with Harry. God, that would have been awful. I can’t find any reason to be sad for Kyle. He was a monster.”

  “I think he was goaded. And not just by us,” Dave said evenly. “I think you were set up from the beginning, perhaps by Preston, maybe by someone else. Ryan? I have a list of my own to go through.”

  “How did Tony get involved?”

  “He’s in the county. West Palm was up to their necks in homicides, and no one in the sheriff’s department wanted to step in because of my involvement. So I recommended Tony. He’s good, Cin. Not Harry and you good, but he will eventually get to the truth.”

  “I’m afraid you’re going to get fried in the meanwhile,” I said. “I can see why you were warned off. You, Ryan, or Carlos could have killed Kyle in the time the search was happening.”

  “I know. That’s why it’s important to look at all the players and for you to relive what happened in that workshop. Every detail means something. Can you be strong, Cin, and do this?”

  “I can for you, Dave.”

  “Don’t just do this for me; do it for yourself. You were set up, and Kyle was prodded into his brutal act. Someone who knew his weakness exploited it and you, but for what? To cover something up or bring something out? It’s a dangerous game played by dangerous people, Cin.”

  “I told you I hated opera,” I said smugly. “Since I cannot make you come to me, I’ll leave you now. I have to take a pill before I talk to Tony. He’s a real pain in the ass.”

  “He’s says that about you too,” Dave said, walking past me and getting into the truck. He started it up and leaned out the window. “Be careful, Cin.”

  “Does it really matter?” I said under my breath as I watched him drive away.

  There I was, in the parking lot that served the Sheriff’s Office and the jail, wearing a lovely outfit. Harry said before I left home that I looked like a beautiful gypsy. And Dave just drove away. I looked around to see if Harry was still there, but he had gone. I took a deep breath and started walking home. I tucked my purse under my arm and called Tony on my cell.

  “Harry texted that you wanted to talk to me,” I explained after I reached Tony.

  “I received Dr. Andrews’s report, and she says you’re fit to be interviewed.”

  “Didn’t you already do that? If I remember right, it sent me down a rabbit hole,” I said, knowing I was laying a load of guilt on the man.

  He didn’t say anything. I imagined he was running his hand through his hair, thinking.

  “You’re calmer now. I need to finish the interview. Plus, you’re going to have to sign off on a few things.”

  “I’ll have to talk to Harry and check my schedule. I’ve been out of it for a while, and I don’t know exactly where he and I are with our business.”

  “I need to interview you as soon as possible,” he said and hung up.

  I ended the call. I looked in my purse, confirmed I had money in it, and continued to walk until I came to the nearest bar.

  ~

  It was an outdoor bar frequented by bikers. I didn’t need my purse; my drinks were being supplied by the table of men, with prison tats, who had adopted me. They thought I had been daring to wear Donna Karan to the prison, when most girls went for the Gap. Harry wasn’t happy when he found me. He offered to reimburse the bikers, but they declined. He tossed me over his shoulder and walked off with me, to the thunderous applause of the outdoor bar.

  He set me down in the parking lot but maintained a firm hold on my elbow.

  “What the hell, Cin. Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Dave left me there. I was standing there, ready to forgive him for getting me killed, and he drives off. I didn’t see you. I thought you’d left. I didn’t want to look like a loser to anyone that came out of the building, so I started walking, and I called Tony.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He wants to interview me again. I just wanted to drink until all the memories went away.”

  “I understand this upsets you, but why didn’t you call me? I’m here for you. Hell, Cin, I’m always here for you. I should have been with you opening night, but Dave shut me out. And you…”

  “I didn’t want you to have to face Kyle’s wrath. I wasn’t responsible for attracting that monster, and I wanted to leave him alone. I warned them that we were provoking Kyle.”

  “Well, that’s the past. I’m so glad that you came back, Cin, even if you’ll bankrupt us with your footwear,” he said, looking down at my feet.

  “Well damn, drunk Cin does it again.” I looked down, and I only had on one shoe. I took off the other one and tossed it. “How did you find me?”

  “I called Dave and asked if he was going to be bringing you home, and that’s when I found out he left you there. I turned the car around, but you were gone. Knowing you like I do, I followed the route you would have taken home. I saw the bar, and there you were.”

  “Brilliant piece of investigating, Harry O’Rourke.”

  “Come on, I’ll take you home. You really do look beautiful tonight. Those bikers got their money’s worth.”

  “Thank you. They were just lonely for their moms,” I told him.

  Harry shook his head at me. “You really are blind to what you see in the mirror, aren’t you?”

  “Harry, I see a redhead that has had too much to drink,” I said, looking at the car’s side mirror. “Take me home so I can puke up my guts.”

  Kyle was with me that night. I relived the assault over and over again. Each time, Kyle won. I dreamed I was walking down the aisle with Kyle. He put a manacle on my wrist and told me I was his forever, he was the last person I would ever love, and then he shoved a knife into me. My stomach cramped, waking me up, and I ended up with dry heaves and horrible chills.

  There was a knocking on the outside door. I tried to get up, but my stomach cramped again. This time I threw up blood. Lots of red blood. My blood, Kyle’s blood, mixed together. I sunk to the floor and felt the coolness of the tile, and then there was nothing.

  “Cin, wake up,” Harry pleaded.

  “I’m not doing so well,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to rise off the floor. “I need to go back to the hospital. Kyle’s trying to kill me with his blood.”

  “Kyle’s not here, Cin. Kyle’s dead.”

  “Why is his blood coming out of my mouth?” I asked and passed out again.

  I felt a cold cloth on my head. I opened my eyes and saw Harry sitting at the edge of the bed. I asked him, “What happened?”

  “When you didn’t answer the door, I jimmied the lock and let myself in. I found you on the bathroom floor. You said you were throwing up blood, but there was no evidence of any. Your mouth was clean and the toilet empty. It did look like you got rid of some bi
le. Cin, I don’t think you should drink until you’re totally healed.”

  “No kidding,” I said, trying to rise. “My head is splitting, and I’m…”

  “You’re mad.”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re mad at me.”

  “No, I’m mad at Dave. I asked him where he was and why he wasn’t there for me. I told him what happened to me. I held out my arms, and he left me there. Oh, I suppose he thought that I had driven myself and had a car, but he didn’t touch me. He just got in his truck and drove off, leaving me in the parking lot, like trash.”

  Harry looked at me sadly and let me talk.

  I got up and looked around at my messy room. “I’m not trash. I was a faithful wife. I stayed celibate for years. I fall for a man who turned out to be a killer, and then Dave comes into my life right after. Slam bam, oh damn. The sex is good; the man is wonderful, funny; I suspected that I may want to spent the rest of my life with him; and then Kyle kills me. He killed that look Dave had in his eye when he looked at me. I might as well be dead.”

  I picked up my beautiful skirt and hung it up in the closet.

  My cell phone rang. I looked at it, and it was Dave. I picked it up.

  “Good, you made it home.”

  “It was a rather long walk,” I lied.

  “I thought you drove.”

  “I just got out of the hospital. I’m high on anxiety pills, and I can’t drive,” I informed him.

  “I’m sorry. You surprised me. I’m trying like the devil to follow the rules, Cin. You show up at the parking lot of my work. What did you want me to do?”

  “Take me in your arms. Take me home and make love to me.”

  “I’d be too scared to. You’ve been through a trauma. You need time.”

  “To what? Sit in my shoe closet and cry until I’m healed? Well, fuck that!”

  “Cin, swearing at me isn’t going to help.”

  I took a deep breath. “Have you already left me, Dave?”

  “I was just thinking that, under the circumstances, we should take a break.”

  I was floored. “If that’s what you want, then I really have no other choice, do I?”