Sun, summer, drugs, alcohol, music—it reminded him of Woodstock...if Woodstock hadn’t actually been a horrid mess of mud and half-recalled memories. None of this EMD or EDM or some such nonsense, none of this beachfront softness.

Bah.

The ocean wind billowed the crisp white of his cotton button-up and pushed his silver hair out of its perfectly coiffed arrangement.

“Ea, the wind.” He muttered before taking a sip of his old-fashioned.

“It’s Eva, sir.” Ea pushed her wide-framed glasses up her nose and raised her pen-laden hand to signal the attendant. She was a new hire. The last one had taken a vacation and had yet to return. It must have been the murder she witnessed.

The attendant, a slim Cuban boy who knew the value of silence, moved the thin white screen from the side of the plush white gazebo to the back, cutting the annoyance of water-front wind from Dionysios. Immediately, his shirt and his hair settled and he reclined upon the mobile sectional.

His son was playing a show as one of the headliners, so naturally Dionysios would attend and observe his child’s talent. Mihail did not think he would be coming, but Dionysios always made a point to be present whenever one of his children achieved something noteworthy. They just did not always know he was there. 

Ea was pacing now, moving up and down the carpeted area with her phone in her hand and a folder under her arm. Her black pumps were nonsensical choices for such a venue, as was her black pants suit. Why was it that all assistants were so astronomically wound up?

“Ea, sit down, you are making me dizzy.” Dionysios said. 

The blonde looked up from her phone with wide eyes, her mouth parted in a little ‘o’ as if she couldn’t quite believe what he’d said. “Sit...on the couch, sir?”

Dionysios rolled his eyes and didn’t answer such a stupid question. Obviously. What did she expect, that he would have her sit on the carpet like a dog? Instead of answering her directly, he leaned forward and opened the gold and red box upon the glass table before him, set down his glass, and scooped a small spoonful of blow from the receptacle. He usually did not sample his own product, but he supposed today was a special occasion.

He lifted the spoon to his nose and snorted, rubbing the excess from the spoon onto his gums before putting the spoon away. Grabbing his drink once more, he leaned back upon the plush red cushions and closed his eyes, enjoying the drip and imagining how the DA might look with a bullet between his eyes.

“Ea,” he said after a moment, “how long will lunch be?”

“Eva, sir. And ten more minutes. I did just get an update from the security tower—"

Dionysios cracked his eyes open and studied the blonde perched upon the edge of the couch as far away from him as possible.

She continued, "It seems Miss Thea has been spotted near the stage."

Finally. The girl had disappeared from his radar as soon as he arrived as if she had a sense of when he was near. It was more likely she'd simply installed some tracking malware on one gadget or another. Children. Simultaneously treasures and devil's spawn all at once. He blamed Ulla.

"Dare I ask what she is doing?"  

"Erm…" Ea shifted and stared at her phone, her discomfort more than telling.

Dionysios sighed and swirled his glass, "Tell security to leave the girl be. I've certainly paid them enough to look the other way. Just notify me if a sudden outbreak of unconscious idiots crop up in the general vicinity."

"Yes, sir." Ea's thumbs flew across the screen of her phone and Dionysios took another sip of his drink before closing his eyes once more, his blood pressure slowly rising as the cocaine worked its magic.