A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,140
wrong?” Quincy asked her.
“It’s daylight.”
Quincy scanned the blue above them. “I believe this is the kind of daylight they call broad.”
She ran through every scenario possible last night about why Levi kept the truth from her. The law enforcement officer in her came to one disturbing conclusion: he was in on it from the beginning. But if so, why? And what happened?
He was just a kid, himself. Well, young anyway. He was only twenty when it happened. Had Kubrick tricked him into helping with the abduction somehow? If so, what event led to their falling out and subsequent fight to the death? And what in the bloody heck did Wynn have to do with any of it? Had he been involved as well? Was it a family affair?
Her brain had swelled in her skull with all the questions rolling around in there. On a quest for answers, she and Quincy found themselves at the state pen in Santa Fe. The DA had pulled it off. He’d gotten Wynn Ravinder transferred to New Mexico, and he’d done it in record time.
“I think I should go this one alone,” she said to Quince. “Wynn may talk more openly to me if you aren’t there.”
“That’s what you get for thinking, boss.”
She shook her head. “Don’t make me pull rank.”
“Don’t make me pull hair. It’s not very manly but it’s effective.”
They were shown to an office with stacks of files as tall as Quincy on the desk.
“He just came in last night,” an intake specialist said, rifling through the items on his desk for a file. He found what he was looking for and sat at his computer.
“Yes. Wynn Ravinder. He has quite the record.” He gave them a thorough inspection. “This must be really important to have gotten him transferred this fast,” he said, fishing.
“It is,” she said, not biting.
“I’ll have the sergeant bring him up.”
She tugged at the collar of her uniform as they waited in a small room much like the one in Arizona, only New Mexico clearly didn’t have quite the money they did. The metal table had been painted about a hundred times, each layer showing a different shade of the same neutral colors.
“Apple,” Wynn said when they brought him in. He eyed Quincy, then returned his attention to Sun. “You got my message.”
“Nope. No message.”
He seemed surprised. “Then why are you here so soon?”
“Questions.”
“Lots of questions,” Quincy added.
Suspicion narrowed his lids. “That’s going to have to wait. You have to get to Ravinder.”
She frowned. “You are Ravinder.”
“I’m not the Ravinder. I’m not Levi.”
She’d always found it fascinating how all the other Ravinders called Levi by their last name.
“Did you get my message or not?”
“No,” she said. The edge in his voice alarmed her, but she needed to stay focused. “Look, we got you transferred to get answers. It’s time to pay up.”
“That can wait. You need to get to him immediately. I thought that was why you were here.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to be getting a message soon, as well. From Nancy Danforth?” She stood and leaned over the table. “You lied.”
“Nancy?” he asked. He sat back in his chair, his silence confirmation.
“How did you get her to falsify the DNA test?”
He licked his lips. “We don’t have time for this.”
“And why? Why confess to a killing you didn’t do?”
He worked his scruffy jaw in frustration. “I answer your questions, then you get to Ravinder?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Get rid of the hulk.”
Sun turned to him.
“This again?” Quincy asked. When she didn’t respond, he made a grand show of standing, his annoyance evident in every sharp move he made. He knocked on the door to be let out and exited with the same enthusiastic performance.
After the door closed, she refocused on Wynn. “You confessed to a murder you didn’t commit.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“You didn’t do it,” she reiterated.
“Doesn’t matter who did it, apple blossom. You get to solve the case. I go down for the killing. Everyone is happy.”
“That’s not how the law works.”
“Listen. Just because I didn’t kill Brick doesn’t mean I haven’t killed.” He leaned closer. “How did you figure it out?”
“I remembered.”
“Oh, son of a bitch. That must’ve sucked.”
“You have no idea.” Her exhaustion, her devastation, was catching up to her. She rubbed her eyes. “I don’t want to play games anymore.”
“That’s too bad.”
She had to be honest with him. There was a part of Wynn Ravinder that was noble. She could tell by the way he reacted to her. He tried to put up a front, but