A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,25
her.
“No, Jimmy, I didn’t. Why don’t you come back?”
He stood, but kept his gaze on the floor. “Oh, I thought you arrested him because you think he killed Uncle Brick.”
“Nope. No arrests on that, yet.”
“Okay. Good, because he didn’t do it.”
She stilled, trying to decide how to proceed and how unethical it would be to interview him without his mother present. Even though she’d secretly become friends with the local wildcat known as Hailey Ravinder, the woman would kill Sun first and ask questions later if she did anything to hurt her son. Though the boy did come in on his own accord, he was barely seventeen. And on the spectrum, a fact that would play heavily into Hailey’s decision to kill her, Sun was certain.
“How about we go to my office.”
He shrugged, so she led him to her office and offered him a seat. “Do you want a soda?”
He shook his head, too busy taking in the surroundings. She could hardly blame him. She was quite the decorator.
She sat at her desk and asked as nonchalantly as possible, “So, do you know who did? Do you know who killed your uncle Kubrick?”
“Yes,” he said, matter-of-fact.
She heard Quincy come into the station. They really needed to hit the road, but the temptation to learn more about Kubrick’s death was simply too irresistible.
“Could you tell me, then? Could you tell me who killed your uncle?” Her heart raced. Despite her desire to uncover the truth about that night no matter the cost, she wasn’t sure she was ready for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
“Yes.” He leaned closer for a better look at a figurine on her desk. If this were any other person, she’d think he was playing her when he didn’t elaborate, but this was Jimmy Ravinder. He was innocent and genuine and incapable of playing anyone.
“Okay,” she said, trying not to laugh. “Would you tell me?”
“Yes.” Just when she thought he was going to stop there again, he added, “Me.”
She gazed at him a moment, then leaned back. “You killed your uncle Brick?”
He petted the mountain lion figurine with an index finger. “Yes.”
“Sweetheart, you were two.”
“I know. It was an accident, but my mom freaked out!” He shouted the last words, his seriousness adorable, but he never took his gaze off the lion. “She told me not to tell anyone. Ever.”
Maybe not too innocent to make up stories? The fact that he couldn’t possibly have done it made his confession all the more adorable. But she wanted to know why. Why were so many people confessing? “Jimmy, did someone put you up to this?”
“Can I use your restroom?” he asked, shifting in his seat.
“Of course.” She stood and pointed the way, then looked past him to Rojas and Quincy talking in the bullpen.
Rojas leaned against Quincy’s desk. “I just lost, Chief.”
“Your virginity?”
“You lost, too. I think that kid just confessed.”
“No way.”
Quincy deflated before her very eyes. He’d been in first place to win the pool, but with another confession added to the growing list, his potential winnings of forty-nine dollars and a pan of Salazar’s homemade enchiladas dwindled by the second.
“I really wanted those enchiladas.”
“My tia is making some for dinner after church tomorrow. You should come by.”
“You’re killing me, Rojas. I have to go to Arizona. Think the boss would buy it if I called in with Ebola?”
“Since she’s looking right at you, I’d say no.”
They both straightened as Jimmy walked past her and took his seat again.
She sat across from him and grinned. “Okay, let’s say you did kill your uncle.”
“Accidentally, because I was two.”
“Accidentally, because you were two, and your mom told you never to tell anyone, why are you telling me now?” If someone was putting the people in Levi’s circle up to confessing, it wouldn’t have been Levi himself. His pride would never allow it, especially since he’d been insisting he had killed Kubrick for months. But why else would people just randomly keep confessing if it weren’t a concentrated effort?
“Because I thought you arrested Uncle Levi for killing my great-uncle Brick, so I had to, but since you aren’t, I’d like to take it back now.”
“Your confession?”
“Yes.”
“Yes!” Quincy raised his fists into the air. “He’s retracting his confession. I’m still on top.”
Rojas shook his head. “I don’t think it works like that, Chief. He already confessed. It still counts as a bona fide confession.”