A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,85
them for good.
With the chain digging into her skin, she was just about to call Cruz when the object not ten feet from her piqued her curiosity again. It wasn’t a usual shape like a bottle or a cup. It was ghostly in appearance and almost swan shaped.
In a last attempt to get a clearer image, she took a picture with her phone. But even with the night-vision mode, the image was grainy. She enlarged it until a shape formed. Something white and puffy. She enlarged the picture even more and just made out the shape of a hand, only it was swollen and disfigured.
Her stomach flip-flopped and clenched. She couldn’t move. Just when she’d convinced herself it was probably a mannequin, the breeze shifted and the putrid scent of death hit her like a wrecking ball.
Her lungs seized and she went completely still, suddenly scared that whatever had happened to the person lying in the ravine could happen to her. She was, once again, smack-dab in the middle of a crime scene. A crime scene that had to be secured.
Glancing around, she lowered the brightness on her phone, now scared she would attract attention, and brought up her contacts. With shaking fingers, she dialed her mother’s cell.
Her mom answered, her tone teasing. “It’s late. And you are grounded from your phone for all eternity. This better be good.”
“Mommy,” she said, her voice as small as she could make it.
Auri could hear the alarm in her mom’s voice when she said, “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“I—I think I found a dead body.”
18
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Instead of accompanying Levi to the cabin to look for Elliot like she’d wanted, Sun spent the last few hours going over the case files and the trial records for Matthew Kent’s conviction. Levi went without her. He promised to call the minute he knew something one way or another, but she didn’t know if he had cell service. If he had a way to contact her.
Matthew Kent refused to name any of his accomplices, the people he said were actually pulling the strings, exclaiming to anyone who would listen that they would kill him. He played the fall-guy part for everything it was worth. And with Elliot’s disappearance, he very nearly got away with it.
Investigators lost the money trail after it left a bank in the Caymans. Tens of millions of dollars. Money didn’t just disappear. Someone had it, but by the looks of Addison Kent, it was not her or her husband.
In the pictures from the trial, Addison looked exhausted. Her dark hair unkempt. Her pale face hollow. She’d been through the wringer thanks to her husband. The fact that they were still married baffled Sun, but maybe Addison just didn’t want to file for divorce while her husband was in prison.
She looked over at Rojas. He was still there, going through the footage from both the bar and the Quick-Mart, hoping to catch a glimpse of the men in the pickup. Without it, they had nothing.
“Rojas, I was impressed with you before I blackmailed you into joining the team. Go home. This can wait until tomorrow.”
“What’s your excuse then?” he asked. “You know, if it can wait.” He stood and walked over to her. “You want me to make a fresh pot before I go?”
She smiled like he’d just offered her a little slice of heaven.
Headlights filtered through the front glass of the station. Levi pulled up and parked. He must not have found Elliot.
“I got it,” Rojas said, going to let him in.
Her phone rang. She looked at the clock. Eleven thirty on a school night. Her daughter had better have a good excuse for staying up so late.
She clicked on the green button. “It’s late. And you are grounded from your phone for all eternity. This better be good.”
“Mommy,” Auri said, her voice so soft she almost didn’t hear her.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“I—I think I found a dead body.”
Sun scrambled to her feet and followed Rojas out the front. “Where are you?”
“I fell.”
She snapped her fingers at Rojas and signaled him to get to his cruiser. He nodded and took off toward his parked SUV while she commandeered Levi’s vehicle. “Where, baby?” she asked.
Levi didn’t hesitate. He climbed back into his pickup while Sun got into the passenger’s side.