A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,88

for the little vixen?” she asked, not sure why she was consulting Levi about parenting tactics.

“I do, but she doesn’t need to know that. A few threats might go a long way.”

“Oh, yeah? What kind of threats?”

“The usual. Cancel her cell service. Put a padlock on her bedroom door. Tell her the next dead body she’s going to find will be Cruz De los Santos’s.”

She nodded. “Look at you, being all dadlike.” She’d caught the tail end of a surprised expression a microsecond before he recovered. “You’re amazing with Jimmy,” she added, referring to how he was with his sister’s kid. A kid who happened to be on the spectrum. It didn’t stop Levi for a minute. “And with Auri.” Honestly, the way he was with her astonished Sun to no end. “You’ll make a great dad someday.”

He regarded her for a long moment before commenting with an inscrutable, “You don’t say.”

Her phone rang before she could think up a comeback, which was too bad. She was great at comebacks.

She didn’t recognize the number. “Sheriff Vicram.”

A female voice, small and reminiscent of Auri’s in the ravine, floated through the speaker. “Sunshine?”

“Speaking.”

“Sunshine, it’s Addison.”

Sun’s first thought was that Addison had Elliot with her. That he’d found his way home. But her voice was too thin. Too frightened, and alarm shot through her. “Addison, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Adam. My seven-year-old. He’s”—her voice cracked—“he’s missing.”

Thirty minutes later, Sun and Levi pulled up to the Kent house in Santa Fe. The local police had the place surrounded and had flooded the area with lights.

Sun recognized several of the officers on duty as they ducked under the tape and strode into the house, making sure not to disturb the area.

Ronald Aranda, a detective she’d worked with for years, sat on a wingback across from Mr. and Mrs. Kent in the living room.

“I put him to bed at nine,” Addison said, her voice breaking, “like I always do.” She sobbed into a tissue. Mr. Kent sat beside her, but they did not touch. There was no comforting in either direction

“Did you hear anything?” Ronald asked.

“No. I—I didn’t go to bed until late and went to check on him before I turned in. He was gone.” She broke down.

Addison was dressed in jeans and a white button-down, sneakers, and a light jacket, none of which looked hastily thrown on. Meaning she’d still been wearing them at three in the morning.

Sun couldn’t help but note that Mrs. Kent’s anguish was more … genuine this time around? She’d cried when Elliot went missing, but Sun had always felt that she and Matthew were holding something back. She’d been devastated, but in a different way. This was as real as it got.

“Detective,” she said to Ronald when she and Levi entered.

The detective stood and took her hand, genuinely pleased to see her. There was nobody better, in Sun’s opinion. The Kents were in good hands.

Addison jumped up. “Sunshine.” She rushed into Sunshine’s arms while her husband, Matthew, looked on, his posture guarded, his expression pensive.

“What happened?” Sun asked.

Levi stood back and did as she’d asked him to do in the cruiser. He observed. Maybe he would see something she didn’t.

“I went to check on him and he was gone,” she repeated, this time leading Sun to Adam’s bedroom.

Sun tossed Ronald an apologetic look over her shoulder; he shook his head and sat back down to talk to Matthew, basically giving Sun his okay. She was butting into his case, after all.

Levi followed them back. He tapped her shoulder and gestured toward the Kents’ bedroom. A suitcase sat open on the bed as though she was packing it. Or repacking it.

“He was right here,” Addison said, sweeping into Adam’s room and gesturing toward a bed in the shape of a race car. “I put him to bed, and then I stayed up to get some work done. When I came back, he was gone.”

The woman visibly shook, her pale face full of apprehension.

Sun took her hand to try to steady her. “I thought you guys were going to Albuquerque to stay with your mom?”

She tossed a furtive glance over her shoulder. “Matthew asked me to stay. Said we needed to work things out.” She stepped forward and pleaded with her. “You have to find him, Sunshine.”

Besides being utterly confused, considering her failed first attempt at finding a missing Kent child, Sun understood her grief, and her heart broke for the woman.

“Addison, Ronald Aranda is an excellent detective. Any interference from me would