A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,117
in New Mexico. The fact that he’d chosen Del Sol made her wonder about his gut instincts, but his former lieutenant swore by him.
“I just wanted to congratulate you.” He shook his head, impressed. “Stellar work last night, guys.”
“Thanks. Anything on the man who brought us all together today?”
He offered a grim smile. “Sorry, Sheriff. Nothing is panning out. But we’re still looking into a couple of the tips from the hotline.”
“I was going to go through those last night but didn’t get around to it. Nothing with the surveillance footage from the Quick-Mart?”
Sun found it sad that their only lead at that moment was a receipt from the Quick-Mart for an energy drink. A receipt that someone apparently lifted out of a trash can to plant at the scene of Sybil’s abduction.
This guy was nothing if not thorough.
“No, ma’am. He must’ve waited until they dumped the trash and then stole the receipt out of the bin behind the store. No witnesses to that, either.”
“Of course not. Keep looking.”
“Will do. If you need me to take a turn on guard duty—”
“I think we’re covered. Agent Fields is getting some state officers to take a shift, too.”
“Good. Well, just let me know.”
Zee walked into her office then, her face the definition of concern. “Hey, boss.”
“What’s up? How’d you sleep?”
“A little better now that we’ve found her, but he’s still out there.”
“We’ll get him, sis,” Quincy said. “Then you won’t have to look so haggard all the time.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Whatcha got there?” Sun asked, looking at the file in her hand.
“A report. Jack called from the OMI about the DB from yesterday.”
“Great. What does she have for us?”
“Well, they cleaned the ID bracelet with acetate and looked at it under a microscope to get the name off it.”
“Finally, some good news. And?”
“It’s just, you know, with everything going on, I thought maybe we could put this aside until we have more time and manpower to focus on it.”
“Or we could do both. I’ve heard some law enforcement agencies do that.”
“We could. But I think we should wait on the DNA analysis to get back and then—”
“Zee, I have a child abduction case to solve.”
“I know, it’s just—”
“Zee . . .”
“It’s your guy.”
She blinked. “I don’t have a guy.”
“But if you did.”
Every muscle in her body went still. “If I did?”
“The name on the bracelet is Levi.”
Quincy straightened in his chair and took the folder out of her hands. “Are you shitting me?”
“Levi?” Sun sat stunned.
“Okay,” Quincy said, holding his hands in the time-out position, “this doesn’t have to mean what it looks like on the surface.”
“That Levi killed his uncle?”
“Think about it. It had to be self-defense, right?”
“That he had something to do with my abduction?”
“Sunny, we can’t possibly make that kind of assumption at this point.”
She forced her resolve to the forefront. “Bring him in.”
“Absolutely, for the possible homicide. But to assume he had anything to do with your abduction, I don’t know, Sunny.”
“Quincy,” she said between gritted teeth.
“No, Sunny. Take a step back and look at this. Why? What reason would he have?”
“That doesn’t matter. We don’t look at motive until afterward. First, we follow where the evidence leads us.”
He nodded in agreement, but added. “Okay, let’s check his DNA before we ask for the electric chair, though. Yes?”
Tears burned the backs of her eyes. “Fine. Just get him in here.”
She walked to the restroom and leaned against the cool door. Three days on the job and she’d had at least two panic attacks and had behaved stunningly unprofessionally in front of a group of kids.
She thought back, trying to figure out how many panic attacks she’d had before moving back to Del Sol.
Oh yeah. None.
She could not do this. It was the town. The crazy, erratic, messed-up town that she’d loved so much growing up. And she could keep telling herself that until the stars burned out. It still wouldn’t be true.
It was him. Her emotions went haywire anytime he was near, like he emitted some kind of electromagnetic field that kept her and her alone off balance.
And now this? Would he . . . could he do something that heinous?
This was not going to work. She’d known it since she’d first stepped foot into the station. This whole thing, her being the sheriff, them moving back. None of it was going to work.
Auri would be devastated, but she could not live here. Not anymore. Maybe the old saying was right. There was simply no going home. And