A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,124
disposition, people often underestimated the young deputy. Hopefully that would change over time.
Zee met them at the coffee shop, and Richard and Ricky instantly fell in love with the stunning beauty. But that was okay. Zee instantly fell in love with their eyeliner, and Sun realized she might have a way to get the lowdown on the secret sanctum sanctorum of the baristas’ makeup routine sitting right under her nose. Or at her left elbow.
“How is he?” Sun asked Quincy when they sat down with their food.
He stopped chewing and spoke through a mouthful of Monte Cristo. “Hell. No.”
She gaped at him. Her best friend. Her most trusted confidante. “Why ‘hell no’? I’m the sheriff checking up on a detainee in my care.”
He swallowed. “Nope. You’ll have to go talk to him. I refuse to be a go-between.”
“But he won’t talk to me. Possibly ever again. And he did actually confess to a murder.”
“Yeah, to keep his sister out of jail,” Zee said.
“Please, she had nothing to do with it.” Sun took a bite, then said, “We’re missing something, guys.”
“Mayo. I forgot to ask.” He grabbed a packet of mayo and sat back down.
“No. Something much more vital. I feel like our suspect is so close I could touch him.”
“Like in a carnal way?”
Fine. When Quincy joked about something so serious, it usually meant he was so frustrated he didn’t know what else to do. She was right there with him.
Marshal Deleon walked into the shop in all his slick glory. “I knew I’d find you guys here. What’s good?”
A soft gasp came from behind the counter at the insolence of the implication that there was something on the menu that wasn’t good.
Sun fought a grin. “Everything here is good.”
“Fantastic.” He went up to order while Quincy and Zee wiggled their eyebrows at her.
“Stop it,” she whispered, pretending to be appalled. “You look ridiculous. And he’s probably married.”
“He’s not,” Quincy said. “I checked.” When both gazes landed on him in surprise, he said, “For Sun. I could tell he liked her.”
“Mm-hmm,” Zee said, adding a healthy dose of skepticism to her voice.
“May I?” Deleon asked, and three heads nodded in unison. “Thanks. Great job on the St. Aubin girl. What a coup.”
“I guess. How is your search going?”
“Don’t get me started.” He took a sip of coffee, then looked back at the proprietors, clearly impressed with their concoction. “We thought we had a solid lead. Turned out to be nothing, so we wasted a whole day.”
“Sorry about that.” She considered telling him the truth, but she needed to talk to Darlene first. If anyone would know where Deleon’s fugitive, Ramses Rojas, was headed, it would be Darlene. Sun could pass on the information without ever involving her mom’s best friend. “How long are you staying in the area?”
The grin he offered her would have melted the knees of a lesser, and less-in-love-with-Levi, girl. Unfortunately, every breath she took seemed to confirm her affliction to a greater degree.
Still, dude was hot.
“Trying to get rid of me already?”
“Not at all. I’m just trying to figure out if that offer for a drink still stands.”
He was about to take a bite of his smoked salmon croissant. He stopped, his sandwich hovering mere centimeters from his mouth. “Yes, it is.”
“Great. I’d love a mocha latte with extra whipped cream.”
His grin turned evil. “Would you?”
“And chocolate sauce. In the shape of the Mona Lisa.”
He put down his sandwich to give her a suspicious once-over. “You’re plying me with your feminine wiles?”
“Not at all. I left my feminine wiles in my other pants. And I very rarely ply in public.”
“Want to tell me what you are doing, then?”
“Nothing dastardly. I just thought you might give me the lowdown on the inmate you’re looking for.”
“Fugitive. The second he escaped, he became a fugitive.”
“Ah, right. I watched the video of the escape. The footage from the transport van?”
“Let me guess.” He sat back in his chair. “He didn’t actually participate in the escape. And he didn’t hurt anyone.”
“It just seemed like a very well-thought-out effort. A coordinated attack. Like it had been planned for weeks. But I noticed in a field report, Ramses wasn’t supposed to be on that transport.”
“You’re right. He didn’t participate in the hijacking. And he didn’t hurt anyone. But he also didn’t stop them from hurting two of our finest. And he did escape with the others.”
“Four.”
He took another sip, wiped his lovely mouth, then asked, “Four?”
“There were four hardened criminals against one man.”