A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,27
daughter. You have to know that.”
“I could tell, hon.”
“All she told me was that her parents were always calling up with one sob story after another, needing money for this or that.”
“Does Marianna give them any?”
“Never,” Karen said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “And why should she? They were horrible people. Not that Forest would let her be taken advantage of, anyway, but still.”
“Have they contacted her lately?”
Karen’s squinted in thought. “The last time we talked was right after New Year’s, but she didn’t mention them. I know they tried to get some serious money out of them last summer right after their big move here.”
“How serious?”
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Her father had some new scheme that was going to make them all rich. A sure thing.”
“Like there is such a thing,” Elaine said, her face lined with concern.
“Exactly. Forest refused, of course, but from what I understand, Marianna’s father was furious.”
Furious enough to abduct his granddaughter and demand a ransom? It wouldn’t be the first time such a scenario came to town.
“Thank you, ladies,” Sun said, rising to leave.
“But wait!” Elaine jumped up. “You were going to talk to us about law enforcement.”
Sun grinned at them. Every face shone with eagerness. Every face but Darlene’s. She seemed relieved that Sun was almost out of her hair. Which was odd enough to tickle Sun’s Spidey sense.
“I have a feeling you guys know more about law enforcement than I do.”
“Well, we were hoping you could tell us how to get away with murder,” Wanda said.
Ruby jumped up, waking Myrtle, the ancient woman sleeping on the sofa, in the process. “You know,” Ruby said. “For research purposes.”
“Hi, Myrtle,” Sun said, waving. The woman blinked at her, then settled back onto the sofa with a sleepy smile on her face. “Ah, well, getting away with murder. That’s tricky. In a word, you can’t.” A unified wave of disappointment crashed into her. “Sorry.”
“Can’t you just look the other way?” Wanda asked.
Elaine shushed the woman. “She can’t do that, Wanda. It would be unethical.” She’d added air quotes around the word unethical, and Sun realized she’d slipped into an alternate universe. One where elderly women, and some not so elderly, plotted murder and her mother used air quotes.
“Well, Elaine, the man needs to die. Who’s going to do it if we don’t?”
“Just who are we talking about?” Sun asked.
“No one,” Elaine said. “We’re just thinking out loud.”
“Are we killing him or not?” Myrtle chimed in at last.
Quincy snorted, enjoying every second of the conversation.
“Apparently not,” Wanda said as though thoroughly inconvenienced.
“Who’s the hottie?” Myrtle asked, pointing to Quince.
“You remember Quincy,” Elaine said to Myrtle, raising her voice.
“He is fancy, but who is he?”
Wanda, now annoyed, scowled at the poor woman. “How are you not dead?”
“We need to go,” Sun said before she had to arrest the lot of them. “But I do have one more question.”
Darlene tensed. That time, Elaine noticed.
She cast a worried expression on her best friend. “Darlene, are you okay?”
Darlene snapped to attention. “Yes. Absolutely. I’m sorry. What was your question?” As she spoke, her hands curled into fists, clearly apprehensive about what Sun would ask next.
“Right. Okay, do you guys know who the Dangerous Daughters are?”
After a tense moment in which the ladies exchanged furtive glances, they burst out laughing en masse. Again, Darlene’s laughter was a tad more forced than her book buddies’, but she did seem relieved.
“The Dangerous Daughters,” Wanda said, doubling over. “What’s next? Aliens going to high school in Roswell?”
And the laughter began anew.
That was their cue. Sun and Quincy left them in a state of hysterics after Sun made them promise to call her if they remembered anything about the St. Aubins or if they heard anything.
Elaine followed them out.
Sun stopped and addressed them both. “Could this really be a ransom situation?”
“Wouldn’t be the first,” Quincy said, his posture tense.
Elaine’s lids slammed shut.
Quincy rushed to apologize. “I’m sorry, Elaine. I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t be silly.” She gave the giant next to her a hug. “I just feel so bad. A missing persons case on your first day. I’m sorry, hon.”
“It’s not your fault, Mom.” She thought about that and corrected, “Wait, actually it is. What the hell?”
Elaine had the decency to look ashamed, and Quincy gave her shoulders another squeeze.
Wanda yelled from inside the house, “Elaine, for the love of tacos, we have to discuss this danged book!”
Sun laughed. “What book did you guys read this week?”