A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,39
from an enraged law enforcement agent to a worried mom was what she imagined the melting of the polar ice caps looked like.
“Sweetheart, what you did was serious. Mr. Jacobs could press charges in a heartbeat. And this is a missing persons case. A young girl’s life is at stake.”
“I know, Mom. But I can help.”
“And if he comes after you? What then?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” she said. She considered quoting statistics, but her mom knew them even better than she did. Heck, her mom was the one who usually quoted them to her.
“It doesn’t usually work that way. We simply don’t know what’s going on. We can’t make assumptions this early in the investigation. If this guy feels like you’re a threat—”
“I know. But really, Mom, unless he goes to school here, how would he even know I was helping?”
“And who’s to say he doesn’t go to school here? Do you think high school kids don’t commit crimes?”
“I know they do. That’s exactly why you need me on the team. I’m your inside man. Only without man parts.” She could tell her mom was coming around to the idea. That meant she was desperate. “I’m your inside girl.”
“You’re something,” her mom agreed, shaking her head. “I’m just not sure what.”
Auri jumped up and hugged her. “I’ll let you know if I get any good intel.”
“Don’t even consider missing class for this.”
“Never!” she said, running out the door. She was late, yet again, only this time she didn’t care. She had a case to solve. What would Mom do without her?
9
Robbery suspect apprehended when Deputy Cooper
entered the building through a jimmied door and yelled,
“Marco!”
The suspect responded with, “Polo,” and was promptly
arrested.
—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER
“She’s been doing this for a while now.” Sunshine glanced at the behemoth in the passenger’s seat of her cruiser.
“The bean sprout? What do you mean?”
She turned up Cottonwood Drive, sliding in the melting snow as they conquered a steep incline. “I can’t be 100 percent certain, but I think she was doing some side jobs for her classmates at the academy.”
“Side jobs?”
“I believe she fancies herself a PI.”
“No shit? Do you think that had anything to do with her decision to switch schools?”
“I don’t know. I’m waiting for her to relax. To get comfortable in her new surroundings. Then I’ll take her into an interview room and give her the third degree.”
“Good plan. Or you could just ask her over tacos.”
“The direct approach? Where’s the fun in that?”
They pulled up to the St. Aubin home for the second time that day just as a text came through from Salazar. The dogs were on the way.
Two deputies, Zee and Salazar, sat in a cruiser waiting on them.
“You two start outside,” Sun said when they stepped out. “Canvass the area, but keep it light.”
“Got it, boss,” Salazar said.
She studied the front door, a massive oak with decorative carvings. But before they could climb the steps, Marianna St. Aubin rushed out, her cropped hair unkempt, her clothes, the same ones she wore that morning, wrinkled.
“What happened?” she asked, already breathless when she skidded to a halt in front of them. “Did you find her?”
“Not yet, but I did get a letter.” Sun handed Mari a copy of the letter Sybil sent her.
The woman was shivering when she took it.
“Maybe we should go inside.”
But Mari was already lost in the letter, her expression full of anguish.
“Mari,” Sun said softly, but Mari was gone, drowning in a sea of memories and regret as she ran her fingertips over her daughter’s writing.
“She tried to tell us,” she said, her voice cracking. “For years, she tried to tell us, but we didn’t listen.”
Quincy put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure that’s not true, Mrs. St. Aubin.”
She put one hand over her eyes as a flood tide of tears spilled past her lashes. “What have we done?”
Quincy took her by the shoulders and led her inside the house.
Sun gave her deputies a nod to get started. They’d been observing, and by their expressions, they were just as heartbroken as she was.
Inside, Quincy led Mari to a sofa and sat her down before getting her a glass of water. Sun sat across from her, trying to come to terms with the fact that this could all be real. Sybil could very well have prophesied her own abduction. Her own death.
She knew this town was strange, but come on. Sybil wasn’t even from Del Sol. And she just happened to end up in a