A Bad Day for Sunshine

by Jones, Darynda

  But she didn’t dare. Doing so could put Hailey in danger, as well as Jimmy and Levi.

  “You’ll be able to leave in a few minutes. We called out the crew to clear the road to town.”

  “You can do that?”

  “When it’s your crew, yeah.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “We’re going back to the house to change again and get back out there. There’s a trail where we can take our ATVs up.”

  “Levi, does he know what to do? How to survive?”

  “Yes.” He bit down and looked out the window. “I’m just worried he panicked and went too far into the forest. He knows how to make a shelter and start a fire, but this is more than even most experienced hunters could manage.”

  She tried to swallow the turmoil wreaking havoc on her chest. “Can I go out with you?”

  He studied her a moment, a long, tense moment, then shook his head. “You’d only slow us down.”

  Sun didn’t take offense. He was right. He knew this area and knew how to cover it quickly. If he had to watch out for her while doing it . . .

  It was the first time she’d ever truly been alone with him, and the circumstances were the worst kind imaginable. But it was nice to hear his voice.

  “I wish I could do something.”

  “You can. Go home so I don’t have to worry about finding a Sunshine Popsicle on my next pass.”

  “Okay, but I’m leaving under duress and against my better judgment.”

  “Yeah, well, your judgment was never that great.”

  What was that supposed to mean? “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  If perfection manifested into human form, it would look exactly like the man sitting in her passenger’s seat. The one with the annoyed look on his face. “What it means, Vicram, is go home.” He said her name like it was something he would spit out if he were starving.

  Before she could argue the point again—and take up more of his precious time—he climbed down from her cruiser and slammed the door. Then he pointed, telling her to lock it.

  She obeyed almost faster than his cousin had. There was something about the way he gave an order. She felt that ignoring it would be risky.

  But he hadn’t replaced his face mask and goggles. She waited and watched as he trod back to his truck, his hair whipping about his head, until he was safely inside. Then she released the breath she’d been holding.

  Yet not five seconds after he got inside, he opened the door again, reached over his windshield, and pulled off her stupid note, the one that the storm had surely melted the lettering off. Humiliation burned through her.

  He looked at it, the wind almost ripping it out of his hands. Then he looked back at her and let it go, the blizzard carrying it into oblivion before climbing back into his truck.

  She rolled down her window and shouted, “That’s a five-hundred-dollar fine, mister!”

  A backhoe drove past then. Levi turned the truck around to head back to his house, but he waited for her to do the same, for her to follow the backhoe. She did, and when they arrived back at 63, Sun and the backhoe went one direction while Levi and his cousin went the other.

  Just like she and Levi always seemed to do.

  Auri couldn’t sleep. She knew it would be an issue the next day, what with her coloring and the fact that dark blue circles just didn’t look good under her hazel eyes. But it didn’t matter.

  Cruz’s dad had taken her home just as the winds picked up and the sky started dumping snow like it was a Christmas in Denver.

  She enjoyed talking to Cruz’s dad—with Cruz interpreting, of course—on the short drive home. He was a nice guy and made a killer hot chocolate. The real stuff. Not the powdered stuff in a can.

  Cruz walked Auri to the door when they got to her grandparents’ house.

  “Do you like it?” he asked, gesturing toward their apartment in back.

  “Are you kidding? I love it. Which part did you work on?”

  “See that wall closest to the alley?”

  She grinned. “Yes.”

  “I built that. Among other things.”

  “That’s my favorite wall.”

  “Really?”

  “And my bedroom.”

  “Oh.”

  He kept his gaze steady until she asked, “Hey, why did you work construction when your dad’s a mechanic?”

  “I work for my grandfather in the summer. On my mom’s side.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know that.” The wind had picked up so that even in the covered porch, Auri’s hair was being flung about. “Thanks for working on this with me.”

  “Of course. We’re partners.”

  The smile that spread across her face couldn’t have been stopped if Moses himself had commanded it. Jesus, maybe, but Moses didn’t have quite enough clout to dampen her joy.

  “Guess I should go before my dad freezes to death.”

  “That would suck.”

  “Yeah, it would.”

  He turned to walk away, and she’d thought of him almost nonstop all night. And Sybil. And the students at Del Sol High she was going to have to face today.

  She took one last glance in the mirror and considered her options. Not about her coloring. Nothing to be done about that. But about the students at Del Sol. The mean ones, anyway.

  The way she saw it, she had three. Options, that is. She could face the students at school and be mocked and ridiculed for being a narc once again. She could beg her mom to let her help with the search. Or she could run away, change her name, and become a Vegas showgirl like her grandmother had been.

  Decisions, decisions.

  She grabbed her backpack and walked out to steal a gulp of her mom’s coffee.

  “Hey, bug bite. How’d you sleep?”

  “Great. Kind of. I don’t know. I kept waking up.” She noticed the patient smile on her mom’s face and grew wary. “What?”

  “Who was the boy?”

  “What boy?” The delicate arch of a single brow convinced Auri not to try to scam her mom. She plopped her backpack on a chair with a huff and dropped into the chair beside it. “I think I’m in love.”

  Was that it? Was it her feelings for Cruz that had her so hesitant to face the day at Del Sol High? She’d never liked anyone so much she was afraid of losing them. Well, besides her mom.

  That very woman had been taking a sip of coffee when Auri had professed her love, and she sipped and gasped at the same time. Then she spent the next ten minutes hacking up a lung. It would have been hilarious if Auri’s insides weren’t being eviscerated by shards of glass.

  “Mom. Stop,” she said after an eternity. “This is serious. I need to skip school.”

  Her mom sobered, but it would take her voice a little while longer to recover fully. “Sorry. That had nothing to do with you. I just swallowed wrong.”

  “Right. So, can I skip school?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “I can help with the search party. She’s my friend.”

  “Still thinking absolutely not. Not only would you be more hindrance than help—”

  “Mom!”

  “—but your asthma has been sketchy lately. We can’t risk an episode.”

  “But I feel fine.”

  “All the more reason to keep you healthy.”

  “Oh, wait,” Auri said, flattening a palm on her chest. “I think you’re right. I think I’m having an episode.” She gasped, then coughed for good measure.

  “Good try, kid. What’s his name?”

  Auri sank against her chair. “Cruz.” She ducked her head. “Cruz De los Santos.”

  “Really?” she said as though impressed. “Is that Chris’s son?”

  “Yeah. I met Mr. De los Santos last night. He’s super nice.”

  “Yes, he is. And as soon as a I run a complete background check on this kid, including his credit report and his immunization history, you can go to Caffeine-Wah and have coffee with him.”

  “And hav
e your spies report our every move to you?” she asked, the betrayal cutting deep. Ish. Not like a gaping chest wound or anything. More like a really painful paper cut. Then she thought about the owners of Caffeine-Wah and melted. “How are Richard and Ricky? Have you seen them yet?”

  “Saw them yesterday. They send their love.”

  Auri drew in a deep breath, crossed her fingers, and asked, “The eyeliner trick?”

  Sun’s shoulders sagged. “Not yet.”

  Auri wilted right along with her. “You’re just going to have to bring them in on charges of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit murder. Then you can force them to show you.”

  “That’s a great idea. Nothing like abusing my position for personal gain.”

  “Exactly. Why else be a sheriff?” she asked with a snort.

  “Are you sure you’re okay after yesterday?”

  One shoulder rose of its own accord. “I’m okay. Another day, another dollar.”

  Her mom’s brows did a squiggly thing. “And how does that apply to this situation?”

  “I don’t know. It just sounds light and carefree, like I’m going to be today. Nary a care in the world. No skulking in the shadows for me.”

  After putting her cup down, Sun put a hand on Auri’s arm. “You know, you don’t have to pretend to be okay, sweet pea. Not ever.”

  Discomfort prickled along Auri’s spine. She didn’t like it when her mom worried about her. She did everything in her power to make sure that didn’t happen. “I know. Can I at least help with the search after school?”

  “How about you help your grandma and the rest of the Book Babes hand out coffee? If you get your homework done first.”

  “You’re trusting Wanda Stephanopoulos to hand out coffee to a bunch of law enforcement officers?” When her mom nodded, Auri’s jaw fell open. “Mom! You know what uniforms do to her.”

  “I know. It couldn’t be helped. If she does impede the search in any way—”

  “Like wrapping herself around Quincy?”

  “—I’ll have to ask her to leave.”

  “No. You’ll have to take her away in handcuffs.”

  Her mom laughed at that. Hard.

  “Mom, this is serious. Wanda could give the whole town a bad name.”

  She wiped a tear from underneath her eye. “You are such an old soul.”

  “Yeah, yeah. So, what time did you get in?” she asked, putting her mom in the hot seat for once.

  “You do not want to know.”

  She looked at the map her mom was poring over.

  “Why are you searching for Sybil there?”

  “Didn’t your grandparents tell you? Jimmy Ravinder is missing, too, and we got a tip that he’s been seen hanging out with a girl who matches Sybil’s description.”

  Alarm rocketed through her. “Jimmy Ravinder? How long has he been missing?”

  “Since Sunday afternoon.” She stopped and focused on Auri. “Why?”

  “Who said he’s been seen hanging out with Sybil?”

  “Not Sybil, but a girl matching her description. And with them both going missing around the same time . . .” Her mom caught on. “Come to think of it, you match Sybil’s description, too.”

  Auri sank into her chair. “It’s me.” She said it so softly, she was worried her mom didn’t hear her, so she said it again. “It’s me. The girl Jimmy’s been hanging out with.”

  She had been friends with Jimmy since she was seven, but with the way her mom felt about the Ravinders, she’d never told her. While her mom worked, she’d spent the summers with her grandparents. She’d gone to the lake, taken up hiking the trails of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and hit up all the coffee shops almost every day with Jimmy. That was why she’d never really gotten to know any of the local kids.

  She spent all her time with her grandparents or with Jimmy.

  The color drained from her mom’s face. “All this time, we thought we had a solid lead, and . . .” She focused on her daughter again. “Honey, why are you hanging out with Jimmy Ravinder?”

  “He’s my friend. He’s smart. And he’s nice.”

  “He’s nice?” she said. “He’s a Ravinder.”

  The way she said the words cut Auri to the bone. No paper cut this time. Her mom wielded a machete. “So, that’s how we decide who to hang out with? We look at their last name? What about the color of their skin? Does that count?”

  Sun gave her an admonishing glower. “That’s not fair. I’ve told you, they’re a crime family. A criminal organization unto themselves. And they’re mixed up with some very heavy hitters who make mincemeat out of little girls and—”

  “I know. I know. Eat them for breakfast.”

  She leaned into her. “Sweetheart, it’s not that Jimmy is a bad guy. It’s that his family is, and you could get caught in the crossfire.”

  “Jimmy wouldn’t let that happen.”

  “Jimmy? What can he do against an entire family of criminals?”

  “He’s gone legit with his uncle Levi. Everything about Mr. Ravinder’s operation is legal. He’s made sure of it. He’s trying to get his family out of that life, Mom. No more crossfire.”

  “Yes, but there are members of the family who don’t want out of that life. Those who want back in, no matter the cost. What then?”

  Auri folded her arms over her chest. Not to be belligerent, but to silently protest her mother’s position. Sun had always worried about the Ravinders. If she knew what they’d done for her, what they’d done for Auri, she wouldn’t be so quick to judge.

  Besides, the woman was so in love with Jimmy’s uncle Levi, it was ridiculous.

  Auri suddenly realized the larger implications of all of this. “Mom, does this mean you don’t have any clues as to where Sybil might be now?”

  “I don’t know anymore. Just because you match Sybil’s description doesn’t mean he isn’t with her.”

  “Mom, you can’t actually suspect him of taking her!”

  “I’m not saying he took her. What if they were walking and got lost? What if one of them is hurt? We can’t rule out his involvement.”

  Auri ignored the worry gnawing at her stomach. “He’s not involved with this, and Sybil is okay. I’ll find something, Mom.”

  “Oh, honey, even if you did—”

  “No. She’s still alive. She has to be. We only just met.”

  Sun tilted her head, her expression full of warmth and appreciation, but Auri didn’t understand why. “Leave it to my daughter to give the sheriff a pep talk.”

  “I’m just worried about them. Both of them.”

  “I am, too, bug bite.”

  “Please let me help with the search. He’s been out in this weather. He’ll be scared and disoriented. And he knows me. He trusts me. He would come if I called to him.”

  “Sweetheart, it’s just too cold in the mountains. I promise I’ll let you know immediately if we find him.”

  She pursed her lips. It was better than nothing. Besides, she had a couple of students to interrogate.

  15

  Go ahead! Try starting your day without coffee!

  Our deputies need a few more arrests to make their quota.

  —SIGN AT CAFFEINE-WAH

  Her mom dropped her off at school, this time with no flashing lights, and sped off to get ready for the day and then join the search. The search Auri would have killed to be at. Still, she did have another fun-filled day planned with the Lynelle clones. She could only imagine what the day might bring.

  But first, she needed to interrogate one Mr. Aiden Huang, the boy who was in the office the day before and who was surprised when they talked about printing Sybil’s schedule.

  He knew something. Auri could feel it. So she waited by the front doors for him, even though she didn’t look up his schedule. He could have first period in another building.

  Of course, she also waited for Cruz, and she was only a little disappointed when Aiden showed up first. She made eye contact as he walked past
and tried to wave him down, but he only walked faster. So she followed faster.

  She may be short, but she was determined. She could outlast him if it came to that.

  He stopped at his locker and started when he looked over his shoulder and found her standing there.

  “You’re the new girl,” he said, making small talk.

  “Don’t even pretend to care. What do you know about Sybil St. Aubin?”

  It took him several tries, but he got the locker open. “Sybil who?”

  She stepped closer, and his lids rounded. Only he wasn’t looking at her. He’d looked over his shoulder at the kid towering over her and paled.

  “What’s going on?” Cruz asked.

  “Nothing. I swear,” he said, way more nervous than he should have been, and Auri was beginning to see a pattern.

  She turned to him and asked, “Cruz De los Santos, are you a bully?”

  His expression flatlined, then he said, “He’s getting away.”

  She whirled around and watched Aiden rabbit. “Damn it,” she said, practically running after him. When she caught up, managing to only take out one or two other students, she grabbed his collar and pulled.

  He made a strangling sound and faced her. “What? I didn’t do anything. And I don’t know the girl.”

  “Then why the reaction yesterday?”

  “What reaction?”

  “You do know who my mother is, right?”

  He paled even further, but Cruz had walked up again, and she didn’t know if it was due to the threat or due to his presence. She needed a control group when she did stuff like that.

  “I could get in serious trouble,” he whispered, his voice hissing loudly.

  “I don’t care,” she said, hissing back. “What’s going on?”

  He led them to a corner, glanced in both directions, then said, “She wanted me to do something for her. Said she’d pay me.”

  “Really? What did she want?”

  Cruz crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside Aiden. Aiden started panting as though he were having a panic attack.

  “Better hurry,” she said. “The bell’s about to ring. If I don’t get an answer, I’ll go to Jacobs.”