A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(104)
Auri’s mouth thinned into a huge smile. “WWLSD?”
“WWLSD.”
Her mom stood then and strode out of the building like she owned it. And in a way, she did. Auri prayed she would have an ounce of her strength, her flair, when she graduated high school. Her mother set the world on fire. She wanted to at least light a candle in it.
“Quincy, don’t laugh. You didn’t see me. It was like Sunshine had left the building and something evil had taken over her body. I went crazy. In front of the entire student body. Or, well, a fraction of it, anyway.”
“Let’s just pray there’s not a new viral video in a few hours.”
“Oh, holy crap.” She sat down at her desk.
Price came in, looking more disheveled than usual. “Hey, Sheriff.”
“You okay, Price?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Dogs got out. I chased them all night.”
“Oh no. I’m sorry.” He had a nasty scrape along his temple. “Is that how you got that?”
He touched his temple, including what looked like a small cut, but there were no visible signs of injury surrounding it. “Probably. Freaking bushes attacked me.”
Sun laughed. Price had only been on the force for about six months and came highly recommended by Detroit PD. He had probably been in line for detective, but he told Sun during their get-to-know-each-other lunch he just wanted to see that yellow bright orb in the sky more often. To feel the warmth on his face instead of the ice-cold wind that blew in from the Great Lakes.
She could understand that. Even with the snow, the sun shone almost every day of the year 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?”