A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(109)

“I don’t think so. The backpack was pretty new, and that button held one of the pockets closed. I think I would’ve noticed if it came off.”

Sun took a quick note, but Sybil added, “Oh, and I didn’t lose it. It was stolen. Right out from under me.”

Sun stopped writing. “Stolen? From where?”

“I was at the park with some friends, and we were all sitting on this bench. We all had our backpacks either under the bench or beside our feet. I was sitting on the end, and the backpack was right beside me one minute and gone the next. Nobody was around or anything. Just the usual joggers and stuff, but nobody stopped to talk to us. And none of the other kids saw anything, either. We all kind of freaked out.”

“I bet you did.”

That was what Sun needed to know. The last time she’d seen the backpack and the chances the button ended up in her possession. That meant her abductor had been stalking her for a very long time.

If he was brazen enough to steal her backpack in broad daylight with a group of kids looking on, what else was he brazen enough to do? Was he a chameleon? Could he blend? Become invisible?

This guy was right under their noses. She could feel it.

“Did you see or hear anything else?” she asked her.

“Yeah,” Auri said, “you’d be surprised at how the smallest detail will lead to something big.”

The two girls were holding hands like they’d been best friends for years. It warmed Sun’s heart but also broke it. She wasn’t planning on staying in Del Sol long enough for them to get to know each other much better. She was close to solving her abduction. She could feel it.

“I know this is going to be hard to believe, but everything I put in my letter is what I saw and heard. I really don’t have much else. He hardly talked, but when he did, his voice wasn’t really deep. It was just normal.”

“What about an accent? A speech impediment of any kind?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice anything like that.”

Marianna came in then, carrying a new pitcher of water. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” Sybil said. “Have you met Auri?”

“Well, your dad and I just about smothered her, if that’s what you mean.”

The girls giggled. Marianna poured Sybil a fresh glass of water, then went around to the other side of her bed. “Are you cold? Do you need another blanket?”

“I’m fine, Mom.”

Mari tucked a strand of hair behind Sybil’s ear and encouraged her to lie down.

“Can Auri stay? Just for a little while?”

Auri offered them both pleading looks as well, and Sun had to admit something awful. She didn’t want to put Auri in the line of fire. If the suspect did come back, if he somehow managed to get to Sybil, what would he do with Auri if she got in his way?

“I don’t see why not,” Mari said. “But just for a little while. You need to rest.”

“Please, Mom,” Auri begged.

“I guess you can miss a couple of more classes today. I have to go back to the office for about an hour. I’ll swing by to pick you up when I’m finished there. How’s that?”

The girls looked at each other and giggled in excitement. Sun had never seen her daughter get so excited about being friends with anyone before, and she wondered if she’d missed that part of her life as an insanely busy parent, or if Auri had missed that part of her life as the daughter of a law enforcement officer.

Sun watched the two for a minute, marveling at a little dimple Sybil had where her ear met her temple. An adorable attribute for an adorable girl, and Sun remembered reading a story about them in college. In some folklores, the rare dents were considered very lucky, and it was said that the bearers would gain great wealth throughout their lives.

She hoped so. Sybil could use a little luck after the life of fear she’d led.

“Sybil, if I send one of my deputies over later, do you think you can try to remember everything the suspect said to you? No matter how small?”

“Sure.” She said the word, but the last thing Sybil wanted to talk about was her abduction or the man who perpetrated it, and it shone through in the tone of her voice. Sun understood all too well.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I’ll be back,” she said, doing her best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation.

Auri rolled her eyes, and they giggled.


Auri and Sybil had a lot of catching up to do. Auri told her new friend everything that had happed to her since she’d started school, including the broadcast news bit, and Sybil told Auri about her own run-ins with the infamous group Lynelle and the Lackeys, Sybil’s euphemism. Auri liked it. It had finesse. Spunk. And alliteration. Cruz would be proud.

“One more time.”

Auri exhaled loudly and flung herself back on the bed. Sybil had insisted she crawl on the bed with her so they could watch a rerun of The Vampire Diaries, but they ended up talking the whole time instead. “Dude, I’ve already told you seven times.”

Sybil counted on her hands. “Nope. You’ve only told me six times.”

After a soft laugh, Auri told her friend once more about the first time she saw Cruz reading in class and how captivated she’d become listening to his poetry.

“I was captivated by him, too, only it had nothing to do with his poetry.”