A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(114)

“Mom?” she said about half a second before she lurched toward the side of the bed and heaved over the side of it. Orange liquid spilled onto the floor.

Sun held her hair, smoothing it back and fighting hot, angry tears.

“Mom?”

She laid her back as the nurse cleaned her up and swabbed her brow and the back of her neck. “Auri, are you okay?”

“He’s still here.” Her voice was a thin shell of its former self. “He won’t leave.”

“Who won’t leave, sweetheart?”

“The suspect. He wants Mrs. St. Aubin to see. I don’t know why.”

“I do.” Sun motioned for Quincy to come in. “Did Sybil tell you this?”

Auri nodded. “I tried to tell you, but I was just so tired.”

Sun hugged her to her. “It’s okay, bug. We’ll find her.”

Her lids drifted closed just as she said, “What would Lisbeth do?”

“Let’s get her to an exam room,” the nurse said. “Get some fluids into her to flush out the drugs.”

Sun let them take her, then called in her parents, instructing them not to leave Auri’s side.





25


Caller reported his wife missing for eighteen months.

Is starting to get worried.



—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER

Price didn’t fall for it. They’d locked down urgent care for four hours as officers searched the place from top to bottom. Nothing. Not a trace of Sybil or Price. So they expanded their search, bringing in the helicopter and cadaver dogs to comb the area directly behind the urgent care center.

Once they’d lifted the lockdown, Sun’s parents took Auri home, and Sun did something she’d never imagined she would. She got the number for Chris De los Santos from Deputy Salazar and texted him, asking if Cruz could go stay with them. Mostly to sit by Auri’s side, to comfort her, but the kid knew how to handle himself. If anything should happen, she had no doubt he would do everything in his power to keep them all safe. It was a lot to put on a teenage boy, but desperate times . . .

She explained the situation to Mr. De los Santos, told him there was a slight chance of danger. He texted back that it sounded exactly like something Cruz would jump into the middle of with or without an invitation.

She really liked that kid.

The surveillance video clearly showed Price—they continued to call him Price because they still didn’t have an ID on the guy—going into the room pushing a cart and leaving a few minutes later, so whatever he’d given the girls was fast-acting.

They hadn’t blocked the roads quickly enough. He could be well on his way to Colorado by that point. Or Arizona or Texas or even Mexico.

But she also agreed with Auri. Price wanted Marianna to suffer. He wanted her to pay for giving him up for adoption. That could be his only motivation.

“Wait,” Sun said. They were still in the urgent care center, and Zee was reviewing the footage in the security room when something caught Sun’s eye. “Go back.”

Zee rewound the video. “This is where he goes into the room.”

“Yeah, but look at that cart. That’s not big enough to fit a person. Even a tiny one.”

“You’re right,” Zee said. No way he got her in there. Does that mean—?”

“She’s been here the whole time?”

Zee, Quincy, and Sun exchanged glances before taking off toward the outpatient recovery room they’d had Sybil in. They practically burst through the door, but all the officers were out of the building, searching other areas and canvassing the town.

They tore open every door and drawer in search of a tiny redhead to no avail. But they did find a set of metal springs and levers.

“What the hell?” Zee asked, but Sun and Quincy immediately looked at the recliner by the window. It was a hospital chair that folded out to a bed should someone need to stay with a patient all night.

They stepped closer and noticed a tiny pool of blood by the back foot. Quincy knelt down and lifted the chair gently to peek under. Then he pushed it over.

“Motherfucker, she’s gone.” He grabbed his hair and doubled over in frustration.

But Zee was looking at what was left of the inner workings of the chair. A long lock of hair had gotten tangled in the mechanisms, and Price had apparently pulled it out when he took her out of the chair. “She was here the whole time. He took her while we were looking at other footage.”

“This is not happening,” Sun said, very aware that it was. And Sybil was going to pay for their mistakes.


“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Sun disconnected the call she’d made on the way back to the station, very curious as to why Price had come with such a stellar recommendation.

Of course, she hadn’t hired him, but she’d read his file. And the reason he’d received such stellar accolades was because he’d assumed the identity of an actual officer in Detroit. An officer who was very surprised when Del Sol did an inquiry on him when he hadn’t applied there.

Sun wanted to know how the former sheriff didn’t catch that. Then again, maybe he did. According to her investigation into Redding, the guy was certifiable.

Agent Fields put out feelers in Detroit to try to find out who’d adopted Marianna’s baby so they could at least get an ID and possible history. But that wasn’t going to help them now.