A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(122)

“I hate paperwork, but for once, I’m not complaining.” He stopped and faced her. “Thank you, Sunny. And if you really need to be bitten on the ass . . .”

She slammed a hand over his mouth to stop him. “I’m good.”

He chuckled from behind her hand and asked, “Where are you off to?”

“I need to ask Darlene Tapia why she was harboring a fugitive.”

As she walked off, he called after her, “You already know, don’t you?”

“I have my suspicions.”


Sun stepped outside with a tray of fruity drinks in her hand. No one needed to know it was just 7 Up with food coloring and orange slices.

“I love Sundays,” Auri said, angling her face toward the round ball of fire in the sky. “They’re so relaxing.”

“Don’t get too relaxed,” Sun said.

Auri opened her eyes and took a drink off the tray. “Can you believe two days ago we were in our winter coats and today we’re tanning?”

“That’s New Mexico for you.” The temp had risen to a downright balmy seventy-five degrees, but there was still snow on the mountains. The sun sparkled off the white peaks, reminding the sheriff it was still midwinter in the Land of Enchantment.

Auri, Cruz, and Jimmy Ravinder were sitting on lounge chairs in her front yard. Which was basically her parents’ backyard.

“How can it be so sunny and warm today, when it was all drizzly and cold yesterday? This state is weird.”

“Your face is weird,” Sun said, reverting to her favorite joke.

“Did you talk to Sybil’s mom?” Cruz asked.

“I did. Sybil is fantastic and, well, glad to be alive. She’s coming home today.”

Auri bolted upright. “Can we go see her? Please? We’ve been texting, but it’s just not the same, and she’s been in the hospital forever.”

“She’s been in there two days.”

“And?”

Sun felt the corners of her eyes crinkle. “If it’s okay with Marianna. But first, I have a favor to ask.” She looked at Cruz. “Both of you.”

“And me?” Jimmy asked, his dark blond hair ruffling in the light breeze.

“And you, but I’ll need you to hang back with me. Help me with operations.”

“I can do that.” The excitement in his eyes was contagious, and her daughter leaned over and hugged him.

Sun loved that he was like a brother to Auri. Had been since that day on the cliff over seven years ago. If Sun had known, things would have been a lot different the last few years.

Water under the bridge now, but she’d missed so much. She’d just have to make up for it.

“Ask away,” Cruz said. He wore his army jacket and goggles for the tanning session. No clue why.

“Okay,” she said, but Auri interrupted her before she could get two words in.

“I know that look.”

“Not this one. I just bought it.”

“Nope.” She pointed at her suspiciously. “You’ve had that one in the back of your closet, waiting for the opportunity to wear it again. It’s that ‘I’m about to do something dangerous’ look.”

“Okay, you caught me. But before I tell you the plan, I have to know, do either of you have any experience buying drugs?”


One hour later, with the help of one Darlene Tapia, Sun sat a few yards away from an orange Chevy long bed, faded with large patches of rust on the roof, that should have been retired from duty in the ’80s. Her daughter and her daughter’s potential boyfriend strolled up to the window of said orange Chevy long bed.

If her hunch was correct, the man sitting in the driver’s seat was a pretty great guy. This would be the ultimate test to prove her theory either right or wrong.

“Zee? Quincy? You got eyes?”

“Twenty-twenty,” Quincy said.

Zee came on the headset, her voice, her tone, smooth and relaxed, reflecting that razor-sharp focus the makers of Adderall would kill to bottle. “I got ’im.”

“Great, well, don’t shoot him yet.”

She chuckled softly. “Copy that.”

“Jimmy?” she said to the kid looking through the binoculars beside her. “You good?”

He gave her a thumbs-up.

Cruz’s dad let her use his son without question, and she realized they had an incredible bond, much like she and Auri had. That trust shone through. Hailey was a little harder to convince. Sun had had to swear to her that Jimmy would be nowhere near the action.

If Sun had this guy figured out, and she liked to think she did, there wouldn’t be any action.

The guy in the truck, a tattooed Latino with a buzz cut and an attitude a mile long, sat facing the icy water at the lake, his mind a million miles away if the fact that the kids walked up to his window and he still hadn’t noticed them was any indication.

“You okay, baby?”

“I’m okay,” Auri said into her mic. “I have the best backup team ever.”

“Damn straight you do,” Quincy said.

“Damn straight you do,” Jimmy echoed.

Auri knocked on the window, and Sun realized the guy had been aware of the two kids stalking him, after all. He rolled the glass down without turning his head, but he’d been watching them in his side mirror.