A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(20)

“What are you thinking?” Quincy asked.

“I’m thinking Mrs. St. Aubin isn’t being completely honest with us.”

“What gave it away?” he asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

“But right now, there’s a fourteen-year-old girl out there somewhere, and we need to find her.”

“Agreed. Are you sure you’re up for this? What with it being your first day and all?”

“Up for it? This is why I became a law enforcement officer.”

“To save abducted girls?” he asked.

She eyed him a long moment, then said, “To catch criminals.”


After an excruciating session in which the EMT begged Sun repeatedly to go the urgent care facility, claiming a couple of her cuts needed stitches, he dressed them the best he could so Sun could don a fresh shirt and she and Quincy could drive Mrs. St. Aubin to her house to investigate the possible abduction site.

She set the deputies on various tasks like calling the school to see if the girl showed up there and getting her phone records, with her mother’s blessing.

Mrs. St. Aubin questioned Sun the entire way to her house. “Why aren’t you calling in the FBI or the CIA or whatever other organization needs to be notified? Shouldn’t you be calling for backup?”

At that moment, Sun just wanted to keep the woman calm. “We need to inspect the site before we call anyone in.”

“But we don’t have much time.” The woman was in a state of near panic, but Sun knew one thing Mrs. St. Aubin didn’t. They don’t always kill them in the first forty-eight hours. Sometimes they hold them for days.

The site was not what she’d expected. The St. Aubins owned a large vineyard, and their house—scratch that—their mansion was proof that it was doing well. They pulled up to a stunning rock-and-glass three-story contemporary with a stone entrance.

Mrs. St. Aubin hurried them upstairs to her daughter’s room, where nary a Beauty and the Beast figurine nor a Harry Potter book was out of place.

“This is it. Sybil’s room.”

Sun studied a collection of snapshots that haphazardly lined the mirror of an otherwise impeccable bedroom. Sybil St. Aubin was adorable. She had auburn hair, not quite as coppery as Auri’s, that she wore in braids. A smattering of freckles peppered her nose, on top of which sat a pair of round glasses that screamed book nerd.

Sun liked her instantly.

But the room hadn’t been disturbed in the least. If this was a teen’s room, Sun wanted one: a teen that kept her room clean. Auri’s room looked like a tornado tore through it on a weekly basis.

“Mrs. St. Aubin—”

“Mari, please.”

“Mari,” she began again, only to be interrupted a second time.

“See?” Mari said, gesturing wildly. The longer she spoke, the louder her voice became. “Her backpack is still here. Her bed hasn’t been slept in. The clothes she’d set out for school today haven’t been touched, and her phone is still on the charger. She’s been missing all night.” With Quincy’s help, she sank onto a chair by Sybil’s desk and whispered, “She’s out there all alone.” Fresh tears ran down her cheeks as Sun and Quincy took in the scene.

Quincy checked the window for signs of forced entry, just as he had when they’d come in the front door. Nothing. Sun looked through a smattering of papers on the desk and nightstand, but nothing looked unusual there, either.

“Mari, are you sure Sybil didn’t take off on her own?”

“I’m positive!” Mari jumped up, wringing her hands. “She wouldn’t do that. You have to believe me.”

“Then why does my admin think she did?”

She slammed her eyes shut and said softly, “Because Sybil left the house a few days ago without telling me, and I panicked.”

Mari’s behavior once again bordered on the bizarre. Either she took overprotection to a whole new level, or she wasn’t giving them everything.

“Did she take her phone with her that time?”

“Yes!” She jumped up and rushed to Sybil’s phone.

Quincy stopped her from touching it with a gentle hand on her arm.

She nodded in understanding. “Yes, she did. Her battery had died, and I couldn’t get ahold of her, so I dialed 911.”

And she got Anita.

“But this time, she left it here. Nothing on earth could separate that girl from her phone barring a natural disaster or an abduction.”

Sun had to agree with her on the point. “I’m going to send a team in, Mari. I’ll need you to stay out of Sybil’s room until they get here, okay? Don’t touch anything.”

She clutched her chest and nodded.

“Where is your husband?”

“In California on business. I told him not to go. He’s on his way back.”

“Why?”

“Because our daughter is missing!” she practically screeched.

“No, why did you tell him not to go?”

“Oh. Well, Sybil’s birthday is coming up.”

“Of course.” Sun scanned the room one more time. “Remember, don’t touch anything.”

“I won’t. I’ll wait here.”

They left by a side door to get a look at that entrance. Again, no sign of forced entry.