A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(57)

He chuckled and stepped inside. “That the diary?”

“You’ve heard about it?”

“Who hasn’t?”

“Great,” she said, wielding sarcasm like she was born to. “It’ll probably be on the news tomorrow.”

“Not necessarily. Your deputies are pros.”

“True. How was your day?”

He gestured toward one of the chairs across from her. “May I?”

“Of course.”

He sat and stretched before answering, “Two possible sightings. One was from a cat lady who swore he was living in her attic.”

“Oh no. Mrs. Fairborn?”

“The one and only. We got excited for all of five minutes until we realized she didn’t have an attic. Her Pueblo-style house had a sparkling new pitched roof, but not enough of a pitch for an attic.”

“And it took you five minutes to realize that?”

“What?” he asked, defensive. “We were desperate.”

“Don’t feel bad. She’s the town sympathizer. Tries to help out where she can. She confesses to everything from shoplifting to murder, because she’s worried the sheriff’s office won’t be able to solve the crimes and she doesn’t want us to look bad.”

“How do you know? You just started.”

“She’s been doing it since I was a kid. I caught on when she claimed to be the hijacker of a Piper pilot’s plane who took off and never came back.”

“What happened with the case?”

“His wife finally hunted him down. He was in Fiji with his girlfriend. But Mrs. Fairborn was bound and determined to take credit for that one. Said she’d gotten into the drug-running business and she forced poor old Larry, the owner of the plane, into the thug life.” Sun burst out laughing. “Her words. I swear.”

He put a hand over his eyes while he laughed, then sobered and said, “Makes a mean cup of tea, though.”

“That she does. And the second?”

“We thought we had a legitimate sighting from some kids who’d been playing at the lake.”

“With their parents, I hope.”

“Yeah, I guess they were ice-skating.”

“That lake doesn’t get a thick enough ice cap to skate on. Those parents should know that.”

“Well, we knocked on their door, but the mother said she’d never seen him. And that her kids tended to embellish.”

She took a moment to admire his strong jaw and warm eyes. He let her. “Most kids do. So, nothing solid?”

“Other than the guy who called it in, no.” He stood and closed the door, and Sun grew a little wary. Zee was the only other deputy in the station at the moment. Price was still at the Quick-Mart. “It’s strange,” the marshal said.

“Your face? It’s not that bad.” She said it before realizing what she’d done. Had she flirted? Actually flirted? She never flirted with other law enforcement officials. It was the one rule she’d never broken in all her years as a patrol officer and then a detective.

And boy, did she get flirted with. She just never returned the favor and had proudly earned the title of Ice Queen. Because women who didn’t succumb to men’s whimsy were obviously cold, heartless bitches.

He raised his brandy-colored gaze to hers, the one that held both surprise and appreciation. “Well, thank you, but no. A couple of the residents we talked to were lying.”

It was her turn to be surprised. “How do you know?”

His expression went flat. “Really?”

He had a point. “Okay, who was lying?”

“I got a weird feeling from the mom, and she wouldn’t let me talk to the kids directly, which I found odd.”

“Agreed.”

“And then there was another woman who almost fainted when we showed her the picture and asked her if she’d seen Rojas.”

Concern prickled along her skin.

“She said her name was Wanda Oxley?”

Wanda Oxley. The Book Babes had a Wanda Stephanopoulos who was in love with Quincy and a Karen Oxley who was, well, also in love with Quincy, but there was no Wanda Oxley that she knew of.

“I don’t know a Wanda Oxley. Can you describe her?”

“Yeah, about yay high.” He held up his hand, but the height he indicated was much taller than Wanda or Karen. “Curvy. Hispanic. Hair done up nice like in a beauty salon.”

Darlene Tapia. She’d gotten a strange vibe from her that morning, too. That time, alarm shot through her. Could the fugitive be staked out at her house? Was she in trouble?

But if that were the case, why would he have let her go to the book club meeting?

“Sorry,” Sun said, chewing on her bottom lip. “I’m not sure who you’re talking about.”

He sank down in the chair and watched her. “Isn’t there one decent liar in the whole town?”

“I beg your pardon,” she said, taken aback. “I have played poker with champions. I can lie. Trust me.”

“Did you win?”

“So not the point.”

He chuckled. “You going to tell me what’s going on?”

She ran her pen over her mouth in thought. “Can I get back to you on that?”