A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(68)

Melody closed her eyes and pressed a tissue to her mouth. “I was part of the cleanup crew at the lake a couple of days ago. Everyone was heading out for the day, but I wanted to check a few more areas. Sure enough, someone had tossed trash behind Soda Rock.”

“Always,” Sun said, shaking her head.

“Exactly. Anyway, I went to get more trash bags out of the car, and even though I’d threatened their lives, my kids got on the lake.”

Alarm paralyzed Sun’s lungs. It simply didn’t get quite cold enough to create a thick enough barrier between air and water to hold people. Too many sunny days in New Mexico, even in winter.

“My baby—” Melody’s voice cracked, and it took her a moment to recover. “My baby fell through, Sunshine. My baby girl.”

The mere thought pressed against Sun’s chest and stole her breath.

“And he saved her. The boy.”

“The man the marshals are looking for? He saved her?”

“I don’t know. It all happened so fast, and he took off as soon as he handed her to me.”

“He pulled her out of the water?”

“Pulled her out? No, Sunshine. He jumped in after her. He was on the cliffs, and he jumped in after her. He could’ve broken both his legs, but he didn’t care.”

The lowest cliff looking over the lake was thirty feet. The tallest almost eighty-five. The thought of him jumping from any of them onto solid ice made Sun’s legs hurt.

“The ice broke with his fall, and he swam under the surface until he found her. All the while, I was screaming and my boys were screaming. I ran out onto the ice, too, but it started to break. That was when I saw them surface out of the hole she fell through. Oh, my god, Sunshine, she would have died. I know in my heart that if he had not been sent to save her, she would have died.”

Sun sat stunned, not sure what to think. It was one thing to be a violent criminal who preyed on those he saw as weaker. But for this guy to jump into a frozen lake to save a little girl?

“So, there you have it.” She raised her chin. “Do what you have to do. I won’t be telling the marshals anything, but I thought you should know, since it’s your town.”

“Thank you, Melody. But why wasn’t I told about the incident? I’ve read all the reports up to date.”

“I took her to the hospital in Santa Fe. They must not have reported it to you.”

“All that matters is that your little girl is okay. I have one of those, too. They’re pretty great.”

She laughed through a light sob. “They are, aren’t they?”

Sun saw Melody out and got ready to head to the search site when she got a text from Royce, the other, older love of her life.

“No news yet. Will call soon.”

“Sheriff?” Anita said from across the room.

Sun walked over to her as she pulled on her jacket. “What’s up?”

“The mayor would like you to call her with an update.”

“Oh, okay, can you take down a message for when she calls back?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She made sure her badge was securely fastened to her belt, then said, “Okay, it’s three sentences.”

Anita nodded, pen at the ready.

“Bite. My. Ass.”

The poor girl actually wrote down all three words before looking at her questioningly.

“I know it’s a bit cryptic, but she’ll figure it out.”

Anita’s eyes had rounded, but she nodded without hesitation. “Yes, ma’am.”





16


Two elderly sisters reported a man in the house

across the street watching them for hours at a time.

Deputies ID’d the man as a cardboard cutout of Captain America.

The sisters grew distraught when they found out he wasn’t

real and were transported to the Del Sol Urgent Care Center for

observation.



—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER

A helicopter flew over the search area as Sun stepped out of her cruiser and went to find the incident commander. She heard dogs barking in the distance, the ground pounders already hard at work.

The snow wasn’t much deeper than it had been. Small blessings. Though the chill was still razor sharp, apparently a hot meteorologist had promised sun and lots of it. Hopefully, it would warm up as the day wore on.

“Commander,” she said as she stepped up to a very tall and very busy state officer holding a clipboard. Commander William Ledbetter stood as tall as his position would imply.

He glanced down and took her hand. “Good to see you, Sheriff.”

“Thank you for getting this going so quickly.”

He surveyed the surroundings. “Yesterday would have been better. Wish we’d known earlier in the day.”

“How much time do I get to keep you before you have to pack up?”

He dropped his gaze as though afraid to give her the bad news. “I can’t imagine we’ll find this kid alive, Sun. Two nights exposed to these conditions? If he weren’t disabled, maybe, but . . .”

“I know,” she said, turning her face away. “But he’s smart, Will.”

“I’m giving it two days, and then we’ll have to pack it in.”