A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1)(87)

They were hugging, their smiles a mile wide.

Hopefully, the person who posted the picture had spelled the boy’s name right. Auri finally had a lead.

She scrambled to look him up on social media. On a hunch, she put his hometown as Chicago and hit Enter. He was fourth on the list, which surprised Auri since his name, Mads Poulsen, seemed so unusual. Now she just needed some contact info.

Her phone dinged with a message from her mom. She was checking up on her with a “Knock, knock.”

Auri put down her coffee and texted back. “Who’s there?”

“A little old lady.”

She knew this one but went along with it, anyway. “A little old lady who?”

“Oh, my god! All this time, I had no idea you could yodel!”

After an involuntary snort, she texted, “That one’s older than I am.”

“They’re all older than you are, sweetheart. How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay. Promise. But can I say that I’m working for the Del Sol Sheriff’s Office so that I can do some digging into Sybil’s case? I have a lead.”

The way Auri saw it, no more secrets meant no more secrets. She would tell her what she’d been up to at the academy and what she was doing now. Mostly because her mom had some wicked resources. And she would do anything to help find Sybil.

“No,” she replied, and Auri slumped in her chair.

“Please?”

“Well, okay. But if you get busted and go to prison, I don’t want to read your memoir in ten years telling everyone it was my fault.”

“Okay!”

Auri put her phone on Do Not Disturb before her mom could change her mind. She’d never seriously give a fourteen-year-old permission to impersonate a law enforcement officer. Though her mom did send her on an undercover assignment once. She had to order fried chicken from an outdoor vendor. She could’ve died that day.

After impersonating a sheriff’s deputy, a police officer, and a detective at various businesses and organizations in the Chicago area—Chicago PD, for example—she finally had a cell number for the guy. And possibly a warrant out for her arrest.

She made a mental note never to visit the Windy City, then dialed the number. It was later in Chicago than in Del Sol, but still too early for school to be let out. She called Mads, anyway. And crossed her fingers.

A boy picked up. “Hello?”

Auri almost fell out of her chair. “Hi. Hello. Hey, there. Is this Mads?” God, she was good at this.

“Depends,” he said, his voice wary.

“Well, my name is Auri, and I’m looking for a friend of a friend. Do you know a Sybil St. Aubin?”

“What’s this about?”

“Sybil is missing. She’s been abducted, and we’re looking for some insight into her background.”

After a long pause, he asked, “What’s your name again?”

“Sorry. It’s Auri. Auri Vicram. My mom is Sheriff Sunshine Vicram of Del Sol County, New Mexico. It’s legit. You can look it up.”

“And you’re working with the sheriff’s office?”

“Yes.” The lie made her stomach cramp. “I’m helping with this case. It’s urgent that I find someone, anyone, who was friends with Sybil in Chicago.”

“We’re cousins, actually. But, yeah, I probably know her better than anyone.”

Mads was in the awkward stage where his voice couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a tenor or a bass. He was probably a freshman or a sophomore.

“Her cousin? This is fantastic. Do you know about her premonition?”

“Sure. The whole family does. Not that anyone believes her. Besides me, of course.”

“Why do you believe her?”

“Because Sybil doesn’t lie. Ever. So, it really happened? No one told me.”

“She was taken, yes. We’re trying to find any clues as to who could have taken her. Something she may have left out of her journal or something she only told her closest friends and relatives.”

He unleashed a heavy sigh that didn’t sound promising in the least. “I wish I knew something. I’ve been trying to call her for two days. I should have known it happened. I should’ve been there.”

“Did you ever see anyone following her? Anyone acting strange? Call and hang up?”

“Not really, but there was something that happened a couple of weeks after they moved to New Mexico.”

Auri straightened in her chair. “Really?”

“Yeah. I told Aunt Mari I’d clear the limbs that had fallen in her yard after a storm here in Chicago. She gave me forty bucks.”

“Sweet.”

“Right? I went over there and started picking up branches so I could rake, and this guy walked up. He said he was with the gas company. He had a clipboard and a uniform with his name embroidered on it, so I believed him. But he started asking me all these questions about my aunt and uncle. When they moved. Where they went. Stuff like that.”

“And if he was with the gas company,” Auri said, “he should have had that information already.”

“Exactly. So, I started getting suspicious, especially when he walked up to their house and looked in the windows. Almost like he didn’t believe me.”