A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) by Darynda Jones

They sat at the table again, one on each side, genuine worry lining Wynn’s rugged face. “He’s working with a man named Redding.”

She took out a notepad. “Yes. Del Sol’s former sheriff. How do you know these things from prison?” she asked, amazed.

“Connections.”

“Names?”

“Not on your life.”

“Okay then. Well, I’ve been aware of Clay and Redding for a while. They’re planning something.”

Wynn nodded. “Clay wants the business Ravinder spent the last fifteen years building from the ground up. He brought our family out of the dark ages, and Clay can’t stand it.”

“From what I hear, he also wants to be inducted into the Southern Mafia again.”

“The Southern Mafia isn’t quite the well-oiled machine you might think it is. It’s basically a few pockets of the criminally clueless, and half of those are now beholden to crime families a little farther south.”

“Tucson?”

“Mexico,” he said with a smile. “Among others.”

“Okay. But what does Redding hope to get out of it? What’s his endgame? Besides my badge.”

“Your badge?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes. He very much wants this badge back.”

A darkness came over him at the thought. “That would make trafficking easier.”

“So, for his influence as an officer of the law? To make it easier to move drugs?”

“Maybe. I’ll have to look into it.”

“And Nancy Danforth?”

“Hey,” he said, showing his palms, “she came to me.”

“Really?” Sun said, doubt in every drawn-out syllable.

“I’m not quite the evil ne’er-do-well you imagine me to be, apple.”

She kind of believed him. Kind of. And Nancy always was a bit of a sheep. “Someone else is pulling her strings. Someone powerful. She’s afraid of him.”

“Who?”

“I’d love the answer to that as well.” She closed her notepad. “You look into Redding. I’ll look into Danforth. Does Levi know he’s in danger?”

“That kid.” He stood and checked out his reflection in the observation mirror. Smoothed his blond goatee. “Still thinks he’s invincible. You just need to buy me some time. A week. Two at the most.”

“What does that mean? How am I going to buy you time?”

“Get him into hiding. I’ll take care of the rest.”

She stood and walked to him. “Wynn, I can’t condone violence, even for a good cause.”

He turned to her. “And you don’t have to, apple. I’ll get you the evidence to arrest Clay on the spot. I just need two weeks to do it. In the meantime, you have to get my nephew to safety.”

“And just how am I going to do that? You know he’s not just going to lay low because I ask him to.”

“Take him on a romantic getaway.”

After she ran out on him without an explanation? Not likely. “I’ve just had three violent attacks in my town. Well, one was in a mine. And multiple stabbings. Not to mention all the dead bodies.” Her gaze slid past him. “So many dead bodies.” She bounced back. “I can’t leave.”

“Then you have only one option left.” He lifted a brow. “But he’s not going to like it.”

“He’s been lying to me for the last fifteen years. Let’s hear it.”

After she and Wynn came up with a plan to keep his nephew safe, she offered him her best grave expression. “Who was his partner?” she asked, worried it really was Wynn. “Now that I know how my daughter came about.”

He tilted his head in a sheepish shrug. “There was never a partner. It was all Kubrick.”

She nodded, then knocked on the door.

The CO stepped aside and Quincy came into view. Brows drawn in a severe line. Arms crossed over his chest.

The door didn’t have a window like the one in Arizona. He couldn’t see inside the room, so he stood on the other side, a tad on edge if his expression were any indication.

“You okay?” he asked, peering past her to the inmate at her back.

But she was more than okay. Her world had just changed. She tackled him, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Okay, then,” he said, patting her back and, Sun was certain, questioning Wynn from over her shoulder.

“Right this way,” the CO said to them, ready to lead them out.

She let go of Quince and threw her arms around the guard’s neck, too. He let her, though he didn’t hug back so much as pat the top of her shoulder. Gingerly.

She was so happy. Mostly because he didn’t tase her.

She stood back and scanned the area to see how much of a fool she was making of herself. The large room had several tables, and a handful of COs and administrators looked on, witnesses if the guard decided to file a sexual harassment lawsuit. A few inmates were there as well, one doing paperwork and one cleaning the tables. Probably a trustee who had earned the right to help in other areas of the prison.

As one of the officials came forward, determined to put a stop to whatever was going on, Quincy stepped in front of him and held up a hand, politely requesting a moment.

She turned and pushed her luck as far as she possibly could by giving Wynn another quick hug, then she faced the wrath of Quincy.