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

But she’d been back four months and, apart from her first week on the job in which he helped with a missing persons case, she’d only seen him a handful of times. And most of those were from a distance. Auri visited his nephew, Jimmy, but even when Jimmy came over to their house, Levi was never the one to pick him up.

Sun helped her dad put Auri’s bike in the back of his SUV, then watched as they drove off. Quincy was talking to one of the onlookers, so Sun turned back to the cruiser and walked over to Levi.

He’d laid his head back and closed his lids, but he still sensed her presence. “You’re not forgiven,” he said without opening his eyes.

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door. “I didn’t ask to be.”

His face, so impossibly handsome, looked tired. He was three years older than her, but he somehow looked younger at that moment. More vulnerable.

She watched him a while, reveling in just being so close, then said, “I saw the wince.”

Confusion flashed across his face but he caught on quickly. “What wince?”

“When Auri hugged you.”

“Wince is a strong word.”

“What would you call it?”

“Flinch.”

“And how is flinch better than wince?”

“A wince is a facial expression. I’ve spent years perfecting my poker face. I don’t wince.”

“Fine. Why’d you flinch?”

“I’m sore.”

“Because you have internal injuries.”

“Mm, I don’t think so.”

“You were hit by a truck.”

“You hit harder.”

That stopped her. She paused a moment to take him in, then asked, “Do I?”

“And it hurts worse.”

“If you two are finished,” Quince said from behind her, “I’ll get him to the medical center. You know, since he could die from massive internal bleeding any second now.”

Sun took one more lingering look at his powerful profile, then stepped back. “Thanks, Quincy. I’m going to talk to Walden. Surely, he saw something if that argument at his store was as bad as everyone said.” She looked around, spotted her target, and called out to Salazar.

Salazar excused herself from questioning the fan club and hurried over. “Yeah, boss?”

“If you have everyone’s names and contact info, you can let them go. The forensic team from Albuquerque will be here soon. Hang out and make sure they go wide. I want every speck of trash collected and photos of everything, no matter how small. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“You got it.”

“Thank you, Deputy,” she said, before yelling over her shoulder at Quincy.

He was just climbing into his cruiser.

“Make sure he stays there, Quince! I want at least five X-rays, three blood tests, and a sonogram!”

“You got it, boss!” He closed his door and eased onto Main toward the Del Sol Urgent Care Center.

Sun was busy fighting the urge to glance at Levi as Quince drove past when she heard gravel crunching behind her followed by a feminine voice. “Sheriff,” the woman said, trying to get Sun’s attention. “Sheriff Vicram?”

Sun turned to her. A disheveled brunette with a skintight miniskirt and a puffy pink jacket hurried up to her, which was a feat in those heels. And here Sun thought she’d had it bad.

“Sheriff, I saw the whole thing,” she said breathlessly, probably due to her jaunt in the six-inch heels.

“Did you give your statement to one of my deputies?”

“What?” She came to a wobbly stop and glanced around, wild-eyed. “Oh, yes. Of course. Tricia asked me to come in tomorrow and give an official statement. We went to school together. But you need to know he didn’t stab that man. Levi Ravinder? He—”

“We know, Miss … ?”

One of her ankles gave way and she veered to the side. Sun bolted forward to catch her, but she recovered like a pro, and said, “Crystal. Crystal Meth.” When Sun’s lids rounded in surprise, she said, “I know. My parents are hilarious. Which is why I’m having it legally changed. Getting a job is a bitch. I usually go by Crys.”

How could she not know there was a woman in town named Crystal Meth? Sun was starting to like the girl despite herself.

“He was trying to help his friend. Levi. He didn’t do anything.”

“We know. He’s not in any trouble.”

“Oh. I just thought … I mean, you arrested him, didn’t you? I just wanted you to know he didn’t do it. I saw the men who did.”

Sun gave the girl her full attention. “Can you ID them?”

“No. Probably not. I’m sorry. I couldn’t really see their faces. The one who did the stabbing wore a baseball cap and the other two wore beanies. Jeans. Dark T-shirts. The only thing I can tell you is that they were all in their late twenties, early thirties? All white with fairly dark hair.”

Wondering if she should bring her in for an interview immediately before her memory faded as the alcohol evaporated from her system, Sun looked around for Zee.

“He’d said goodbye to him, you know? The guy. And then—”

“Wait, who said goodbye to whom?”

“Levi. We were, um, talking and the guy, his friend, he came outside and said, ‘Later, Rav,’ and a few seconds after that we hear a scuffle.”