A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

13

At that awkward stage between birth and death?

We can help you through it!

—SIGN AT DEL SOL BROKERAGE AND PSYCHIC READINGS

Quincy handed Sun a fresh cup of coffee as she watched the video yet again.

“Sun, we can’t know that the boy in that video is Elliot Kent.”

“It’s him. I’d know him anywhere.” His face had been emblazoned into her mind’s eye. She’d looked at a hundred pictures. Watched tons of videos. Spoken to dozens of people. She knew Elliot Kent almost as well as she knew her own daughter. “He was my very first case when I made detective and my very first failure. Among many, unfortunately.”

“Your first case?” Quincy asked, thinking back. “That was what? About seven years ago? He couldn’t have been more than—”

“Five.”

Quincy studied the kid, not sure what to think, but Zee didn’t question it.

“Why did you think he died?” she asked.

“We found bloody clothes near the house. We just—we didn’t hold out much hope of finding him alive after that. And there was never a ransom demand, even though we initially thought the abduction was related to his father’s illegal activities.”

“What illegal activities?” Quince asked.

“Ponzi scheme of sorts. He cleaned out entire families. Left them devastated, even though he insisted he wasn’t behind it. Said he was the fall guy. The government felt otherwise. He was on trial when all of this was happening.”

“One of his victims?”

“We looked into that. Thought it could have been blackmail, but there was never a demand. We thought about revenge, but ruled that out when Elliot just vanished. The abductor would’ve wanted Mr. Kent to know what he’d done. And why.”

“What about a ploy for leniency?”

“We considered that, too. Mr. Kent broke down repeatedly in court, especially after they found Elliot’s clothes. Which,” she said, looking over at him, “were found the same day the defense rested.”

“Did that have any sway on the jurors?” Zee asked.

“I don’t care how strong a case a prosecutor has, nothing beats the tears of a father, crocodile or not. You bet it did. He got acquitted on four of the five charges, but there was no denying that last charge of investment fraud.” She took a sip. “Got fifteen years.”

“And you really think this kid is his son?”

“Yes. Nothing added up, even then. There were just too many times I caught his mother with such a look of utter devastation. Utter hopelessness.”

“As any parent would be.”

“Not at all.” She sat up straighter. “Parents are devastated, yes, but they always have hope, even when the last shred of evidence points in the opposite direction. They always justify it, at least in those first few weeks. Nothing will convince them their child is gone until we find a body. But Mrs. Kent, she was different. Her devastation was more …absolute.”

Zee took a sip of her own coffee. “Like a parent who had something to do with a coverup?”

Sun pulled her lower lip between her teeth in thought, then said, “Yes and no. Parents who commit filicide, those parents who are abusive to begin with, go about their business afterward as though nothing happened. They get on with their lives. It’s honestly the strangest thing. And it throws jurors off. It’s so hard for a normal person to fathom their indifference, and sometimes they mistake their behavior for innocence. But Mrs. Kent was genuinely devastated.”

“Maybe they accidentally killed him.”

“I considered that, too, until about ten minutes ago.” She looked back at the screen. “I’m telling you, guys. That’s Elliot.”

They watched as Elliot exited the store and climbed into the passenger’s side of Seabright’s truck.

Quincy was finally beginning to believe her. “Does anyone else find it odd that he got into a man’s truck who ended up with multiple stab wounds a few hours later?”

Zee concurred. “It can’t be a coincidence, boss.”

“I agree. So what? Seabright kidnapped Elliot? It just doesn’t seem like his MO.”

“And your gut is telling you this?” Quince asked. “Because you’ve known him for so long?”

She scowled at him. “No, Levi’s gut told me. The man I’m going to kill the minute I find.”

“Might not want to lead with that.”

“But Elliot signaled to us,” Zee said. “Why now? He’s been missing for over seven years. Is this the first opportunity he’s had?”

“There’s something else we need to seriously consider.” Tired of fighting it, Sun gave the dread gnawing at her gut free rein. “This was taken a few hours before Seabright showed up to the bar alone. If Elliot is being held against his will, Seabright had plenty of time to take him back to wherever he is being held and lock him up again. And with his abductor in the hospital—”

“He could die,” Quince finished for her.

She turned to Zee. “I need you to talk to Mr. Walden again. Try to find out if he’s ever seen the boy with Seabright before. If he’s been with him this whole time.”

“I’m on it, boss.”

“Quincy, I need an address on this guy. Anything in his name or even his parents’ name. Get Anita on that. Then how about you and I go talk to Mrs. Kent?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Sun’s phone dinged just as Anita came into the bullpen. “Hey, boss. Mrs. Fairborn is here to confess to stabbing Keith Seabright Saturday night.”

“Damn it,” Sun said under her breath after reading the text. “I need to run an errand before we head out.”

“I got Mrs. F.,” Quincy said. “You go. I’ll call in Salazar to babysit while Anita and I try to get an address on Seabright.”

“Thanks, Quince.”

“To be honest, boss, I’m looking forward to reading how an eighty-year-old woman with blue hair repeatedly stabbed a two-hundred-pound man in a knife fight outside the Ravinder’s bar.” They watched as Anita led her in. “I didn’t know she had it in her.”

“You realize if your mother finds us here, she’s going to catch onto the fact that we’re skipping,” Cruz said once they were ensconced into a corner booth at Caffeine-Wah.

“She just left here. She won’t be back for a while. It’s all good.”

Sybil nodded absently, her lids as round as the rims on their cappuccino cups. Poor thing. Auri should’ve never dragged her into this.

She got a text from her mom and checked the time. Her mom was very careful not to text during class. Sure enough, second period just let out. They were officially skipping two classes.

Her stomach gurgled from her nerves as she read the text. Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Etch.

She laughed. Mom, that one’s older than the Pecos River.

Etch.

Mom.

This is not Mom. This is Etch.

OMG! Fine. Etch who?

Gesundheit. Now have a good day.

Her mom only used the Etch joke when she was worried about something and couldn’t come up with anything better.

Is everything okay?

I just needed to read your voice. I’ll probably be home late.

Everything was definitely not okay.

I love you, Mom.

After a moment in which she was sure her mom covered her heart with a hand and sighed aloud, Auri had to laugh when her mom typed back, It’s hard to blame you, really. All things considered.

Then she added an entire line of hearts and it was Auri’s turn to sigh.

“Your mom’s pretty great,” Sybil said.

“She seems to think so.” She looked at her cohorts. “I’m sorry I chickened out.” She tightened her hands around her cup. “I think I’m ready now.”

“It’s okay,” Cruz said. “Let’s give it a minute. Mrs. Fairborn will be in the station for hours.”

She nodded a little too enthusiastically. Cruz’s penetrating gaze didn’t help.

Seeming to sense her discomfort, he refocused it on Sybil. “So, do you know your new expiration date?” When she turned a confused expression on him, he added, “When you’re going to die.”

“Cruz!” Auri said.

Sybil had known her whole life she was going to die on her fifteenth birthday. She’d had a premonition as a kid and had dreamed about it since. Thankfully, Sunshine Vicram had something to say about that and Sybil survived a terror no kid should ever have to endure.

Cruz shrugged, oblivious, which was not like him. “It’s just that Auri’s mom stopped your premonition from happening, so I wondered if you knew your new expiration date.”

“Oh,” Sybil said, brightening. “I do, actually.”

“For real?” Auri asked.

“Yep.” She slid her glasses up her freckled nose. “As of this moment, I’m going to live until I’m eighty-three and die of congestive heart failure.”

“Oh.” Auri cringed inwardly. “That’s good …I guess.”

“Yeah. I’m shooting for ninety-three. I’ve decided to get more exercise and eat healthy.” They all looked down at the pastry in her hand. “Right after this delicious chocolate croissant.”

The bell dinged and the owners of the coffee shop came in through the front carrying boxes. Auri decided to take advantage of the opportunity given her.

“Here.” She handed Cruz a butter knife. “Hold this to my throat and go with it.”

“Okay, but if they stab me, I’m blaming you.”

“Deal.”

Auri and her mom had lived in a loft above Richard and Ricky’s garage in Santa Fe for years. They were like family and Auri had been the flower girl at their wedding. But in all the years they’d lived there, the couple held one captivating secret over their tenants’ heads: the eyeliner trick.

Ricky, a gorgeous Asian, wore the most perfect eyeliner Auri had ever seen. He applied it with surgical precision and Sun and Auri wanted to know how.

Now was her chance to find out.

She waited until they got closer, positioned herself to be at Cruz’s mercy, then said, “Help me! He wants the eyeliner trick or he’ll kill me.”

Ricky set his box on a nearby table and looked at them, less than impressed. Richard, with his glorious mop of spiked, black hair, followed suit, only his expression held more humor than disinterest.

Sensing her inevitable defeat, she added, “And he’ll get blood all over your porous Italian tile.” Which, really, who put a porous tile in a coffee shop?

Ricky gasped. “Fine. Your chai latte is on the house.”

She rolled her eyes. “My chai latte is always on the house. He knows that. You’re not fooling him.” She pointed at the kid holding a butter knife against her throat, rather limply much to her chagrin. “He’s a criminal mastermind.”

Ricky gave Cruz a dubious examination.

Richard winked playfully at him. “The redhead put you up to this?”

He lifted a shoulder.

Ricky leaned closer to her and whispered, “Better luck next time, squirt.”

She deflated. So close.

She disentangled herself from her captor and stood to give them each a hug. “You just missed Mom.”

“We have some fresh-baked pastries we’ll take over in a bit. Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

“We’re on a scavenger hunt!” Sybil shouted. Really loudly. She didn’t handle panic well.

“Yeah,” Auri said, going in for the save, “for history. We’re finding different historical sites in town and taking pics of them.”

“Nice,” Ricky said. “You should take a picture of Richard. He’s a historical site.”

Richard glared at him. “I’m not that much older than you.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Grandpa.”

Auri giggled, then sat down and scowled at Cruz. “We need to talk.”

“Okay,” he said, a telltale grin lifting one corner of his mouth.

“Your performance was underwhelming.”

“Underwhelming?”

“Yes. Less than whelming, if you will. I was not whelmed. You’re going to have to step it up if you want to fool those two.”

He smiled behind his cup. “I’ll remember that.”

“All right, good.” She took a deep breath to steady herself, then nailed Cruz with her best look of determination. “I’m ready to go all the way.”

Cruz choked on his coffee about the same time Auri realized her double-entendre faux pas.

“No, inside.” She patted Cruz’s back. “Inside Mrs. Fairborn’s house. Did you think I meant—?” When he gave her a hapless shrug, she asked, “Have you even met my mother? She knows about the devil’s doorbell, Cruz.”

“The devil’s what?” he asked between coughs.

“She will know if it’s been rung. We need a plan.”

“Why would we ring her doorbell if we’re breaking in?”

“No. The devil’s—Never mind.”

Sybil sat glued to the conversation, her gaze bouncing back and forth between the two from behind her massive mug.

“And we had a plan,” Cruz said. “You chickened out.”

Auri sank against the seatback. “I know. I’m sorry. Did I mention that I’m pretty certain Mrs. Fairborn killed her husband, too?”

Her two cohorts refocused on her. “No, you did not,” Sybil said.

“He went missing around the same time and the sheriff never did a thing about it.”

“That sweet old lady,” Sybil said in awe. “A black widow. Whodathunk?”

“Okay. I’m ready now. For real this time. Let’s do th—” She stopped and listened. “Do you hear that?”

Cruz and Sybil looked around.

“That’s my mom.”

Sunshine texted Auri as she hurried down the alley toward Caffeine-Wah. She typed, I just needed to read your voice. I’ll probably be home late.

When her daughter typed back, I love you, Mom, her heart almost imploded.

She typed her usual smart-ass response, then entered the coffee shop through the back door.

Levi’s sister, Hailey, had sent up the signal, a code word they used that meant she needed a meeting ASAP. They’d been investigating Clay Ravinder for a few months now. He was threatening to take everything away from Levi, everything his nephew had worked so hard to build, and use it as a bargaining tool to get back into the Southern Mafia. Or, at least, one syndicate of it.

Neither Sun nor Hailey could let that happen. In fact, Hailey had come to Sun when she was still a detective in Santa Fe. As soon as Sun got some hard evidence on Clay’s less than aboveboard pursuits, thanks in no small part to Hailey’s ability to eavesdrop, she’d turn the case over to the feds.

They could hardly arrest Clay for his plans to run Levi out of his own business. They had no physical evidence he was planning anything illegal. But according to Hailey, Clay was working with Sun’s predecessor, a corrupt sheriff named Redding, and they were into everything from drugs to guns. Sun had a connection with ATF that could serve her well in this instance.

But Clay was getting restless. More volatile. More unpredictable. Sun might not be able to wait much longer. Still, she would have no case at all if not for Hailey.

Sun and Hailey’s mutual animosity had been serving them well. No one, not even Levi, suspected they were working together, much less that they’d become good friends over the last few months. Hailey was intelligent and caring, something Sun had never suspected growing up. If she’d known what Hailey had gone through, Sun liked to think she wouldn’t have been so quick to judge her. Then again, Hailey did steal her bike.

Sun ducked into the back of Caffeine-Wah and glanced around the storage room for her accomplice.

“Sunshine,” Hailey said from a dark corner.

Sun rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her. “Are you okay, hon? What’s going on?” She set her back.

Hailey wore that worried expression. The one Sun feared. If Clay ever found out his niece was helping the local sheriff bring him down, he would kill her. Plain and simple.

Her dark blond hair hung in tangles down her back and her red-rimmed eyes emphasized the depth of the circles underneath.

“What happened, Hailey?”

“Have you heard from Levi?”

Dread knotted her stomach. “I saw him this morning, but he escaped. Did he come home Saturday night?”

She shook her head. “He hasn’t been home in days, but I’m hoping it’s because you’re looking for him. Right?”

“Yes, hon. We’ve been looking for him. He was hurt Saturday night at the bar, but at least we know he’s alive.”

“I know,” she said with a nod. “Clay told me. It’s just … I’m worried Clay has done something to him.”

Sun’s stomach spasmed painfully. “Why? Has something else happened?”

“Not that I know of, but he’s exactly the kind of opportunist who would kill Levi and blame it on the injuries he sustained Saturday night.”

“But you don’t know that for sure, right?”

She sank onto a crate. “No, I don’t. But Clay met with Redding yesterday.”

Former sheriff Redding was getting to be a serious thorn in her side. He was as corrupt as they come and was not happy when Sun won the election against him.

“I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I did hear something about a Mr. Southern coming to see the plant.” Her expression turned panicked. “Sun, he’s offering the distillery to a higher-up in the syndicate. I know it. If we’re going to do something, we need to do it now.”

“Son of a bitch.” Sun turned away from her in thought. “But I don’t get it. What’s in it for Redding?”

She shrugged. “He wants the badge back. And Clay wants him to have it. The position would give Redding the ability to smooth the way for the syndicate to come in and take over. Because of that, Clay has promised to get it for him.”

Sun bit her lip in thought. “Do you know how?”

Hailey dropped her gaze. “I’m not certain, but they have a plan in place.”

“Way to bury the lede, Hailey.”

“Something about number three being their best option.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry, Sun. I’ve been so worried about Levi.”

She turned back and knelt before Hailey. “No, I’m sorry. Have you texted him?”

“Over and over. He’s … he’s probably turned off his phone. Right?”

“Absolutely. He knows we can track him using his phone, and he was pretty dead set on finding those men who tried to kill his friend. Speaking of which, do you know Keith Seabright?”

Hailey shook her head. “Sounds familiar, but I don’t think I’ve met him.”

“Okay.” Sun considered not mentioning her trip to Hailey, but the woman was literally putting her life on the line for her family. She deserved the truth. “I think you should know, Hailey, I went to see your uncle Wynn.”

“Wynn?” she asked astonished. “He’s out?”

“No. Quincy and I went to Arizona. He wants me to look into his conviction. Says he’s innocent of the crime he’s in jail for.”

“Then he is,” she said, adamant.

“You sound certain.”

“Sun, Wynn is the most honorable person I know apart from Levi. If he’d done it, he would not try to weasel out of his sentence.”

“You need to know, he also said he killed Kubrick.”

Her blond brows slid together and she shook her head. “I think he’s lying.”

“Hailey, you just said your uncle is honorable.”

“I said honorable. I didn’t say he never lied. He would lie through his teeth, but he would do it for honorable reasons.” She studied her nails and asked, “Are you going to look into his case?”

“I told him I would look at the file, but I can’t make any promises.”

Hailey took Sun’s hands into hers. “Thank you.”

Sun squeezed. “But you need to know, he had a set of conditions. I’m trying to get him transferred to Santa Fe.”

Her face lit up like a sparkler. “He’s coming here?”

“Maybe.”

“Sun, if you can get him out, if you can prove him innocent, he’ll help. He’ll stop Clay.”

“Hopefully, he won’t have to.” Sun sat back on her heels. “So, this is really happening. Clay is going to try to kill Levi, take over the distillery, and help Redding remove me from office.”

“Yes. And from what I heard, it’ll happen soon.”

Wonderful. “Hailey, are you being very, very careful? If Clay finds out …”

“I know the risks, Sun. I knew them when I came to you.” Hailey squeezed her hands. “I have to go. Please be careful.”

“You, too, sweetheart.”

They both stood just as Sun got a text.

She checked her phone. “Uh-oh. The wife needs me back at the office ay-sap.”

“Quincy?” Hailey asked with a soft chuckle.

“Yep. Are you good?”

“I’m good.”

“You know I can put you and Jimmy in protective custody.”

Hailey shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll be careful. And I’ll let you know what else I find.”

Sun turned to leave and came face-to-face with an irascible redhead, her eyes wide, her mouth slightly ajar. Since Auri—as well as everyone else in town—believed Sun and Hailey were mortal enemies, standing in a dark storeroom holding hands with her could look odd.

Richard and Ricky screeched to a halt behind her, their faces panicked. They didn’t know who Hailey was or why she and Sun met in secret in their storeroom, but they knew no one could find out. Absolutely no one. Sun had stressed that ad nauseum when she set up the meets.

“Auri,” Sun said, then she turned on Hailey. “And don’t let me catch you back here again, Ms. Ravinder, or I will have you arrested.”

“You’re the sheriff,” Auri said, hardly biting.

“Right. I’ll arrest you myself. Because I can.” She nodded toward Auri. “Because I’m the sheriff.”

“At least now I know where I get my acting prowess from,” Auri said. She went in for a hug. “Hey, Ms. Ravinder.”

Hailey wrapped her up. “Hey, beautiful. Your mom and I were just discussing—”

“Coffee!” Ricky said. “We just got a shipment in from Ethiopia. Best coffee ever.”

Auri’s expression turned dubious. “And you call yourself a thespian.”

That did it. Ricky stood thoroughly offended. “This coming after that Academy Award–winning performance with your boyfriend.”

Sun’s phone dinged again. “I have to go. Quincy’s lost without me.” She put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and sobered. “You know how sometimes what I do is life or death?”

She nodded.

“This is one of those times, bug bite.”

A knowing smile spread across her lovely face. She looked from Sun to Hailey then back. “Got it.”

“Good girl. Now why aren’t you in school?”