“Where’s my daughter?” Mari asked, and Sun was worried she would pass out.
“He was pushing a cart,” the state cop said when he came back. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
Of course he didn’t. This wasn’t his fault, but Sun wanted to rip him apart, anyway. Price could have killed her daughter, and he could still kill Marianna’s.
“Sunshine,” Mari said, terrified. “Please.”
Sun ran to her and gave her a hug before calling in every city, county, and state employee in the area, from the highway patrol to the water department.
Price would know they’d discovered Sybil missing, but not that they were onto him. With any luck, he would keep up the game and report to the urgent care center to help in the search.
“Auri, honey?” The nurse put a cool compress on her forehead and was patting her cheek. “Wake up, love. Can you hear me?”
Auri groaned, and Sun almost fell trying to get to her side.
“Auri? Sweetheart?”
“Mom?” she said about half a second before she lurched toward the side of the bed and heaved over the side of it. Orange liquid spilled onto the floor.
Sun held her hair, smoothing it back and fighting hot, angry tears.
“Mom?”
She laid her back as the nurse cleaned her up and swabbed her brow and the back of her neck. “Auri, are you okay?”
“He’s still here.” Her voice was a thin shell of its former self. “He won’t leave.”
“Who won’t leave, sweetheart?”
“The suspect. He wants Mrs. St. Aubin to see. I don’t know why.”
“I do.” Sun motioned for Quincy to come in. “Did Sybil tell you this?”
Auri nodded. “I tried to tell you, but I was just so tired.”
Sun hugged her to her. “It’s okay, bug. We’ll find her.”
Her lids drifted closed just as she said, “What would Lisbeth do?”
“Let’s get her to an exam room,” the nurse said. “Get some fluids into her to flush out the drugs.”
Sun let them take her, then called in her parents, instructing them not to leave Auri’s side.
25
Caller reported his wife missing for eighteen months.
Is starting to get worried.
—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER
Price didn’t fall for it. They’d locked down urgent care for four hours as officers searched the place from top to bottom. Nothing. Not a trace of Sybil or Price. So they expanded their search, bringing in the helicopter and cadaver dogs to comb the area directly behind the urgent care center.
Once they’d lifted the lockdown, Sun’s parents took Auri home, and Sun did something she’d never imagined she would. She got the number for Chris De los Santos from Deputy Salazar and texted him, asking if Cruz could go stay with them. Mostly to sit by Auri’s side, to comfort her, but the kid knew how to handle himself. If anything should happen, she had no doubt he would do everything in his power to keep them all safe. It was a lot to put on a teenage boy, but desperate times …
She explained the situation to Mr. De los Santos, told him there was a slight chance of danger. He texted back that it sounded exactly like something Cruz would jump into the middle of with or without an invitation.
She really liked that kid.
The surveillance video clearly showed Price—they continued to call him Price because they still didn’t have an ID on the guy—going into the room pushing a cart and leaving a few minutes later, so whatever he’d given the girls was fast-acting.
They hadn’t blocked the roads quickly enough. He could be well on his way to Colorado by that point. Or Arizona or Texas or even Mexico.
But she also agreed with Auri. Price wanted Marianna to suffer. He wanted her to pay for giving him up for adoption. That could be his only motivation.
“Wait,” Sun said. They were still in the urgent care center, and Zee was reviewing the footage in the security room when something caught Sun’s eye. “Go back.”
Zee rewound the video. “This is where he goes into the room.”
“Yeah, but look at that cart. That’s not big enough to fit a person. Even a tiny one.”
“You’re right,” Zee said. No way he got her in there. Does that mean—?”
“She’s been here the whole time?”
Zee, Quincy, and Sun exchanged glances before taking off toward the outpatient recovery room they’d had Sybil in. They practically burst through the door, but all the officers were out of the building, searching other areas and canvassing the town.
They tore open every door and drawer in search of a tiny redhead to no avail. But they did find a set of metal springs and levers.
“What the hell?” Zee asked, but Sun and Quincy immediately looked at the recliner by the window. It was a hospital chair that folded out to a bed should someone need to stay with a patient all night.
They stepped closer and noticed a tiny pool of blood by the back foot. Quincy knelt down and lifted the chair gently to peek under. Then he pushed it over.
“Motherfucker, she’s gone.” He grabbed his hair and doubled over in frustration.
But Zee was looking at what was left of the inner workings of the chair. A long lock of hair had gotten tangled in the mechanisms, and Price had apparently pulled it out when he took her out of the chair. “She was here the whole time. He took her while we were looking at other footage.”
“This is not happening,” Sun said, very aware that it was. And Sybil was going to pay for their mistakes.
* * *
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Sun disconnected the call she’d made on the way back to the station, very curious as to why Price had come with such a stellar recommendation.
Of course, she hadn’t hired him, but she’d read his file. And the reason he’d received such stellar accolades was because he’d assumed the identity of an actual officer in Detroit. An officer who was very surprised when Del Sol did an inquiry on him when he hadn’t applied there.
Sun wanted to know how the former sheriff didn’t catch that. Then again, maybe he did. According to her investigation into Redding, the guy was certifiable.
Agent Fields put out feelers in Detroit to try to find out who’d adopted Marianna’s baby so they could at least get an ID and possible history. But that wasn’t going to help them now.
Since the game was clearly up, they plastered his face all over the news and social media, begging for any sightings. Any tips on his location.
And that was where they were when Sun walked into the station. Salazar gestured toward the holding cell in the deputy’s room. The one in which one Levi Ravinder currently resided.
“He’s really upset,” she said, looking much like a deer in headlights.
And then Sun understood why. A thunderous crash echoed throughout the area, shaking the walls and knocking dust off the ceiling.
“What the hell?” She marched over to the holding cell and opened the solid outer door.
Levi stood in all his angry glory behind a set of bars, his expression flat except for the fact that his warm caramel irises had caught fire. Metaphorically.
She did not need this right now. “What the hell, Ravinder?”
“Open the door, Vicram.”
“Um, no?”
“Where is she? Did you find her? Is she okay?”
Sun’s shoulder sagged. “We’re still looking.”
Before she even finished the sentence, he kicked the bars so hard she was afraid he’d broken them. The crash made everyone in the room jump, and she realized his hands were cuffed behind his back.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet. His tone lethal. “Open. The fucking. Door.”
“Why?” she asked, frustrated. “Do you know something we don’t?”
“I can help look for her.”
“Right.”
“I’ve done it before. It’s what I do.”
“I know, Levi. I know you do. You found Jimmy, and we wouldn’t have found Syb
il the first time without you, but this time is different. We don’t even know what area to focus on.”
“The first time?” he asked as though confused. “Sybil is missing? Again?”
“Yes. Who did you think we were talking about?”
He stepped back and sat on the cot. “I thought it was Auri. Holy fuck.”
“Why would you think that?”
He leaned his head back against the wall. “I saw the picture your deputies were handing out. It looked like Auri from a distance.”
Why did she feel so ingratiated to him? Why did the fact that he cared that much for her daughter give her such an incredible sense of pride and gratitude?
He stabbed her with a determined glare. “I can still help. You know I can.”
“We need to narrow down the search area first.”
He sighed, leaned his head back again, and closed his eyes.
“If I open this, are you going to behave?”
“Probably not.”
At least he was honest. “I’m coming in. And I’m going to uncuff you, but you have to be nice and stop trying to tear down my station.”
He looked at her. “Aren’t you supposed to do that through the cage?”
She opened the barred door. “Yes.”
He stood when she walked in, but he didn’t turn around. Not allowed to have anything in the cell beyond his clothing, he wore only a T-shirt that molded to his sculpted biceps like spray paint, a pair of jeans that fit comfortably loose, and socks.
And he was looking at her as though he were famished and she was made of strawberries and whipped cream.
“You’ll have to turn around if you want those off.”
“Let me help.”
“If I need you, I’ll come back.”
With deliberate slowness, he turned and let her unlock the cuffs. They’d dug into his skin, leaving grooves in his wrists, and she tamped down the surge of anger that jolted through her.
Her team showed up after she locked her prisoner back in his cell, and they studied a map, scouring the area for ideas while Levi stood at the bars and watched.
“There are dozens of empty cabins this time of year,” she said. “We can’t possibly check them all before tomorrow.”
“Who says he’ll wait until the sun comes up?” Quincy asked. “Legally, she turns fifteen at midnight.”
He was right. It would be callous of them to assume he would wait a second longer than his warped brain told him he needed to.
“Wait,” Salazar said. “What about Mrs. Usury’s place? She’s all alone out there since her husband died, and Price did take Sybil to their well house. Maybe he knows her or knows she’s vulnerable.”
“Get someone out there,” Sun said. “Recon only.”
Quincy snapped, pointed at his twin, and headed for the door. “We’re on it!”
Zee followed him, and Sun looked up at Tricia Salazar, the young deputy with wide-set eyes and chipmunk cheeks. That caring disposition, that deep concern for the well-being of others, was why the girl was on her team. Every agency in the world needed someone with a sense of empathy, a gentler view of the world. Someone who saw things through a softer shade of rose-colored glasses.
“It won’t take them long to get to Mrs. Usury’s house,” she said. “In the meantime, what else do we know about this guy? You’ve spent the last six months getting to know him.”
Salazar’s expression became strained. “He was that guy, Sheriff. The one who’s impossible to get to know. He never really talked about his life. He never went out for drinks after a shift. We didn’t even know where he was living for the longest.”
“And after a while,” Anita said, walking up and handing Sun a cup of coffee, “we quit asking.”
Salazar looked like she carried the weight of the galaxy, her guilt so evident.
“Deputy,” Sun said, “no one saw this coming. This is not your fault.”
“It kind of is,” she said, twisting her hands. When Sun raised a questioning brow, she explained. “I vetted him.”
“Yeah, well, I vetted him, too. I vetted all of you. He slipped through all our fingers.”
The girl nodded, then steeled herself to face the challenge ahead. “We checked his house again a few minutes ago. No sign of him.”
“And you never saw him with anyone? No friends or known associates?”
Both women shook their heads. He was probably too busy stalking the St. Aubins. Sun was a little surprised no one in the household had noticed him. But that was the thing about Price. He was so very ordinary. So easily dismissed.
Sun’s phone rang. It was Zee. She put her on speakerphone.
“Hey, boss.” Her voice sounded sad, and adrenaline shot through Sun’s body. “I didn’t want this over the radio.”
“No,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry. He’s definitely been here. Mrs. Usury is dead.”
“Mrs. Usury?” For some reason, she turned to Levi, and he stiffened.
“It looks like he’s been staying here for a few days. He must’ve wanted to keep an eye on Sybil while he had her in the well house.”
She studied Levi’s beautiful frame. His solid jaw. His full mouth. His presence was comforting. “If he was staying at her residence, why go to the well house from the opposite direction?”
“To throw us off,” both Levi and Zee answered simultaneously.
“Just in case,” Levi added.
“Well, it certainly worked. He’s not there now?”
“No,” Quincy said. “But his patrol unit is, and it’s still warm. There are some tracks beside the house, but hell if I know how old they are. Either way, looks like we just missed him.”
“And it’s getting dark,” Zee said. “We need to get on this. We need the tracker.”
* * *
Levi grabbed a rifle from the back of Sun’s cruiser. He started to take off, but he turned, grabbed the lapel of her parka, and pulled her close. With his mouth barely inches from hers, he said, “Keep your head down, and try to keep up.”
He didn’t wait. He took off at a dead run, following the tracks left in the snow, as the rest of the team did indeed try to keep up. Sun, Quincy, and Zee ran through the snow and brush as darkness crept in around them, and while Sun lost any sight of tracks a half mile back, Levi kept going at a breakneck speed.
Then, without warning, he slowed his pace so they could catch up. Their breaths fogged in the air, the altitude making breathing even harder. He knelt and held up a fist, signaling for them to stop.
They gathered around him and took a knee. “We’re closing the distance. We need to strategize.”
“What?” Sun gasped for air. “We need to catch up to them. That’s a good strategy.”
“No, we need to take the high ground.” He looked at Zee and then at her rifle, a rifle she carried like a newborn in her arms. “How good are you with that?”
“Very.”
“See this?” He pointed to a disturbance in the snow. “He was dragging her before. Now he’s carrying her, so I don’t know if she passed out or if he’s caught on to the fact that we’re behind him and has picked up the pace. He’s going for Joey Bachicha’s hunting cabin. He must’ve been scoping out this area for months to know it’s there. We can’t let him get to it.”
“Why?” Quincy asked. “Besides the obvious.”
“The obvious being the fact that any cover is good for him and bad for us. That cabin has no windows at all. He’ll force a stalemate and kill her before we can even get close.”
Sun nodded in understanding. “We need to get to that cabin before he does.”
One corner of his mouth lifted, just barely, as he studied her. “Remember that state track record you broke in high school?”
“Levi,” she said, still panting, “that was a long time ago.”
When he only stared at her, apparently giving her a minute to come to the same conclusion he had, she caved.
“Fine. We’ll go around t
his ridge and get to the cabin while you two”—she looked at Zee and Quincy—“come in from behind.” She leveled a hard look on Zee. “If you get the shot, you take it. He went to a lot of trouble to get to Sybil. He will not hesitate to kill her. His sole purpose at this moment is to make his biological mother pay.” She pointed to Zee. “Sniper.” Then to Quincy. “Spotter.” Then she took hold of Zee’s shoulder and gazed directly into her eyes. “If you have to shoot him in the fucking back, you take the shot.”
Zee nodded just as Levi grabbed Sun’s arm, lifted her to her feet, and took off. And she thought he’d taken off at a dead run before. He flew through the trees, and it took everything in her power to keep up with him.
The snow and altitude made the last mile feel like a hundred. She’d lost feeling in her legs a while back, but it didn’t make them any lighter.
Still, they were so close, her adrenaline kicked in. Then he stopped and pointed two fingers down the mountain. A cabin, barely visible in the moonlight, sat to the side of a small clearing.
Thanking God for the full moon, she fought to fill her burning lungs and slow her pulse. She looked at Levi as he studied the terrain. His magnificent profile against the snow-covered backdrop made her ache more than the run did.
“Don’t,” he said, his voice hoarse.
She frowned and followed his gaze to the clearing. “Don’t what?”
He reached out, grabbed the front of her jacket, and pulled her close. She stumbled against him and put her palms on his chest for balance.
The fog of their breaths mingled as he looked down at her. As he ran a gloved thumb over her mouth. As he bent closer, his gaze locked onto hers like a predator. “We have to get down this mountain, and we have to do it fast.”
“Okay.”
“And if you keep looking at me like I’m some kind of hero, you’re going to be very disappointed in the long run.”
“I don’t think so.”
He held her chin to study her face, then asked, “Ready?”
She nodded, but Quincy’s voice invaded the moment. “Are you guys making out?”
They were using a short-range in-ear comm set. She gritted her teeth. “What part of radio silence—”
A Bad Day for Sunshine--A Novel Page 34