“That was Cruz?” Auri did indeed remember that summer, but she didn’t remember Chastity being there or the fact that Cruz was the one who’d saved that kid. They were only nine.
Cruz was only nine years old and had saved a kid from drowning. She could barely walk and chew gum at the same time when she was nine, and he was saving lives.
She was learning all kinds of new things about Cruz De los Santos, but why now? Perhaps because he’d only recently shown up on her radar? But that wasn’t true. She’d had a bit of a crush for years, she just didn’t know his name. And she was always too shy to actually talk to him. Who did that?
But she remembered the very day she’d first noticed him. It was exactly three summers ago, and he’d sat on a boulder reading while the popular kids tried to get him into the lake. He ignored them. Completely.
Maybe his saving Miller did have an impact on her, she’d just never made the connection. She liked how he just sort of hung back and let others take the spotlight even though he was clearly popular. Everyone seemed to respect him, and the girls definitely showed interest even when he didn’t.
And while all of that was fine and dandy, Cruz was not the one she needed to be gathering intel on.
“So, do you know Sybil?” she asked Chastity as the girl tied her gym shoes.
She sat up. “The missing girl? Sure.”
Finally.
“She’s so nice, and she has this really cute jacket, and she likes to read. A lot. And this one time—”
“You were friends?”
“Well, I tried to be. She didn’t talk much, though. Really shy.”
She was at that, and yet she’d come up to Auri at the New Year’s Eve party. She’d introduced herself. Struck up a conversation. Something even Auri had difficulty doing.
“I get it, though. It’s hard to be the new girl. She just moved here this summer. But it could’ve been me. I’m a bit much sometimes. I tend to scare people away.”
“Really?” Auri asked, pretending to be shocked.
“I know, right?” She laughed, and Auri loved that she could do that. Laugh at herself. Many people couldn’t. Where was the fun in that? “You know, she looks a little like you.”
Auri raised a brow. “You think?”
“I mean, she’s not quite as pretty but, you know, the hair.”
“Oh, right.” They did both have red hair.
“Except yours is richer. I’ve never seen hair quite that color.” She reached out and took a long strand, totally invading Auri’s space bubble. A bubble she was quite fond of. “It’s copper.”
Auri laughed. “It’s okay. You can say it. It’s orange.”
She joined her. “Kind of, but it’s also gorgeous.”
“Thank you,” Auri said, genuinely flattered. “So, do you know who Sybil’s friends were? Who she hung out with?”
“Wait a minute.” Chastity leaned closer, her brown eyes glossing over. “Are you helping your mom with the investigation? Because I could help, too. I’m great at talking to someone so much they give up and tell me everything they know. I’m considering a job in the FBI.”
“You’d be great,” Auri lied. “So, Sybil?”
Chastity bowed her head in thought. “I don’t know. I just don’t remember seeing her hang out with anyone. Isn’t that weird? I mean, everyone hangs out with someone.”
Not necessarily. A sadness tugged at Auri’s heart. Sybil was adorable. And very likable. Why would a girl who’d started at a school four months earlier have no friends?
The teacher called the class to the floor. That was when Auri noticed Lynelle Amaia and her goons dressed in gym clothes. Lynelle turned to her, held her fingers up in the shape of a gun, and pretended to pull the trigger.
Great. She’d have this to look forward to all day every day. Lynelle in both her first period and her last. Lynelle bookends. Just what she’d always wanted.
But Auri was once again struck with the fact that there had to be more to Lynelle’s animosity than just the raid. She would eventually have no choice but to confront her.
And her investigation was failing miserably. She had yet to uncover a single ounce of information that might help her mom find Sybil.
She needed to talk to the one man she could confide in. The one man she’d always gone to when she felt the world turning against her.
Oddly enough, it was a man she’d never met. A man she’d only seen pictures of and dreamed of and whose voice she longed to hear.
It was time she paid a visit to her father.
Before Sun and Quincy could leave to question the Ravinders about Jimmy, a task Sun was not looking forward to, an official-looking man in an official-looking jacket walked in the front door. An older man with graying brown hair, he had strong enough features to command a room with a single glance. Or perhaps it was his confidence. The way he stood. The expression he wore.
“And who do we have here?” Quincy asked as the guy spoke to Anita.
“He screams FBI,” Sun said.
“Because he’s wearing a parka with the letters FBI on the left side of the chest?”
“Yes. Also, he looks like FBI, don’t you think?”
Quincy gaped at her. “Are you checking him out?”
“What? No. But so is every other female in the room.”
“And women complain about men in the workplace.”
Damn it. He was right. But it was seriously impossible not to notice the guy. “He’s just so chiseled. Wait, he’s coming over.” Pretending to be busy, she picked up an empty box. No idea why.
“Of course he’s coming over. He probably needs to talk to you, what with you being the sheriff and all.”
Sun considered jumping behind the human refrigerator but thought better of it. She had to remain professional even in the face of such comeliness.
He walked straight up to her and held out his hand. “Sheriff, I’m Special Agent Carter Fields.”
A jolt of electricity shot through her. Even his name was sexy. “Sunshine Vicram.” She dropped the box. “Sheriff. The sheriff. Of Del Sol. The county.” She decided to stop while she was ahead.
He paused as though trying to figure her out, then refocused on Quincy.
“Chief Deputy Quincy Cooper.”
“Sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”
“And what circumstances would those be?” she asked.
“Ah. You weren’t informed of my arrival.”
“No, sir.”
“The governor asked if I could take a look at the St. Aubin case.”
Of course the St. Aubins knew the governor. Why wouldn’t they? They weren’t even from New Mexico, and they had an in with the freaking governor. “Well, we certainly won’t mind an extra pair. Of eyes. A pair of eyes. A set, as it were.”
Quincy coughed into his hand.
The agent nodded. “Thank you. I hear you have a lead?”
Quincy shrugged into his jacket. “We’re heading out there now. You’re welcome to come along.”
“Don’t mind if I do. Do you have a copy of the file I can peruse on the way?”
“Of course.” Sun grabbed her copy and handed it to him. “Anita can make you a copy, but you can look at mine for now. Shall we?”
Sun had worked with the FBI before, naturally, but she wondered exactly when Marianna called the governor. “So, exactly when did Marianna St. Aubin call the governor?” She looked at her passenger in the rearview as they drove north, but he was studying the file.
“First thing this morning, as far as I know. I don’t think it was the wife, though. I think the husband called him. Is he back in town yet?”
“Not yet. His plane should be landing now.”
They discussed the evidence they had thus far, which wasn’t much.
“Any thoughts?” she asked him.
“I’m fairly certain this will be solved quickly.”
“How’s that?” Quince asked.
“It’s clearly a hoax, but
when the governor says jump . . .”
Sun knew he’d think that. Any sane person would. But he didn’t know Del Sol like she did.
They drove up a freshly paved road that led to the Ravinder compound. It used to be dirt. And the compound used to be part dilapidated mobile home park and part junkyard. When Sun drove past the entrance gate, she slammed on the brakes.
The place was gorgeous. Several houses sat on the Ravinder land. Land that had been in their family for three decades.
“Has it changed much?” Quince asked, his voice tinged with humor.
“I’d say so.”
“Business has been good.”
“What business is that?” Agent Fields asked.
“Levi Ravinder has a world-famous corn whiskey distillery.”
The man nodded in understanding.
“Maybe you’ve heard of it?” Sun asked. “Dark River Shine?”
He let out a soft whistle. “I have. It’s good stuff.”
For some reason, pride blossomed inside her chest.
“According to rumor,” Quincy said, “the Ravinders had been part of the Dixie Mafia. They’d headed west in the early ’80s, when the organization decided to set up shop in California.”
“The name sounds familiar.”
“It should.” Sun proceeded up the drive slowly. She didn’t know which of the sprawling rustics or multiple outbuildings to go to, so she decided on what looked like the main house. “They’d sent the five Ravinder brothers and their families.” They consisted of Levi’s father and four uncles, but Fields didn’t need to know that. “They were on the way there when the big raid happened.”
“The big raid?”
“The FBI launched a massive raid of the organization, and they designated the entire Harrison County Sheriff’s Office in Biloxi, Mississippi, a criminal organization.”
“Oh yes. I do remember reading about that. It’s a famous case.”
Quincy spoke up. “It set a new precedence in dealing with organized crime and basically left the Ravinders hanging.” He gestured to their surroundings.
“And they ended up here?” Fields asked.
“They’d apparently been taking back roads, scoping them out for future reference. And one of their vehicles broke down just over the pass.”
“They’ve lived here ever since,” Sun added. “I guess they couldn’t go back.”
“I wouldn’t think so. You have any problems with them?” he asked.
Sun shrugged. “Not as much as you might think. Not anymore, anyway. But it’s only my first day on the job.”
“No kidding?” The man smiled in surprise.
“No kidding.”
“And that would be thanks to Ravinder,” Quince said. “The drop in complaints. He’d been trying to get them to go legit for years. To break all ties with organized crime. It took him a while, but he may have finally succeeded.”
“Ravinder? I thought they were all Ravinders.”
“They are, but oddly enough, the title has gone to the youngest male in the family, Levi. All the others just go by their first names. It’s a status thing, I believe.”
Butterflies decided to come out of hiding in her stomach and shift into attack mode when Quince said Levi’s name. Also, it hit her that she was going to have to deal with the Ravinders as a whole. The entire lot of them, and there were many. None with whom she had a great history.
“You okay with this?” Quince asked, knowing she’d suffered through the same punishment from the Ravinder cousins as he had growing up.
“I’m just praying Hailey isn’t home.”
Fields leaned in. “Hailey?”
“Hailey Ravinder,” Quince said. “They don’t get along. She tried to stab Sunshine in the face with a stick.”
“Only once,” she said defensively. “Though it did make an impression.”
“When was this?” the agent asked.
“We were still drinking from sippy cups.”
“Ah.” He laughed softly and sat back.
“But she’s bullied her ever since.”
“Just be careful around her,” Sun said, hoping to steer both of them away from the woman. “She’s basically harmless. Like a mountain lion. Or a rattlesnake. Or a drug lord. You leave her alone, she’ll leave you alone.”
“Yeah,” Quince said. “You don’t and she’ll slice through your jugular.”
“She’s never had the best impulse control, but I like to think she’s grown both as a mother and a human being.”
The snort from Quincy cast a substantial amount of doubt on her theory.
Hailey was Levi’s little sister by a couple of years, even though she’d always bossed him around like she was older. She’d had the man wrapped around her little finger since she was in pull-ups.
And she’d been Sun’s mortal enemy since preschool, when Hailey broke all of Sun’s crayons on the first day of school.
She could still smell them. Forty-eight crayons stacked to exquisite perfection in a bright cardboard box. The uniformity a thing of beauty. The tapered ends cut with laser precision. And all of them destroyed by a three-foot monster with blond hair and a demon’s soul.
Ever since then, the chick had gone out of her way to make Sun’s life miserable, and Sun went out of her way to make sure Hailey knew how happy she was despite the girl’s pitiful attempts to ruin her existence.
Of course, a lot had changed since preschool.
“Strange thing is,” Quince said, turning around to Fields, “no one knows how the Ravinders got this land. There’s no record of sale. It was just suddenly in their name one day and that was that.”
“Interesting,” he said, and Sun could almost see the gears in his mind working overtime.
They pulled up in front of the main house, a stunning ranch with a massive log porch that wrapped around the entire building.
Fields whistled when they stepped out. “At least crime paid for someone. Where’s the distillery?”
Quince gestured past the house. “It’s farther down the road.”
He nodded, and they started for the front door when a truck, a huge black truck with a wrap that read Dark River Shine, slid to a halt beside them.
Sun froze. Well, they all froze as they waited for the aggressive driver to get out, but Sun froze for a different reason. The bones in her legs had once again vanished as the epitome of male perfection climbed down from the truck and stabbed each and every one of them with an expression that would liquefy a lesser law enforcement officer.
She tried not to stare at him, but she couldn’t help a few quick glances at his spectacular frame. Wide shoulders. Lean waist. Dark hair with an auburn glint in the sun and an even darker red five-o’clock shadow framing his full mouth.
Her mind rocketed back to the first real encounter she’d had with the Ravinder gang. With Levi in particular.
In hindsight, she realized she’d simply made an easy target, but at the time, she’d wondered what she’d done to upset the entire clan. Why they hated her so very, very much. A theme that would continue throughout middle school and into high school until she put the town, and everyone in it, in her rearview.
She was twelve when she got her first taste of the Ravinders as a unified whole. Not just the trite tribulations of her tormentor, Hailey, but the entire lot of cousins and second cousins that made up Del Sol’s public menace number one.
She’d been riding her bike home from the lake like she did almost every day in the summer, an ice cream cone in her left hand. She saw them riding their own bikes to the lake, a gang of seven Ravinders with only one girl in the bunch.
Their bikes were bent and rusted and squeaked when they got closer, and Sun’s damnable empathy kicked in. But these were the Ravinders. The emotion would be wasted on them.
Hoping Hailey would ignore her for once in her life, she put her head down and pedaled faster, trying to hurry past. But two of the boys slid sideways to cut her off, and the rest surrounded her.
> She had to stop so fast she almost fell, skidding to a halt in a cloud of dust. This amused them. Well, most of them.
Levi Ravinder sat on his bike a few feet from her, stone-faced, his gaze locked on to her as though he were contemplating inviting her to dinner. Or cooking her for it.
She never forgot the dynamics that day. The youngest boy of the bunch, Levi, who was taller and slimmer and darker than any of the others, seemed to wield the most power.
The gang stayed on their bikes, none of them saying a thing as they stared.
Her ice cream had melted over her left hand. She’d been struggling with it, anyway, but in the heat of the moment, she’d crushed the cone, and cold butter pecan oozed out of the wafer cone and slid between her fingers.
She dropped it in the dirt when they got off their bikes and closed in on her. All of them except Levi and, surprisingly, Hailey.
She tried to back her bike up to go around them, but one of the boys caught her rear wheel.
Her lungs stopped working, and the sun beating down overhead made her dizzy. “What do you want?”
“Your bike,” Hailey said. Her dirty blond hair hung in strings over her eyes, and she brushed it back with painfully thin hands.
“No,” Sun said. Her parents had given her that bike for her birthday. She wasn’t giving it up without a fight.
The boy who had a death grip on her back wheel sneered at her. “Then maybe we’ll just take it.”
She turned to him. “You can try, I guess.”
Everyone oohed and aahed at her bravado, but she was shaking so hard she could barely speak. Her voice came out breathy and weak, and her cheeks heated even more.
She made sure to keep one leg on the ground and one on a pedal in case she got the chance to take off. She wasn’t stupid. But now they knew she was scared.
She looked back at Levi and kept her gaze there. She knew who he was. Everyone knew who he was. He was the boy mothers warned their daughters about.
Even at fourteen, he was built like one of those guys in the movies. Tall and lean with muscles that cut across his stomach and chest. A chest bared to the golden sun overhead.
He wore only a pair of faded orange swimming trunks that looked a little big on him and an old pair of sneakers. He sat deathly still on his bike, one foot on the ground, and let his glistening gaze travel the length of her. It was dark and intense and made her stomach tighten in response.
A Bad Day for Sunshine Page 13