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

Author:Darynda Jones [Jones, Darynda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2021-07-26T18:30:00+00:00

16

Caller reported a suspicious man carrying

duct tape, rope, and a shovel.

Chief Deputy Cooper responded.

It was the stock boy at Del Sol Hardware.

—DEL SOL POLICE BLOTTER

Mrs. Kent still lived in the same house she had during Mr. Kent’s trial. The same house Elliot went missing from. As happened often in child abduction cases where the children were never found, she’d never moved. She even drove the same maroon minivan, now scarred and falling apart.

Sun knocked on the door, and the woman who answered was hardly recognizable. Her lids were lined with red, her nose pink from a fresh bout of tears.

“Mrs. Kent?” Sun said, stepping closer.

“My husband isn’t home,” she said. She started to close the door, but Sun showed her ID to stop her. It was only then that Mrs. Kent took a closer look.

“I’m Sunshine Vicram. I was the lead detective on Elliot’s case.”

The surprise that registered on her face was unmistakable. “Detective Vicram?” she said, as though unable to believe it.

“Sheriff now. But please call me Sunshine. How are you?”

Her demeanor did a one-eighty. Changed from surprise to wariness. She looked over her shoulder, and said, “I’m okay. Is there—is everything all right? Have you heard anything?”

“May we come in?”

She hesitated, trying to come up with an excuse not to let them in. Apparently finding none, she reluctantly opened the door. She seemed healthy and yet there was a frailness to her. A nervousness.

When Levi stepped across the threshold, she gasped aloud. “Occupational hazard,” he said to explain his general appearance.

“Are you going somewhere?” Sun asked. The entryway was lined with luggage.

A child, no more than six or seven by the sound of his voice, called out to her, “Mom, can I bring Harold?”

“Sure, honey.” She looked back at Sun. “His turtle. I’m … we’re going to my mother’s house in Albuquerque for a few days.” She kept them as close to the door as she could without being rude.

“Oh. Is your husband going, too?”

She bit down. “No. He’s not. In fact, he’ll be home any minute. Is there something you needed?”

“Yes. Do you know a man named Keith Seabright?”

Sun’s poker face needed a little work done—a nip here, a tuck there—but Addison Kent’s needed a complete transplant.

“No,” she said after wresting her expression back into neutral. Sun put a hand on her arm. “Addison, you know you can tell me anything.”

Her nerves fried, she shook her head. “There’s nothing to tell, Sunshine. Is that all you wanted? We need to get on the road.”

A young boy ran into the entryway and plopped down a cage with a turtle in it. “Are you here for Daddy?” he asked.

Levi laughed softly.

“No, honey,” Sun said. “Is this Harold?”

“The second. Harold the first escaped last year.”

“Oh. Little scoundrel.”

He laughed and took off again.

“Addison, are you in danger?”

“What?”

“Your husband just got out of prison and you’re escaping to your mother’s.”

She released a breath she’d been holding. “No. We’re fine. Matthew is just …working through some things.”

“And it would be safer for you at your mother’s,” Sun said, finishing the thought for her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.