“They’re after Elliot,” Levi said, reading over her shoulder. “I need to get out there. I’ll do it a little stealthier this time. See if I can’t catch him unaware.”
“I’d appreciate that. Maybe I should go with you? After I see to my daughter, of course.”
Sun opened the metal door to the holding cell, sad it wasn’t actual bars that she could clang shut behind her to give her daughter a taste of her life to come. She did the next best thing and slammed it. The boom echoed throughout the station.
Auri sat on the edge of the stainless steel cot looking at her feet. A small trash can sat beside her half full of used tissues. Sun braced herself. Tears or no tears, the girl deserved a thrashing.
“Let me get this straight,” she said, standing over her. “You convinced Cruz and Sybil to skip school with you so you could break into Mrs. Fairborn’s house to prove she was once a serial killer.”
Auri raised her head and looked at her like she was a mind reader. “How did you know?”
“I’ve seen the articles in your grandmother’s attic. I thought the same thing when I was a kid.”
“Why didn’t you do anything about it?”
“Like break into her house?”
“Which shows initiative, right?”
“Auri, you broke the law. The very thing I stand for. You broke into an elderly woman’s house. What if she’d been home?”
“She wasn’t,” she said between hiccups. “I made sure.”
“And just how did you do that?”
“I have a guy on the inside.”
Fury enveloped her. “Quincy.”
“What?” Guilt consumed the redhead. “No. It … it wasn’t him.”
“He. Is. Dead.”
“He didn’t know why I was asking, Mom. It’s not his fault.”
“It never is.”
She covered her face with her hands as sobs took over. “I’m getting everyone in trouble.”
“What did you think would happen, Auri? The mayor is down my throat. The DA is watching every move I make. The former sheriff is looking for any excuse to get me removed from office.”
Auri’s tears began anew. “I’m sorry, Mom. But doesn’t it matter that Mrs. Fairborn really did it?”
“So, what? You’ve already tried and convicted her?”
“No.” She sobbed again.
“Sweetheart,” she said, grappling for the strength to finish what needed to be done. She had to learn a lesson she’d never forget. “You’re forgetting one important fact. Serial killers don’t stop. Something or someone stops them. The stuff you found proves nothing other than Mrs. Fairborn is a collector.”
“Of dead bodies!”
She sat beside the redhead. “Auri, even if you’re right, there is a procedure. Mrs. Fairborn’s rights need to be protected. You can’t just break in looking for evidence.”
“But I knew you wouldn’t get me a search warrant.”
She had to turn away, astonished at Auri’s determination. She was dedicated to the cause, Sun would give her that.
“I have more work to do. I’ll call your grandparents to come pick you up.”
“Are you going to tell them?”
“Of course I am. You have to know there are consequences to your actions, Aurora.”
A fresh flow of tears began, but she lifted her chin and nodded. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“And I’m sorry about today.”
She blinked up at her. “Today?”
“With Hailey.”
“I didn’t know you and Jimmy’s mom were friends.”
“We are, but no one can know that. Not just yet. It has to be our secret.”
“On account of Clay trying to take over Dark River Shine from Levi?”
Sun stumbled over her thoughts. “Who told you that?”
“Jimmy.”
Shaking her head, she said, “That kid doesn’t miss a thing.”
“Nope. But I’m glad you’re friends with his mom, now. I like her.”
“I do, too.”
“And she’s teaching me how to make corn whiskey.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course, she is.”
She left her daughter to suffer a few minutes more and walked out to the bullpen to a sea of expectant faces. This was the moment her deputies learned to respect or revile her.
“Arrest all three of them tomorrow.”
Levi straightened as though ready to ride to Auri’s defense, but Quincy beat him to the punch.
“Sorry, boss. I can’t do that.”
“Quince,” she said, exasperated. “This is hard enough. I can’t be that sheriff. I can’t let my kid get away with murder.”
“Sun, she hasn’t killed anyone. Yet,” he added. “That we know of.”
“We didn’t document anything anyway, boss,” Rojas said. “We just wanted to scare the crap out of them. I got the call. I made the decision. This isn’t on you.”
Quincy pointed to him in agreement. “Not to mention the fact that Mrs. Fairborn isn’t pressing charges.”
“Speaking of which.” She stepped closer to Quince and glared up at him. “Did you, perhaps, wonder why my daughter wanted to know if Mrs. Fairborn was in the office giving her confession?”
He scrubbed his face with a hand. “She said she wanted to come in and talk to her about an old article she found.”
“And if she asked you to store a box of old dynamite she found in an alley somewhere?”
“I would …seriously question her motives.”
“Sure.”
She heard her mother’s voice echo across the station. “Sunshine!”
Anita had led her parents back. They rushed to her. “Where is that baby?” Elaine asked, her gaze darting about.
“Mom, that baby has committed a serious crime.”
“Sunshine Blaze Vicram,” she said, scolding her. For real? “She didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Mother, that is exactly what she did.”
“Well, yes, but she had good intentions.”
“I give up.” She turned and nodded to Rojas.
He opened the holding cell and let loose the kraken. It ran across the bullpen and jumped into the open arms of the two most whipped people in all of Del Sol. Besides Sunshine herself. And, apparently, Levi.
Auri turned and gave him a hug, too. “I’m sorry, Levi.”
“For what?”
“I just …I don’t want to be a disappointment to you.”
He set her back and lifted her chin. “That’s not even possible.”
She hugged him again and he kissed the top of her head. From there, she went from deputy to deputy giving out hugs and apologies like they were a politician’s promises. The imp even hugged Rojas.
He stepped to Sun when her parents took her, and said, “She’s good.”
“I know. Damn it.”
“Boss,” Salazar said from her computer. She was so quiet, Sun hadn’t even realized she was in. “I think I found something.”
She walked to her desk and leaned down.