“No, she’s too afraid. Especially now, with that girl found in the canyon.”

  “Maybe we need to protect her. Like bodyguards.”

  As ridiculous as it sounded, Auri had almost suggested the same thing to Chloe. But them hanging out could do more harm than good. If whoever attacked her realized she was hanging with the sheriff’s daughter, Auri could rain down all kinds of trouble on Chloe’s head. Then again, that was apparently her thing.

  “I wish we’d been here last year,” Auri said. That was the problem with being the new kid.

  She took out her phone and messaged Chastity to meet her in the bathroom in two.

  Chastity messaged back with a thumbs-up.

  “Okay, I’m going to ask Chastity. You keep looking.”

  “Oh, say hey for me.”

  Auri grinned. “Roger that.”

  The entire point of Auri’s social media quest was not to find out who was in Chloe’s pics, but to find out who was not in her pics after prom. After all, who would post photos of their attacker?

  “What’s up?” Chastity asked, her blond ringlets bouncing with each word.

  “Thanks for meeting me. This is a what-happens-in scenario.”

  Chastity nodded, intrigue infusing her cheeks with a soft pink. “Right. Just to be clear, you mean what happens in…?”

  “This bathroom.”

  “Oh.” Chastity snorted. “I knew that. What’s up?”

  Just to be safe, Auri decided to muddy the waters a bit. Chastity tended to blurt out things she shouldn’t at the most inopportune time, but she knew everything about everyone in high school, even though she was a freshman, too. But she’d lived here her whole life. She could do a lot of historical referencing.

  “I’m working on a … project”—she added a wink—“with my mom for a case she’s working on.”

  Chastity shivered with anticipation.

  “Do you know who took who to prom last year?”

  Chloe could’ve gone with or without a date, and that date could’ve been from any grade, technically. Or any town.

  “I do. I mean, I’ve seen all the pictures in yearbook.”

  “That’s right. You’re on the yearbook committee.” This was perfect. “Okay, do you know who took Amelia Gray?”

  “Pfft. Easy. Robert Olivas. Why? Did something happen?”

  “What? Oh, no. She’s looking into several different couples. What about—”

  “Wait a minute,” Chastity said, narrowing her lids to fine slits. “Is this about that girl they found and the fact that Chloe Farr was found last year after prom on the same road?”

  Crap. She figured it out. “Kind of. I’m sorry.”

  “Why? It’s all good. But what do all the other couples have to do with it?”

  Maybe she didn’t figure it all out after all. “My mom thinks someone may have seen something and they’re scared to come forward.”

  “Wow. Okay, who else?”

  “Auri named as many seniors as she could think of before getting to Chloe herself. Chastity knew every single one of them. Who took who. Who got into fights and ended up splitting after prom. Who got busted for booze. Who brought booze but didn’t get busted. The whole shebang. But when it came to Chloe …

  “I don’t think Chloe actually made it to prom. I think she was in that accident on the way.”

  “Do you know who she was dating at the time?”

  “No one that I know of. She was dating Marlin Insinger, but they broke up around Christmas the year before.”

  “So he wouldn’t have been her date?”

  “No, he went with April Apodaca.”

  “Chas, how do you remember all of this stuff?”

  “Just blessed, I guess. Anyone else?”

  “Wait a minute.” Auri couldn’t help but wonder if Chloe’s date went to prom without her after she jumped out of his truck. Maybe to establish an alibi? “Chastity, do you think I could see all the pictures? Even the ones that didn’t make it into the yearbook?”

  “Sure. They’re on the computers in yearbook class. I have it next, and we’re just goofing off, if you can finagle your way in. You seem to be really good at that,” she said with a cheeky grin.

  Auri shrugged. “At least I’m good at something, I suppose.”

  “Okay, see you in a few if you make it.”

  “Thanks, Chas.” She let Chastity leave first while she checked her phone. Her mom had texted a knock-knock joke, but before she could read it, a female voice jerked her out of her musings.

  “What are you doing?”

  Auri spun around to see Lynelle in the bathroom. “What are you doing? No one was in here.”

  “The door was open. Doesn’t mean no one was in there.”

  She grimaced. “You go to the bathroom with the door open?”

  “No. I was … hiding.”

  “From who?”

  She stepped to the mirror and fluffed her long brown hair. “Mrs. Ontiveros is looking for me to make up my final, but I didn’t get to study last night. My mom made me come to school anyway, so I’m pretending to be sick.”

  “Oh. How’s Tim?”

  She sneered at her. “What’s it to you, freak?”

  “Really?” Auri released a long sigh. “Is freak the best you got, ’cause it just doesn’t bother me like you think it should.”

  Lynelle leaned in closer to her. “How about bitch?”

  Despite the fact that she expected nothing less from Lynelle, her words still managed to sting. But Auri feigned otherwise. “Better,” she said, nodding her approval. “Is he okay?”

  “Why are you so worried about Tim?”

  “Because he was beat to hell?” She let her intonation communicate the implied duh.

  Lynelle shortened the distance between her face and the mirror to reapply her lip gloss. “He wasn’t beaten up,” she said, smacking her lips. “He was in a car accident.”

  “Ah. Is that what he told you?”

  “As a matter of fact—”

  “Because not many cars leave knuckle marks around the eye socket. Just saying.”

  Lynelle’s lids rounded as Auri turned and strode out the door.

  The bell rang and ten minutes later Auri had talked her way out of history and into yearbook with Chastity. After getting the okay from the teacher, the two of them sat at a computer and went through prom pics, which steadily got worse as the night wore on. Red eyes. Shiny faces. Random locks of hair falling out of hair clips.

  In all honesty, Auri had no clue what she was looking for. Most of the guys there had graduated and moved on before Auri started. And those that she did recognize hardly screamed psycho criminal. Even if Chloe’s attacker did show up, it wasn’t like he would have any scratches on his face. Chloe said she jumped out. She never said he touched her or gave her the opportunity to injure him.

  “Can you tell me which of the guys drives a truck?” she asked Chastity.

  “Please.” The girl laughed maniacally, making Auri laugh with her. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

  Of course, she would know such a thing. Unfortunately, almost every guy in Del Sol with a vehicle drove a truck. Still, by the time she left, Auri had a list of truck connoisseurs from Del Sol High. At least she had a starting point.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes and thirty phone calls later, Zee and Salazar escorted the boy band into the station. Sun had needed their parents’ permission to pull off a Scared Straight! scenario, but hopefully, this would reboot the little shits and put them on a better path.

  She was a little surprised, frankly, that the parents had agreed to such strong tactics, but once they found out the kids were facing some pretty serious charges, they all signed on, for better or worse. They didn’t need to know Sun had zero intention of charging them. Despite the seriousness of their crimes, a little TLC went a long way in these situations.

  The deputies took the kids through the entire process. They searched and patted them down before booking them, complete with fingerprints and mug shots. Sun was worried the boys were going to be sick. Each of them had turned a putrid shade of green, all bravado vanishing completely.

  What they didn’t know was that two of their parents were in the control room with her, watching the whole thing on her computer. The third one, Caleb’s mom, couldn’t get off work to come down, but she gave not only her permission, but her blessing.

  “I’m sorry,” Duran’s father said, leaning close to the monitor. “Is that a raccoon?” He pointed to the panel of the hallway between their tiny jail and the bullpen.

  Quincy, who’d been in the control room, too, shot to attention and went to full battle stations. He ran out of the room, sprinting toward the back. Sun didn’t know he could move that fast. She prayed the fluffball could move faster.

  There were no cameras in the holding cells, but the parents could put a stop to the game at any point if they got nervous for their children. Sun knew she would be if this were Auri.

  “All right, losers,” Salazar said to the boys, and Sun had to hold back a giggle. “Line up. We’re putting you in a holding cell for a few days until the judge gets back from vacation.”

  “A few days?” Caleb asked.

  “She hasn’t had a real vacation in years. I’m not calling her back early for the likes of you.”

  Leo paled. “Don’t we get a phone call?”

  “You get one. You can use the landline. Do you know the number?”

  “N-no. It’s in my phone and you took it.”

  Zee and Salazar feigned a look of utter disappointment.

  “Sucks to be you,” Zee said. “You have to know the number. Once we take your phone, we can’t give it back.”

  “And what seven-year-old has a phone anyway? Get in there.” Salazar opened the holding cell, and the detainee inside, who half lounged on the metal bench that served as a cot when there was a mattress, looked up at them from underneath his lashes. He’d gone all out. He wore a previously white tank that now looked to be splattered with blood. It showed off his plethora of tattoos. The jeans he wore had seen better days as well, and the steel-toed boots were weapons in and of themselves.

  “Wait,” Duran said, turning back to Salazar, “should he be in here?”

  Salazar slammed the metal door shut and locked it. Then she turned and collapsed against it. Looking heavenward, she said to Zee, “We’re going to hell.”

  Sun rubbed her mouth to hide her giggle, but Leo’s mom burst out laughing. “This is better than reality TV.”

  Thrilled they were being such good sports about it, Sun walked over to her deputies and all three of them leaned close to the door to try to hear what was going on. Hearing nothing, Sun dared a peek inside the postage stamp window. She could see in the room, but the boys were too short. Which meant they were plastered against the door.

  Rojas started to get up, eyeing them like they were mice and he was a panther. He shot her a warning glare and she ducked, feeling both guilty and tickled. It was an odd combination.

  She looked over her shoulder just as Anita let Wanda in.

  “What’s going on?” Wanda asked as she hurried inside. She dropped her voice and asked, “Did you find the tin?”

  “I did. Would you like to meet the criminal masterminds?”

  “What?” she asked with a gasp. “Why would I want to meet them?”

  “Wanda, they’re children. I want to show them that their actions have consequences. Are you okay with that?”

  She nodded, not certain at all.

  Just as Sun gestured to Salazar to let them out, the boys started pounding on the door and yelling to be released. But what was more telling was the woman laughing from the control room. Sun wasn’t sure if she should be grateful or horrified by Leo’s mother.

  Salazar opened the door and the boys rushed out, falling over each other and landing in a heap at her feet.

  Rojas was standing there, legs slightly spread, face pure evil. Sun was almost convinced as well, but she figured he’d had to develop such a look when he was inside.

  She stepped over to him as Salazar helped the kids up, and asked under her breath, “What did you say to them?”

  He tried not to crack up when he answered, “Not a damned thing, boss. I hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet. I just stared.”

  Sun almost doubled over. Poor kids. “Come on, boys.” She took them into her office and sat them at her desk.

  Like when they met earlier, Caleb was the first to speak. “That man was going to kill us. I’m not sure you’re supposed to put kids in the same cell as hardened criminals.”

  “Really? Is that a law?”

  They looked at each other and decided to just go with it by nodding hysterically.

  “Oh, well we only have the one holding cell. The actual jail with the really hardened criminals is in the back, but if you’d prefer that—”

  “No, it’s okay,” Duran said. “Can we just stay here?”

  She looked at the booking information and glanced up at the one named Duran. “Your last name is Duran, too?”

  He nodded.

  “Did you know there’s a band—”

  “I know,” he said, rolling his eyes.

  “Well, kids, I thought you might like to meet the woman you robbed.”

  All three jaws went slack.

  “You know, the house you broke into? Yeah, someone lived there, and now she no longer feels safe in her own home thanks to you three.”

  “We don’t want to meet her,” Leo said, a tremor in his voice.

  “Why? So you won’t feel guilty for what you put her through?”

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he dropped his gaze and his cheeks pinkened.

  “Mrs. Stephanopoulos?”

  Wanda walked in, almost as reluctant to meet them as they were to meet her.

  “Please take my chair.” Sun sat her in the chair behind her desk. “Is there anything you’d like to ask them?”

  Wanda seemed paler than usual. She didn’t speak for a moment, then finally looked up at them. And just like with Sun, her heart melted. Sun saw it the moment it happened. Wanda nodded and said meekly, “Why did you choose my house?”

  They had yet to look up, preferring to peek at her every so often.

  Finally, Duran said softly, “It was the only house on the block with no lights on outside and it was unlocked.”

  Visibly shaken, Wanda nodded, unsure of what else to say, and Sun wondered how much of her reaction was a show. That woman once fought off a rattlesnake to protect a baby owl. No way were these three wannabes scaring her this much.

  “Boys, do you have anything you’d like to say to her?”

  They looked up at last, but it was Caleb who took the lead. “We’re sorry. We didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “We won’t do it again, either,” Leo said. The others agreed. “Never. We’ve decided to give up on a life of crime and start our band for real instead. If,” he said, ducking his head, “if we don’t go to prison first.”

  “Well, that’s up to Mrs. Stephanopoulos.” She looked at Wanda, already knowing the answer. “Wanda, would you like to press charges?”

  Their hopeful faces were silent pleas for leniency.

  “Let these babies go, Sunny. They didn’t mean any harm.” There she was.

  All three of the boys jumped up and hugged each other. Then they ran around Sun’s desk and actually hugged Wanda.

  Wanda laughed and kissed each one of them on the cheek. To their credit, only Caleb wiped the kiss off, but he waited until Wanda wasn’t looking.

  She motioned for Salazar to take them to their parents. If only all criminals came around so easily. Not that they’d keep their noses clean forever, but she figured they stood a pretty good chance, especially after Poetry got a hold of them.

  They went with Salazar, and Wanda waited until they were out of earshot before saying, “I knew it. I’m always forgetting to lock my door. There was a time when I didn’t need to.”

  “I know, hon. Unfortunately, that time has passed. I’m going to have Dad get you some security lights that work on a motion detector, and he’ll change your lightbulbs to the kind that come on automatically at night. That way you just leave them on all the time. And I think we should get you a keyless entry that locks automatically every time you close it.”

  “Oh, that would be nice, Sunshine. But what about my tin?”

  She took Wanda’s things out of the filing cabinet and handed them to her. “I couldn’t help but notice the paperwork.”

  She ducked her head. “You read them?”

  “Just a glance. You don’t have to tell me anything, but is the document you were worried about there?”

  Wanda thumbed through the paperwork and pulled out the birth certificate. She held it to her breast. “It’s here.”

  Sun pulled up a chair beside her. “Can you tell me why it’s so important?”

  She shook her head. “It’s only important to me, Sunny.” And in true Wanda fashion, she looked around the station and changed the subject. “Is Quincy running around here somewhere?”

  “Actually, I think that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s chasing a raccoon.”

  “That’s my boy,” she said, slapping her knee.

  As though on cue, Quincy ran into her office, out of breath and wheezing slightly. He grabbed hold of the doorframe to catch his breath, then said, “You have to see this.”

  Sun hurried after him to the hallway where they’d seen Randy. Pretty much the only hall in the building. He handed her a flashlight and told her to get on all fours.

  “Quincy, I swear, if you’re punking me…”

  “What, no.” He pointed. “Look.”

  “Fine.” She sank all the way down onto her belly, looked in the vent he’d opened, and gasped. She looked back up at him and then back to Randy. “Raccoon babies!”

  “It’s Randi with an i,” he said, his excitement infectious. He lay on his belly beside her as the other deputies filed in to see what had Quince so excited. The kids and their parents followed as well.