A hard day for a hangove.., p.34
A Hard Day for a Hangover--A Novel,
p.34
“I loved her,” Wynn said. He had to be talking about Levi’s mother. The woman who, according to Wynn, Auri most took after. The woman with the eyes that haunted him to this day. “I couldn’t let your dad get away with it.”
Levi fought hard to keep his expression passive. He nodded in thought. “I knew. Deep down, I think I always knew.”
“I’ll be closer now. Don’t be a stranger.” He pulled Levi into a hug, then walked over to Sun.
Her expression was nowhere near as schooled as Levi’s. Her shock must’ve shown through, because he said, “I told you, apple. I’ve killed before. I’m just in prison for the wrong murder.”
She nodded. “I’m still going to look into that.”
“I know you will.”
He gave her a curt nod, then stalked out into the hall, Deleon right on his heels. To Deleon’s credit, he didn’t cuff him right then and there. It was a gesture of good faith and Sun knew Wynn would honor the gesture by not being difficult.
The rest of the evening was a parade of well-wishers, but the true pièce de résistance was when Lynelle walked in—walked—wearing a hospital gown and connected to an IV, her mother in tow.
“Lynelle!” Auri ripped the oxygen off her face and started toward her new friend, but three pairs of hands pushed her back down.
Lynelle walked to her bed. The poor girl’s face had seen better days. She had stitches on her cheek and forehead, and her nose had been broken for sure, but it was all superficial. Surprisingly, she hadn’t sustained a single fracture.
Lynelle’s mother seemed hesitant about their sudden friendship, perhaps because of all the danger that seemed to follow Auri around like a bad habit. She looked at Sun, her chin raised a notch too high. “She wanted to check on your daughter.”
“I wanted to come and apologize,” Lynelle explained. “I’m so sorry, Auri.”
“Sorry?” She took Lynelle’s hand into hers. “You could’ve left me there and saved yourself, but you didn’t.”
“You could’ve done the same thing,” Lynelle said with a sly smile that turned appreciative. “But you didn’t.”
Auri looked up at Lynelle’s mom. “Mrs. Amaia, your daughter saved my life.”
The woman looked at her in surprise. “Lynelle told me you saved hers.”
“Because she did, Mom,” Lynelle insisted.
“But you saved mine first,” Auri argued.
Lynelle laughed. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree.”
Her mom cleared her throat, a telltale wetness gathering between her lashes. “Well, that certainly sounds like something you’d do, Lynelle.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Auri,” the woman said, pursing her lips, “thank you for everything you did for Lynelle and Whitney.”
“Whitney?” Sun asked.
Mrs. Amaia nodded. “Turns out your daughter was right. That is my niece lying down the hall. I finally got a hold of my brother-and sister-in-law. They’d been trying to call Whitney for days. They said the texts just didn’t sound like her. When I told them Auri’s theory, they flew back immediately. They’re with her now.”
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Amaia,” Auri said. “Lynelle.”
“Thanks, Auri. I just wish I’d listened sooner.”
“Is she awake?” Sun asked. She hadn’t gotten a call, so she guessed no. She guessed right.
“Not yet, but they’re going to reduce her meds now that she’s out of danger. She could wake up as early as tomorrow.”
Auri pressed a hand to her mouth. “I’m so happy for you, Lynelle.”
The look that flashed across Lynelle’s face gave Sun hope for humanity. After all the nastiness, for Lynelle to look at Auri like Sun did. Like she hung the moon.
They let Sun’s mom into post-op to sit with her dad, but they moved him to a room in the middle of the night. Thus, her daughter’s infinite capacity for escape and evasion as she snuck past Sun and Levi to go visit him. They’d both fallen asleep in the room with her, Levi in the chair closest, so it was mostly his fault her escape went unnoticed.
Sun woke up at around two in the morning to a frantic Levi.
“She’s gone,” he said.
But Sun had been here repeatedly over the last few months. “I know where she is.”
Thankfully, Sun was still wearing her uniform. That seemed to keep the charge nurse from stopping them when they sought the fugitive in the one place Sun knew where to find her.
Sure enough, they walked in to see Sun’s dad and Auri having a quiet conversation as her mom slept in a recliner.
“Mom!” Auri whispered.
Sun hugged her dad, careful of the IV and monitors. But at least his color had returned. “You look better without all the blue.”
He chuckled. “Thanks. Your daughter was filling me in.”
Sun was a little jealous. Auri hadn’t even filled her in. Not completely. They had yet to get her official statement of what happened. Sun didn’t want her to have to go through that just yet.
“How are you, Dad?”
“Pretty wonderful at the moment. They have me on the good stuff.”
“Really?” she asked, coming up with a plan. She leaned in and whispered to Auri, “Go with me on this.”
Auri nodded and Sun frowned and rubbed her head. “I don’t … I don’t feel well.” She collapsed into a chair as Levi looked on, completely unmoved.
Auri fell to her knees beside her. “Mom. Mom, no. Don’t go. I need you.”
Sun moaned and Auri draped herself over her, fake crying like she was making a bid for an Oscar. “Oh, Mom, what will we do without you?”
Sun’s mom woke up just in time for the show. Sun was so happy for her.
“Dad,” Sun said. She held out a hand to him. “You can’t let me go to the grave without knowing about your stint in the big house.”
“Hold on,” he said, grabbing the handheld button to dispense more pain meds. “I need more drugs for this.”
“Sunshine Blaze,” her mom scolded. “You’re acting like this after everything that happened today?”
Honestly, it was like her mother didn’t know her at all. “I’m not going to make it,” she continued, laying it on thick.
Her dad brightened. “Good thing we’re in a hospital then, eh?”
“Everything is getting dark.”
“Well, it is past midnight.”
She looked at Auri. “There’s so little time left.”
Auri draped herself over her again. “No, Mom. Don’t go.”
“I was convicted in the summer of ’69,” he said, telling the story at last.
But Sun kept up the performance just in case. She lay a hand over her forehead like in a Renaissance painting. Auri draped over her added to the illusion as well. Not that she didn’t believe her father. She just didn’t trust him. Probably because he would’ve been, like, five in ’69.
“I went in as a regular inmate so I could find out what was really happening in the prison. So I could ferret out the rampant corruption. I was really the new warden.”
Sun dropped her hand and glared at him. “Was your false identity Robert Redford? Because that’s straight out of Brubaker.”
“Ah, but it was based on a true story.” He touched his nose like they were part of some conspiracy.
“Yes, a true story that happened when you were in diapers.”
“Excellent point,” he said, winking at her. “I was testing your math skills.”
Auri got up and sat on the bed with her grandfather. Abandoning Sun in her time of need.
“I guess I’ll keep looking. Who knows what I’ll uncover in the process?”
“It wasn’t a prison,” he said, releasing a hapless sigh. “It was a brig. And I really did go in undercover to expose a ring of corruption.”
She shot up, her back ramrod straight. “How long?”
He ignored the shocked expression his granddaughter was giving him. “Seven months.”
“Holy crap, Dad. That’s a long time to be undercover.”
“Trust me, it seemed like a lot longer.”
“I’m sorry, Grandpa,” Auri said.
He brushed back a lock of hair. “It’s okay, peanut. It was my job and we took down a man who needed taking down.”
“Poetry was right,” Sun said, her awe apparent by her vacant expression. “He really does have a superpower.” She’d probably have to give him a raise now.
Sun’s mom walked over to the bed. She put her arm around Levi, who reciprocated wholeheartedly. “Sun,” she said almost reluctantly, “your father and I have changed our minds.”
Sun snapped back and looked warily between her mom and her dad. “About?”
“We think maybe you should get your old job in Santa Fe back,” her dad said. “Give up this whole sheriffing thing.”
Her mom nodded. “Nothing like any of this ever happened when you were a detective. You and Auri were both a lot safer.”
“After getting me elected illegally? You want me to turn tail now?”
“We think it would be best. For both of you.”
“Maybe, but you have to admit, everything that has happened recently is pretty rare. This town is normally so quiet.”
“That’s true, but lately it’s been one thing after another.”
“What do you think, bug?”
“We can’t pack it in now,” she said, looking at Levi like she wouldn’t leave him for the world. “We’ve come so far. And you guys are here and Cruz is here and … and Dad is here.” She looked at Levi almost askance, as though calling him Dad might upset him, but it was the surprise in his eyes that had Sun smiling. On the inside because she didn’t want to ruin the moment.
“Besides,” Auri added, “after all we’ve been through, what else could possibly go wrong?”
And there went that.
“I think the bigger question should be, is Dad moving in with us or are we moving in with Dad?”
Sun and Levi’s gazes met in surprise. Leave it to her daughter to skip ahead.
Acknowledgments
Thank you, my loverly readers, for picking up this, the final mystery of Sunshine and Auri Vicram! I can’t believe their story has come full circle already. I am so in love with these characters and am having a very difficult time letting them go. Alas, on that note, there are so many people who helped with this journey, and I will never be able to express the depths of my gratitude. The following is only a partial list of the heroes who came to my aid.
First, thank you to my incredible agent, Alexandra Machinist. I’ve never forgotten our first phone call and am still honored to be with you. And to my film agent, Josie Freedman, whose savvy never ceases to amaze me. May the three of us have many more adventures together.
Thank you to my amazing editor, Alexandra Sehulster, who works hard to keep me on my toes. And she puts up with me. That in itself is an achievement worthy of celebration. As always, I am beyond grateful.
Thank you to copy editor Ed Chapman. Or, as we like to call him, Eagle-Eye Ed. (Just kidding. No one calls him that. But they should. He’s outstanding.)
Thank you to Trayce Layne, my continuity editor, beta reader, research assistant, shoulder.… As always, you somehow manage to see the forest and the trees.
Thank you to Jeffe Kennedy for hanging out, brainstorming, commiserating. I cherish our time together.
Thank you to everyone who works so tirelessly behind the scenes at St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, ICM Partners, and Piatkus for everything you do.
And thank you to the invincible Lorelei King! You breathe such gorgeous life into my characters and I am so very, very grateful.
Thank you to my Netters and my Dana. Aka, my everythings.
Thank you to Ursula for lending me your husband, and to Malin for agreeing to be lent. Your insight is simply invaluable.
Thank you to everyone at Portales Writer’s Coffee. I look forward to every Saturday because of you. And because of Sweetwater’s mocha lattes. But mostly you.
Thank you to my family. You know who you are. You know there is no escape. All hope is lost. Just give up. You are stuck with me. Stop contacting lawyers.
And lastly, thank you to my GRIMLETS!!! You are the best! Second only to BTS, but it’s a super close race, so hang in there!
Mwah!
ALSO BY DARYNDA JONES
Sunshine Vicram
A Bad Day for Sunshine
A Good Day for Chardonnay
Charley Davidson
Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
The Trouble with Twelfth Grave
Eleventh Grave in Moonlight
The Curse of Tenth Grave
The Dirt on Ninth Grave
Eighth Grave After Dark
Seventh Grave and No Body
Sixth Grave on the Edge
Fifth Grave Past the Light
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
Third Grave Dead Ahead
Second Grave on the Left
First Grave on the Right
Darklight
Death and the Girl He Loves
Death, Doom, and Detention
Death and the Girl Next Door
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author DARYNDA JONES won a Golden Heart and a RITA for her manuscript First Grave on the Right. A born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Acknowledgments
Also by Darynda Jones
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
A HARD DAY FOR A HANGOVER. Copyright © 2022 by Darynda Jones. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Young Jin Lim
Cover illustrations: tequila bottle © airdone/Shutterstock.com; spill © Arcady/Shutterstock.com; roadrunner © meicon/Shutterstock.com; buildings © JosepPerianes/Shutterstock.com; cactus © Beskova Ekaterina/Shutterstock.com; flowers © Zadirkin/Shutterstock.com; cracked glasses © Cosmin Dugan/Shutterstock.com; mountain © Travel Drawn/Shutterstock.com; hot-air balloon © Anatolir/Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-23314-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-26697-2 (ebook)
e-ISBN 9781250266972
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: 2022
Darynda Jones, A Hard Day for a Hangover--A Novel
