Cupcake Explosion (Cupcakes 4)

Since when was there a new MC in town? Why did they have Cade’s bike, and where the hell is my fiancé?

We drove down a long gravel road, passing through a chain-link fence that warned off trespassers and stated the owner of the property had a weapon and wasn’t afraid to use it.

Charming . . .

I felt a little better about rolling up in Bea’s cruiser than I would have in my van, but still, the dogs chained up in the yard, barking as we parked, didn’t give me warm fuzzies.

“I think for this one, you might want to let me do the talking. I get the feeling Bubba Junior isn’t all that fond of cops,” I told Bea, and to my surprise, she nodded.

I thought about asking her to stay in the car, since she was in uniform and all, but I wasn’t all that hot to go to the door by myself.

We walked up the rusted-out steps and I rapped on the door three times. I looked warily over my shoulder at the still-barking dogs, then swung my head back when I heard footsteps approach and the door opened.

With disheveled, long dirty hair, and a sleepy expression, the man paused, scratched his bare belly, and asked, “What?”

“Uh, hi, we were told to come here by your father, Bubba, he said you may be able to help us,” I said, trying to sound friendly and cheerful, but coming across rather psychotic.

He shifted and noticed Bea standing next to me and scowled.

“I got a no trespassing sign out front. Unless you got a warrant, you need to step off and keep steppin.”

“Oh, no, sir, please, we aren’t here on official business or anything. This is my friend, Bea, and I’m a private investigator. There was an explosion by your dad’s shop last night, and my fiancé’s motorcycle was involved. Your dad thought maybe you could give me some information about the MC that may have started the explosion.”

He looked me up and down, then said, “You can come in, but she has to stay outside.”

“Now look here . . .” Bea began, but I put my hand on her arm to stop her and said, “Okay, that’s fine, but we leave the door open, okay?”

Bubba Junior looked at me and shrugged, then turned and walked back inside, leaving us on the stoop to figure out what to do next.

“I don’t like you going in there alone,” Bea said.

“I know, but you’ll be right outside, and you know Bran’s been helping me, so I can handle myself if necessary. I need to find out what he knows,” I said, my eyes pleading with her.

“Okay, but don’t go too far.”

I stepped gingerly over the threshold, then proceeded to go a few paces and stopped.

“Uh, I’m sorry, what’s your name?” I asked, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the darker room.

“You can call me Junior,” came his reply and I smiled at how spot on my mental name calling had been.

“Okay, Junior, what can you tell me about the new MC? Did you see them last night? How many were there?”

“Yeah, I was there last night. I been seeing them the last month or so. At first, there were just a couple, but last count there were at least twenty in town now. They stopped in, tried talking to me about weapons and such, but I told em I’ve got my own system of security, and don’t need to get involved in any shit. They been leavin me alone, but I seen ‘em bothering some of the other farmers and homeowners outside of town.”

“And, last night, was anyone injured? Was someone in the car, or with the bike?” I asked, terrified of his answer.

“Nah, last night was just fun for them guys, the car and bike have actually been there coming on two weeks now.”

Two weeks? Shit. Cade has been without his bike for two weeks? I can’t see him leaving it, so what does that mean?

“But . . . Did you see what happened two weeks ago? How they got there?”

“I can do better. Here, come with me.”

Although I’d told Bea I’d stay right inside the door, I had to know what he was talking about, so I followed him farther into the house.

Junior paused outside a closed door down the hall, then turned to me, hand on the knob, and asked, “You ain’t no pig, right? No narc? You say your man was on that bike and you’re a private dick . . .” He looked me up and down again and said, “Or whatever you call a woman private dick.”