Cupcake Explosion (Cupcakes 4)

“Who’s on the way?” Bea asked curiously.

“Bran,” I replied, then tried to keep the conversation going by sing-saying, “Her boyfriend.”

“Oh, stop, he’s not my boyfriend,” Carmen argued, playing along.

“Oh, I didn’t know you’d given him a second chance, that’s great, Carmen. I’m happy it worked out this time,” Bea said.

I hurried to grab her a glass and came back as Carmen said, “It’s still pretty new. I don’t want to jinx anything.”

“I can’t wait to finally see you guys together, you know, since you made it official. Did you say he’s coming over now?” I asked.

Carmen nodded.

“Can you ask him to pick up some McDonalds? I’m suddenly jonesin’ for a quarter pounder with cheese, no onions.”

“Oh, yeah sure, I’m hungry, too. You want anything, Bea?”

“I’m good,” she said, then looked pointedly at the cheese board.

“What? I stress eat, you know that.”

“I’ll just go call him again,” Carmen said. “Be right back.”

I hoped she told him to keep his reason for coming quiet in front of Bea, but now that I’d said it, I really did want a cheeseburger.

“So, like I said, I wanted to catch you up on what we’ve done so far.”

I sat down on the couch, picked up my wine and got comfortable.

“Okay, shoot,” I said.

“We searched the area, talked to the owner of the gas station, as well as some of the residents who live in the sur

rounding area. One of the homeowners confirmed that there’s been a new MC around town, and they’ve been fishing around, trying to see what they can get away with around here. The Club’s name is Diablos Rebeldes, and the guy’s name was Cueball. Obviously, he’s an older bald white man,” she said, and I mentally cataloged the new information.

“Anything about Cade?” I asked, hoping she knew more than I did.

“Not definitively, I’m sorry. From what I can tell, he was either investigating this new MC and they found out, or he’s working with them and they turned on him. I’m really not sure yet. When we went back tonight, the car and Cade’s bike were gone, so I asked around, and the closest resident said a tow truck took them away. I’m guessing Bubba called them, since it was on his property.”

“Did they see what company he used?” I asked.

“Um, Black Creek Towing, I believe, why?”

“I thought maybe I’d go see if Cade’s bike is salvageable. He’ll want it, when he comes back.”

Bea put her hand on my knee and said, “Lila, I know I don’t have a lot of information for you, and right now things look bleak, but don’t give up hope, okay? I won’t stop until we find him.”

I SHOT OFF a text to Amy May that just said, Black Creek Towing, and she shot back, on it.

Bea didn’t stay much longer, she needed to get home to Shannon, who probably hadn’t seen much of her since she started on Cade’s case.

Luckily, she did not intercept Bran, who took longer because he stopped at McDonald’s and it was packed.

We sat around munching on fries and filled Bran in.

“The cops are looking into it, but have nothing? And you and Bea went to some random guy’s house, a paranoid prepper type, alone, and he showed you footage of Cade getting hit and taken by a group of guys. Rather than letting the police handle it like you promised Bea, you two have gone off on your own investigation, and Amy May is your woman behind the computer . . . Is that all correct?” he asked, and I have to say, his tone was quite annoying.

“Yeah, that sounds about right, and I’m guessing you don’t approve, even though you know this is my job,” I replied, shoving a hand full of fries in my mouth angrily.