✔Cupcakes to Kill For

4. Killer on the Loose🧁

Police officers gathered around their bakery. Someone came out to escort Casey back inside, guiding him over to a table so he could tell them everything that had happened. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't believe it. All the blood pooling in that dumpster bin should've been proof enough, but Casey wanted his mom to still be alive.

Maybe she still had a pulse and would miraculously live. Maybe it was all a nightmare he'd soon awaken from.

A red-headed detective with freckles sat down across from him. He gave him an empathetic smile as he pulled out a small notebook and pen. Casey glanced at the nametag on his uniform. C. Bailey. He was one of his mom's colleagues, but he didn't know the detective very well. Casey had only heard his name a few times from his mom.

"Casey, do you have any idea who would do something like this to your mom?" Detective Bailey asked him.

Casey shook his head. "I-I don't. Maybe it was a culprit from one of her cases? I'm not sure. Mom didn't talk about her work all that much. She didn't like bringing it home with her."

"I understand, and I'm sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how you must be feeling," Detective Bailey said. "I worked on a few cases with Detective Lockhart and she was an amazing woman. We will look into her current cases and see if any of them might've held a grudge against her."

Casey nodded. "Alright, thank you. Have you told the rest of our family yet? My sister, Lani, is home with my son and Dad had gone out to the station earlier to figure out what's been going on. I'm sure he's filed a missing person's report or been hounding you with questions all this time."

Detective Bailey frowned, brows knitting in a tight scowl. "Your dad did? Do you know what time this was?"

"Um, probably around seven-ish?" Casey replied. "He'd already left before I woke up. Lani told me about it. He hadn't opened the bakery yet either, like he was supposed to and when I tried calling him, it went straight to voicemail." Casey froze, swallowing the lump that formed in his throat. "You don't think... Dad isn't.... He isn't dead?"

"Let's not jump to any rash conclusions yet," Detective Bailey said. "I'm sure he's just been out trying to find your mother. We'll do everything we can to help you find him, too. I'll see if my partner heard anything about him coming to the station. It's Daniel Lockhart, right?"

"Yeah." Casey nodded.

"Okay, I'll be right back. I'm just gonna have a quick word with my partner over there." Detective Bailey gestured to a dark-haired detective, who sat at another table with Xavier.

From beyond the glass windowpane, Casey noticed curious civilians had gathered on the sidewalk across from the bakery. Some officers guarded the perimeter, ensuring nobody slipped through and tampered with evidence. Casey always hated going into that back alley to take out their trash, but now, he wasn't sure he could ever step foot there again.

Casey tried to calm his pounding heart. Every inch of his body resembled Jell-O. It had to be a misunderstanding, right? That couldn't actually be his dead mother in their dumpster. Who the hell would do such a reprehensible thing? To toss her away like trash?

Cold shivers rattled off his bones as he folded his arms across his chest, wishing he had his family there with him. Xavier was being questioned off to the side at another table with Detective Bailey's partner. He'd seen his mom's body, too. While Casey had frozen, Xavier could be rational and called the police. Xavier had been the one to guide them to her body because Casey couldn't dare utter the words out loud. He didn't want to believe it himself.

Someone murdered his mom.

Soon enough, Detective Bailey came back over to his table. He explained how they needed him to give his official statement down at the police station, considering he'd been the one to find his mother's body. They would escort Xavier down with them, but in separate cars.