We stared at Pearl in silence. The pink cloth in Anessa's hand slowed, coming to a standstill as she waited for more details. The bakery door opened, and Mandy Simmons walked in, making her way to the counter. I didn't know Mandy well. She used to work at city hall until she took a better job answering phones at the county offices. She'd never been a great resource for getting details on suspects.

"Can I get-"

"Shhh." Anessa shushed Mandy with a finger to her lips.

I tapped my foot, but Pearl just kept stirring her tea without a care in the world. "Well, are you going to tell us what they were doing if it wasn't an orgy?"

Pearl shrugged, clinking her spoon against the cup's side. "You didn't ask."

A troubled groan escaped my lips. Oh, my freaking word. She had to be kidding me. My chest clenched in anticipation, and I rubbed a hand over it. If my body kept this up, I'd have to see a doctor.

"Pearl, please tell me what was going on at the beach," I said in my nicest voice, even though I wanted to yell at her and take away her tea until she told me.

She smiled and laid her spoon on the small tea saucer. "Since you said please."

Mandy stuck her finger against the clean glass of Anessa's display case. "Are you going to take my order?"

Anessa raised her hands toward Pearl and me. "Pause this. I don't want to miss it."

We waited as she grabbed Mandy's order of six cupcakes. Three chocolates with white cream cheese frosting and three lemons with raspberry frosting and sprinkles. They fit perfectly into the pink boxes, and Anessa sealed it with a sticker after Mandy paid.

I used the free time to dislodge the edge of my cupcake wrapper from the chocolate cake part. A few gold sprinkles scattered on the table as I tipped the cupcake. Shit. The sprinkles were some of the best parts.

"Who is not having an orgy?" Mandy asked as she took the box of cupcakes from Anessa.

I raised a brow at her. Just as I expected, anyone who worked for the government had an ear for gossip. "Yesterday, on the beach over by the public parking lot, a group of people was getting teary-eyed. My partner, Tony, said it looked like an orgy."

That's not exactly how it went down but close enough for Mandy to get the point.

She furrowed her brows. "You have a partner now?"

"Half partner." I waved her question away. "It's a long story."

It took less time to explain Tony as a partner than it did to get into the private investigator/bounty hunter dynamic we had going on. Plus, he wasn't here to refute my claim.

She seemed to accept the answer as she shifted the box from one hip to the other and leaned against the front counter. Anessa scowled over her smudged glass, but Mandy didn't notice.

"It wasn't anything nefarious, just dramatic," she said.

I leaned in closer, causing my chair's legs to scratch against the tile floor. Since it seemed like she had the goods, I placed my cupcake back on the table to await the story. I couldn't be caught with a cupcake in my mouth if she said something juicy.

"The Cline family had a reunion. It happens every June, but the entire clan showed up this time because they found a missing family member." She waved one hand in the air while she talked, the other clutching the box of cupcakes.

"Oh, really?" A missing family member. Like one who had a room at the bed-and-breakfast and a suspicious fiancée back home? But why wouldn't he tell Kylee the whole story about his trip here? "Is he from Portland?"

Her eyes widened. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." I removed the bottom portion of my cupcake wrapper and only lost a few more sprinkles on the table.

"He took one of those DNA tests and blew the doors right off the family closet. All the skeletons came falling out."

Interesting.

"It seems like everyone's got a long-lost family somewhere now," I said, ripping the bottom off my cupcake and squishing it to the top. I was never taking one of those tests. The last thing I needed was matching with a love child somewhere and giving my family another reason to hate me.

"Hey," Mandy said as she moved toward the door. "If you're not busy right now, can I ask you for help? I've been talking to this guy online, but something seems off about him."

"No." I raised my hands in the air with the cupcake. "I can't handle one more thing. My list is full. I've already got to do this thing with my family, figure out this reunion now, handle a pushy boyfriend, and solve a murder. There's no time for anything else."

Didn't people realize my plate runneth over? The next thing added to my list might be the straw that literally broke my back. It seemed like at any second I'd lose my shit and have a mental breakdown. The stress might crush me.

She scoffed. "It would probably take ten minutes."

I shook my head. Not with my luck. I'd end up learning Mandy's internet man ran some underground crime ring, and I'd have to take care of that. "I don't even have ten minutes right now, but if your gut is telling you something's off, cut him loose."

Pearl nodded.

"Women know these things," Anessa said from the counter where she had her pink cloth ready to wipe away Mandy's fingerprints once she vacated the bakery.

"You think so?" she asked.

"Yes!" Pearl and I answered in unison.

Mandy jumped at the aggression but gave us a nod and carried her box of cupcakes out the door, ringing the bell with her departure.

I had a small pile of sprinkles scattered over the table, and I swiped them to the floor with a brush of my hand. Anessa scowled at me as I wiped my hand off on my jeans. Oops.

"She didn't even tell the story right," Pearl said in a huff, completely oblivious to the sprinkle drama happening between Anessa and me. "Where's the emotion? The dramatics? What a waste."

I used the opportunity to change the subject. "It wasn't a family reunion?"

"No, it was." Pearl dunked her spoon back in her tea, which had to be cold by now. "But she had no pizzazz, and she left out the best part."

I perked up again. "What part?" Was something juicier than finding a long-lost family member? And was it my guy from Portland? The pieces lined up nicely, but that didn't always mean it made a puzzle.

"Martha, the family matriarch since her mother passed, said it's good he wanted to meet people now because her momma would have had a heart attack if she learned their dad stepped out on her."

"Are they not accepting Carl?"

"No, it seems like Martha is okay with it. She's just happy they cremated her mother, or she'd be rolling around in her grave." Pearl shrugged. "Well, everyone accepts him but Henry."

"What's Henry's problem?"