“That’s more like it.”
“What do you think he’s doing?” I inclined my head towards James, who hadn’t taken his phone away from his ear since he arrived.
“Waiting on news about…” she paused, looking at Bee, her face paling. “Well. Just news.”
“Things were calmer when I left. There weren’t many left.”
“Of them or…?”
“Them.”
Jenna looked stricken. “And Shark?”
“He was fine when I saw him. Well… Not fine but—”
“As fine as he can be. I get it.”
“The police are there,” James said, coming over to us and pocketing his phone.
“Well, at least that will put an end to things,” Jenna breathed, shooting a fake smile towards Beth, who was coming back over, Calpol in hand.
Beth looked back and forth between us, noticing the tightness in our faces and the immediate silence that fell over the table. “Do you know what, Bee? This stuff is so good at taking away the pain, but it doesn’t taste the nicest. How about you and I go over to the bar and make our very own ice cream bowls? You can put on whatever toppings you want, so long as you promise to drink all of this. How does that sound?”
“I want to stay with my mummy,” she said softly, clinging to my shirt.
“Your… mummy,” Beth paused, swallowing hard. I almost felt sorry for her. I knew she had dreamed of Bee calling her that. “Will be right here. And we’ll be able to see her from the bar. Come on, you know you love chocolate ice cream. I don’t want to eat it all by myself.”
“I’ll be right here, sweetheart,” I promised. Bee nodded, and I gently lifted her over my legs and placed her on her feet. Beth held a hand out to Bee, and I mouthed a silent “thank you” to Beth as she took her away.
“What do you know?” I demanded to James, not bothering to beat around the bush.
“Crash has been rushed to the hospital. They think the bullet lodged in his lung. Shawn is dead. Hacksaw was shot, but he’s okay. Vienna has a broken wrist. Sunshine has a minor head injury, and Shark managed to escape relatively unscathed.”
“Thank God,” Jenna breathed.
“What aren’t you telling us?” I eyed him suspiciously.
“Nothing.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He sighed. “Fine. I spoke to Tools. He said the police were arresting Hacksaw, Vienna, Shark and Dante.”
“What?” I shouted, then cringed as I remembered there were other people in here. “But they were defending themselves,” I said, lowering my voice so it was barely above a whisper.
“I’m guessing they’ve heard about the fire earlier.”
“Since when did the police take an interest in biker fires?” Jenna asked, a frown marring her face.
“Since biker crime rates have soared through the roof,” Officer Bradley said, making us all jump.
I spun around, watching him as he shrugged off his jacket. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, when the call came in to say there was an… incident,” he grinned as he passed some of the other diners. “I left my colleagues to go to the Disciples grounds. I knew the ladies would make their way here whenever they got the chance. Figured it was the perfect opportunity to get your stories firsthand.”
“We have nothing to say,” Jenna replied, raking her eyes up and down his body with disdain.
“Shame. You never know what help someone will need when they’ve been arrested for murder.”
