Hazy Grooms and Homicides (A Raina Sun Mystery #8)

by Anne R. Tan

Po Po took two more steps and rolled her eyes upward. “I feel faint…”

  Hendricks reached out automatically and caught Po Po before she could collapse on the floor. Her grandma must have started acting lessons. As he turned to settle Po Po onto the ground, Raina slipped out the side entrance.

  Once outside, she sidestepped to get away from the glass cut-out on the door in case Hendricks looked around for her. To her right was the loading dock where deliveries must come in daily to keep the restaurants and shops stocked. On the left was the concrete enclosure hiding the commercial trash bins. Next to it, a small concrete footpath led around the building. To escape, the killer wouldn’t have gone toward the loading dock or the trash bins.

  Raina followed the footpath, scanning the ground. Around the corner of the building, she found a white card poking up from the hedges next to a patch of towering holly oak trees. She got down on her hands and knees to peer underneath the bushes, reaching into her purse for a tissue. She pulled out the white plastic card. It was still attached to an orange lanyard. Did someone from the convention pass through here?

  She flipped the card around. Brian Anderson. The man who confronted Claire about the missing breakfast spread. While this seemed like a weak motive for killing someone, if this animosity had gone on long enough, he could have snapped.

  Raina returned the name badge to its original location underneath the hedge. She glanced around but didn’t see any security cameras. What were the odds of Brian losing his name badge in this remote part of the hotel-casino on the same day Claire’s body was discovered?

  Raina followed the footpath until she found another entrance and slipped inside. The cool blast of the air conditioning greeted Raina, and her curly black hair fanned out behind her like she was on a photo shoot. She glanced up at the ceiling to find several security cameras. There probably weren’t enough human resources to monitor every screen, but she assumed the security team was following her every move.

  She headed to the nearest restroom and did her business. If Hendricks asked, she could truthfully say she was in the ladies’ room. As she made her way across the casino floor and back to the service hall, she passed several women in tight white tops and short black skirts, holding out trays of drinks. These servers ignored Raina even though she could have used a cold drink.

  Raina licked her parched lips. What she wouldn’t give for a nice cold drink and maybe a nap back in her room. And as quickly as the thought flashed across her mind, a stab of guilt twisted her stomach.

  Claire Boucher would never feel the summer heat on her skin again or taste a refreshing drink. Whatever she did to cause the killer to snap, Claire surely didn’t deserve to die, not when hardened criminals walked among innocent people.

  As Raina stepped through the double doors and approached the laundry room, Hendricks glanced up from his cell phone. From the set of his mouth, Raina knew he was annoyed with her. “Where have you been?”

  “I had to go to the ladies room,” Raina said, which was technically true. “Hendricks, my fiancé told me your security team hired him to help with your computer system. Is he watching us now?” She waved at the cameras on the ceiling, pretending like she was a bimbolina wanting to catch her man’s attention.

  “We don’t hire contractors,” Hendricks said.

  “I thought a contractor for upgrades is cheaper than a full-time computer guy,” Raina said. She cringed inwardly. Now she was really fishing. Someone had to know about Matthew in this place. Her fiancé wouldn’t have lied to her. She just hoped he wasn’t in a hole out in the desert.

  Hendricks grunted and returned to tapping on his phone.

  Raina didn’t think he was on Facebook chatting with his friends. He was probably directing his staff to do something and used the text app for privacy.

  Po Po was perched right next to his side. She squinted at his screen, but Raina couldn’t tell if her grandma could actually read the tiny display. Since her cataract surgery a few years ago, she had better vision than Raina.

  Every once in a while, Hendricks scowled in her grandma’s direction and took a step sideways as if to put some distance between the two of them. Po Po pretended to blink at the ceiling and ignored his look. The senile old lady act again. And when he wasn’t looking, she would inch closer to reduce the gap between them.

  Wait a minute, Raina thought.

  Her grandma thrust her chest at Hendricks’s phone screen. Was the locket on Po Po’s neck a tiny camera? Or maybe the sunflower pin on her designer T-shirt was the camera? Was her grandma taking pictures of Hendricks’s screen to capture the conversation? One of Po Po’s hands was tucked inside her pants pocket. She might be activating the camera’s shutter with a remote.

  There was a commotion behind Raina, and she spun around to see the police approaching—four uniformed officers and a detective in plain clothes. Raina thought they got here much too quick. Maybe the hotel-casino had some influence with the police department. After all, the city did have a history of misconduct in the police force.

  Would they cover up this murder? No, it would be hard to cover something like this. Claire Boucher had probably been organizing the Rock and Jam Convention for years, so the attendees would notice and demand answers at her sudden death.

  Or would the police do a slapdash investigation so the hotel-casino wouldn’t get any bad publicity? This seemed the more likely route. Mishandling or contaminating the evidence could shelve the investigation pretty quickly. It seemed strange the forensic team wasn’t dispatched with these officers. After all, didn’t the security team from the hotel-casino tell the dispatcher that Claire Boucher was dead?

  Hendricks glanced up from his phone and slipped it in his pocket. “Officers, I’m so glad you’re here. When the general manager and I came downstairs, we found these two”—he jerked a thumb at Raina and her grandma—“in the laundry room with the victim. I don’t know if they are witnesses or suspects.”

  Po Po glared at the security guard. “Witnesses, you big ape.”

  Hendricks ignored the comment and gestured at the laundry room. “The body’s in there.”

  “We were supposed to meet with security about a separate issue,” Raina said. “We heard he was down here, so we came down hoping to catch him. It sounds like we’re not the first one to arrive on the scene. The maids found the body first.”

  Hendricks pulled out his walkie-talkie. “Let me know when you’re ready to interview me.” He stepped aside, probably to inform his boss the police had arrived.

  An officer approached Raina and Po Po, and the rest filed into the laundry room. Raina wanted to groan out loud. Why would all four police officers need to go inside? It wasn’t like the killer was still hiding inside when there was an exit a few feet away. All their shoes tracked in who knew what, and the extra skin cells would contaminate the entire crime scene.

  The officer questioned Raina first, asking her to step toward the exit so her grandma couldn’t hear Raina’s answers.

  “Tell me what happened,” the officer said.

  Raina started with the walkie talkie in Willie’s office and their discovery. She mentioned going around the building.

  “Why did you go outside?”

  “I was so cold after discovering the body.” Raina shivered at the memory. “I needed to feel the warmth of the sun.” The words rang true. She hadn’t realized she had unconsciously sought out the heat. “Then I went to the ladies room.”

  “Have you seen the victim before?” the officer asked.

  “Yes,” Raina said reluctantly. “Her name is Claire Boucher, the organizer for the Rock and Jam Convention. I spoke with her yesterday about getting my grandma a ticket.” Should she say something about chasing Claire down to the casino floor? It sounded so incriminating, though Raina had done nothing wrong.

  Sometimes Raina wondered if her ancestors had a wicked sense of humor. They were supposed to look out for her, but she seemed to always end up in situations where dead bodies turned
up.

  She gave her grandma a sideways glance. Maybe Po Po had been praying for a distraction like this to get her through the week. Raina groaned at the thought. She needed to stop this circular logic. It was getting her nowhere.

  The officer moved on to another question, and the moment passed for Raina to say something about chasing Claire. She wasn’t withholding information, just organizing it in her head until she had her facts straight. Besides, the detective in charge would probably want to speak to Raina again once the investigation was in full swing.

  4

  Bonus for a Cape

  After Po Po’s interview, the police let them go. They weren’t told to stay in town, but Raina had a feeling they wouldn’t like it if she left the city with the grandmas. She wanted to linger, but the combined glares of Hendricks and the police officer changed her mind. Po Po went to check on Maggie, probably to regale her best friend with news of the body discovery.

  Raina returned to her suite, kicked off her shoes, and collapsed onto the bed. She lay there for several long moments, soaking in the silence. Even though the room was non-smoking, the air quality was only a tad better than the casino floor. After all, it wasn’t like they had separate ductwork for the non-smoking rooms. She took several deep breaths anyway.

  The Western theme hotel-casino was once considered top-of-the-line in its heyday thirty years ago. The cowboy theme continued into the rooms with colors of the desert—mute tans, beige, and accented with iron horseshoes. Now it was struggling to attract tourists against the more modern and expensive hotels on the Strip.

  Given the age of the place, she had assumed Matthew was hired to modernize their security system, but she made the wrong assumption. Her fiancé was working on something else entirely. It was annoying that he didn’t tell her about it, but maybe he didn’t think it was worth going into the details. She reached in her purse for her cell phone and called Matthew. Just like last night, the call went straight to voice mail.

  “Hi, love. I haven’t heard from you in a few days, and I’m starting to get worried. Things have gotten strange here.” Raina told him everything. “Like I said, strange happenings, and it makes me worry about you. Are you in trouble or something? Please call me back. I love you.”

  Raina hung up, feeling unsatisfied with the message, but she didn’t know what else to do about it. Normally they had a habit of speaking every night and usually got in touch a few times a day, depending on the case he was working. Matthew must have believed this gig was a cakewalk to suggest Raina and the grandmas join him in Las Vegas. His absence and silence meant something went horribly wrong.

  And to top it off, she secretly worried that Claire Boucher’s murder might have something to do with his freelance gig. She had no reason to investigate the murder…except how could she explain to the police about chasing Claire down the staircase and onto the casino floor? Even now, Raina had no idea why the convention organizer was in her room in the first place. And if there was a possible link to Matthew...

  Raina sat up on the bed. She should call the front desk and find out who was paying for their suite. She grabbed the landline on the side table and dialed zero. The phone rang twice, and someone picked up.

  After the usual greetings, Raina asked, “What name is on the reservation for my suite? My fiancé handed me a key card when we checked in, but he didn’t say if his employer paid for the room or if we’re expected to pay when we check out.”

  She must have sounded plausible because she could hear the front desk clerk tapping on his keyboard. “The name on the reservation is Matthew Louie. He put down his Visa, but I can’t tell if it’s a business card or his personal card. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Raina thanked the man and hung up. Her heart sank. Yep, the security upgrade was a cover story. Probably told only for Raina’s and the grandmas’ benefit. In other words, he didn’t expect her to check up on the story…or his absence.

  She curled up into a fetal position on the bed and silently shook. She had about an hour to get her act together before meeting the grandmas for dinner. On the surface, she had to appear like nothing was wrong when everything might be falling apart.

  Despite what Po Po said, the two grandmas looked to her to gauge whether or not to go into full-blown panic mode over Matthew’s absence. He wouldn’t appreciate her contacting the authorities if he were working undercover or hiding from the bad guys. And right now, she didn’t have enough information to act. But luckily, asking nosy questions was her specialty.

  Raina walked Poe around the block and waited while he did his business. After checking to make sure the service dog had food and water, she scheduled a pick up with a rideshare app on her phone to a nearby Thai restaurant for dinner. The grandmas loved the idea of an outing since they were just as sick of the restaurant selection at the hotel-casino.

  A few minutes later, they placed their orders with the server. A middle-aged man came by to inquire about the empty chair at their table.

  “Sure, you can take it, but what do we get in exchange for it?” Po Po asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Do we get a song and a dance?”

  The man started gyrating his hips and pumping his arms to some invisible beat. “This good enough?”

  “How about a little more booty?” Po Po said, clapping her hands.

  The man promptly turned around and wiggled his flat butt. Half his crack was showing on top of his belt.

  Raina groaned and slid further down in her seat. There wasn’t enough bleach in this world to clean her eyes. A glance around the restaurant showed several people looking at them with open laughter.

  Maggie Louie didn’t say anything, but her open smile was enough to show her enjoyment of the scene. While Po Po was thin and hip, her best friend was well padded and looked like the proverbial granny who liked to bake and knit. Her long silver hair was pulled back into a bun and held in place with chopsticks. She opened her purse and handed Po Po several dollar bills. Raina could see why the two ladies had been friends for over fifty years. Maggie lived vicariously through Po Po.

  “Just take the chair and go,” Raina said, her face flaming. This was so embarrassing. Could they get arrested for stuffing money down his pants? Disturbance of the peace?

  The man gave them a flourishing bow that could have made a court jester proud. He grabbed the chair and went to join his friends at a nearby table. His friends clapped and whooped when he returned with his prize.

  After the server dropped off their meal, they went through the details of Claire Boucher’s murder.

  “So Brian Anderson is on the top of the suspect list, huh?” Maggie asked.

  “His motive is a stretch for me. Would you kill someone over a missing breakfast spread?” Po Po asked.

  “Yeah. I would kill someone if there’s no coffee in the morning,” Maggie said.

  Raina’s eyes widened. It had been years since she had spent as much time as she did with Maggie these last few days. She had always thought her second grandma was a sweet old lady.

  At the look on Raina’s face, Maggie laughed. “Just kidding. I might throw a fuss like a child, but I would only stab someone’s hand with a fork.” She exchanged a look with Po Po and the two ladies burst into laughter.

  The ladies tried to explain the story. Something about a bacon shortage on a road trip decades ago, but Raina didn’t get it. But what she got was a longing for a best friend to share a history. And she hoped Matthew could fill this role in their future.

  “What about the NASA girl? What’s her name?” Po Po asked. “I wonder if she’s a rocket scientist.”

  Raina refocused on the discussion at hand. She pulled out a notebook and made some bullet points. She might as well get her thoughts organized. “Gloria Tanaka. She’s upset because Claire stole information from her workstation. She could lose her job and reputation.”

  Po Po nodded. “That’s our killer. Now we just need her to confess.”

  “I’m sure
you can beat it out of her,” Maggie said.

  Raina shook her head. “No beatings. We’ll ask her some questions like a civilized person.”

  The grandmas gave Raina a doubtful look.

  After dinner, they got a ride back to the hotel-casino. Raina walked the grandmas back to their suite and bid them good night, but she was too jazzed up with nervous energy to go back to her room. She grabbed her name badge for the convention and headed downstairs. From the program, she knew the exhibit hall was open for another half an hour. Maybe someone down there would be willing to talk to her about Claire Boucher.

  The exhibit hall was one open space with pop-up booths in several rows. In the front of the hall was a raised stage with a rock band playing an ’80s song that Raina didn’t recognize. Her grandma probably could have named the band by the outfits they were wearing. To her right was a snack bar counter displaying pastries behind a glass case. For a moment, Raina wondered if leftover pastries would be served first in the morning. Groups in twos and threes still wandered among the booths—most of them in costume.

  Raina had a hard time identifying any of them. She glanced down at her outfit. Her dragonfly print T-shirt and shorts stood out in this crowd and not in a good way. Even the attendants in the booths wore a costume or a T-shirt advertising their favorite band. Her grandma was right. They would need outfits.

  She stopped at the nearest costume booth and searched the rack. Her criteria was simple—something that fit both her body and her wallet.

  The saleswoman came over. She was about five foot seven with emerald green eyes. Her white hair was braided and wrapped around the crown of her head. She had a pleasant, smiling face. “Are you looking for anything in particular?”

  Before Raina could reply, a familiar voice cut in from behind her. “How about some sequined jumpsuits? Bonus points if there’s a cape.”

  Raina spun around. “What are you doing here?”