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

by Anne R. Tan

  Raina explained what happened with Claire in their room and the location of the USB stick. She gave him a sheepish look. “It’s because of her that I didn’t hold back on you last night.”

  Matthew sighed. “It’s just my luck,” he muttered to himself. When he addressed Raina, he asked, “How did she know you were my fiancée?”

  Raina frowned. “I thought you told her about me. I was trying to get tickets to the convention for Po Po. I wrote down my name and room number, and she commented on it. I thought she might have recognized my name because you told her about me.”

  Matthew shook his head. “I would never compromise your safety like that. Even though this security breach wasn’t a dangerous assignment and all of it was a setup from the beginning, I would never put your name forward.”

  “You mean there is no super drone?”

  Matthew gave her a sharp look. “Who helped you crack the password software?”

  “Never you mind.” Raina wasn’t giving away her grandma’s secret Science Ninja Club. “If the whole thing was a setup, could the Russians build a super drone with the stolen information?”

  “Nope. They would spend time and money on something useless.”

  “What if Claire found out about the setup? I mean she could have a dossier on you, which linked us together.”

  Matthew sat back and thought about Raina’s comment. “This theory would mean there is another player who knew about my involvement on the security breach and warned Claire.

  “Gloria Tanaka?”

  Matthew shook his head. “She’s too low on the totem pole. She wouldn’t have known about my involvement.”

  Raina thought about all the people she had met the last few days. She didn’t know Willie’s background, but it was unlikely she would have crossed paths with Matthew in the past. Hendricks was the muscle, and he didn’t seem to have the capacity to do something so devious. There was only one person left. Matthew’s old buddy from the Marines. “What about Lamar Stafford?”

  Matthew blinked. “He recommended me to NASA. What makes you think he has anything to do with Claire’s death?”

  “I didn’t say he has anything to do with her death. But I’m wondering if he told her about our relationship.”

  “Why would he compromise the security breach investigation?”

  Raina raised an eyebrow. “So did you do anything to him in the past? Is he holding onto a grudge?”

  Matthew groaned and closed his eyes. “I think I’ve been played.”

  14

  Kill the Messenger

  After their conversation, Matthew closed his eyes and went back to sleep. The irritating man didn’t explain his cryptic comment about Detective Stafford. He was probably still trying to process the situation.

  Her fiancé was particular about doing things in sequential logical order. It was what made him such a good homicide detective by leaving no stone unturned. Until he reasoned things out, he played his cards close to the chest. While Raina liked to involve the entire village—his words—in her thought process.

  As she had guessed, he had been taking catnaps in the hotel-casino, waiting for an opportunity to sneak back into their room without being noticed for the last two days. She had no idea if he would be in the room when she came back from breakfast, but she couldn’t spend the morning waiting for him to wake up.

  As she strode to the elevator, she felt a rising anger toward Detective Lamar Stafford. If what Matthew said was correct, the entire gig was a setup to make him look bad? To what end? To never get another contract with the federal government? She wasn’t sure what happened between the two men, but she was planning to find out.

  Raina reached into her purse and pulled out the detective’s business card. With Matthew in the picture, she didn’t want to go headlong into this without running it by him. But if she ran things by him, then it sounded like she was asking for permission. This could set a bad precedent in their marriage.

  The senior citizens greeted Raina with excitement. Since Claire Boucher’s death was a plain old homicide and had nothing to do with national security, they could continue to investigate the case without treading on federal jurisdiction. For some reason, this reassured Raina. She might not know espionage, but she knew how to find the truth among suspects and murderers.

  “Operation Photo Shoot was a failure,” Po Po said. She hadn’t touched her mushroom omelet. “We’ll have to do better today.”

  Raina groaned inwardly. After the excitement of the previous evening, she had forgotten about the pool incident. “Maybe the Posse Club could look for Gloria Tanaka today. I still need to talk to her.”

  Po Po nodded. “It’s your show, Sherlock. We are ready and able to do your bidding. The rest of the crew will have to start the operation without me.” She winked exaggeratedly at Raina. “I need to pick up another costume. I think a friend of ours would like to be in disguise.”

  Raina took a sip of coffee. Geez, talk about being subtle. As long as Po Po said nothing about Matthew to the rest of the Posse Club, there was no harm in her grandma’s antics. Though it seemed a tad cruel to not inform Maggie of her grandson’s whereabouts, but that was his decision.

  “Can we go over the suspects list again?” Frank asked. “I have forgotten some of the details.” His eyes shifted from Raina to Po Po and back again as if to say he didn’t entirely trust the details supplied by her grandma.

  Raina held up her index finger. “First, there is Brian Anderson. His name badge was found outside in the loading dock area, which is right next to the crime scene. Ten thousand dollars is missing from the convention, and everyone blames Claire. He would have to make up for the shortfall the following year. Since this convention is his baby, he might be mad enough to get rid of her. And he had no alibi at the time of her death.”

  Frank nodded. “People have killed for less. And ten thousand dollars is a lot of money when you are trying to run a nonprofit.”

  Raina held up a second finger. “The other suspect is Gloria Tanaka. Claire got onto her computer at NASA and stole her research material.” She paused, considering her next words. She couldn’t go into the details that Matthew had given her, so she would have to pretend to guess at the truth. “I’m guessing that Claire planned to sell the stolen research, and Gloria came to the convention to get it back. If she doesn’t recover the stolen research, she will lose her security clearance.”

  “This sounds like a stronger motive,” Maggie said. “She’s probably the killer maid.”

  “Also, Gloria seems to be having a good time since Claire’s death,” Po Po said.

  Frank shook his head. “Or maybe she figured no one would find out about the stolen research, so she’s not worried anymore. She could be an indirect benefactor rather than the murderer.”

  Raina nodded at Frank’s words. “There could be some truth there, but I still need to talk with Gloria.”

  “What about Willie? I don’t understand why she’s making out with Brian and boinking Detective Stafford,” Po Po said.

  Raina cringed inwardly at her grandma’s word choice. She didn’t want that picture in her head. Willie was like a thick haze on this case. All smoke and mirrors.

  “I think she’s a distraction in this investigation. She has an alibi for the time of Claire’s death. At first, I thought she might kill Claire for Brian. However, with Detective Stafford in the picture, there’s no reason for her to kill Claire,” Raina said. “And how did we go from holding hands to boinking?”

  Po Po shrugged. “I would boink him.”

  Raina smacked her palm on her forehead. She didn’t want that picture in her head either.

  “Yeah, it’s too bad I’m busy with someone else.” Maggie leered at Frank. “Right, hon?”

  Po Po covered her ears and closed her eyes. “No, no, no. I don’t need to have that image in my head.”

  Raina snickered. Uh-huh. So her grandma finally got a taste of her own medicine.

  Frank tapped the ta
ble with his fingers. “Can we get back on topic? What about this Detective Stafford? He is supposed to be investigating the crime, but we haven’t heard a peep from him.”

  Raina addressed Maggie. “He claims to be Matthew’s old buddy from the Marines. Said he spent holidays with you. Is there any truth to the story?”

  Maggie was silent for a long moment as if running through her memory bank to search for the name. “I didn’t get close enough to look at his face. From where I stood at the pool, he was a blur.”

  Po Po held up her cell phone. “He looks like this. A fine-looking man but he has no taste. He doesn’t like cone bras, so I don’t see a future for us.”

  Raina snorted coffee up the wrong windpipe and coughed. “Sorry. It went down the wrong way.”

  “I remember him,” Maggie said. “He came once for Easter. I didn’t think much of it because we didn’t celebrate the day. Other than dying eggs for Matthew when he was a child, it wasn’t on my radar.”

  “What’s the nature of their friendship? Were they good friends or were they more like co-workers?” Raina asked.

  Maggie shook her head. “I don’t know. I was just happy to have my grandson back, so I didn’t care who he brought home.”

  Raina mulled over her conversation with Matthew for a moment. She put another bite of fluffy and buttery pancakes in her mouth. When she was done chewing, she looked up to see three sets of eyes watching her.

  “Sorry, I needed brain food,” Raina said, swallowing her bite. “I don’t think Detective Stafford is a suspect. I think he’s like Willie—a distraction. I know there’s a lot happening here. There’s Matthew, the convention, and other things, but they have nothing to do with Claire’s death. We have to ignore them and follow through on the leads we do have. In this case, it’s Brian Anderson and Gloria Tanaka.”

  The senior citizens were quick to agree with Raina’s assessment of the situation. Either she was a better leader than she thought or the senior citizens didn’t care and were along only for the ride.

  Po Po paid the bill, and they stood to go their separate ways. Outside the diner, Maggie pulled Raina aside.

  “I called and left a message with my son to let him know about my upcoming wedding.” Maggie chewed her lower lip. “He lives in town.”

  Raina froze even as her mind raced at the implications. All this time, she had assumed no one knew the whereabouts of Matthew’s father. Matthew would be devastated to know his father had been this close all along. “So he has been living here all these years?”

  “No. It sounded like he moved here for health reasons last year. He didn’t go into details.”

  “I don’t know how Matthew will react if he sees his dad, but I know it won’t be tears of joy.”

  “That’s why I’m hoping you can prepare Matthew for this. It’s my wedding, and I would like my only son to be there. I’m not picking him over my grandson.” Maggie’s voice broke, and her eyes filled with tears. “It would be nice to have my whole family with me for once.”

  Raina sighed. She hated being the messenger, but not helping her second grandma wasn’t an option. The elderly lady had looked out for her during her childhood, she was her grandma’s best friend, and her future grandma-in-law. “Okay, I’ll try to soften him up.”

  Raina stepped out of the elevator and turned the corner to find Willie standing in front of her suite. She dug into her purse, turning on the recording app on her phone and coming up with the key card for the room. At this stage in the investigation, she was probably making people nervous, even if they weren’t suspects. It wouldn’t hurt to have proof later on if something unexpected were to happen.

  As Raina approached the general manager, her hand tightened on the takeout bag of breakfast for Matthew. Even though her fiancé was still technically missing in action, and Willie had no reason to go into their room, Raina was still nervous. She had no idea if Matthew was still high on the suspects list for Claire’s death, but since he was still in hiding, he probably feared he might be. And that fear mimicked the same one in Raina’s heart.

  All it took was one unlucky moment where Matthew stepped out before Raina got rid of Willie, and his cover would be blown. Though everything would eventually clear up, they didn’t need Matthew detained until then. They still had a murder investigation to solve.

  When Raina was within speaking distance, she called out, “Good morning, Willie. Are you here to talk about Brian Anderson?”

  The tawny blonde scowled at Raina. Both hands rested on her waist. In her four-inch stilettos, she towered over Raina. “Did you have anything to do with the dunking I took at the pool yesterday?”

  “No, were you in a swimsuit?” Raina asked, pretending to play dumb.

  “I saw you at the pool yesterday. You were on the other side, hiding behind the palm tree with your wig and sunglasses on.”

  Raina decided to come clean. “Oh, all right. I was there because I thought you were meeting Brian. Imagine my surprise to find you holding hands with Detective Stafford.” Raina frowned. “Do they know you are dating both of them at the same time?”

  “That’s none of your business,” Willie said through gritted teeth.

  “You’re right. It’s none of my business.” She glanced around the hallway, but they were alone. “Is that all you want to ask me?”

  “I told Lamar what you said about Brian’s name badge found outside in the loading dock area. He was surprised by the information.” As Willie spoke, she leaned into Raina’s personal space.

  Raina stiffened, so she wouldn’t take a step back. She felt like a child looking up at an authoritative adult about to give her a lecture.

  “He is very interested in knowing how you got this information.” Willie raised an eyebrow. “Don’t make trouble for me because I will take you down.”

  “Is it your general policy to threaten the guests in your hotel-casino, Willie Machado?”

  The general manager cocked her head as if assessing Raina’s tone. “Of course not. I came to tell you the police had everything well in hand in this murder investigation. There is no reason for you to play Miss Fletcher while you’re staying with us. If you see anything unusual, please report it to our security team.”

  Raina blinked at the change that came over Willie. Maybe Raina’s use of the general manager’s full name alerted her that something was amiss. “Is it a conflict of interest for Detective Stafford to take this case? Does his supervisor know that he is investigating a murder at his girlfriend’s place of employment?”

  Willie’s jaw tightened. The vein at the base of her throat pulsed. “Lamar is interviewing people at the pool, and he wants to talk to you.” She spun on her heels and marched toward the elevator. Her heels stabbed at the carpet with each step.

  Raina shivered. Willie probably wouldn’t mind stabbing Raina with those shoes. Luckily, looks couldn’t kill.

  15

  Oooh-la-la!

  When Raina stepped into the suite, Matthew was in the bathroom. She dropped the take-out bag on the coffee table and knocked on the door. “I got you more food.”

  Matthew came out—freshly showered and shaved—with a towel around his waist. Yum.

  “Detective Stafford wants to chat with me. He’s at the pool interviewing other people,” Raina said.

  Matthew gave her a lazy smile and curled a finger in her direction. “Lamar can wait.”

  Raina’s stomach did a backflip, and she took a step toward him with a silly grin.

  Before Raina could step into Matthew’s embrace, Po Po burst into the room, waving a plastic bag. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of Matthew.

  “Oooh-la-la. I can’t believe I used to wipe your butt,” Po Po said, openly staring.

  Matthew flushed from head to toe. He jumped back into the bathroom and slammed the door.

  Raina burst out laughing. “You’re so bad. Why did you have to embarrass him?”

  Po Po winked. “It keeps him on his toes. And besides, men should kn
ow what it feels like to be an object. We have suffered from their leering for generations. And now it’s my turn to have a little revenge.”

  Raina shook a finger at her grandma. “Someday this will backfire on you. What’s your escape plan when a man takes you up on the offer?”

  Po Po shrugged. “Knee him in the ba—”

  The bathroom door clicked open, and Matthew came out fully dressed. He kept his eyes on the carpet and edged around Po Po to sit on the sofa in the living room space. He tore into the take-out food like a hungry bear at a campsite, keeping his gaze fixed on a spot on the table.

  Raina chuckled again. She didn’t know her fiancé would embarrass this easily. She turned to her grandma. “What’s in the bag?”

  “Matthew’s costume,” Po Po said, pulling out the outfit. She held it up in front of her. “What do you think? And here’s the wig.” The hairpiece was long curly blond with a bright red bandana attached to it.

  Raina’s jaw dropped. The wig was even worse than her curly black hair. “No one would look at his face. They’ll be too busy staring at the nest on top of his head. It ends halfway down his torso. Should we tie it back and braid it like Rapunzel’s hair?”

  Matthew sighed. “Even with the wig, my face is still recognizable.”

  Po Po shook the outfit. There was a denim jacket with a gazillion zippers and chains on it and denim cutoff shorts that were the male version of Daisy Dukes. “Not when you’re wearing this. They’ll be too busy staring at his hairy legs.”

  Raina bit her lower lip to keep the laughter from bursting out. “That’s probably true. And in the surveillance video, the man last seen with Claire had a full facial beard. So if we stick blonde whiskers on your lips, it might be okay.” Her fiancé would look like a street rat.

  “I’m not going to the pool and chatting with Lamar Stafford in that outfit,” Matthew said.

  “Oh, come on. I went through several racks to find this for you,” Po Po said. “Joanne Littleleaf wanted me to bring you to her booth. She wants a picture of you for her costume book.”