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

by Anne R. Tan

  “Oh.”

  John gave Raina a sideways glance. “Maybe she was trying to get you to spend more money.”

  Raina’s jaw dropped. Had Joanne played her for a fool? “You’re kidding me. She has done this before?”

  John lost the amusement on his face. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean for it to come out like this. Joanne doesn’t do this intentionally. She came from a poor family, so she’s always worried about becoming a bag lady. It’s just how she’s wired.”

  As Raina folded the costumes into the box in front of her, she thought about their conversation. If what John said was true, then Joanne Littleleaf would have no motive for killing Claire Boucher in a fit of anger. And yes, their livelihood might be threatened, but according to her husband, they still had their house, their toy hauler, and their merchandise. Plenty to keep them going for a while.

  “John, my grandma found a hotel maid shirt in the wig box yesterday. You might want to take that out before you pack it up,” Raina said.

  John went over to the wig box, rifled through the contents, and pulled out a black T-shirt. He frowned. “I wonder how this got in here?”

  Raina watched his expression carefully, and he looked genuinely puzzled. He held the shirt up by pinching it with his thumb and index finger.

  “It doesn’t belong to you guys?” Raina asked.

  John shook his head. “Why would we want a hotel T-shirt?” He glanced at the tag. “It’s a medium. Joanne and I haven’t fit into a medium since 1980.” He set it on the floor next to a half-full trash bag.

  “How do you think it got there?” Raina asked. She hoped she sounded curious instead of probing.

  John gestured at the blue tarp surrounding their booth. “This isn’t a secured storage unit. They lock the main entrance when the exhibit hall is closed, but anyone with the key can probably get in here.” His expression changed, going from puzzlement to disgust.

  “Are you okay? What is it?” Raina asked, leaning forward. Did he remember something?

  “I’m grossed out by a thought. What if a maid came in here with a boyfriend for some hanky panky? I would have to disinfect everything when we get home.”

  Raina burst out laughing. This was the kind of comment her grandma would make. “There isn’t any horizontal surface in here. Maybe they were on the floor.”

  John shuddered. “Now I didn’t need that image in my head, young lady.”

  “Do you mind if I keep the maid T-shirt?” Raina asked.

  “Sure, go right ahead.”

  Raina put the T-shirt in a plastic bag and stuffed it into her purse. She had a feeling the shirt might belong to the killer maid. It was better to be cautious than to lose this piece of evidence. Detective Stafford might want to see it.

  When she left the booth half an hour later, she was convinced the Littleleafs probably had nothing to do with the murder. After all, the net loss from the convention couldn’t be more than a few thousand dollars. And yes, people have killed for less, but those murderers were often desperate for the money. In this case, and with John’s steadiness, she knew the Littleleafs would weather through the loss. It might be a challenging year, but it wouldn’t be a year that would crush them.

  She pulled out her notebook and crossed Joanne from her list of suspects. She jotted down the notes from her conversation with John and stared for a long moment at the remaining name on the list. Gloria Tanaka.

  Her instinct had been right all along—this case circled back to Matthew’s side gig. And with her fiancé still at the police station and probably spending the night in a holding cell, this left Raina to prove his innocence. She felt vindicated for her involvement in the investigation.

  18

  A Victory

  Raina strolled to the café to pick up a sandwich and an iced coffee for lunch. The lack of sleep from the night before finally caught up with her and a wave of exhaustion hit her. While she waited for her order, she texted the Posse Club, letting them know her plan to eat in her room and take a short nap. Until someone called on the whereabouts of Gloria, Raina didn’t have anything better to do. She had already spoken with the other suspects and ruled them out.

  She texted Matthew, but he didn’t reply. This was no surprise. Police business cranked at a snail’s pace, where the same questions were posed in multiple ways to drag out the details from both witnesses and suspects alike.

  Once in the suite, Raina ate like a starving bear who just woke up from hibernation. It was close to two in the afternoon. The lettuce was wilted and the tomato runny on the tuna sandwich. She tossed out the tomato and wiped off the excessive tomato juice and mayonnaise. She took a slow sip of coffee and hummed in contentment. Now this was heavenly. Creamy and sweet without an acid aftertaste. Yum.

  Raina set the alarm clock for thirty minutes and grabbed the plastic bag with the maid T-shirt from her purse. Having something from a murderer next to the bed was probably bad luck. She hid the plastic bag inside the closet, behind the suitcases. She returned to the bed, slipped off her shoes and jeans, and crawled in. She was out before her head hit the pillow.

  When the hair on her arms stiffened, she became conscious. The gooseflesh sensation was so at odds with the warm cocoon of the comforter that she woke in confusion for half a heartbeat. A thread of tension ran through her, but she couldn’t figure out why. The room was dim from the drawn curtains. Why would she feel the need to flee in bed? Was this the remnant of a bad dream?

  Something rustled.

  Raina’s eyes flew open. Who was in the room? She squinted at the dim light and scanned the room. She could just make out the outline of someone sitting on the sofa. And this person wasn’t her grandma.

  She jerked upright in the bed, automatically reaching for the purse she had left on the side table. Her hands patted around the surface and came up with nothing. She froze. Where was her purse with her pepper spray and stun gun?

  The stranger clicked on the lamp next to the sofa.

  Raina averted her face at the sudden brightness. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she gasped. The suspect she had been trying to track down all morning was in her room—Gloria Tanaka.

  “How did you get in here?” Raina asked. Her voice was raspy like she needed a drink of water. She cleared her throat. “Are you planning to kill me?”

  “I’m a rocket scientist. A hotel lock isn’t much of a challenge for me,” Gloria said.

  Raina noticed Gloria didn’t reply to her other question. “How did you find my room?”

  “I followed you up from the café. It wasn’t hard to find you. Not many Asians have hair like yours.”

  Raina smoothed her hair self-consciously. It probably looked a fright after being mashed up by the pillow. As soon as the thought flittered through her mind, she dismissed it. She shouldn’t think about her hair at a moment like this.

  “You didn’t answer my second question,” Raina said, praying to her ancestors that she wasn’t pushing her luck. Without a weapon of any kind, all she had left was her bravado. Maybe she could talk herself out of this mess. “Are you planning to kill me?”

  “Why would I want to kill you?” Gloria asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

  This was the first time Raina got a good look at Gloria. She was probably somewhere in her late thirties to her early forties. Her hair was still a jet black, and her face unlined. Her brown almond-shaped eyes watched Raina like she was a specimen in a lab tube. It made Raina’s skin crawl.

  The two of them were evenly matched physically, though Raina was about ten years younger. She hoped youth and exercise would give her an edge against someone who sat in an office chair all day.

  “Because most people don’t come inside someone’s hotel room without knocking or watch the person sleep,” Raina said.

  Gloria appeared to consider the comment. “I’m not good with interpreting people’s body language, but you seem tense.”

  Raina blinked. Was Gloria serious or poking fun at her? “Can you a
t least turn around so I can put my jeans back on?” She didn’t want to face off with a murder suspect in her panties. And nothing put her more at a disadvantage than feeling a breeze on her backside.

  Gloria didn’t move. She probably felt like she had the upper hand. “What do you know about the NASA security breach?”

  Raina considered lying, but she had already told Gloria she had information about the breach previously. So no bimbolina card here. But she couldn’t very well tell Gloria everything.

  Though Matthew had evidence that Claire brokered the sale, Raina had no proof of Gloria’s role. The two women could have been in cahoots previously but had a falling out in this recent breach.

  “I overheard you accusing Claire Boucher of stealing research from your computer. And now Claire is dead,” Raina said.

  Gloria studied Raina for a long moment. “What are you implying?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me. Where were you at the time of Claire’s death?”

  “I was upstairs in my room, getting ready for the morning.”

  “So you have no alibi?”

  “I have no reason for killing Claire.”

  “Once the breach is discovered, isn’t your security clearance in jeopardy? This is a pretty strong motive.”

  Gloria clenched her jaw. Her lips pressed into a thin line as if to stop herself from giving too much away.

  Raina thought about the morning she’d tried to get Po Po a spot at the convention. When she handed her contact information to Claire, there was a cell phone on the table. By the time Brian placed both hands on the table to face off with Claire, the cell phone was gone.

  “And you stole Claire’s cell phone. You probably hacked her passcode and got into her messages and emails,” Raina said. “Even if you wiped for prints and discarded the phone, the forensic team would still be able to use the cell towers to pinpoint where it traveled.” Actually, she didn’t think the technology was sophisticated enough for this, but it sounded plausible.

  “Stealing someone’s cell phone is a petty crime. It’s not the same as murder,” Gloria said.

  “You’re right. Stealing a phone does not necessarily mean you killed Claire. However, from the emails or messages, you probably found out about her appointment in the laundry room. Not only do you have a motive and no alibi, but now you have an opportunity to kill her. Sounds like an open and shut case.” It wasn’t, but Raina was counting on Gloria’s lack of experience with the court system to get her to start talking.

  Gloria was quiet for a long moment as if considering the full implication of what Raina just said. “What’s your role in this? Why do you care?”

  “My fiancé was hired by NASA to deal with the security breaches. If you’re innocent, he can help you.”

  Gloria rose from the sofa. Indecision flickered across her face. The last of her bravado disappeared, and her lower lip trembled like she was trying to hold back tears. She looked as if she finally figured out that she was in over her head and didn’t know how to get out of the situation.

  Raina threw off the bed covers, ignoring her half-dressed stage. If Gloria decided to flee, Raina was running after her. She had waited too long to get answers from this woman to let her slip away. It wasn’t as if Hendricks and his staff hadn’t had a full view of her tighty whities before.

  They held each other’s gaze for a long moment. They were so focused on each other, Raina barely heard the door click open. Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She shifted her gaze to find Little Richie walking into her suite.

  Raina’s jaw dropped. The man was an impersonator with greasepaint on his face and a wig on his head. The backs of his hands were blotchy like the impersonator was too impatient with the makeup work. He was tall and well-muscled, reminding Raina of her fiancé. What was the point of a lock when anyone could waltz in and out of her room like there was a revolving door?

  Gloria’s head swiveled to the door and froze.

  Little Richie came in, closing the door behind him. Though he wasn’t holding a weapon, the air thickened with a sense of danger.

  Raina’s gaze scanned the room, looking for a weapon. She didn’t know who this person was or why he was in her room, but a surge of adrenaline ran down her spine. What if Claire Boucher didn’t work alone, and he was one of her cohorts? Or the Russian spy who normally bought the stolen information?

  Little Richie glanced at Raina and held her gaze. The familiar gold-flecked brown eyes knocked the wind out of her. Matthew? Had her fiancé been the Little Richie impersonator all along? She had run into this person multiple times over the last several days. And wasn’t he at the police station at the moment?

  Gloria dashed for the door, but Matthew stepped in front of her. She backed up until her knees hit the coffee table.

  “I’m Matthew Louie, and I work for the Inspector General’s Office,” Matthew said, whipping out a badge from his back pocket. “I’m here to escort you to the FBI building for questioning.”

  “What does the FBI want with me?” Gloria asked, her voice trembling.

  “It’s NASA who wants to talk with you. The FBI building is the nearest secure federal facility,” Matthew said.

  Gloria lunged for Raina with the lipstick stun gun, and Matthew hurled himself toward the bed. But Gloria pivoted on her heels and grabbed the door. She flung it open to find Hendricks and several other men waiting for her in the hall. The fight went out of Gloria when she realized there weren’t enough prayers in the world to get through this many men.

  Matthew got up and went to the door. “Give me two minutes.” He shut the door and joined Raina on the bed. He swept her up in a bear hug. “Are you okay?” he mumbled into her hair.

  Raina tried to nod but couldn’t move her head. “Yes, but you’re cutting off my oxygen supply.” She was still trying to process what happened.

  Matthew released her. “I don’t have time to explain, but I knew she would come for you eventually.”

  “Who? Gloria?”

  He nodded. “I was by the exit next to the stage in the main hall when you mentioned the NASA breach to her. I couldn’t believe you would put yourself in the line of fire like that, but once I got over the anger, I decided to stick close by and wait.”

  “If you knew Gloria would seek me out, then why did you have Detective Stafford”—Raina made air quotes with her fingers—“arrest you by the pool?”

  “So Gloria would know I’m miles away from the hotel-casino. She wouldn’t have shown up otherwise. I think she was on to me from the moment I made the arrangements to buy the information from Claire.”

  “So they were in it together? I really thought Gloria was the victim.”

  “I did at first too, but when you told me Gloria confronted Claire publicly, I knew it was a ruse. She would have been in the clear if she had stayed home in California. Instead, she came here supposedly to confront Claire and then promptly meet up with a known Russian spy.”

  Raina frowned. “Who was the spy?”

  “When you spoke to her, he was there in the alcove. Luckily, he was spooked by your presence and decided it wasn’t worth hanging around to recover the USB stick.”

  “I thought I was interrupting a lovers’ tryst. Gloria must be upset I’ve blown the deal. And so she came after me.”

  Matthew nodded. “You’re one lucky woman, Rainy.”

  “Do you think Gloria would have harmed me?”

  Matthew hesitated. “I don’t know. Gloria is an opportunist. Selling a secret or two would have given her enough money to retire to a beach in Mexico. But with everything falling apart, and no job to return to…” He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as any.”

  Raina shivered.

  Matthew gave her a reassuring wink. “I’m sure you would have been able to take care of yourself.” He gestured at his bruised nose and blackened eye. “Look at how you took care of me.”

  Raina smiled and kissed him gently.

  “I have to go with her,
but I promise to come back as soon as I can.” Matthew kissed Raina again and left.

  After the chaos moments before, the room was eerily silent. Raina glanced around uneasily and slipped on her jeans. She studied the untampered lock on the door. Maybe she should ask the front desk for a different room.

  She had seen the Little Richie impersonator several times in the last few days. At the time, she hadn’t thought much about it, but now she realized it had been the perfect disguise for her fiancé. Everyone had been too busy trying to get a selfie with him rather than to question his movements.

  Raina gathered the contents of her wallet and returned them to their slots, noting that Gloria had stolen all her cash and a credit card. She dialed her credit card company and put it on the speaker mode.

  While the computer prompts verified her identity and information, Raina returned to packing her purse. She tossed away the old receipts and an ancient cough drop. The computer voice announced that they appreciate her business but the wait time was ten minutes. She sighed. At least she didn’t have to worry about Gloria maxing out her credit card during the wait.

  A representative came on the line at the same time Maggie’s call flashed on the screen. Raina dismissed Maggie’s call. She didn’t want to go through the whole song and dance again with the credit card company and start over on the queue.

  While in the middle of her conversation with an Indian man who said his name was David, her cell phone chirped to indicate she got a voicemail. She frowned. If Maggie left a message, maybe her call was important after all. She finished up her conversation with the credit card company and dialed her voicemail.

  Maggie’s panicked voice came on.

  “Rainy, your grandma is missing. Call me back.”

  19

  M.I.A.

  Raina called her grandma, but it went straight to voicemail. She tried Maggie next and got the same result. Frank picked up on the first ring.

  “What happened?” Raina asked.