Egg Drop Dead

by Vivien Chien

  “But the electrician said that Donna never showed,” I reminded her.

  “We still have to mind our P’s and Q’s,” she replied. “Best to check it out. We don’t know if she got there a lot earlier than her appointment to give the house a once-over herself. It’s possible she parked her car on the street and got nabbed after the fact. Plus, we have to be sure that this electrician is telling the truth. He could be a cover for someone else.”

  “You’re so much more thorough than I am,” I said with a bit of envy.

  She winked. “It comes with the territory. With each case you make a mistake or two. And each case you learn something new because of it.”

  I nodded in agreement. Megan and I had found the same to be true ourselves.

  “So here’s our plan,” she said, closing the file folder. “We head out to the Feng house, check on the car, and see if anything seems out of the ordinary. Check for potential signs of a struggle. Then we meet with Brenda Choi. I set up an appointment. I told her that we may have some more info on her husband’s file.”

  “Really? What did she say?”

  “She’s really anxious to meet with me, I can tell you that. I didn’t say too much else about it. She’s going to be surprised that you’re with me. I contemplated leaving you out of it totally, but A, you’ve earned this with the crap you’ve been through so far. And B, once I turn the tables on Mrs. Choi about why I’m really there, I’m going to need your help.”

  “Okay, and then what?”

  “Nothing. We see what we can see, first. Then we decide.” She stood up from her chair and stuffed her cell phone in her back pocket. “Let’s go, I’ll drive.”

  I followed her as she left the office. “Do you think that Brenda Choi could actually be involved in all of this? I can see her maybe killing Alice, but it doesn’t seem to fit with the thumb drive and everything else that happened afterward.”

  She was walking a few steps ahead of me, and without turning around she shrugged and said, “It all depends. On the slim chance that a hit man is involved—which I am severely doubting at this point—then the Brenda Choi thing is a strange coincidence. But given that Alice worked for both women and both of them happen to be clients of Price Investigations, I have to wonder what the heck the connection is.”

  “Do you think a third party is involved that connects everything together?” I asked.

  We entered a parking garage, and she led me through a maze of cars to a decent-condition Ford Mustang. It had a dent in the fender, but overall, it sparkled as if it had just been washed.

  “Nice car,” I said as we got in.

  She shut the driver’s-side door. “Thanks, it was my brother’s … Mr. Hotshot Lawyer guy was too good to drive a Mustang. Now he has a Bentley or some such nonsense.” She started the car and fastened her seat belt.

  “Hey, what a coincidence, my sister’s a hotshot lawyer, too … well, okay, not yet, but trying to be.”

  She smirked. “Get ready to have that shoved in your face every five minutes. Oh, and to answer your question from before: No idea is too far out of range to be considered. We have to look at every possibility. As the greatest private detective of all time said, When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

  CHAPTER

  30

  On the way to Donna’s house, I called Rosemary and told her to search for a parking garage slip and whether or not Donna’s car was missing. She agreed and said she would call me back when she found out either way.

  By the time we reached Donna’s house and failed to find her car parked in the street or in her own driveway, Rosemary called back to say that the car was not at the hotel, either. Lydia grunted at the information and we continued on to Brenda Choi’s house after doing a quick walk around the Feng estate. We found nothing of importance to help us along.

  The Chois’ maid let us in and led us back to the pool where Brenda was lounging once again. She was dressed in a floral cover-up over a two-piece bathing suit and appeared to have been flipping through a fashion magazine, which she had abandoned on the empty chaise next to her.

  When Brenda turned to face us, I noted the shock on her face at seeing me with Lydia.

  “Lana,” she said, removing her sunglasses and placing them on her head. “What are you doing here?”

  Lydia answered for me. “Mrs. Choi, I’m Lydia Shepard, we spoke on the phone. I asked Lana to accompany me.”

  “Please, call me Brenda, Mrs. Choi is so formal … and old sounding.” She gestured to the table. “Have a seat.”

  The three of us moved to the table. Lydia and I chose seats next to each other while Brenda sat across from us.

  “What is this about?” Brenda asked. “If Lana is here…” She looked at me again. “Well … is this really about my husband?”

  “You tell us,” Lydia replied. “Was your husband having an affair with Alice Kam?”

  Brenda blurted out a laugh. “Hardly!”

  Lydia’s eyebrows crunched together. “I’m not sure why that would seem laughable. Your husband doesn’t have the best track record according to our files.”

  “That may be, Detective, but she isn’t his type…” Brenda shifted her eyes toward the pool. “No, when he cheats, it’s always with blond women. Leggy blondes with … well.” She held her hands up to her chest. “Something to write home about, if you catch my drift. I assumed that you would have gathered that from your files. Mr. Price included several photos for my review.”

  “I see,” Lydia said. “So nothing was going on with your husband and Alice. Then what was going on? I understand that Lana here had asked you some questions a few days ago, but from what she told me, you’re keeping something out.”

  Brenda put a hand to her chest. “Now, why would you assume that? I have no reason to lie about anything.”

  It was then that it dawned on me that I had a sliver of information tucked in my mind that I’d completely forgotten about. On my last visit to the Bamboo Lounge, Penny Cho had told me she saw a woman in a blue dress slip upstairs at Donna’s party. Either she went to talk with Alice or she was putting the thumb drive in Donna’s bedroom. However, I didn’t believe it was likely that she could have been leaving the thumb drive, since Lydia and I had recently established that the possibility for a civilian to get the information was next to impossible. So my money was on the fact that she went to talk with Alice.

  “Why did you go upstairs after Donna yelled at Alice?” I blurted out.

  Lydia glanced at me. “You didn’t mention that…”

  I shrugged. “I just remembered now.” I turned back to Brenda. “Someone saw you go upstairs during the party.”

  “If you must know,” Brenda said, lifting her chin. “I had to use the restroom and I didn’t want to use the one downstairs.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because.” Brenda widened her eyes. “Why do you think?

  “Oh!” I said, and then blushed a little. “So you needed more privacy.”

  She huffed and turned her head away. Her face was beginning to redden. “Nothing is more embarrassing than having stomach issues at a friend’s party. I was trying to be discreet. The mixture of alcohol and seafood didn’t sit well with me. I knew that Donna had a bathroom upstairs so I sneaked up there. I didn’t think it would cause such alarm.”

  Lydia interjected. “Did you see anything strange while you were upstairs? Anybody up there that wasn’t supposed to be?”

  “No, I was in and out. I passed the party planner girl on the way down the stairs, but no one else.”

  “The party planner?” I asked. “Yvette Howard?”

  “Yvette?” Lydia turned to me. “Who’s Yvette?”

  “Yvette is Evie,” I explained.

  Lydia looked down at the table in confusion.

  Brenda started to fidget in her seat. Something was gnawing at her, I could tell.

  “Brenda,” I said,
using my calm customer service voice. “If you know anything, or there’s something you want to tell us, you can.”

  “It’s just…” Brenda covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t want to say anything because it will seem like I killed Alice, and I didn’t.” She uncovered her face and looked at us with pleading in her eyes. “I would never kill anyone, you have to believe me about that.”

  “Brenda, what happened?” Lydia asked, leaning forward in her seat. “You can tell us.”

  Brenda wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth, her eyes focusing on something beyond us. “Alice was blackmailing me for money. She knew about Randall’s affairs, she knew that my kids are heathens who steal whatever they can get their grubby little hands on.” She sneered at the thought. “She knew it all. I have no idea how she knew it all, but she did. And she told me she’d tell everyone if I didn’t pay her what she was asking for.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  Lydia sighed. “You’re right, that doesn’t look good for you. Blackmailing is a strong motive.”

  Brenda whipped her head around to face Lydia. “You think I don’t know that? I’m the one who said it. But I wouldn’t kill her. I paid what she asked for and I’d finally gotten her out of my house, it was over.”

  “So wait a minute,” I said, holding up a hand. “That’s why she wanted to get into Donna’s house, isn’t it? She was planning to blackmail her, too.”

  Brenda dropped her head in shame. “Yes. Alice told me that it was my final payment to her. All I had to do was get her into the Feng house and I would be free of her for the rest of my life. Donna was going to be her cash cow.”

  “You let a blackmailer into your good friend’s house?” Lydia asked. “Some friend.”

  “I didn’t know what else to do,” Brenda whined. “I couldn’t be humiliated by Randall’s affairs. Or my children’s actions. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am, and I won’t be the pariah of the group. Donna already had rumors circulating about her, and she was still able to maintain her social status. I figured she’s stronger and more prominent than me. She could handle it.”

  I shook my head in disgust. “Unbelievable.”

  Lydia tapped the arms of the chair. “Okay, so Alice was blackmailing you, her next target was Donna, and then what? If you say you didn’t kill her, then what happened?”

  Brenda inhaled deeply. “Donna must have done it. That’s all I’ve been thinking this whole time. And it’s all my fault.” She buried her face in her hands again. “I never should have allowed this to continue. I should have gone to the police as soon as I got Alice out of my house. But I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t know what she would do if I turned her in. So I was just biding my time to see how things played out. I never imagined that Alice would end up this way.”

  I glanced at Lydia, who jerked her head in the direction of the door. Nodding in agreement, I turned back to Brenda. “I’m glad you told us the truth,” I said. “We may be able to figure out what really happened now.”

  Lydia rose from her seat and pulled a business card out of her back pocket. “If you think of anything else that might be important, any stray fact about Alice, please call me.” She tossed the card on the table and turned to leave.

  I said goodbye to Brenda, and we made our way through the house and back to Lydia’s car.

  Once we were inside the car, Lydia leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, both her hands resting on the wheel. “So Alice isn’t an innocent bystander after all.”

  “But you know what doesn’t make sense to me?”

  Lydia shifted her head in my direction. “What?”

  “She never actually blackmailed Donna.”

  “How do you figure?” she asked.

  “Donna told me that she found the thumb drive on her nightstand, and there were no instructions with it. No note, no anything. So Donna had no idea who it even came from.”

  Lydia turned the car on. “That’s what she told you, but it doesn’t make it true. And now that she and her car are missing, it doesn’t look that great for her.”

  “When I found the thumb drive, it was in the bathroom,” I told her as we pulled away from the Choi house. “She was planning to flush it. If she thought she was being blackmailed, would she really take that chance? The person—maybe Alice—might have had another copy, or could’ve told Donna that if she tried to destroy anything, they would expose her.”

  “Even if that theory is true, it’s irrelevant. Alice isn’t exposing anyone. She died before that could happen. There’s still a chance that Donna could have killed her and then disposed of the thumb drive thinking all her problems were over … done and done. Unfortunately for her, she never got the chance to get rid of the evidence,” Lydia said. “And there’s no ‘the person’; Alice is the one who had the information on Brenda Choi. She’s the one who wanted access to Donna’s house. It’s her. She’s the blackmailer for sure.”

  I turned to look out the window. Lydia was right about that. The thumb drive and Alice definitely had to be connected. The only question we had to answer now was who had actually killed Alice. Did Alice confront Donna after her outburst, threatening to expose her, and Donna killed her to protect herself? Or was Donna truly the victim in all this? Then there was also the small matter of finding Donna.

  I thought back to my conversation with Donna on the patio. She’d truly seemed confused on where someone would get this information and was convinced that a hit man was sent for her. Was Alice that hit man after all? She was the one with the insider information. And we had found nothing of importance about her. Nothing. Everything that Megan and I had seen on her social media showed that she was a normal girl.

  But clearly she was not. Social media rarely tells the whole story about someone’s life.

  “What’s spinnin’ your wheels right now?” Lydia asked.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Something is just bothering me about this whole thing.”

  “Yeah, me too. I can’t quite put my finger on it, though.” Lydia took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s regroup. Let’s go back to my office and look through that notebook of yours from beginning to end. Now that we know Alice was the one doing the blackmailing, something might click that didn’t before.”

  CHAPTER

  31

  On the way to Price Investigations, we stopped to grab coffees from Starbucks so I wouldn’t be subject to the coffee that Meredith made at the office. When we returned, we sat in Lydia’s office, and she reviewed my notes.

  I felt a little self-conscious as she read because while writing it, I’d never had any intention of anyone other than Megan ever seeing it. It was embarrassing to now have a professional PI reading over the sloppy notes that I had taken, considering my rookie status. I thought back to when Adam had flipped through it and felt my cheeks warm.

  “These are pretty good observations,” Lydia said.

  I sighed relief. “I’m glad you don’t think I’m an idiot,” I confessed. “Half the time I have no clue what I’m doing.”

  “This Bryce Blackwell guy,” she said, pointing to his name on the page. “You’ve mentioned him before and you’re right, his story is definitely all over the place. I’m inclined to believe he’s hiding something, but I’m still having a hard time deciding if it’s beneficial to our case or not.”

  “That’s how I feel, too,” I replied. “After he told Kimmy and me that he was embarrassed about the failed engagement, it started to make sense … mostly. If he’s being honest about wanting the ring back, that explains him going to Donna for her things.”

  “But the ring wasn’t in her things?”

  “Nope. At least not according to him.”

  “And here’s this Evie person again … Yvette.” Lydia tapped the page. “Why is this name bothering me?”

  “I don’t know, but they’re both connected with Alice, and they were both at the party. And Bryce was at Donna’s house the day the fire
happened, although my boyfriend pointed out that might be too obvious.”

  Lydia put her head on her desk. “Ugh, it’s right here. I know it.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” I said. “Something is missing. Alice is the one with the information, that’s all we know for sure. We don’t know what happened after that, though. Bryce is suspicious, but if he killed Alice then the thumb drive placement is just a coincidence. Unless they were working together and something went wrong between the two of them. If not, and Donna did it, then…”

  Lydia lifted her head. “Then what?”

  “Then the whole thing fits together and Donna has truly lost her mind.” It just didn’t sound right to me. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Donna had killed someone and then gone on the run.

  “I think we should take another stab at this Bryce Blackwell guy,” Lydia said. “His background check came up clean, but who knows … criminals have to start somewhere.”

  It was getting late in the afternoon, and I wanted to go home and sit in an actual comfortable chair, take my shoes off, and just zone out. “Would you mind if I went home for a little while … I need to think.”

  “Sure, sure,” Lydia said. “I get it. I do some of my best thinking when I’m alone. Go for it. I’ll text you if I find anything.”

  * * *

  I got home right before Megan had to leave for work. We convened on the couch, and I went through the day relaying all that I had learned from going back to Brenda Choi’s house.

  “Okay, so it’s official. Alice is no saint,” Megan said when I was done telling the story.

  “Yeah, but now what?” I asked. “That just makes Donna look super guilty.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “How so? You’ve had suspicions about Donna telling the truth the entire time.”

  “I know, but like I’m always saying, we have to consider every option.” Megan tapped her chin. “So let’s look at it like this. Donna was maybe kidnapped.”