by Anne R. Tan
Raina stumbled as if the resort owner had just slapped her. She was right, but there was no sense of validation or triumph. The young mother had left her baby with a stranger out of sheer desperation. “How did she die?”
Cecelia got out of the car. Her wild eyes focused on Raina. “She got hit by a car. I can’t believe she’s gone. I didn’t even need to make plans after all.” She lurched toward her office.
Raina watched the resort owner walk away. What plans was Cecelia talking about? Did someone intentionally run Sui Yuk down? She hurried to her car as the shadows closed in around her. She was very much aware that the threatening note in her pocket could be the only link to a murderer.
6
TAKE MY KIDNEY
Water and mud squished under Raina’s shoes as she made her way into the senior condo complex attached to the Gold Springs Senior Center. She hugged the plastic bag of take-out food against her body as she leapt over a puddle and ran to the entrance of the building from her car. She didn’t bother waiting for the elevator and ran up the three flights of stairs. Knocking with rapid taps, she shook the plastic bag until water sluiced onto the carpeted floor in the hall.
Po Po opened the door. “Rainy, what a surprise.” Her eyes lit up when she saw the take-out bag. “And you got food.”
Raina stepped into the neat two-bedroom condo. “Didn’t you get my text message? I sent it before I left the resort.” She didn’t tell her grandma that she sent the message after Matthew rejected her dinner plans. It wasn’t like Po Po was filler, but she was second choice for the evening.
Po Po closed the door. “I didn’t get a text.”
Raina set the food on the dining room table. She pulled out her phone and opened her text app. Sure enough, the message to her grandma bounced back with a network error, but at least the photo of the threatening note went through to Matthew. She hit the re-send key and somewhere in the condo a cell phone dinged. “My phone hasn’t worked properly since the drop at Bullseye. I need to stop by the cell phone store tomorrow after work.”
Po Po went into the kitchen and came back with two place settings. Her grandma might not cook, but she didn’t eat out of takeout cartons like a savage. According to her grandma, there was always time for a proper sit-down dinner even if someone else made it.
Raina shoved food into her mouth as if she’d just gotten off a hunger strike. Fear always made her eat like she was storing it up for later.
Po Po put down her fork. “Okay, what is going on? You always get that squirrel look when something is really bothering you. Tell me what it is before you end up eating my meal too.”
Raina gulped water and sighed, content with the slight bulge in her stomach. She discretely unbuttoned her jeans under her shirt.
“That bad, huh? Is Matthew jerking you around again? I’m going to have a talk with Maggie about this. I’m—”
Raina was hoping her grandma wouldn’t notice the button. “It’s not Matthew. Please”—she held up her hands—“stay out of this. Matthew and I are adults. We don’t need our grandmas to help us figure anything out. Don’t embarrass me, okay?”
Po Po harrumphed. “Fine. I don’t see what’s so embarrassing about me talking to my best friend—”
“Thank you.”
“If it’s about the family dinner—”
“It’s about the poor abandoned baby. Well, it’s about his mother… or at least I think she was his mom.” Raina told her grandma everything that happened at the resort, starting with the supposed stillbirth, the threatening note, and the news of Sui Yuk’s death.
Her grandma’s eyes grew wider and wider. “This almost sounds like a soap opera. It almost feels like the cosmos is pushing you toward this baby.”
It was her feeling exactly. “What if Aaron Wheeler has something to do with Sui Yuk’s death? What if he was BL’s father, and this was a simple custody battle gone wrong?”
“But this wouldn’t explain the stillbirth. And don’t forget, BL doesn’t look like a mixed baby. Where is the threatening note?”
“It’s in my glove compartment. I didn’t want to haul it around in the rain. The less it gets handled, the better. I would have left it in the trashcan except I’m not sure it would still be there by the time the cops decide to investigate this.”
“Do you think BL’s parents sent the threatening note?”
“I don’t know what to believe. Lucille could be lying to me, but so could everyone who has any interest in the baby. Maybe the answers are in Sui Yuk’s emails. Where’s your laptop? You can probably translate the Chinese characters quicker and more accurately than I could.”
Po Po pointed to her bedroom. “The USB cord for my phone is in there too. On the dresser.”
Raina retrieved the laptop and cell phone cord while her grandma finished up her meal. It was a good thing both their cell phones had the same connector. Within minutes she downloaded all the photos onto her grandma’s laptop. “You know what I find strange? It’s Cecelia offhanded comment about making plans.”
“Maybe it has to do with Sui Yuk blabbing about her stillbirth. This could impact business. Who wants to give birth at a place cursed with miscarriages and stillbirths?”
“Cursed?”
Po Po gave her a sheepish smile. “So I’m a little melodramatic here. It’s been several month since I’ve had to dodge flying bullets.”
“What bullets?”
“Well, Olivia Kline waved a loaded gun around. So technically the bullets were flying.”
Her grandma was referring to their investigation on her college adviser’s death a few months ago. A drunk waving a gun around threatening to shoot raccoons wasn’t ‘dodging flying bullets.’
“I wonder if there’s any record of the stillbirth at the birth clinic,” Raina said.
“Can’t you just pop over and have a look-see tomorrow?”
Raina shook her head. “The clinic is on the north end of the property. It is advertised as a boutique birth clinic on the Internet. They have their own janitorial service that comes in after hours.”
Po Po rubbed her hands together. “This sounds like I might have to do some undercover work.”
“Oh no, you don’t. Just let me see what I can find out first. Last time you helped me you ended up with a sprained ankle.”
Her grandma flexed her foot. “No real harm done. Do you know how many dinner parties I was invited to just so the other seniors could live vicariously through me? Trust me, I’m not doing you any favors.”
“You don’t think we should leave this to the police?” Raina asked. “Matthew is good at his job.”
“Even if Matthew wants to investigate this, there will be political pressure for him to just wrap it up. It’d take a strong man to stand up and do the right thing in this case.”
Raina had feared as much when she found out Sui Yuk Liang was a foreign tourist. She doubted if anyone in either country wanted to look too closely at this. It was far less work for everyone if Sui Yuk’s death was a simple hit-and-run accident and BL was her son. Far easier. But it didn’t make it right. And there was BL’s safety to worry about. What if whoever killed Sui Yuk was now after the baby?
“Are you going to call Eden?” Po Po asked.
“She’s out of town. It's not my job to go sniff out stories for her.” Besides, her friend might spin this into an international PR nightmare if given half the chance.
* * *
They were in the middle of an episode of Big Bang Theory when Cassie called. Raina excused herself and stepped into her grandma’s spare bedroom.
“Rainy, is this a good time to talk?” Cassie asked.
When did her sister ask to talk? Cassie always started yakking before Raina even said hello. “It’s good as any. I was just watching TV with grandma.”
“Okay.”
There was a long pause, and Raina was on the brink of saying hello again when she heard her sister take a deep breath.
“Can you loan me twenty-thousan
d dollars?” Cassie asked.
Raina blinked in surprise. This was the first time her sister had ever asked her for a loan. “I don't have that much cash in my checking account. What you need the money for?”
“I can wait a couple of days. You probably need to move money around.”
It’d require more than a couple of days to cash out her meager retirement account. “If it's urgent, you may have better luck with our grandma.”
“I’m too embarrassed to ask Po Po. I want to pay off our credit cards. The twenty-one percent interest rate is killing us.”
“Is something wrong?” Raina gasped as a thought struck her. “Are you sick? Is it Lila?”
Cassie laughed nervously. “Everyone is fine. Nothing is wrong. We just have bills to pay.”
Her sister wasn’t normally so irresponsible with money. “Oh.”
“Don't you dare judge me,” Casey said with a sharp tone. “What is your problem? I'm sure you get more than twenty thousand dollars in interest from the money granddad left you. Not all of us woke up one day with a boatload of cash like you did.”
Raina's stomach twisted into pretzel knots. When did her sister start drinking from the same Kool-Aid cup as her cousins? More than anything else, Raina wished she could confide to her sister about their granddad's secret. “I’d give you the money from the inheritance if I could, but it’s slated for something else. It’s not my secret to tell even if I’m one of its keepers. But once I’m free to tell you, I know you’d understand.”
Cassie groaned. “Oh, Raina, you’re such a drama queen. It's not like I'm asking for one of your kidneys.”
Lila cried in the background, and her sister set the phone down. She soothed her daughter with a patient voice that was more like her normal self.
Cassie picked up the phone again. “I don't have time to talk anymore.” And she hung up without saying goodbye.
Raina bit her lower lip to stop it from trembling. Like the rest of her cousins, Cassie had only gotten one dollar from their grandfather. Her support was the keystone that kept Raina going this past year when the rest of the family turned against her.
Why did everyone eventually abandon her? First, Matthew and his “I love you, but I can’t be with you” and now Cassie and her “My love comes at a price.” Raina sighed. The topper would be a phone call from her mom asking for a new car. Why couldn’t someone just ask for something simple, like a kidney?
7
SMALL TOWN U.S.A.
After a sleepless night of wrestling with her covers and dreaming of a crying Lila held over a boiling cauldron by a laughing Aaron Wheeler, Raina was more than ready to get an early start on her day. She had two hours to kill before she had to leave to meet Matthew for breakfast.
As she waited for her hazelnut coffee to brew, she pulled out several bricks of cream cheese so it could soften on the countertop. One never knew when a cheesecake could come in handy. As pathetic as it was to admit, her cooking had gotten her further than her looks ever did. By the time she left her apartment, the raspberry chocolate cheesecake was nestled next to her shrimp wontons in the freezer. And things were looking better already with a belly full of chocolate chips.
The short drive to the Venus Café was pleasant, full of twinkling lights softened by a light drizzle and relaxing Christmas music from the radio. Raina had initially moved to Gold Springs to escape her large family in San Francisco, but the small college town worked its magic on her and she could no longer imagine living anywhere else. Even her grandma, a lifelong city dweller, couldn’t resist the temptation of friendly neighbors, small mom-and-pop shops, and a healthy local economy.
A few minutes later, she parked in front of the olive green bungalow with white trim on the corner of Main Street and Second Avenue. The café featured half a dozen small tables and a large fireplace surrounded by cracked leather reading chairs.
For a Monday morning, the place was dead. Was everyone out of town or sleeping in? Brenda, her friend and the owner, had eye bags the size of saucers, but her smile was warm and friendly as ever. She waved to Raina from behind the counter, but rolled her eyes at the far corner where Matthew sat next to a window framed with a multi-color strand of lights. He didn’t appear to even notice the floor-to-ceiling murals of handsome men frolicking next to naked nymphs with strategically placed flowing hair or bits of leaves.
Matthew had on his police department-issued navy-colored polo shirt. The bomber jacket she’d given him some years ago hung on the back of the chair. It had been three months since they had last spent time alone together, and she wasn’t sure if her heart was still safe when she was around him. They said old habits die hard, and Matthew was a habit from her high school years she should have outgrown by now.
He gave her a beaming smile, and she had to swallow the knot that formed in her throat. “I ordered for us already. Peppermint latte and wild rice chicken soup with a small crusty baguette. Your winter favorite.”
Raina glanced at the food on the table and gave him a tight smile. So what if he remembered her seasonal favorite food. As far as she was concerned, it was a little too little, and a little too late. They had spent the last ten years tumbling into bed each time their lives intersected, from Rome to Las Vegas. And each time someone cried, blood got spilled, and things blew up. Even their recent encounter in town involved a dead body. If she were an adrenaline junkie, Matthew would be her perfect fix.
“Did you get the photo I sent you last night?” Raina asked.
“What photo?” Matthew asked.
Raina pulled out the threatening note from her purse. It was in a little Ziploc bag just like the crime shows. “It’s a photo of this. I found it in the trashcan of Sui Yuk Liang’s room. I didn’t want it to get thrown out accidentally, so I took it.” She watched him read the note and the smile disappeared from his face. “I also know Sui Yuk Liang is dead. In light of this recent development, don’t you think there is now enough evidence to suspect foul play?”
He put the note in the pocket of his jacket. “Now how did you find out about the hit-and-run? Is it Donna—”
“Cecelia,” Raina cut in. She didn’t want Donna to get in trouble since the front desk clerk at the police station was always more than happy to trade gossip for food. “Are there tire marks to identify—”
“Rainy, do you think this is appropriate breakfast conversation? You talk about her death as if you were buying a new pair of shoes.”
Raina sipped her latte to hide her confusion. Had she become jaded with death? She felt a lingering sadness for Sui Yuk Liang, but she was more anxious for BL's safety.
“I’m really concerned about the baby, Matthew.” Raina told him about Sui Yuk’s supposed stillbirth. “So who does BL actually belong to?”
“Who is BL?”
“The baby—”
“You named him? You’re not supposed—”
“He is not a stray dog. Just because I named him doesn't mean I get to keep him.”
He raised an eyebrow. “With the gray skies and wet weather yesterday, the driver probably didn’t see her. The only lead we got is a partial print of a tire in the mud. The driver might have pulled over, but then got scared and took off.”
Her stomach tightened at image in her head. What if the person pulled over to make sure Sui Yuk was actually dead? She took a deep breath. Her imagination was galloping faster than a bullet train. “So there is no possibility of foul play?”
“There’s always the possibility, but I have a feeling there’s going to be pressure to ship the kid to China ASAP. This means, they want an open and shut case. A foreign tourist got killed in a traffic accident. Simple. Easy. The FBI contacts the Chinese embassy, who would then contact the Liang family.”
“But it’s not that simple. Have you forgotten about Aaron Wheeler? What about the threatening note?”
Matthew sighed as he ran his hands through his hair, causing the ends to spike up. “This could turn into a political nightmare for our town.
Trust me, you really don’t want to get involved in this. I am so thankful your friend Eden is out of town. Can you imagine what she could do with this story?”
Raina ignored his dig on her best friend. Eden was the Assistant Chief-in-Editor for Gold Springs Weekly, their small newspaper that ran once a week with the occasional special edition run. Matthew didn’t trust Eden and for good reason. Sometimes Eden could be offensive and less than tactful when dealing with the police, but then wasn’t that part of being a reporter?
“So you’re just going to stand by and let BL go to the wrong family?”
“This is not my call to make. And I don’t see what’s the big deal. He’ll still go to a family that is expecting a baby.”
Raina gritted her teeth to give herself a moment to calm down. Of course, he wouldn't think it was a big deal. Here was a man who didn't value the bonds of a family. Both his parents had abandoned him before he was even done with first grade.
“Being with the wrong family is a big deal. BL would grow up wondering why he doesn’t look like his parents or why he doesn’t quite fit in his family. He needs to be with his real mother, who is probably searching for him right now. And what if he’s not even a Chinese citizen?”
“Rainy, you’re over thinking this.”
“No, you’re under thinking this.”
“Once the FBI takes over the case, I’m not going to be able to protect you. And the feds don’t take kindly to nosy civilians meddling in their investigation.”
Raina flushed at his tone. Meddling? She didn’t meddle. “If it weren’t for me—”
“Trouble will keep knocking on your door if you keep rolling out the welcome mat.” His gold-flecked brown eyes studied her with concern.
Raina gave him a self-depreciating smile. “What can I say? I’m an adrenaline junkie.”
