by Anne R. Tan
Po Po turned down the volume. “Why are you screaming?”
“I said—”
“I heard you the first time,” Po Po said, grabbing her pimp cane in an attempt to rush into the bedroom.
Raina stuck out her arm, blocking her grandma. “Oh no, you don’t. Follow me.” She grabbed the tennis racket leaning against her bookshelf. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
They rushed into the bedroom, making enough noise to scare the bejesuses out of a three-year-old. The room was empty. And freezing. The curtains danced as if possessed, which shouldn’t have been the case from the small crack she’d left opened the night before. On the floor, broken glass glittered and winked on the beige carpet. A rock the size of her fist slept on her pillow like Goldilocks.
Raina stepped around the sharper fragments of glass and opened the curtains. The broken window was closed. She tilted her head, studying the view.
“What is it?” Po Po asked from the doorway.
Raina pointed at the window. “My bug screen is missing.”
“The rock must have knocked it off.”
Raina stepped up to the sill, careful of the glass, and peered out. The bug screen lay below her window, perfectly intact. She shuddered at the sight as if a spider were crawling down the back of her neck.
“Honey?” Po Po called out.
She looked at her grandma. Her voice was a pitch higher than usual when she answered. “The intruder removed the bug screen and came in through the unlocked window. He snooped around, and when he left, he closed the window and threw a rock through it.”
“In frustration? Maybe he didn’t find what he was looking for. It’s not like you have money under your mattress.”
Raina shook her head. “I think this is a warning.”
15
PIGS COULD FLY
Raina went back to the living room and grabbed her cordless phone. By the time Officer Hopper showed up at her front door, she’d gone through her belongings. Nothing was missing.
“Not a single thing? Are you sure?” Officer Hopper asked, her pen poised over her clipboard.
Raina nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“What about enemies? Or a friend who likes practical jokes?”
“No.”
“Are you doing something that you shouldn’t be doing? Like poking your nose in police business?”
Raina stiffened. While she didn’t expect warm and fuzzy feelings from a previous romantic rival, she did expect professionalism. It was none of the officer’s business whether or not Raina was investigating anything. “No.”
Officer Hopper tapped on the bottom of the form. “Sign here. You can get a copy of the police report in two business days.”
“Wait! Aren’t you going to dust for fingerprints? Or see if you can get a hair or something for a DNA test?”
Officer Hopper placed a hand on her jutting hip. “You expect me to get a CSI team out here because someone threw a rock at your window?”
“What about the broken glass?”
Officer Hopper glanced at it. “Make sure you’re wearing shoes when you’re vacuuming.”
“Aren’t you going to take some photos?”
“It’s pretty clear the rock came from outside the apartment. The glass placement on the floor doesn’t require photo documentation. I’ll talk to your neighbors. Maybe someone heard or saw something.”
Raina bit back a snarky comment and signed the form. After Officer Hopper left, Raina called her landlady who said she would send someone over the next morning. When she hung up, she collapsed onto her sofa.
“Is someone coming to fix your window?” Po Po asked.
“The landlady said she’d try to get someone, but I’m not expecting any miracles.”
Po Po pulled out her cell phone. “Let me see if I can find someone.”
Raina left her grandma tapping on her smarty-pants phone. She brought out the plates and emptied the take-out cartons. Her grandma always insisted upon eating off of real plates as if it made takeout seem homemade.
She should clean up her bedroom, but there was time for that later. Right now she needed to bustle around the kitchen until her insides stopped jiggling like the doll she’d wrapped up for her niece.
The shrimp pad thai noodles blurred, and a drop of tear splattered across the plate. Someone had gone through her underwear drawer. The thought made her vulnerable somehow in a way that personal danger never did. Her cozy little apartment had always been her safe haven. Impenetrable to whatever was happening on the outside. But someone had purposefully made sure she knew her apartment was no longer safe.
“I can’t get anyone either,” Po Po said, stepping into the kitchen. “Hey, you okay?”
Raina wiped the tears off her cheek. “I want to smash the nose of whoever did this. You don’t mess with someone’s home. That’s sacred.”
Po Po wrapped her skinny arms around Raina’s shoulders. “And we’ll put a stink bomb in their home in retaliation. I have an ultimate stink bomb formulation that I haven’t tried yet. We can test it on the intruder’s home.”
Raina squeezed her grandma’s arm and gave her a wobbly smile. “You ready for dinner?”
For the next few minutes they ate in silence. It had been a long day, and Raina was happy to turn her brain off for a moment.
Knock, knock!
She glanced at her grandma. “I thought you couldn’t get anyone.”
“Maybe the landlady had better luck than me,” Po Po said.
Raina squinted through the peephole. Matthew. What did he want? She opened the door to tell him to go home, but stopped at the sight of a paper-wrapped window leaning against his leg.
Matthew handed her a tool bag and bent down to pick up the window, and she stepped aside to let him in. He headed straight into her bedroom with neither one of them exchanging a word. She closed the door and followed behind him.
Po Po’s head turned and followed his progress. She swung her head back around at the sound of Raina’s footsteps. “Did you call him?” she whispered.
Raina shook her head. “I thought maybe you did,” she whispered back.
“Not me.”
Po Po shrugged and returned to her dinner. She pulled out her cell phone, and her fingers flew across the screen.
Raina stepped inside the bedroom and handed him the tool bag. “Do you need any help?”
Matthew removed the wrapping around the window. “No, I’m fine.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate you being my knight in shining armor, but how did you know?”
“I recognized the address over the police radio. I called Donna for the details.”
“And you got the dimensions of the window from her as well?”
“I got that from Joanna Hopper.”
Raina blinked rapidly at the pressure behind her eyelids. She wanted to fly into his arms and sob on his shoulders. “Do you want me to make something to eat?”
Matthew shook his head as he removed the casing. “Do you have time to talk?”
Raina sighed audibly. He wanted to talk now? Geez, talk about perfect timing. “What is it this time? It’s not me, but you that’s the problem. I’m too good or not good enough. Which is it?”
“I’m sorry about the kiss. It’s what we used to do before.” He grimaced. “I guess I’m having a hard time letting go, too.”
Raina snorted, unladylike and ugly to hide her bubbling anger. “We should start seeing other people. Apparently, what we’re doing is not enough.”
“Do you have someone in mind?” Matthew asked, almost lazily as if he didn’t really care about her answer.
Raina thought about the warm voice of the stranger who called a few days ago asking for a date. All it would take was a phone call to her uncle to track him down. She shook her head. She was responding with her emotions again.
“Well, maybe you’ll meet someone soon,” Matthew said generously. “Do you want me to stay here with you tonight? I can sleep o
n the sofa.”
“No, thanks. Not that I’m unappreciative”—she gestured at the window and tools—“but you need to let it go. No more boyfriend to the rescue. I could have handled this perfectly on my own.”
“Oh, really?” he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “You tore the ligament on your finger the last time you picked up a hammer.”
“You’re doing it again,” Raina said through gritted teeth. “You’re trying to reel me in.”
“I’m just being a good friend and trying to help you out.”
Raina pressed her lips into a tight line. She didn’t want to say something she would regret later. But the glimmer was starting to wear off. Matthew was as manipulative as his mother, and he didn’t even know it.
* * *
Matthew installed the new window and left. Raina was upset and didn’t bother hiding it. He probably assumed it was for the broken window. There wasn't much left to say between them that hadn't been said before.
Po Po helped clean up the bedroom and tried to convince Raina to move into her condo for a while. With Fanny in the guest room, Raina would have to either sleep in the sofa or share her grandma’s bed. She wasn't desperate enough for either option yet.
After everyone left, Raina made a cup of chamomile tea and streamed Big Bang Theory with half an eye on the ticking koi clock above her TV. Everything was back to normal, but she felt restless. Her skin was too tight, and she wanted to scratch something.
She glanced at the clock again. Half past eight. Too early for bed, but too late for going out. Other than the movie theater, Gold Springs shut down by nine. She crossed the room and took down the clock. The gilded kois swimming around the dial was really too fancy for her apartment. She shoved it into the junk drawer in the kitchen.
Raina trudged into the bedroom to check her window. It was locked…just like ten minutes ago. Why would the intruder want to warn her? Because the person felt threatened by something she had in her possession. She turned to survey the room. There was the threatening note, but what sane person would withhold it from the police? The only other thing she took from Sui Yuk Liang’s room was photos.
Her eyes widened. The emails! She hadn’t forgotten about them, but given her grandma’s lack of interest, Raina didn’t feel any urgency to look them over. Tonight was as good as any to get the translations done.
The work was laborious, requiring alternating searches between the laptop and the Chinese-English dictionary. Unlike most languages, written Chinese didn’t have a phonetic alphabet. Learning the characters relied heavily on brute memorization. A literate person would have memorized four thousand words in China. The last time she checked, Raina was illiterate, having only memorized sixteen hundred words.
Two hours and all she got was kissy kiss stuff befitting a high school romance. Raina flexed her hands to keep them from cramping. She yawned and lazily scanned the first of the last four emails, not bothering to look up the unfamiliar words.
Baby kicking blah stomach. Sui Yuk probably meant the baby was kicking hard in her stomach.
Can’t wait blah baby. Blah blah for the best. The husband probably can’t wait to hold or see the baby. What was for the best? Tai Tai left for blah blah. I can come for blah blah.
Raina jerked awake, knocking the dictionary off the dining room table. Whoa! Tai Tai was the formal title for a first wife. Sui Yuk’s “husband” was married to someone else. This made Sui Yuk…a concubine.
She was surprised, but at the same time wasn’t. While polygamy was no longer legal in China, it didn’t mean it wasn’t practiced, especially among the wealthy. It wasn’t uncommon for foreign businessmen to have a second wife and child in China.
Raina could almost hear her ancestors’ laughter. It was serendipity her grandma got bored with the email translations. Po Po would flip if she knew Sui Yuk was a concubine. While her grandma was outwardly fine, Ah Gong’s second family in China was like a pus-filled sore waiting to erupt.
She groaned. Once again, she was caught between two hard places. If she kept quiet, Po Po would be upset when she found out. But if this information had nothing to do with investigation, why set herself up for an argument with her grandma? This could blow over by itself.
And pigs could fly.
Why didn’t someone just buy a raincoat?
16
OVER MY DEAD BODY
When the alarm clock rang the next morning, Raina was more than ready to get up. It had been a sleepless night of tossing and checking the bedroom window. The broken window was meant to scare her, and it worked, it also made her angry. It was time to put the squeeze on Cecelia to find out what she knew about BL.
Raina parked at the curb in front of the Venus Café again. As much as she loved the food at the Venus Cafe, her taste buds were starting to protest at the frequency of eating at her favorite restaurant. But it didn’t seem right to poke around asking nosy questions without at least being a patron. Ignoring the posted sign, she pulled the front door.
It was locked.
The lights were out. Raina framed her hands around her face, but didn’t see any movement inside. She stepped back, glancing at the sign. It wasn’t the Christmas schedule posted yesterday.
Closed until further notice
This couldn’t be good news. She needed to get in touch with the Sullivans ASAP.
The morning went as expected with Lucille making snide remarks about Raina’s laziness and sloppiness. When Lucille announced a smoking break, Raina wanted to shove two packs of cigarettes at her coworker to shut her up.
Raina trotted toward the office, keeping an eye out for Eric Wagner. Outside the lobby doors, the fine hairs on the back of her neck stiffened. She studied the shrubs and trees in front of her. She’d hidden there herself a few days before. A cold wind rustled the leaves. Raina shivered, but she couldn’t see anyone.
She knocked on the doorframe of Cecelia’s office. “Good morning. How are you doing?”
The office had been cleaned, leaving no hint of an exploding pink slime package. Cecelia leafed through a pile of invoices in front of her computer. Her graying brown hair was pulled into a tight ballerina bun, so that her manly features and wrinkles were exposed in their full glory to the morning sun. While she’d extruded vigorous health when she was in motion, she seemed shrunken somehow with her reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose and furrows in her brows.
“Good. Can I help you with something?” Cecelia removed her glasses, twirling them by the temples in a casual manner.
“Do you still think it is Eric who sent the package? With the joss paper, I would think it is from a Chinese person. Pissed anyone off recently?” Raina smiled to take the bite off her question. “How about the person who killed Sui Yuk Liang?”
Cecelia licked her lips, and said carefully, “My, you have an active imagination. Sui Yuk Liang died in an unfortunate accident.” She glanced at the clock. “Isn’t this awfully early to be on break?”
“Probably, but Lucille is calling the shots. If you have problems with the break schedule, you should talk to her about it. Do you think Muyang Yao sent you the package?”
“Did you run across her name on one of the guest lists? Lucille should do a better job at ensuring our guests’ privacy.” Cecelia reached for her phone. “I’m sorry, but I have to make this urgent phone call.”
“You ever find out what happened to Sui Yuk Liang’s baby?”
Cecelia set the phone down and studied her through narrowed eyes for a long moment. “Curiosity is only endearing in a young child. It has a habit of getting an adult in trouble. Watch yourself.”
Raina shifted her weight to her other foot, humming birds bouncing around her stomach. “Are you threatening me?”
“Ooh, I’m the big bad wolf. Now get back to work.”
“Were you able to find somebody to sub for me tomorrow?”
“Lucille’s cousin is willing to work Christmas. I’m surprised you don’t want the extra pay.”
Raina pushed the maid’s cart back to the utility room for more toilet paper. She wasn’t sure what to make of Cecelia’s comments. She was almost sure the resort owner had something to do with the kidnapping of Muyang’s baby. But she had no proof and neither did whoever sent her the curse.
Lucille wasn’t in the utility room. At the rate she had been taking these smoking breaks, the woman’s lungs had to be blacker than Santa’s—
Thunk!
Raina jerked her head at the noise coming from the linen closet on the far end of the room. Was someone inside? What if it was Eric waiting to waylay her? Or what if it was Lucille? The door swung opened, and the murmur of happy voices drifted over.
Raina ducked behind the maid’s cart. She crouched low and peered around the cart.
Two people slipped out. Lucille leaned in to kiss the sandy haired man, whose hands clutched her butt and pulled her closer.
Raina snickered to herself. Smoking break, huh? Was he one of the maintenance guys? The two moaned and giggled with the familiarity of old lovers. The two really should get a room. She was about to announce her presence, when the man lifted his face. She gasped. Eric Wagner! Lucille’s lover was Cecelia’s ex?
Her coworker had denied any knowledge of Aaron Wheeler’s name. Did this mean she was in cahoots with Eric? Or was Aaron a pseudonym she didn’t even know about?
All these times when Lucille had been taking a smoking break, she’d been with Eric instead. And right under Cecelia’s nose too. Raina would love to be a fly on the wall when the resort owner found out about these two.
She had to get out of here before the two realized they weren’t alone. The distance from the maid’s cart to the entrance was one vast empty space. She was a trapped duck.
One more loud kiss, and Lucille pulled away. “We need to stop. Raina should be done with the last two suites by now.”
