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When the tea is done, Vera settles on her chair with a satisfied sigh and takes out her notebook. She picks up her 0.5-millimeter ballpoint pen with a flourish and smooths out the notebook and begins writing in painstakingly uniform letters.
VERA WONG’S MURDER CASE
Suspect 1: Riki Herwanto
—Too handsome to be real reporter
—Claims to be Gen Z but looks more like millennial. Murder ages you, maybe he look older because the guilt make him stress?
Suspect 2: Sana Singh
—Has a pot catch but claims it’s not a rash
—Nails are bitten very badly, WHY? Is it to get rid of evidence of her scratch Marshall??
Suspect 3: White Lady with Child
—Runs very fast while carrying child, must be very strong, strong enough to kill Marshall
—And why run away from my shop? Very suspicious!
Clues: flash drive → what is inside?
Vera picks up her things and totters upstairs, where she settles at her kitchen table before ringing Tilly. Uncharacteristically, he actually answers the phone.
“Ma, I’m working,” he grumbles.
In the background, Vera can hear noises of people talking in very clipped, businessy tones of voices. She nods to herself with satisfaction. She’s raised Tilly well, just listen to him, among all these businessy people. She will respect his time and cut right to the chase. “Tilly, I have very important business. If you come across dead body, and the dead body is holding flash drive, how do you unlock the flash drive?”
“What? I— What? Ma, what is this—is this because I didn’t come home for dinner last Sunday?”
“And Sunday before that, and Sunday before that, but no, it is not. Although I cook your favorite braised sea cucumber, take methree hours, but never mind. Now tell me, how do you unlock flash drive?”
“Wh—” Tilly stops, gives an exasperated sigh. “A flash drive from a dead body? I don’t even— Why do you need to know that?”
“Oh, I just find a dead body in the teahouse yesterday, isn’t that curious?”
There’s a long silence. “Like, a real dead body?”
“Yes, it is a man, his name is Marshall Chen. Quite silly name, if you ask me, not regal like Tilbert, don’t you think? Why can anyone name their son Marshall, like he is policeman?”
“Ma—” Tilly takes a deep breath. “Did you call the cops?”
“Yes, of course! I do it straightaway, after I draw outline around dead body. The cops all think I am very helpful.” Okay, that part is an exaggeration, but Tilly doesn’t need to know every detail.
“Did you—but—why are you asking me how to unlock the dead guy’s flash drive?”
“Oh, no reason, just curious.” Did that come out sounding very casual and innocent?
“Ma,” Tilly’s voice has turned low and serious. “Tell me you didn’t take a flash drive from a dead body.”
Vera stays quiet.
“And tell me,” Tilly says, more urgency coloring his voice now, “you haven’t plugged the drive into your computer.”
Vera glances at her laptop screen, which is asking for a password to unlock the flash drive.
“Because,” Tilly continues in the ominous tone of voice, “there could be a ton of bad stuff on the flash drive, like viruses and spyware and—”