Page 10

Ten

VERA

Vera can’t remember the last time she’s had so much fun. Then she feels guilty for thinking that, because she literally has weekly dinners with her newfound family and they are nothing but fun, but the thing is, there’s just nothing quite like the heartwarming joy of gathering a bunch of new people who are obviously slightly terrified and brazenly accusing them of murder. And also, to her credit, Vera has refrained from outrightly accusing anyone of murder this time around. See? Old dogs can learn new tricks.

Though of course she is secretly assessing everyone in her house and measuring them up against the Vera Wong Formula for Murderers.

Does the person reek of guilt?

Shifty eyes? Awkward silences? Constipated look?

Mysterious connection with the victim?

She should patent her formula. Although, to be fair, so far all of the people here tonight, except for Emma and Oliver, are potential killers according to her formula, so maybe Vera’s formula needs a little fine-tuning.

She tells Qiang Wen to help Emma with her chopsticks, then turns her attention to TJ and Aimes, who are busy talking about social media. Vera quite likes social media; it’s a wonderful way to learn about the new generation. When Tilly was a teen, he hated having Vera or Jinlong knowing anything about his life. He was so protective over everything that had to do with his life. But now, young people can’t seem to share enough about their lives with the world. It’s very handy for nosy parents.

“I will make some tea,” Vera says, gliding behind her counter. Once she’s in her element, Vera’s entire body goes through a metamorphosis; even the way she stands feels different. Making tea in front of an audience makes Vera feel like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis, unfurling her glorious wings to luxuriate in the attention. She moves with liquid grace, patiently taking out dried rosebuds from a jar with a pair of chef tweezers and measuring them out on an old-school weighing scale. The scales are made from brass and have a little weight on the end that Vera has to slide with care until she is satisfied. Next, she sprinkles some dried osmanthus onto the small pile of rosebuds, the flakes so delicate that they fly weightlessly. The entire process, Vera feels, is laced with magic. A small smile plays on her mouth as she pours the hot water. When it is done, she glances up and says, “Tea is served.”

That’s when she realizes that Aimes has been recording her with her phone. There is a moment of silence as Aimes stares at her through the phone screen, mouth agape. Vera flaps an impatient hand at her. “Eh, Aimes, what you doing?”

Aimes snaps to attention. “Oh my god,” she says, tapping at the phone. “Vera, that was…wow. I don’t know what made me decide to record you making tea, but oh my god. We’ve got some amazing footage there.”

“Aiya, what are you talking about?”

“No, seriously, that was so comforting to watch. Oh my god. I like to watch soothing videos before I go to sleep at night—I know, scrolling through my phone in bed is a terrible habit, I know, but to be fair, I’m not doomscrolling. I stick to these soothing village cooking videos.”

“Village cooking videos?” Vera says.

“Yeah, there are lots of them from around the world. My favorites are the ones from China and Poland. Hang on, let me show you.” Aimes goes through her phone and then shows Vera what she means.

Vera watches in wonderment. It’s a video of a middle-aged woman in China butchering pork and cooking all sorts of delicious pork dishes from scratch. She even makes the dumpling skin from scratch. “People watch this?” she says.

“Oh yeah. Look, this one’s got three million views.”

“Is that a lot of views?”

“Yeah! You get paid per million views,” Aimes says.

Vera is flabbergasted. “How much you get paid?”

“Well, it really depends on how you choose to monetize. You could have ads or sponsors and collabs with people in the biz, not to mention merch.”

“Aimes, you speak English, okay? Don’t use these silly words, like ‘merch’ and all that,” Vera scolds.

“Oh, sorry. Okay, just to keep it simple, you should get paid around two thousand dollars per million views.”

“Two thousand dollar?” Vera cries. She glances again at the video, where the woman is now kneading a ball of dough. “Just to cook this? This is such simple dish, I make almost every week!”

“Well…yeah. Because most of us don’t do this, Vera,” Aimes says. “Most people don’t make—is she making noodles from scratch? Okay, yeah, most of us don’t do that. We buy premade noodles from the supermarket.”

“Aiya, you young people.” Vera frowns at the video. An idea is starting to take shape. An idea that would kill two pigs with one stone. It would establish her as a social media star and find justice for Thomas/Xander. She nods to herself. Yes, it’s the perfect plan. Straightening up, she clears her throat and makes her announcement. “I have decide that I will be new social media star.”

Aimes and TJ look suspiciously like they’re trying to hold back a smile.

“Now, how you post it?” Vera says.

“Whoa, hang on, you can’t just post raw footage. You gotta edit it first.”

Robin, looking over their shoulders, plucks the phone from Aimes’s hand.

“Hey!” Aimes says.

“You’re too slow,” Robin grumbles. She settles down on the couch. Emma climbs up next to her, and Robin gives her a hesitant sideways glance. “What’s up, kid?”

“What are you doing?” Emma says in her surprisingly somber voice.

“I’m about to show these folks how to edit a video in under five minutes. Otherwise we’re gonna be here forever. You in?”

Emma thinks for a bit, then nods. She watches as Robin swipes away with expert ease.

Aimes, watching over Robin’s shoulder, grunts. Once in a while, Aimes mutters, “Huh.”

Vera smiles inwardly. Look at these three girls. She wishes Sana were here. She’d fit right in.

Within a few minutes, as promised, Robin holds up the phone triumphantly and says, “Done.”

Vera snatches the phone from her hands and hits Play. The video is beautiful, a thousand times better than Vera expected, and she had very unrealistic expectations to begin with. She looks so gentle in it, so maternal, and she can see how it would be a soothing video to watch after a long, hard day. And the tea! The tea looks nothing short of magical. Those little rosebuds and the way they swirl when the hot water hits them. The only thing wrong with it is the music playing in the background.

“How you get rid of music?” Vera says.

Aimes frowns. “I wouldn’t get rid of the music, that’s part of the charm. Good choice of music, by the way,” she adds, nodding at Robin.

“No music,” Vera says with finality. “I have message to say in video. The music just get in the way.”

“Oh,” Aimes says. “You’re gonna narrate it? Okay.” She taps at the phone and the music disappears.

“Okay, now send me video to my phone,” Vera says, “so I can post.”

“Do you even have a social media account?” Aimes says.

“That isn’t Facebook?” Robin says.

The two of them look at each other and grin.

Vera ignores this little show of impertinence. “I have you know, I am on both the TikTok and the Instagram.”

“Wow, I would never have guessed,” Aimes mutters.

“What do you use them for?” TJ says.

“To spy on my son, obviously,” Vera says smartly.

Robin groans. “Dad, do not get any ideas.”

TJ gives an affronted look, like how could she possibly accuse him of doing such a thing? But Vera catches a short glimpse of guilt, and she has to bite back her laugh. Obviously TJ is already doing the same thing she is. Parents, no matter where they are from, are the same all over the world.

Aimes is in the middle of sending the video over to Vera when there is a knock at the front door.

Vera calls down, “Come up! We all up here.”

A few moments later, Officer Selena Gray shows up. The chatter in the room dies down. Selena stops at the last step and stares. “Sorry, Vera, I didn’t mean to inter—wait. I’ve met you all before.”

Vera looks around the room, noticing how intensely worried and/or guilty TJ, Aimes, and Qiang Wen look. In fact, Qiang Wen looks more than worried; he looks terrified. Aha , she thinks, making a mental note to jot that down later in her notebook.

Oliver climbs up the stairs behind Selena. “Oh, hey, Selena,” he says.

“Hey.” She smiles at him, then turns back to face Vera and the others, her eyes narrowing. “Vera, what is going on here?” Her voice comes out very, very tired.

“Oh, nothing, Selena. Just nice dinner party with friends.”

Selena gives a pointed look at Vera. “Why are your friends people I have spoken to about a specific case that happened two weeks ago?”

Vera returns the look with an innocent one. “Oh? What case is it?”

Selena’s jaw clenches and unclenches. Ignoring Vera, she turns to TJ and says, “Why are you here?”

TJ looks like he would very much like to be anywhere but here. He shoves his hands into his pockets and clears his throat. “I—well, Vera here invited me and my daughter for dinner.”

“Yeah, I got that. How do you know Vera?”

Vera flaps at them. “Never you mind that.”

“Never I mind that?” Selena echoes. “Vera, this is my job, and I really hope you’re not snooping again.”

“Me, snoopy? You know I am too busy to do anything like that. All day every day, I cooking for you and Tilly and Oliver and all the others, not to mention look after my tea shop. You think I have time to go snoopy everywhere? Hah!”

Selena doesn’t look fazed by Vera’s faux scolding. She raises an impassive eyebrow and says in a warning tone, “Vera…”

“Also, you should be thankful if I snoopy, because look what happen last time I snoop, eh?”

“What happened last time?” Robin pipes up.

Vera grins. “Ah! I solve murder case.”

Selena pinches the bridge of her nose. “Vera, you put yourself and others in danger the last time you did that.”

“Aiya, of course not, don’t be so drama. There is no danger, the killer is harmless old man.”

“How can a killer be harmless?” Aimes says.

“Exactly,” Selena says. “The killer was most definitely not harmless, and Vera, whatever you think you know about this case, I can assure you, you don’t.”

“Ah, so there is case?” Vera says cunningly.

Selena’s mouth shuts into a tight line. “There is no case. I do not know how you got in touch with all these people, and I don’t want to know. You all should go home.”

“Yes, officer, right away,” TJ says, already grabbing his and Robin’s coats. “Come on, Robin.”

“Yeah, I’d better get going too,” Aimes says.

Qiang Wen mumbles something under his breath and starts to shuffle out of the living room as well.

“Wait!” Vera calls after them. “You haven’t taken leftover food. Later will spoil. I cannot eat all by myself.” But with hasty murmurs of thanks, everyone leaves the room, and soon, the only ones remaining are Vera, Oliver, Emma, and Selena. Vera huffs at Selena. “You are lucky I like you so much and you are going to be my future daughter-in-law. That is very rude, ending my dinner party early. Look, I didn’t even have time to give them their goodie bags.”

“Ooh, goodie bags!” Emma says, reaching out for one.

Vera hands it to her and glowers at Selena. Then her face softens. “Aiya, I cannot stay angry with daughter-in-law. You come and take leftover food, give some to Tilly also.”

“Vera,” Selena sighs. “I’m serious, you can’t involve yourself in this. It’s dangerous.”

“But it says is suicide, so how can be dangerous?”

Selena pauses, then peers at Vera with suspicion. “How do you know it’s suspected suicide?”

Uh-oh. Vera chooses not to answer, her mind whizzing ahead to try to cover up her slipup.

“Vera,” Selena says in a warning tone. “What exactly do you know about this case? This John Doe? And how exactly did you find these people who are connected to the case?”

“Uncle Ollie, is Grandma in trouble?” Emma says.

Oliver tugs the collar of his shirt. “Uh, I think she might be?”

“Auntie Selena, why are you being mean to Grandma?”

Selena breaks her intense eye contact with Vera for a second and looks guiltily at the little girl. “I’m not being mean to Grandma, I’m just trying to make sure she doesn’t do anything silly, like place herself in the middle of a live case.”

“Ooh, so it is a live case? There is live investigation going on?” Vera says eagerly. “But why, if it is suicide?”

Selena groans out loud. “Vera, just—” She takes a deep breath. “Just don’t do anything that might put you at risk. Let me do my job, all right?”

The last thing Vera wants to do is get into a fight with her future daughter-in-law. She has resolved a long time ago that she wouldn’t be the stereotypical mother-in-law. Her own mother-in-law had been a tyrant of a woman, always picking fights with Vera over nonissues, and when Tilly was born, Vera had made herself a promise that whoever Tilly marries, that person is going to be so incredibly grateful to have Vera as a mother-in-law.

“Yes, yes, of course, you don’t worry about that,” Vera says. “Now, you wait there and I pack you up some food, okay? You don’t need to diet, Selena, you are very beautiful and healthy already, okay? You remember that now.” Vera pats Selena on the arm and bustles away to pack up the food for her.

Selena takes the bag of food with a very quick, very strained smile. “Thanks. But please remember what I said? Don’t go looking for trouble, Vera.”

“Such nonsense you talking,” Vera cries, waving her away. “I don’t need to look for trouble at my age.”

At her age, one does not have the time to look for trouble; rather, one goes on the hunt for it.