Page 13

Thirteen

VERA

“So…” Robin says as soon as they’re all back inside TJ’s car.

TJ sits there with both hands on the steering wheel, not starting the car or anything. He looks slightly dazed.

Vera rolls her eyes. Why are men always so dramatic? She turns over her shoulder and studies Robin. “You okay, Robin? Want a pork bun?”

“Sure,” she says cheerfully.

Vera gives her a grandmotherly smile as she hands Robin the last pork bun. “You eat more, you too skinny.”

Robin takes a huge bite, her cheeks rounding like a chipmunk. She grins at Vera and says, “So that was pretty freaking badass, Vera.”

Vera’s finger shoots up and points straight at Robin, who stops chewing and freezes. “Robin, you are thirteen. You cannot call me by first name, very disrespectful.”

“Oh,” Robin mumbles. “Sorry.”

“You call me Grandma,” Vera says sternly.

Robin looks up at her. “Really?”

“Yes, what else you gonna call me? Auntie? I am too old to be your auntie. Don’t be silly.”

Robin smiles. “Okay. Well. That was pretty freaking badass, Grandma.”

“Yes, my ass is quite bad.”

At that, TJ snaps out of his stupor. He regards Vera with eyes so wide she can see all the whites around the iris. “I can’t believe you just did that,” he croaks. “You threatened the school principal.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I call it threaten. Why you have to be so dramatic, TJ? You young people always drama this, drama that. I just walk in there and I have discussion with principal, and he come to agree with my viewpoint, that is all.”

“You literally threatened to use CIA tactics to destabilize him,” Robin pipes up.

“Robin, don’t talk with mouth full, very unladylike.”

Robin shrugs.

“Now,” Vera says, turning back to TJ, who shrinks away from her ever so slightly. “Take me to this address.”

“But—” he begins, and Vera stares hard at him until, like Principal Burns, TJ sees the futility in arguing with her and starts the car.

She leans back, satisfied. Is there anything quite as invigorating as threatening people? When Vera was young, she used to read women’s magazines, all of which swore up and down that there is nothing more invigorating than exercise and/or sexual activity. But they really missed out on storming into someone else’s space and brandishing a good, solid threat in their faces. Vera makes a mental note to write a letter to the editors of women’s magazines, telling them to suggest making threats as a good pastime for young women. Or maybe she should tell Oliver to write about it for the Chronicle . Oh yes, Oliver would appreciate that. He’s always looking for new topics to write about.

On the way to Julia’s, Vera receives a text message.

Tilly: Ma, what’s this I hear about you making a viral video about a dead guy?

Vera sniffs. Oh, Tilly. Always so dramatic.

Vera: New hobby. Doctor says you have to keep busy in old age.

Tilly: Selena’s worried.

Vera smiles a little at that. So! Her xifu is worried about her, eh? That’s a sign of a good xifu, that is.

Vera: She worry too much. I will cook some winter melon soup for her, will stop her from worrying too much. Okay, I am with friends, stop doing the texting, very rude.

She watches as three dots appear, disappear, appear, and disappear next to Tilly’s name. Then, finally, Tilly says, Okay, ma, just be careful please.

Vera is in a good mood when they arrive at Julia’s. She expected Julia to be taken aback by TJ and Robin’s presence, but when Julia opens the door, all she says is, “Vera, hi! And these must be your latest victims. Ollie told me all about it.” Then, to TJ and Robin, she says, “It’s best to just let Vera do what she wants. Hi, I’m Julia, Vera’s last project, and this is Emma, my daughter.”

Vera rolls her eyes. See what she means about young people being overly dramatic?

TJ shakes Julia’s hand and introduces himself and Robin.

“I would invite you guys in, but I have to run to a photo shoot,” Julia says. “I’m so sorry. Thank you for taking Emma.” She hugs Emma before ushering her out of the house. “Listen to Grandma Vera, okay, sweetie?”

“Okay,” Emma says.

“Dinner at six,” Vera says. “If you are late, don’t complain that barbecue pork all gone.”

“I know,” Julia says. She kisses Vera on the cheek. “Oh, Vera. Never change.” Then she gives Emma one last hug and waves goodbye before climbing into her car.

Emma looks up at TJ and Robin. “It’s you again,” she says.

TJ gives her a weak smile. Vera needs to work on TJ’s facial expressions. Half the time, he looks like he’s about to burst into tears, and the rest of the time, he looks like he’s constipated. “Hey, Emma.”

“Hmm,” Emma says, taking Vera’s hand. “Grandma, are we spending the day with them?”

“Well,” Vera announces. “We are going to look for bra for your big sister Robin.”

TJ’s mouth falls open. Robin’s face turns red. Emma looks impassively at Robin. “What is a bra?”

“The question to ask is: Why is a bra?” Vera says.

Emma nods thoughtfully.

“Uh,” Robin says, “do we have to? I don’t really…” She looks down at her feet, her face still bright red.

Vera’s heart twists. She has no idea what happened to Robin’s mother, and she hasn’t had a chance to corner TJ and bully him into telling her yet, but it’s clear to her that Robin is badly in need of a motherly figure in her life. “You don’t worry, Robin. Your baba will drop us off at fancy lingerie store and leave us privacy, so it’ll just be us girls.”

“Okay…” Robin mumbles.

“Uh, just how fancy are we talking here?” TJ says.

Vera shoots him a look. “What is price of daughter’s confidence?” Before TJ has a chance to answer, she points to the garage. “Get Emma’s car seat, is inside garage.”

And less than ten minutes later, they are off once again. They get to Macy’s, and Robin looks dubiously at it. “Macy’s?” she says.

“You a bit young for Agent Provocateur,” Vera says.

TJ makes a choking noise.

“Thank you, TJ, we see you back here in one hour.”

As Vera walks into the air-conditioned building holding Emma’s little hand and dragging Robin by the arm in the other, she feels a sudden swell of pure joy. Hasn’t this been what she has dreamed about for years and years? To be able to go shopping with her grandkids. Oh, what happiness. Almost better than solving a murd—no. Nothing is better than the shot of serotonin that comes with solving a murder. Well, maybe this comes close.

She locates the girls’ section and quickly identifies the most vulnerable salesperson and squawks at the poor woman until she comes hurrying back, her face hidden under a giant pile of training bras. Vera discards two-thirds of them with one quick glance and sends Robin into the changing room with four potential bras. Then she waits patiently with Emma outside the changing room.

“Robin, I not getting any younger out here.”

“Oh my god, it’s been, like, two seconds, Ver—Gran.”

“Do you know how to put bra on?”

“Yes!” Silence. “No.”

“You need help?”

“Yeah.”

The door to the changing room unlocks, and Vera and Emma walk inside. Robin stands there, holding a bra to cover her chest.

“Okay, turn around,” Vera says with surprising gentleness. She squints as she hooks the bra on, then adjusts the straps before patting Robin’s shoulder and going, “There.” They look in the mirror. “Is okay?”

Robin nods quietly, her mouth pursing. Her cheeks turn red once more. “How did you know I didn’t…” Her voice trails away.

“How I know you don’t want to buy bra with your dad?”

Robin nods.

“Who want to buy bra with their father? Nobody! But now you have me for this kind of thing.”

Robin looks away abruptly, but not before Vera catches the glint of tears in her eyes. Vera pats her lightly on the arm. Robin sniffles and whispers, “Thanks. Grandma.”

And now it’s Vera’s turn to get all misty-eyed. Clearing her throat, she says, “Okay, this one cut into skin or not? You like the color?”

“I like the color,” Emma says. “Can I have one?” They both look down at Emma and burst out laughing. Emma frowns. “I want one too.”

“Let’s give it another ten years, kiddo,” Robin says, ruffling Emma’s hair.

Vera has to bite back a smile at the big sisterly gesture. She has seen this phrase so often online but never quite understood until now, but in this moment, Vera thinks, The kids are okay.

By the time they meet up with TJ again, Robin is in a good mood once more. TJ looks worried, but when he sees Robin’s cheerful expression, Vera can see the tension melt away from his neck and shoulders. He glances at Vera and nods at her, and there is so much gratitude behind the simple gesture. Vera and TJ watch as Robin, one hand clasped around Emma’s little one and the other carrying her bag of new bras proudly, skips down the street.

“Thank you,” TJ says, his voice thick.

“I keep receipt in the bag, you don’t forget to pay me back.”

TJ laughs. “Of course, Vera.” They walk for a bit in amicable silence. “She never met her mom, you know.”

“What happen to her?”

TJ shrugs. “She was a one-night stand I had after a party. Didn’t think I’d ever see her again. Nine months later, she came back to my place and boom, there was Robin.”

“She don’t want to keep baby?” Vera says.

“She had her reasons for not wanting to be a mother,” TJ says. “She gave me a diaper bag, said, ‘Do what you want with her. I can’t.’ And left. I don’t remember much of those early days, they’re kind of a haze in my head. I’ve never known panic quite like that before. But I do remember this: One night, Robin wouldn’t stop crying. She was only about two weeks old, but those little lungs on her, oh man. I tried feeding her, I tried burping her, tried everything. I was so tired. I had no idea what time it was or when was the last time I had a proper night’s sleep or when I last showered or had a hot meal. I still had her in my arms, and I just flopped to the floor on my back, and she was on my chest when I burst into tears. I wailed along with her.” TJ snorts. “My sobs must’ve shocked her, because she stopped crying, and she looked at me and our eyes met and it was the first time she really saw me. I saw an understanding there. Oh, I know you’ll say that’s not possible because she was a newborn baby etcetera, but I swear, it was like things clicked for her, and she was like, ‘Huh. Hey…Dad.’?”

Vera smiles. “Oh, very possible. Yes, babies are very more aware than people think.”

TJ nods. “I looked back at her, my nose still streaming from crying so hard, and I laughed. I said, ‘Hey, kid.’ And that was that. Up until that point, I’d been toying with the idea of putting her up for adoption or asking my parents to look after her, but after that moment, I knew she and I belonged together.”

“You are good person, TJ. Not many young men can do like that.”

TJ swipes an arm across his eyes. “Thanks. I try my best. I think we manage with most things, Robin and I. It’s just things like this…”

“Like buying bra,” Vera says.

TJ nods.

“I think if only problem so far is you don’t know how to buy bra for your daughter, I will say you doing just fine.”

TJ gives a watery laugh. “God, I sure as hell hope so.” He takes in a deep breath and sighs. “Vera, what are you hoping for with us?”

Vera senses the undertones in the seemingly innocuous question and chooses to blithely ignore them. “Hmm? Well, today just buying a bra, that is all.”

“No, I meant about this whole Xander Lin thing. Why are you so”—TJ searches for the right word—“committed to the details of his death?”

It takes a moment for Vera to mull over the question. “When I see you, I know you are young person in need.”

“Do I really appear that pathetic?”

“Yes.”

“Oof. I can’t say that didn’t hurt.”

“Call it mother instinct. I know immediately you need mother attention. And Robin, she desperately need grandmother attention.”

TJ looks down at his feet. “My parents are on the East Coast. We see them once a year, twice at the most.”

“Must be hard on you and them. But is okay, we do the best we can try. Now, I was saying, I see Millie, she come to me for advice on Xander death. And I see, oh, this is also young person needing my help.”

TJ frowns. “Millie thinks his death wasn’t suicide?”

Vera studies him from the corner of her eye. She likes TJ, and it would really be a shame if he turns out to be a killer. “Maybe?”

TJ grunts. “Vera, there’s something you need to know about me—”

“Grandma, I’m hungry!” Emma calls back.

“Me too,” Robin says.

Vera groans and shoots a hard look at TJ. “What is it? You tell me now.”

TJ’s mouth opens and closes. “I—uh, I’m hungry too?”

Vera grits her teeth, then she wags a finger in TJ’s face. “TJ, you know I will get truth out of you even though you try to hide it. You are very bad liar.”

TJ gives her a sheepish grin and scurries away, throwing an arm around Robin’s shoulders as he goes.

Vera follows them with a thoughtful frown on her face, her mind tick-ticking along, patiently picking at all the odd angles of the case. If there is indeed even a case to be found. Still, when it comes to maybe-cases, there’s no one more well suited to cracking them than Vera Wong.

Much later, Vera is back at her house, and Emma and TJ are finishing up their afternoon snack while Vera has wrangled Robin into helping her record her next viral video. Winifred had popped in bearing a tray of pastries, and the others were so delighted at getting free pastries that Vera hadn’t had a chance to drive Winifred and her nosy self off.

“Come help me make the viral video, Robin,” Vera had said, to which Robin had replied, “Bold of you to assume it’ll go viral.” To which Vera had replied, “Robin, why you insist on failing before you even try?” To which Robin had had no reply, and so here they are, with Robin shooting Vera from all angles as she prepares drunken chicken for tonight’s dinner.

Behind them, Winifred hovers, clearly jealous of all the attention Vera is getting.

Robin’s style is very different from Aimes’s. Aimes had focused on Vera as a whole as she made the tea, but Robin chooses to focus on Vera’s hands as she rubs the chicken with aromatics.

“You not getting my face,” Vera complains after a while.

“Yeah, because what you’re doing is really interesting.”

“I think she is trying to avoid getting the wrinkles on your face,” Winifred pipes up snidely.

Vera ignores her. “Nothing more interesting than my face. You stand farther back so you can catch my whole body. I work very hard to keep in shape, not to hide from camera.”

Robin rolls her eyes but listens to Vera’s request and takes two steps back. Vera watches her with a sharp eye, and when she’s satisfied with the angle Robin is shooting at, she takes a deep breath and smiles, transforming from stern grandmother into a loving, jolly one. She pretends not to see Winifred rolling her eyes. Vera preps the drunken chicken and accompanying herbs and vegetables, places them into a large clay pot, and puts it on the stove, all the while wearing that comforting smile on her face.

When the chicken is finally simmering away, Vera looks up and says, “There. Like that, okay?”

“Yeah, that was pretty good,” Robin says. “But the beauty in making content is the editing.”

“Editing?”

“Watch and learn,” Robin says. And Vera does. She watches and learns as Robin slices the video she recorded into short clips and plays around with them, zooming in one second and out the next, cutting the repetitive bits out and editing the colors. She adds some soothing background music, and before Vera knows it, she’s watching an incredibly professional and utterly entertaining short video of herself making drunken chicken. “And now all we need is a clip of the chicken when it’s done and you eating it.”

Vera looks affronted at that. “Me eating it? Why you want to see me eating the chicken? Is this like some pervert video?”

“Or maybe like those kind of Korean videos where they watch people stuff themselves silly?” Winifred says. “Is called mukbang.”

“No, god, you guys,” Robin cries. “It’s the thing you do with cooking videos. People need to see you eat it. Because, see, every story starts off with a promise.”

“A premise,” Vera corrects her magnanimously.

“No, a promise. Like, this video promises to create a delicious chicken dish. And then showing the final product and eating it is like fulfilling that promise: The chicken looks delicious and it tastes delicious. Get it?”

Vera glances over to the dining room, where TJ is half listening to their conversation. She wonders if TJ caught what Robin said. She wonders if he knows what a bright kid Robin is. She quirks an eyebrow at Robin. “Okay. Sound like the bullshit, but I go with what you say.”

“Meanwhile, did you want to record narration for it?” Robin says.

“Oh yes!” Vera grabs the phone and clears her throat before hitting Record. “Hello, today I am making Drunken Chicken. You can find recipe in…Where can find recipe?”

“In the caption,” Robin says.

“Okay. You can find recipe in caption. Now, we go back to talking about this Xander Lin. Very curious case. He is huge star on the Instagram and the TikTok, party with so many of you. I see many picture of him at big party with big people. If you are one of these big people in Xander photo, please slip and slide into my DM and tell me everything about Xander. This is very important, because I am concerned. I am concern about…a lot of things, really. And when I see Xander photo, something inside me connect with him. I think it is loneliness. I know all about loneliness, you see. My husband, he die many years ago, and I was all alone for very long time. No meaning in life, until last year, by good luck, man die in my teahouse. Police tell me is nothing, just accident only, but I know. Oho, I know. And I solve his murder, and when I do that, I gain new family. Now I do the same with Xander. I see people who are connected to him, they seem like they need help, so I help them. Please, help me do the same. Help me understand why such young man, so promising and so handsome, can die like this.”

By the time Vera is done, the house is quiet. Robin, TJ, Winifred, and Emma are all staring at her. Vera starts feeling slightly self-conscious. “Is it not good?”

TJ clears his throat. “It’s really good.”

Winifred nods. “I think you will help this case a lot.”

“Yeah, that was—and it pains me to use this word—but that felt really authentic,” Robin says.

“What is authentic?” Emma says.

“It means ‘real.’ So much on social media is curated content,” Robin says. “People are always looking for something real, something authentic. Something they can connect with on a basic human level.”

“And that’s Grandma Vera?”

“Yep.” Robin looks at Vera, and Vera could swear there is wonderment in the teenager’s eyes. “That’s her all right.”

And this time, it is Vera’s turn to blush.