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Twenty-Six

VERA

“Stop having sexy time, I have confession to make!”

Tilly and Selena gape up at her. Between them there is a very elaborate-looking board game.

“Oh, you are not having sexy time, never mind.”

“My god, Ma, why would we have sexy—I mean, have sex out here in the dining room when you’re staying with us?” Tilly says.

Selena, who can’t stop being a cop for ten seconds, stands up and says, “You said you have a confession to make?”

Inside, Vera quails, but she makes herself meet Selena’s piercing eyes. Goodness me, no wonder Selena makes a fine detective. Her gaze looks like it can see right into your soul. She would make a fine Chinese mother.

“Yes,” she says. “I have been keeping secret from you about Xander Lin’s case.”

“Yeah, I know that, Vera. Come on, sit down and tell me what’s going on.”

And so Vera does. While Tilly looks on in open horror, Vera tells Selena everything, from finding Millie outside the police station to going to see Aimes, TJ, and Qiang Wen to the attack this evening and what the man said to her. At certain points, Vera can see Tilly wanting to jump in, probably to tell her to stop talking until she hires a lawyer, but he holds himself back.

“Wait, and he said he knows where Julia and Emma live?” Selena says.

Vera nods. “I tell Julia to stay at Oliver’s place.”

“From what you’ve told me about this guy, that’s not gonna be enough. Ideally I’d want a security detail parked outside their place…”

“We can ask them to come here,” Tilly says.

Selena pinches the bridge of her nose, then says, “Okay. Just for tonight.”

“A sleepover,” Vera says. “I will go make snacks.”

“Oh no you won’t. Stay here,” Selena says sternly. “I need more information from you.”

While Tilly calls Oliver and explains the situation to him, Selena draws out more information from Vera. When Vera shows her the strange text messages from Millie, Selena mutters, “This feels really bad.” She stands. “I’m going to the station to report this, and I’ll have a car assigned outside in case the perp shows up here. And Vera?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for telling me everything. Now, I’m going to need you to stay out of this, okay?”

“Okay,” Vera says meekly, though of course she means exactly zero percent of that. But she knows by now it’s useless to argue with Selena.

With a quick kiss (to Tilly, not Vera), Selena strides out of the house.

“Well,” Tilly says, “that sounded about as bad as it could sound.”

“Don’t you start,” Vera says, getting up and marching with renewed purpose into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

“Emma is coming here for sleepover. You think I let her go hungry?”

“It’s nine p.m., so I think she’s probably had dinner and will just go to sleep.”

“Aiya, you don’t know little children, they are always hungry. When you and Selena have children, I will cook nonstop for them.”

Tilly gives a resigned smile. “Yeah, I know, Ma.”

Vera has just finished making Chinese Rice Krispies (Rice Krispies Treats but with sesame seeds added to the mix) when Oliver, Julia, and Emma arrive. Emma is asleep in Julia’s arms.

“Vera,” Oliver says, “what happened to your head?”

“Oh, just a minor assault, no big deal.” She turns to greet Julia, but to her surprise, Julia looks kind of…annoyed.

“Hey,” Tilly says in a low voice to keep from waking Emma up. “You can put her in the guest bedroom.”

With a nod, Julia walks into the guest bedroom. Oliver and Tilly give each other a bro hug. Before Vera can say a word, the doorbell rings again. Tilly goes to answer it, and Vera says, “Wait! What if it’s bad man?”

“I don’t think he’d be ringing the bell,” Tilly says. Still, he looks through the peephole before opening the door.

Riki, Sana, and Adi file inside. “What’s happened?” Sana says, then gasps. “Oh, Vera! Your forehead!”

“Hey, Gran,” Adi says, giving Vera a hug. “What happened to your forehead?”

“Minor assault,” Vera says, quite enjoying saying those words now. “I had five stitches.”

“Assault?” Riki says.

Julia comes back to the living room, sans Emma, and glares at Vera. “I think you owe us an explanation.”

Vera gives her a sheepish smile, then says, “I make Chinese Rice Krispies.”

“Ooh, yes, please,” Sana says.

Julia shoots her a glare. “Do not try to bribe us with food, Vera. You need to tell us what the hell is going on.”

Vera deflates. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Come on,” Tilly says. “Let’s all take a seat. This is going to be a long story.”

And so, over tea and Chinese Rice Krispies, Vera recounts the story for a second time that night. This audience is a far better one than the first, though, so this time, she really gets into the story, making dramatic pauses where needed and lowering her voice when she wants everyone to lean forward. They ooh and aah and gasp in shocked horror at the right moments, and none of them goes, “My god, Vera, what were you thinking?”

By the time she is done, Vera is pleased at their horrified expressions. Good storytelling, she thinks, is a lot harder than it looks, but she has obviously accomplished it.

“So, you were actually assaulted?” Julia says. “That wasn’t just you embellishing as usual?”

Vera looks sharply at Julia. “Embellish? I don’t even know what that is meaning, so how can I do it if I don’t know what it is?”

Julia looks like she’s about to argue, but then thinks better of it.

“So, some guy actually went into your shop and threatened you?” Riki says.

“That’s supercool!” Adi says. Sana pulls his ear, and he says, “Ow! I’m just saying.”

“Yes,” Vera says. “It is exactly like in the movies. Like a James Bond villain, so big and strong. I thought surely he is going to kill me.”

“Oh, Vera,” Sana says, “you must’ve been terrified.”

Vera takes a casual sip of her tea and hopes that her hand doesn’t tremble. “Oh, you know, take a lot more than that to scare me.”

“I would’ve been shitting my pants,” Oliver says.

“Me too,” Riki says. “You’re really brave, Vera.”

Vera has the grace to blush a little at this display of admiration. She deserves it, obviously, but also she recalls with perfect clarity just how terrified and helpless she had felt during the attack. “Yes, I am very heroic, I know that. We move on. What we are going to do?”

They all stare at her. “What do you mean, Ma?” Tilly says.

“Well, we can’t just sit here when poor Millie might be in trouble!”

Oliver leans toward Tilly and asks in a soft voice, “She’s told Selena about all this, yeah?”

“Yes,” Tilly says flatly, “and Selena told you expressly, Ma, to let the police handle it.”

“She did,” Vera agrees.

“And?”

“And I disagree with her. And as her elder, she should defer to me.”

Tilly smacks his forehead. “As an officer of the law, she definitely does not need to defer to you on this, and she’s right, Ma. Look what happened to you today. You’re sitting there with a busted head, for god’s sakes.”

“Aiya, you make big fuss out of nothing. This is just scratch, the doctor say it’s nothing.”

“You got literal stitches,” Tilly says.

“Anyway, maybe Selena is officer of law, but she’s not here, and you are not officer of law. You are my son, so you need to listen to me.”

Everybody looks at Tilly with bated breath, wondering what he’s going to say. And also probably feeling grateful that they are not him.

Tilly looks around the table. “Can one of you please talk some sense into her?”

They all shake their heads vigorously. “Sorry, bro, you’re on your own here,” Oliver says.

“Plus, I kind of want to get involved?” Sana says.

“Babe, it doesn’t sound safe,” Riki says.

“No shit,” Julia says. “I had to leave my house because this guy knows where I live. It’s not safe.”

“Okay then, Sana, you can be my helper.”

“I’ll help too,” Oliver says. When Julia glares at him, he shrugs. “Might give me ideas for my next book.”

Riki sighs. “Fine, I’m in.” Adi’s eyes widen with glee, and Riki adds, “But not you, kid.”

“Aw, man.”

Julia groans. “Okay. The sooner we solve this case, the sooner the bad guy will be put behind bars, so I guess I’m in.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Tilly says. “I let you all into my house and this is what happens?”

“Should’ve seen it coming,” Sana says. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Don’t be such a lawyer, Tills, it’s boring.”

Tilly slumps in his chair. “Selena is going to be so pissed.”

“She got him the whip,” Vera whispers loudly to everyone.

“She means to say Selena’s got me whipped, not that Selena gifted me a whip,” Tilly says quickly, his face turning red.

“Whatever you say,” Sana says.

They begin discussing all of the information that Vera has shared with them. Oliver raises his hand.

“Yes?” Vera says.

“I spent quite a bit of time with Millie,” he says. “As friends. It was my bad, actually. I thought we were just hanging out as friends, but Millie had different ideas and we kind of had a falling out.”

“Oof,” Riki says. “That sounds tough.”

“Yeah. Ah, at one point, I saw her get on the bus from Vera’s.”

Vera claps with excitement. “Which bus? Someone get a Google Map, now!”

Riki takes out his phone and opens the Maps app. He keys in the bus number and they all lean forward to look at the route.

“She went in that direction,” Oliver says, pointing at an area of the map.

“Oakland?” Riki says.

There’s silence for a moment. “Do you know where Millie lives?” Julia says.

Vera shakes her head.

“She could’ve gone anywhere. She could’ve just jumped on the first bus she saw to get away and then made a change later on,” Sana says.

“Oliver, what else you know about Millie?” Vera says.

Oliver ponders the question. “We joked around quite a bit. She told me she likes to stargaze, and Thomas used to fold paper flowers for her to put in a vase on her windowsill. Oh, she calls her mom and dad ‘Mother’ and ‘Father.’?”

“That’s…kind of creepy,” Sana says.

“Yeah. I asked her about them once, and she clammed up. I got the sense that she was kind of scared.” Oliver grimaces. “In hindsight, I should’ve questioned it more. It’s becoming obvious to me now that she wasn’t okay at all.”

“No use looking at your behind,” Vera says. “Look forward. So, we think this Millie’s parents are hurting her maybe?”

“Well, hang on,” Sana says, “didn’t she tell you she came from China? Did her parents come with her?”

“You know what?” Oliver says. “She said something like, ‘My parents grow all sorts of crops on their farm.’ She said, ‘grow,’ present tense. So, maybe her parents are back in China?”

“Let’s say they are,” Julia says. “Where does that leave us?”

Vera sighs. “You kids are hopeless. Too much time is wasting. I better call for backup.”