Page 19 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“Ah yes, Alex counts as a friend, I’ll give you that. But he can’t really spend time at your tea shop anymore, can he? Not since he was arrested for murdering his own son.”

“I visit him once a month,” Vera mutters. She didn’t think it possible, since her life has so much love and laughter in it nowadays, but now that Winifred mentioned it, Vera realizes that sheindeed does not have any friends her own age. She has plenty of family, of people she considers her children or nephews or nieces or grandchildren, but peers? Goodness, what a sobering thought.

“It’s quite all right, Vera. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Winifred says smugly. “You may be my friend.”

Vera glowers at her, then sniffs. “I don’t need your help. But since you are obviously so bored, I’ll tell you a little bit about the young man I’m looking into.” As she takes her phone out of her pocket, it strikes Vera that, dare she say it, she’s having a little bit of fun. To her surprise, a large part of her wants to share bits and pieces about Xander’s case with Winifred and discuss possibilities and gasp in horror at the twists and turns that will no doubt crop up. It’s what Julia and Sana would call “girl talk.” So she opens up the Instagram and shows Winifred Xander’s profile. “This poor boy drowned at the Mile Rock Beach. They found him a few days ago.”

“Oh dear, such a young man.” Winifred takes out a pair of glasses and squints at the phone screen. “Very handsome. You know, he resembles my Robert when we were young. Oh, quite the lady-killer, he was.”

Vera rolls her eyes. She knew Robert, and he looked nothing like Xander Lin, but that’s Winifred for you. She just can’t help herself.

“He looks like he had a roaring life,” Winifred says. “All these fancy parties. Oh, look, a private jet! Did you know, back in Taiwan, this boy was so crazy about me, but I turned him down. Later he became a millionaire, and he has his own private jet.”

Vera sighs. “Yes, I’m sure that happened.”

“Oh my, is that his yacht?” Winifred brings the phone closerto her face, until it is mere inches away from her eyes. “What did he do, this Xander? Was he in tech? I bet he was in tech.”

“That’s the thing. No one seems to know what he did for a living. In fact, no one seems to know much about him. Not even his girlfriend.”

“How is that possible? You should see my daughter when she started dating. All day she was glued to her phone, texting every minute of every day. If she dated anyone new, she’d look them up online until she knew everything about them.”

Vera frowns. “Yes, that was exactly what I thought.” Actually, what she had really thought wasHuh.And then she just didn’t think much of it. Aiya. How could she have been so careless? She makes a mental note to add that to Aimes’s list of suspicious behavior.

“What about his family?”

Vera shakes her head. “Haven’t managed to find them yet.”

“A boy as wealthy as him,” Winifred muses, “doesn’t die in silence. There must be many friends and family wondering where he’s gone. They would’ve called the police by now to report him missing.”

“Well, that’s the other thing. The police can’t seem to identify him.”

Winifred stares at her. “What do you mean? It says right here, he is Xander Lin.”

“Yes…except he’s not. His friend calls him Thomas. The police call him John Doe.”

“Why John Doe?” Winifred says. “What a strange name.”

Vera gives a knowing smile. “It’s a name they give to people whose identities they don’t know.”

“So, Xander Lin is a fake name. I knew it. It sounds very fake. My, my,” Winifred says as she taps on more of Xander’s posts. “An unknown person with a fake name. What was he hiding? Probably evading taxes, would be my guess.” Then she gasps.

“What?” Vera says.

Winifred doesn’t answer, merely brings the phone even closer to her face, her nose practically touching the screen.

“What is it?” Vera says again, louder this time.

“Look at this post! That is Qiang Wen from the dim sum place two blocks away,” Winifred says excitedly, shoving the phone in Vera’s face.

Vera grabs the phone and squints at it. Winifred has clicked on a post of Xander sitting at a table eating a zongji. In the background is an old Asian man carrying a bamboo steamer. The caption reads, “After a week of nonstop partying, there is nothing like the taste of home. Love you, Gramps. #family #grandfather #dimsum.” She zooms in on the old man’s face. The picture turns grainier as she zooms, but against all odds, Winifred is right, damn it. The old man does look familiar. But can it really be Qiang Wen?

“It’s him, I’m telling you,” Winifred insists. “So, this is his grandson? Oh my. Do you think he’s heard? I’m guessing not, since the police haven’t identified this young man. If they knew he’s Qiang Wen’s grandson, they wouldn’t name him John Doe. Right? Vera? Hey, Ver-aah, what are you thinking?”

Vera is shaking her head slowly. “Qiang Wen’s daughter couldn’t have been married long. I know because he used to do tai chi with Jinlong. They often talked to each other about their families, and Qiang Wen always told him how worried he was about his daughter. So, how can he have a grandson in his twenties?”

Winifred’s brow furrows, then suddenly clears as her eyes grow wide. “Oh my,” she says with a delighted, horrified gasp. “An illicit affair? A child out of wedlock?”

“Tch,” Vera says. “Nobody likes a gossip, Winifred.”

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