Page 2 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“Yes!” When Vera thinks of this fact, she feels a joy so fierce it bubbles up inside and bursts into a huge grin. “And once that happens, you know it won’t be any time at all before they get engaged.”

“Hmm,” Winifred grunts. “Maybe. But you know young people these days, they think nothing of moving in or breaking up. So I wouldn’t count your chickens just yet, Vera.”

And with that, Winifred saunters back to her accursed bakery, muttering about her expensive pants. Vera hopes they are forever stained. She looks down at the bucket of clay and takes a deep breath. She’s being silly, she knows it. There is no need for her to be nervous. Tilly and Selena will settle nicely into their new place, and before she knows it, there will be a proposal, then a wedding, and then…twin grandbabies. Nay, triplets! When Vera closes hereyes, she can just see it—Vera sitting on an overstuffed sofa with one arm around Emma and the other arm around three fat babies. She is manifesting like the TikTok told her to. She can practically smell their milky baby smell.

Tonight is going to go perfectly. She can tell, it will be the beginning of an amazing chapter in her life.

•••

Tilly and Selena’s new place is a sweet little duplex in the Mission District, just a short ten-minute drive from Vera’s house. Oliver arrives at two with Julia and Emma in tow to pick Vera up. They come out of the car to help Vera with the ungodly amount of food she’s prepared, even little Emma. She carries a thermos of cold winter melon drink that is nearly as tall as she is and totters down the driveway, and the sight of her makes Vera’s heart ache with affection.

“Vera, don’t you think that you’ve made too much food?” Oliver says, grunting as he heaves a cooler stuffed to the gills with food into the trunk.

Julia elbows him viciously. “No, she didn’t.” She turns to Vera and says firmly, “No, you didn’t, Vera.”

“There’s enough food here for twenty people,” Oliver says.

“And I will happily take any leftovers home,” Julia says. “Stop telling her to cook less, Ollie. You know Emma and I basically live off Vera’s Sunday leftovers.”

Oliver rolls his eyes. “Well, yes, so do I. I’m just saying, you should take it easy, Vera.”

“Tch,” Vera tuts. “I’ll take it easy when you young people learn to take care of yourselves. But you are like children, I have to make sure you get fed.” Ever since Vera solved the mystery of Marshall’sdeath last year, she’s remained close to the people who’d been involved in the case. Oliver, Marshall’s twin brother; Julia, Marshall’s ex-wife; and Emma, Marshall’s daughter. Now, she steps inside the car and helps strap Emma into her car seat.

“You haven’t kissed me yet,” Emma says in her usual solemn voice.

“You supposed to kiss me, I’m your elder.”

Emma considers this for a second, then nods and plants a kiss on Vera’s papery cheek. Vera smiles and returns the kiss. They hold hands the entire way to Tilly and Selena’s.

When they arrive at Tilly’s, there are lots of hugs to be given and received, and everyone oohs and aahs over the amount of food that is being carried inside.

“Hi, Vera,” Selena says.

It had taken Vera a while to stop thinking of her as Officer Gray and to start thinking of her as Selena, and now Vera has started thinking of Selena as her future daughter-in-law, and what she really wants is for Selena to stop calling her Vera and start calling her Ma. But Tilly has made Vera swear on Jinlong’s soul not to ask Selena to call her Ma, so here she is, being referred to as Vera by her future daughter-in-law as though Vera were a stranger.

“Hi, Xifu,” Vera says, enveloping Selena in a tight hug. “Xifu” means “daughter-in-law,” and when Vera started calling Selena that a month ago, Selena asked what it meant, to which Tilly had screamed, “It means ‘dear’ in Chinese!”

They all pile into the house, and Vera nods with satisfaction when she sees how much unpacking Tilly and Selena have done in the past few days. There are only a couple of boxes left in the living room, markedPOLICE FILES. Everything else seems to have been unpacked and sorted out, and though they only moved inless than a week ago, the place looks like a home, with houseplants adorning it here and there. Tilly and Selena make a good couple. Vera watches Tilly get onto his knees to speak to Emma at eye level, and her heart swells at the sight.

“Hey, Emms, there was a sale at the corner bookstore, so guess what I got?” Tilly says.

Emma regards him with reservation.

“Ta-da!” Tilly pulls out two picture books, and Emma smiles shyly. “Do you wanna read them with me?”

Emma nods. The two of them settle on the couch and Tilly starts reading out loud. Vera sneaks a glance at Selena, hoping her future xifu had witnessed this heartwarming sight, but Selena is too busy chatting with Julia and Oliver. Aiya! If only Selena would look over at Tilly, she’d know what a good father he would make. Vera coughs.

Julia looks over. “You okay, Vera?”

Now they’re all looking over at her with concern.

“Yes, don’t make such fuss,” Vera says, her cheeks reddening. She shifts her attention to the food, lifting the mud-packed chicken from its container and going to the backyard with it. The grill has already been prepped beforehand, so all Vera has to do is slide the heavy load inside and close it. Three hours of baking, and it will be fall-off-the-bone tender when dinnertime rolls around.

The rest of the afternoon is spent chatting and playing various games. At four, Riki, his younger brother Adi, and Sana arrive, bearing homemade samosas and mint chutney, and the little house starts feeling too packed, so they spill out into the backyard. Riki and Sana had been Vera’s other suspects in Marshall’s death, and Vera is glad that none of them turned out to be the killer. Everyone is talking and laughing and snacking, and by the timedinner is ready, they’re almost too full to eat. Vera, Adi, and Emma hammer away at the mud-packed chicken, and everyone cheers when the baked clay finally cracks apart. Vera unwraps the layers of aluminum foil and lotus leaves to reveal the perfectly baked chicken, and despite the ridiculous amount of snacks they’ve had throughout the afternoon, nobody can resist the food. Aside from the chicken, there’s also braised pork belly, grilled carp with Szechuan chili sauce, and half a dozen side dishes.

“Oh my god, this chicken is so juicy,” Sana says, her mouth full.

“Mmm. Worth the mess,” Selena says.

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