Page 24 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

Millie’s heart aches because she understands it all too well. Back home in Yunnan, a relationship is exactly the way Vera describes; it doesn’t just involve two people but two entire families. The rules are different here, and she’s had to adjust her understanding of so many things to get them. And as much as she hatesto admit it, she’s jealous of Aimes, and of Thomas, who seemed like they’d had a complete understanding of the rules here. She’s had enough attention. She needs to divert some of it. Turning to TJ, Millie says, “And what about you? How did you know Thomas?”

TJ tugs at his shirt collar. “I knew him as Xander, actually. He was one of my clients. Not much else to say aside from that.” He gives a weak laugh.

Next to him, Robin rolls her eyes.

“Oh,” Aimes says. “You’re his talent manager? Xan used to mention you. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Yeah,” TJ says with less enthusiasm than Millie would’ve expected. “But I was never close to him or anything. I mean, not to say I don’t work closely with my clients, I just—”

“Oh my god, Dad,” Robin groans. “This is painful. He’s going through a tough time because he’s being canceled, and it’s all my fault.”

“It’s not your fault,” TJ says.

Robin rolls her eyes, but Millie spots the tiniest hint of a tremor in Robin’s chin. The atmosphere is so thick Millie feels like she can’t breathe. She’s about to blurt out something when the doorbell rings. Vera gets up, tells them to remain where they are, and bustles to the front door. There is a male voice along with a child saying, “Hi, Grandma.”

“My little Em-Em,” Vera says, pure love palpable in her voice. She comes back to the dining room holding the hand of a little girl, a man who looks to be in his early thirties behind them. “Everyone, this my granddaughter Emma, and this her uncle Oliver.”

“Oh,” Oliver says, obviously surprised by their presence. “Sorry,Vera, I didn’t know you were having a dinner party. Didn’t mean to crash it.”

“Don’t be silly. You take a seat here, next to Millie. She seems like good girl. Millie, Oliver is good husband material.”

Millie’s entire face feels as though it’s burst into flames. Then again, it seems like Oliver is about to have an aneurysm, so at least she’s not the only one dying of embarrassment.

“Vera,” Oliver sighs. “Behave, or I’m taking Emma home.”

“Don’t be silly,” Vera says. “We have dumplings.”

As Oliver squeezes in between Millie and Aimes, he catches Millie’s eye. Her face, which has already burst into flames moments ago, melts into bubbling lava. Because, oh my goodness, Oliver is very handsome. And Millie cannot be trusted around handsome men.

“Hi, I’m Oliver,” he says.

“Millie,” she says. Her voice comes out so tiny that Oliver has to lean in a little to catch it, and the nearness of him makes Millie even more flustered. “Millie,” she says again, and this time it’s a little too loud, and god, she wishes she wasn’t so bad at this. She isn’t usually bad at talking to men, but it’s the whole Aimes-being-Thomas’s-girlfriend thing, and the whole Vera-investigating-Thomas’s-death thing, and there are just way too many things going on right now.

“Let me guess, Vera has rounded up a group of complete strangers and is spearheading some sort of inappropriate investigation that borders on illegal?” Oliver says to her.

Millie’s head shoots up. Because, yes, exactly. She nods, and Oliver sighs and gives a wry smile. “Yep, that’s Vera.”

She watches as he introduces himself to the rest of the table. Everyone else seems unfazed or, at the very least, less fazed.Emma is insisting on hand-feeding Robin a dumpling, and Robin is going, “Kid, get your paws out of my face.” Vera is chatting to Qiang Wen in Cantonese, and Aimes and TJ are talking about social media. Millie seems to be the only one who’s ill at ease, and she supposes it makes sense, because Millie is the only one with a dark secret—multiple dark secrets, actually.

“So, how do you know Vera?” Oliver says.

“She found me outside of the police station and decided to help me out. What about you? Are you her son?”

“Not biologically, but I think she’s pretty much adopted me. And a few others.” Oliver spoons some pork onto her plate before serving himself. A tiny spark of pleasure shoots through Millie at the gesture. “My brother was found dead in Vera’s shop last year, and she decided to investigate his death. That was how I got to know her.”

“Oh my god, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

Oliver chews thoughtfully. “Thanks. It was a pretty dark time for all of us involved. Thank god Vera was there. She kind of gathered the four of us—we were pretty messed up, all of us—and took us under her wing, even though she also suspected each one of us of killing my brother.”

Millie’s head is spinning. “Okay, that sounds really…”

“Weird? Messed up? Like a mindfuck? Yeah, it was all of those things. But she worked it out in the end. And I’m grateful I have Vera and the others in my life.”

Millie nods. Should she be grateful, too, that Vera is taking an interest in Thomas’s case, or should she be terrified about what Vera might find out?

“What do you do for a living, Millie?”

The answer flops out automatically. She’s had a lot of practice doing it. “I’m an air stewardess for private planes.” “Stewardess,” not “attendant,” because it sounds sexier. And “private planes” instead of “commercial jets” so no one can go,Nice, which flight? Which airline?She even knows some of the basic training that flight attendants had to go through, just to make her lie extra convincing.

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