Page 51 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“And Millie, you say you are good friends, but he never invite you to party either?”

Millie shakes her head. “Never even knew this side of him existed.”

“You ladies been played by some guy,” the driver blurts out. “I know, none of my business, but I’m just saying, from a guy’s perspective, it’s pretty obvious this Xander dude is a walking red flag.”

“Thanks,” Aimes mutters.

“Walking red flag,” Vera muses. “I know what that means from the TikTok. You youngsters use it all the time. It means he is bad news.”

“Yep,” the driver says.

“He wasn’t,” Millie says, and the sharp anger in her voice slices through the thick alcohol haze. Vera raises her eyebrows but doesn’t say anything. “He wasn’t bad news,” Millie says again. “He was kind, and we looked out for each other, and tonight made me feel like I lost him all over again.”

“Oh, Millie.” Vera puts her arm around the girl and hugs her close. “Is okay. It will be okay.” She thought Millie might be crying, but when she glances at Millie, the girl’s cheeks are dry.Millie is such an enigma, Vera thinks. She can’t quite get a read on her. Millie strikes Vera as very weak in many ways, but then there are times when she shows strength of spirit that surprises Vera.

“We’re here,” the driver says, lurching to a stop. He sounds very relieved.

They all pile out, slightly dazed, taking in the cold air as the driver peels away.

“Well, that is very interesting night,” Vera says. “Thank you for accompanying me to my first influencer party. I have a feeling I will be invite to more parties, and I will take you two as my plus-one.”

“I think the fact that it’s called a plus-one means you’re only really supposed to take one person with you,” Aimes says.

“Aimes, you are too young and pretty to be so irritating. Wait until you are my age, then you can nag people about this and that.” Vera pats Aimes on the shoulder. “Okay, I will see you two soon, I hope.”

They both say goodbye to Vera, and she turns to go inside hershop. Then she sees what’s on the front door, and a shocked gasp cuts its way out of her.

“Vera? You okay?” Millie places a hand on Vera’s back. “What’s wrong?”

Vera can only stare at her beloved shop front. Millie and Aimes turn to look at what she’s staring at, and they both gasp as well.My goodness, Vera thinks.Just how much alcohol did I drink tonight?“Did I do this?” she wonders out loud.

“What?” Aimes says. “No, Vera. What the hell? Your shop was totally fine when we left, and we were with you the whole night.”

“Because, you see, in order to investigate murder last year, I had to smash up my own shop,” Vera babbles. “And so I am a bit confused. Am I dreaming?”

“No,” Millie says, pinching Vera’s arm gently.

“Ouch.”

“See? Not dreaming. Somebody really came and did this to your shop.”

And for once, as Vera gapes at her store, which has dark red paint splashed all over its front, and the wordsI SEE YOUsprayed across the sign that says,Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse, she doesn’t know what to say.

Seventeen

AIMES

Aimes has no freaking idea what the hell just happened. Actually, this is pretty much how Aimes feels most of the time, so nothing new there. But this time, as she takes in the horrific sight in front of her, the dark red paint that looks so much like blood, and those hateful words scrawled across Vera’s beautiful sign, there is a lot more panic exploding all over her mind. Her thoughts are basically a mess ofOMG who did this, are they still here, are they watching us, do they know? DO THEY KNOW I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON?

“Vera—” Aimes starts to say, not knowing what’s actually about to come out of her mouth, when Millie squeaks.

“I have to go.”

“What?” Aimes says.

“Sorry, I have to go.” Millie is already running off. Aimes would’ve gone after her, except Aimes can’t possibly think of leaving Vera alone right now. Damn, Millie is a lot more heartless than Aimes had expected. What the hell?

She shakes herself and shifts her focus back to Vera. Her rib cage feels like it’s squeezing her lungs. Her breath comes out shallow and fast, and she has to remind herself to breathe. It’s her fault. She doesn’t know who did this, but she knows whoever it was did it because of her. “Vera, are you okay?” Her voice comes out with a significant quaver. God, she hopes she isn’t about to cry.

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