Page 56 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“Aiya!” Vera spits. “Boba! Boba is the bane of my existence. People think drinking tea is healthy, therefore drinking boba is healthy. What rubbish! Terrible invention, I tell you. It’s full of sugar and additives and—”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Vera trots behind the counter, where she studies the 188 cabinets in front of her. “Okay, I think I have the perfect tea.” She opens up the drawer containing roasted barley and scoops some out into a bowl, then adds a few goji berries, followed by a sliver of licorice to reduce phlegm.

“So, who did you piss off this time?” Winifred says as Vera fills up the kettle.

“Well.” Vera sighs. “It really could be anyone. I went viral on the TikTok, you know.”

“Ha!” Winifred slaps the table triumphantly. “I always knew one day you would bring back some virus that would kill us all, I knew it.”

Vera narrows her eyes. “First of all, that’s not what ‘going viral’ means, and second of all, you thought I meant I have a deadly virus and you’re not worried, you’re happy? Really, Winifred, I expected more from you.”

Winifred shrugs, not looking at all ashamed of herself.

“Going viral means my video was watched by everyone.”

“What video?”

“Videos about…” Vera’s voice trails off, then she abruptly stops and fishes her phone out of her pocket. She turns on thecamera and hands the phone to Winifred. “Actually, help me shoot a video right now. This way, not horizontal. Aim the camera at my hands, yes, like that. But sometimes you also have to record my face, especially when I’m smiling or looking peaceful.”

“Aiya, you don’t need to lecture me on how to do this!” Winifred leaps up from the chair and holds the phone with the natural professionalism that every Chinese grandmother is somehow born with. She goes into an unnecessarily deep crouch, aiming the camera at Vera. “Okay, action. Lift your chin, Vera. Don’t hunch your back. Don’t move like that, it’s jerky and looks strange on the camera.”

Vera is starting to rethink the wisdom of making Winifred her cameraperson. But she keeps going valiantly, ignoring Winifred’s constant stream of instructions.

“Elbows out! Out, out. Smile, Vera. Big smile! Bigger! Aiya, no good.”

Turns out that all one needs to do to bring out the inner dictator in Winifred is hand her a camera. Thankfully, the tea Vera is making is relatively straightforward, and before long, she is done. She practically pounces on Winifred, snatching the phone out of her hands and shouting, “Done!” There. Hopefully Winifred gets off her power trip and returns to her normal, mildly irritating self once more.

Winifred snorts, muttering, “You need to work on your posture.” Then she sits back down and begins to serve up the pastries. “So, these videos of you making tea are going viral? People really watch anything these days, don’t they?”

“It’s not just me making tea. I also narrate them. I’m investigating a death, you know.” Vera is unable to keep the smugness out of her voice. “I am so busy these days. You’re lucky you caught methis morning.” She serves Winifred her tea, then leans back and takes a bite of the Korean-French abomination. Of course, as luck would have it, the croissant actually tastes amazing. Quite possibly the best pastry Vera has ever had. The richness of the cheese is perfectly cut through by the sour, spicy kimchi, and all of it wrapped up in buttery, flaky layers. Yes, please.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Winifred says, watching her like a hawk.

“It’s okay,” Vera says.

Winifred sniffs. “You like it. Now, tell me, what does your investigation have to do with online videos?”

“I’ll show you.” Vera opens up the video editing app that Robin had downloaded for her and uploads the footage Winifred has just recorded. Then she clears her throat and holds her phone close to her mouth. “Now be quiet while I record the audio.” She pauses, then hits record and speaks in English. “Last night, I go to very interesting party. This party is full of people Xander Lin hang out with, but what is interesting is that when I ask people about Xander, nobody seem to have met him. Why is that? There is something fishy here. As you youngsters like to call it, the math ain’t messing. Who is Xander Lin, and why is it so hard to find people who actually know him? I know that social media is a bit of a tricky thing to use. You want to be authentic, but you also want to save face. Is easier to save face without social media. Your generation is dealing with so much. But I will promise you this: I don’t stop looking into Xander Lin’s death until I know the truth. Thank you for watching.” She finishes recording and sets the phone down before smiling smugly at Winifred.

“Is that all? Not sure I get what the big deal is,” Winifred says.

“Oh, you bitter old crone, you know I have the X factor andyou can’t stand it. Now, drink your tea and help me clean up my storefront.”

“There is no saving your storefront. You’d best get a new sign. You can order one online and have it be delivered by noon.”

“And pay good money for shipping? I don’t think so. Up you get. I have a homemade cleaning solution that will get any stains out.”

As Vera scrubs her front door, her thoughts fly back to the events from the night before. Last night was probably one of the most chaotic nights that Vera has had in a while. Well, there was the night of Oliver’s surprise birthday party and the fiasco with the ketchup and the blow-up unicorn, but that’s best left forgotten. Last night, Vera learned that young people are very, very good at faking it. Maybe it has something to do with social media. This case is really shaping up to be very unexpected. She can’t even begin to make heads or tails of it.

It is becoming painfully clear that Xander Lin was a scammer of sorts. And, given Vera’s recent run-in with scammers, she isn’t too chuffed to learn this about Xander. A guy who fooled others into thinking he was in a fun, cute, and loving relationship with Aimes. Sounds like an exploitative relationship. But then Aimes said he never once touched or said anything inappropriate to her, so what was his game? Was it really something as mundane as gaining followers? That doesn’t seem right. And what was it that he’d wanted to come clean about? The fake relationship was part of it, but it sounded like there was something else. Maybe Xander wasn’t straight, and he wanted to come out?

A deep sadness settles over Vera’s heart at the possibility. She wishes she had known Xander sooner, so she could have plied himwith fattening foods and nagged him off social media. Except maybe she wouldn’t have done the latter, given she herself is a rising social media starlet.

She spots movement inside the shop and stops scrubbing at the door. “Aimes, you finally awake, you sleep in quite long,” she calls into the shop.

Aimes peers out warily, blinking in the bright sunlight. “It’s barely past seven in the morning.”

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