Page 72 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

Hi Millie, Vera again. I think is better if we meet in person to talk about Thomas. I have learn quite a bit about him, is very hard to explain over WhatsApp. I am so old, my thumbs move very slowly on phone screen. I know Julia always say to me, ‘Vera, you are not old. Sixty is the new forty.’ But I think sixty is venerable old age, you agree right? Anyway, when you can come to tea shop? Kind Regards, Vera.—5:31 p.m.

I don’t think I’ll be able to for a while, so you need to tell me over text. If it’s hard for you to type, then maybe you can send a voice note.—5:32 p.m.

What is voice note? Kind Regards, Vera.—5:35 p.m.

Oh, sorry I forget to say above, this is Vera. In case you don’t know.—5:37 p.m.

What have you learned about Thomas?—5:38 p.m.

Sorry Millie, my arthritis acting up, I cannot play on phone too long. Will figure out this voice note thing and get back to you.—5:42 p.m.

Vera, please tell me what you found out about Thomas.—5:42 p.m.

Vera?—5:43 p.m.

Twenty-Four

MILLIE

The door to her room bursts open. Mother and Father stand there, looking mutinous. Millie wishes she were the type of person who could act aloof, pretend that everything is okay, but she isn’t. She’s the type of person who cowers very visibly.

“What did you tell that old bitch?” Mother says.

It takes Millie a beat to realize she’s referring to Vera, and something inside her turns sour at having Vera being referred to as a “bitch.” Vera is the opposite of a bitch, and anyway, Millie hates that word so much. “I didn’t tell Vera anything,” she says in a small voice.

“Don’t lie to us, you little bitch,” Mother says.

Millie cringes. They always call her that when they’re displeased with her. In the early days, they called her that all the time, and her older sister Yara had told her that it was because Mother and Father wanted to break her. Millie misses Yara so much.Don’t let them break you, Yara’s voice whispers in her head.

“Stop calling me that,” she whispers.

“What did you say?” Father says.

A braver person would have screamed it at them. But Millie is so tired and hungry and so goddamn scared. She shakes her head. “Nothing.”

“No, it wasn’t nothing,” Father says, walking toward her.

Millie hugs her knees to her chest, wishing for the millionth time that she could disappear. “I’m sorry,” she blurts out before he gets to her. She always breaks before they can punish her even more. Yara was the fighter. She fought until she disappeared from Millie’s life. Thomas was more like Millie, pliant and soft.

Father towers over her like a god. She sneaks one quick glance up before lowering her head. “I’m sorry,” she says again. He grunts. Relief floods her. He’s accepted her apology, for now.

Then Mother says, “We found your phone, Millie.”

Oh no. Fear stabs into Millie’s stomach, cold and sharp. The back of her neck prickles with sweat. Her phone. Her secret phone. How cunning she’d thought she was being when she bought it, but of course when Mother and Father confiscated her bag, they’d found it.Stupid girl, she scolds herself. Thomas would’ve never made that mistake. Her brother and sister were so much smarter than she was, and look what happened to them. Why did Millie ever think she could get away with this?

Father bends down so his face is level with Millie. She shrinks back. “Haven’t we been clear about the rules of the house?”

Millie nods.

“Never mind that for now,” Mother says brusquely. “We’ll deal with your deception later. What does this Vera bitch know about Thomas?”

This time, Millie doesn’t even try to fight them. She shakes her head vigorously. “Nothing. I promise. All she knows is that he jumped off the bridge. That’s all.”

“Then why is she saying that she’s found out some information about him and needs to talk to you?”

There is a sliver of a second of confusion and hope—did Vera solve it after all? Then Father’s hand shoots out, and before Millie knows it, he’s grabbed her by the hair. Pain sears through her scalp, and she squeals. Vaguely, she spots someone’s head popping through the doorway. Her little sister, Mina. Millie wants to tell Mina to go away. She shouldn’t be seeing this. Then Father yanks and Millie forgets all about Mina. All she can do is squawk and flail in pain.

“We’re going to have to clean up your mess, Millie,” Mother says. “We’re very disappointed in you. Do you understand?”

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