Page 79 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“I know. Trust me, I get the frustration of having to deal with my mother.”

Vera’s smile turns into a frown. What did he just say?

“How about this,” Tilly adds. “Give her a night to settle down, and then you can interrogate her in the morning?”

Another sigh. “Okay, I guess. She can’t get into more trouble tonight.”

“Will you forgive me for—”

“For being a lawyer?”

Tilly chuckles. “Yeah.”

“Maybe I can overlook tonight’s infraction.”

“Thank you.” There are smacking noises that Vera realizes are kissing sounds. She makes a face and closes the door gently. It’sone thing telling those two to make grandbabies; it’s quite another having to actually hear them.

In the quiet of her room, Vera studies the messages once more. She drafts a reply, then deletes it and drafts another. Everything feels wrong, every step feels precarious, like she is standing in the middle of a minefield. All alone.

Except she isn’t alone, is she? She’s just been so used to thinking that she is alone that sometimes, she fails to realize that she is far from alone now. Outside of this very room, in fact, there are two young people who care very much about her, and there’s the little group that has become her family, and there’s Aimes and TJ and Robin and Millie and Qiang Wen, who she can see are quickly becoming part of her circle, and if any of them were to have a problem, she would be annoyed—no, offended—if they didn’t reach out to her for help. Would they not feel the same way about her? And Selena is right to have her Spidey senses go off, because yes, Vera is way out of her depth. And she is going to do something about it. She isn’t going to revert to her old comfortable ways and isolate herself. Old dogs, it seems, can learn new tricks.

Twenty-Six

VERA

“Stop having sexy time, I have confession to make!”

Tilly and Selena gape up at her. Between them there is a very elaborate-looking board game.

“Oh, you are not having sexy time, never mind.”

“My god, Ma, why would we have sexy—I mean, have sex out here in the dining room when you’re staying with us?” Tilly says.

Selena, who can’t stop being a cop for ten seconds, stands up and says, “You said you have a confession to make?”

Inside, Vera quails, but she makes herself meet Selena’s piercing eyes. Goodness me, no wonder Selena makes a fine detective. Her gaze looks like it can see right into your soul. She would make a fine Chinese mother.

“Yes,” she says. “I have been keeping secret from you about Xander Lin’s case.”

“Yeah, I know that, Vera. Come on, sit down and tell me what’s going on.”

And so Vera does. While Tilly looks on in open horror, Veratells Selena everything, from finding Millie outside the police station to going to see Aimes, TJ, and Qiang Wen to the attack this evening and what the man said to her. At certain points, Vera can see Tilly wanting to jump in, probably to tell her to stop talking until she hires a lawyer, but he holds himself back.

“Wait, and he said he knows where Julia and Emma live?” Selena says.

Vera nods. “I tell Julia to stay at Oliver’s place.”

“From what you’ve told me about this guy, that’s not gonna be enough. Ideally I’d want a security detail parked outside their place…”

“We can ask them to come here,” Tilly says.

Selena pinches the bridge of her nose, then says, “Okay. Just for tonight.”

“A sleepover,” Vera says. “I will go make snacks.”

“Oh no you won’t. Stay here,” Selena says sternly. “I need more information from you.”

While Tilly calls Oliver and explains the situation to him, Selena draws out more information from Vera. When Vera shows her the strange text messages from Millie, Selena mutters, “This feels really bad.” She stands. “I’m going to the station to report this, and I’ll have a car assigned outside in case the perp shows up here. And Vera?”

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