Page 88 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“Okay, tone it down, little man,” Riki says. “Good job though.”

Aimes is so confused by what is going on right now. She’s agitated with worry for Millie, but at the same time she’s also feeling warm fuzzies because of this strange motley group, and she’s alsomourning the loss of her online identity—even though it’s a fake one—and she’s also feeling lightened by coming clean online, and it’s just a lot of things to be feeling in one go.

But at the core of it, Aimes knows that what they are doing is the right thing, despite what Officer Selena Gray says. If it comes down to choosing a side between Vera and the law, Aimes knows where she stands.

Twenty-Nine

QIANG WEN

What a strange time this is. How curious and how very, very strange. Is Qiang Wen supposed to be excited or sad or scared or maybe all of the above? One second he feels like crying, and the next he wants to hug someone while laughing. And most of all, he misses Xander so much he could wail with the emptiness it brings.

All of this stuff is beyond Qiang Wen. He’s trying very hard to keep pace and pay attention to everything and solve the puzzle, but it’s not so much a puzzle as it is a shattered mess they are trying to put back together. He’s a simple dumpling maker; what does he know of scam artists and social media and “clout,” a word that Vera has used four times in the last five minutes?

So Qiang Wen stands to one side quietly and observes the more energetic people as they debate and discuss with one another. He’s good at observing. He’s been doing that his whole life. His mind wanders gently back to the past, to more peaceful times when he had whiled away many a pleasant afternoon chatting to Xander.Oh, he knows Xander is turning out to have been a scam artist of sorts, but that doesn’t change anything about Qiang Wen’s relationship with him. Xander will always be his grandson, no matter what.

He might have been involved in some really bad stuff, but he was also the guy who made paper flowers for his sister because she had nothing nice in her room to look at, and she once told him that her favorite flowers are daisies. He had smiled as he told Qiang Wen how his sister had the origami flowers in a plastic bottle that she had painted gold and placed on her windowsill.

He knows now that the girl is Millie, and his heart aches at the thought of poor Millie gazing at her window, past the paper flowers and up at the sky, wishing fervently upon any star she could find. Xander had said he wished she could have seen a prettier sight out of her window than the ugly old red building next to theirs. It was only a few meters away and blocked everything else out save for a sliver of sky.

Qiang Wen jumps. “A red building!” he cries.

The chatter around him pauses.

“Xander say there is nothing to look at out their window except for ugly red building. Big building, built really close to theirs, so close that you have to tilt your head to see the sky!”

Tilly picks up his phone and makes another call to relay the information. Adi types on his phone. Riki and Sana watch the comments section with eagle eyes.

“Comments are pouring in like crazy,” Sana says.

“Yeah, we’ve got over a hundred thousand live viewers, by the way,” Riki says, “just FYI.”

“Sounds like an industrial park,” Adi pipes up.

“That makes sense,” Oliver says. “Warehouses and factories built in a cluster.”

“There are over fifty in Oakland,” Adi says, still typing madly into his phone. “I’m just looking at the Google satellite images now.”

Qiang Wen watches the young boy in wonder. It’s marvelous, the kind of information that is readily available these days. His heart could burst with joy at the thought of the world that awaits the younger generation. They will be so much better equipped to face the world than he ever was.

“Got it!” Adi says. “There’s an abandoned industrial park in East Oakland that fits our description.”

Vera gestures at Robin. “Okay, cut the live stream, we go now.”

“What?” Tilly says. “No. Not a chance in hell. Selena will have a squad down there. She’ll handle it.”

“And let us miss fun?” Vera says. “After we do all the work? I don’t think so! Oliver, get your car.”

Oliver gives Tilly an apologetic grimace. “Sorry, but I do want to see how this one turns out.”

Vera is already marching toward the door. “Why you all just staring like statues?” she barks as she snatches her jacket from the coat hook in the hallway.

That snaps Qiang Wen out of his puzzled daze, and he hurries toward Vera. He still isn’t quite sure that he knows exactly what is happening, but he knows one thing for sure: He is not about to sit this one out.

•••

In the end, they all go to the location. Qiang Wen is in the back seat next to Tilly, with Oliver driving and Vera in the passenger seat up front. Sana drives the other car, with Aimes, Riki, TJ, and Robin in there. Julia has opted to stay behind with the minors.

This must be a dream, Qiang Wen thinks. And, funnily enough, he doesn’t want to wake up.

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