Hazy Grooms and Homicides (A Raina Sun Mystery #8) Read online

“Your grandma got ahead of us going into the exhibit hall,” Frank said. “By the time Maggie and I got to the stage up front, she was gone. We screamed her name and looked everywhere, but we couldn’t find her.”

  “What was she looking for?”

  “The gift baskets.”

  “Why?”

  “Your grandma mentioned something about things not adding up.”

  “Where are you now?” Raina heard music in the background.

  “We’re standing outside the main hall. I got on stage and asked if anyone had seen your grandma. We told the audience we would stand by the door if they have information for us.”

  “How long have you been waiting?”

  “About five minutes.”

  “That’s too soon for you to leave. While you hang out there, I will check with the security team. Maybe Po Po will show up on one of the video surveillance feeds.”

  Raina tossed the rest of her stuff back into her purse and ran out of the room. She didn’t bother to check the door lock on her way out like she normally did. Either it latched closed, or it didn’t.

  When she knocked on the door of security headquarters, it didn’t open. She knocked again. She dialed Hendricks’s cell phone, and it went to voicemail. She knocked again. Finally, the pregnant woman cracked open the door.

  “Yes?” the pregnant security guard said.

  “Is Hendricks here? I need help locating my grandma,” Raina said. She took a deep breath. Her voice held a tinge of panic. It would not help her grandma if people didn’t understand her.

  “The boss is escorting the terrorist to the FBI building.”

  Raina blinked. When did Gloria get elevated to the role of a terrorist? “Can you track down my grandma on the video feeds?”

  “How long has your grandma been missing?”

  Raina glanced at the time stamp of Maggie’s message on her phone. Had her grandma only been missing for thirty minutes? “Half an hour ago.”

  “Did you try calling her?”

  “Yes. Can you look through your video feeds?”

  “No, ma’am. I’m not authorized to do this. It’s to protect the privacy of our guests.”

  “I’m sure if Hendricks were here, he would allow this.”

  “But he’s not here,” the pregnant security guard said matter-of-factly.

  “Can you call him?”

  “No, ma’am. Then it’ll look like I can’t handle things when he’s not around. We’re working on improving my leadership skills.”

  Raina took another deep breath. Ramming her head against the wall would be less painful than this. “How else might I get to see video footage?”

  “I am authorized to show them when there’s a warrant.”

  No judge would give Raina a warrant. “What if Willie gives me permission to see the video footage?”

  The pregnant security guard shrugged. “She’s the big boss. I must do what she wants.” She went back inside the command center and shut the door.

  Raina balled her hands into fists and let out a scream in frustration. She spun on her heels and ran to the elevator. Willie wasn’t inside her office. Neither was she in any of the administrative offices.

  Back at the elevator foyer, she called Frank again.

  “I can’t find anyone in the hotel to help me. Any luck down there?” Raina asked.

  “No.”

  “I’m going back to the rooms. Maybe Po Po went back to charge her phone.”

  Raina hung up and glanced at the battery bar on her phone. There was less than five percent of juice left. She had plugged it in before napping, but Gloria must have unplugged it. Maybe she should change her passwords, especially to the apps that were constantly logged in like her email. Maybe later.

  She bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet while the elevator made its slow progress to the eighth floor. Her grandma had declared they were staying at the luckiest floor in the hotel-casino when they checked in. Eight was the homonym for wealth in Chinese. But to Raina, it felt like their luck was running backwards the longer they stayed here.

  Raina flung open the door to Maggie’s suite using the spare keycard in her purse. “Po Po, are you in here?”

  No response.

  She strolled into the bedroom and even opened the closet. Nope. She checked the bathroom. Nope. She went back to the bedroom and checked under each of the queen-size beds. Nope.

  She dialed her grandma’s cell phone again. It went to voicemail.

  “Po Po, it’s Rainy. We’re getting concerned about your safety. Please call us back.”

  Raina texted the same message. When she checked the battery bar, it was now at three percent. Her cell phone would be as useful as a brick in a few minutes. She returned to her room and plugged in her cell phone to charge it. She did the same routine, checking the bathroom, the closet, and underneath the king-size bed. No dice.

  Po Po had only been gone for about forty-five minutes. Maybe she was in a bathroom somewhere with a diarrhea attack. There was no need to worry. This was probably a silly misunderstanding where the senior citizens got confused about the meeting location.

  And yet, Po Po was a big stickler for synchronizing their watches and checking in when they were in the middle of an operation. The suspects would have no reason to kidnap her grandma because they didn’t know about Raina and Po Po’s relationship. Raina had questioned each of them on her own.

  Nooo, wait. When she had questioned Brian Anderson, her grandma was with her and then she went into the laundry room to inquire about their costumes. Raina frowned, trying to picture Brian as the killer maid.

  He was slight enough at about five foot six inches, maybe a hundred and forty pounds. He would have no problem fitting into a maid’s T-shirt. Plastic glasses were easy enough to find. If he popped out the lenses, even reading glasses or sunglasses would do in a pinch. And half the people walking around the building had on a wig. Was it possible that Po Po found evidence linking Brian to the murder and confronted him?

  Raina glanced at the door, waiting for a sign on what to do next. Her gaze traveled from the lock to the carpet. She squinted. There was a slip of paper from underneath the door. It was too early for the invoice of their stay because they weren’t supposed to check out for another day. Her heart rate picked up a tempo, banging against her chest.

  “Please don’t let this be a ransom note,” she whispered.

  When she picked up the folded sheet of paper, her hand trembled. It was plain white, and she could see printed words on the other side. She opened the paper. Taped to the corner was a lock of silvery white hair with red streaks in it.

  Loading dock. 6 pm. Tell no one.

  Raina’s heart stopped for a moment and resumed its beating. Was Brian still outside in the hall? She grabbed the lipstick stun gun and jerked open the door. There was no one in the hallway. She ran down to the elevator but didn’t see anyone either. She jogged back to her room to study the message again.

  She couldn’t tell Frank and Maggie about the letter. The two senior citizens would want to set up an ambush or something that might jeopardize her grandma’s safety. If only Raina could borrow Poe. With his previous owner, the service dog was once a ferocious guard dog.

  Raina tapped the screen on her cell phone. It was already five forty-five, and there was only one percent battery life left. Her phone wasn’t charging, but she didn’t have time to fiddle with it.

  She dialed Detective Stafford’s number, and it went straight to voicemail. He might be with Matthew at the FBI building. She left him a message about her missing grandma and the contents of the note. Next, she dialed Matthew’s phone number. She left him the same message.

  “I’m going downstairs to find my grandmother. I love you,” Raina said.

  Before she could hang up the call, the screen went dark and powered off. She stared at the useless device in her hand. Maybe she could chuck it at Brian’s head.

  Fear settled like a concrete block on her chest, and she
had a difficult time breathing. The rendezvous at the loading dock was a trap, but she had to go anyway. There wasn’t enough time to do anything but show up with her bravado and pray the cavalry would arrive on time. Even if Matthew or Detective Stafford heard the message and left immediately, it would still take forty minutes to an hour to get here with the traffic. She was very much on her own.

  Raina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She prayed for her ancestors to look out for her grandma. Whatever might happen, she was not alone. There were several generations of goodwill and blessing to protect her from evil. If she stayed calm and used her wits, she would walk away from this confrontation. She had to believe this.

  Her gaze swept the room, looking for weapons. She had her lipstick stun gun and pepper spray. Those went into the pockets of her capris. The hotel pen could be jammed into an eye or the throat in a grapple. She twisted her hair into a knot and stuck the pen in the nest to hold it in place. With her eager armor, she slipped out of the room to rescue her grandma.

  20

  Lady with a Sword

  Raina tapped on the call button for the elevator. She had about six minutes to get down to the loading dock. Brian probably expected her to go through the service hall and out to the side exit. This was the most direct route from inside the hotel-casino. But if Raina went through the casino floor and around from the outside, she might have a chance at surprising him.

  She stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the first floor. As the car descended, she thought through all the possibilities. What if she approached the loading dock through the hedges? There might be enough shadows to hide her approach.

  Raina tucked her chin and power walked through the casino, avoiding all eye contact. No one called out to her, which meant Maggie and Frank were still waiting by the exhibit hall. Thank goodness. As much as she would like backup, the two senior citizens weren’t it.

  When she stepped out of the hotel-casino, the sky was a fading smoky purple with the sun setting behind a skyscraper. The laundry was done for the day, so the storage and laundry rooms were locked up. And Brian couldn’t tie up and carry her grandma to the loading dock through the hotel-casino without drawing unwanted attention. And Po Po wasn’t someone who would follow him meekly, so he must have knocked her out. The thought made Raina’s blood boil.

  As she rounded the corner of the building, she ducked and crabwalked across the footpath and into the hedges. Once within the shadows, she straightened, thankful for the cover from the towering holly oak trees. By coming out from the front of the building, her eyes had already adjusted to the reduced light. Brian Anderson leaned against the wall next to the side door, smoking a cigarette. There was no sign of her grandma anywhere.

  Brian was dressed in skinny black jeans and a black maid shirt. He wore some kind of padding underneath the shirt, so it looked as if his chest were an A cup. He had on a honey blonde wig that fell to his shoulders. In the dim lighting and from far away, he looked like a woman.

  Raina’s gaze traveled to the open guitar case on the ground in front of him. There were handcuffs, a whip, and a samurai sword. Maybe he was planning to go to a Fifty Shades party afterward. She shuddered at the thought. Obviously, he no longer felt the need to hide or explain why he murdered Claire Boucher. And from his casual posture and nonchalant air, he seemed to believe that he had the upper hand in this situation.

  Unless her grandma was strapped to an explosive, and he held the trigger device, Raina didn’t have to confront him. She doubted that he had the expertise or the equipment to assemble a bomb on such short notice. The murder and the kidnapping were the actions of a two-bit opportunist pushed to his limit, not a criminal mastermind.

  A mosquito landed on Raina’s neck, and she flapped her hand to get rid of it. A trickle of sweat ran down the small of her back. She could wait for Brian to leave and then follow him because he would probably check on her grandma to make sure she wasn’t rescued while he was here. But she probably didn’t have the stealth to sneak around behind him.

  “Come out, come out, little mouse,” Brian called out, flicking his cigarette onto the ground.

  Raina’s heart raced, and her shoulders ached with tension. How did he know she was here? Maybe he was just bluffing. If she stayed where she was and kept quiet…

  “I know you’re out there, Raina Sun,” Brian said. He bent down and picked up the whip and strapped on the samurai sword to his waist. “If you don’t come out, then I’ll have to use these toys on your granny.”

  Something popped like a bubble inside of Raina, and the fear disappeared to be replaced by a boiling hot anger. How dare he threaten to harm her grandma.

  “She’s inside the trash bin. Come out before she runs out of oxygen,” Brian said.

  Raina’s gaze shifted to the concrete wall surrounding the trash bins. From her vantage point, she couldn’t see the metal containers, so she had no way of verifying what he said without giving away her position.

  Her gaze shifted to the window panel on the side door. Even with binoculars, she would have been looking at the storage room. If she came out to inspect the underbrush of the holly oak grove a few days ago, she would have known he lied about being Claire’s lookout. This was a costly lesson that Raina hoped her grandma didn’t have to pay for with her life.

  “Why did you kill Claire? For ten thousand dollars?” Raina called out.

  Brian’s head snapped up, and he squinted at the shadows of the holly oak trees. He hesitated for a moment as if debating whether to hack through the hedges and drag her out. “She wanted to ask the board to do an audit going back the last five years.”

  Raina did some quick math. If he had embezzled ten thousand dollars a year, that was equal to fifty thousand dollars in the last five years. Somehow she knew in her gut that he had been doing this for far longer than five years.

  “You have been skimming off the top for that long, huh? How did you find out about Claire’s appointment in the laundry room?” Raina asked.

  “I stole her cell phone. The passcode was easy enough. It was her husband’s birthday.”

  Raina’s eyes widened. She really thought that Gloria had stolen the phone.

  “Imagine my surprise to find that Miss Goody Two Shoes is selling top-secret research to the Russians,” Brian continued. “I should be given a medal for doing my part to help our country. I’m a hero.”

  The man was clearly delusional. Raina sidestepped to the left, getting closer to the concrete wall. Her gaze traveled the width of the wall. There were no footholds to scale it. And even if she could climb it, what would she do next? Dance on the lid of the trash bin while he slashed at her feet?

  There was a gap of about four feet where if she dashed for the wall, he could pounce on her with either the whip or the sword. She didn’t have protection against either weapon. What she needed was a distraction where she could get close enough to use either the stun gun or the pepper spray. She pulled both items from her pocket and moved the trigger to the “on” position for the pepper spray.

  Several moments passed in silence. Raina’s neck ached from the tension, and her fingers were cramping from hovering over the triggers for both her meager weapons. At this rate, they both could stand here for hours. Her body was trembling from the after-effects of the initial adrenaline rush. If she didn’t do something soon, her moment of bravery might disappear, and she might curl up into a ball.

  Maybe Brian was feeling the same way about the impasse. He strolled closer to the trash bins. “If you don’t come out, I’ll stab into the trash bins. Bleeding to death is a painful way to die.” He banged open the lid.

  Raina took a deep breath and strolled out from the safety of the hedges. “So are you planning to hack me to death? Someone is bound to hear my screams.”

  Brian returned to the guitar case, grabbed the handcuffs, and threw them toward Raina. “Put them on. We’re going for a ride.” He snapped the whip. The crack sounded like a mini-explosion in the
stillness.

  Raina flinched. He looked like he knew how to use the thing. Her armpits suddenly went damp. Her thin shirt would shred to ribbons in a matter of minutes from the whip. “My grandma isn’t in the trash bin, is she? You have her stashed in a vehicle.”

  Her voice trembled, and Raina hated how weak she sounded. He was probably planning to drive them out into the desert to dispose of them. They were less than five feet apart. It wouldn’t take much effort for Brian to step forward and snap the whip like a lion trainer at Raina’s face. A mosquito landed on the back of her neck again, but she didn’t dare move a muscle. She was afraid to spook him with a sudden movement.

  Brian’s eyes shifted from Raina’s face to an area above her shoulder. He frowned as if noticing something. “You’re too smart for your own good. Now put the cuffs on.”

  Raina blinked, straining her ears. What was the noise? Sounded like something jingling. Keys? Was someone coming?

  “…I saw her go this way…”

  “…take off the leash…”

  A sense of hope filled Raina. Someone was coming. If she kept Brian talking, someone could get close enough to see a strange woman wielding a whip and a samurai sword.

  Brian must have heard the sound too. “Put the cuffs on,” he hissed.

  Raina kept her eyes on Brian’s face and bent to retrieve the handcuffs. A low rumbling growl seemed to come out of nowhere. The fine hair on the back of her neck stiffened. She froze in her crouched position.

  Movement from the corner of her eye caught Raina’s attention. A dark streak moved at a breakneck speed. Brian’s expression changed from uncertainty to horror. A large black Labrador retriever flew at Brian, his sharp white teeth clamping onto the arm holding the whip. Poe!

  Brian screamed and beat at the service dog. They jerked about the small footpath like drunken dance partners. The dog continued to growl. Beads of blood scattered around them onto the concrete floor.

  Raina straightened, powering on the stun gun. Brian stumbled and he shifted. When Raina saw Brian’s exposed back, she ran up and hit him with the stun gun. His body stiffened and arched. She held on as Brian dropped to one knee.