Smoldering Flames and Secrets Read online

  When they walked into the house, Mom was on the speaker phone with Jung-yee’s mom and another aunt. From the frazzled look on her mom’s face, Raina could tell the news had already made its way to the rest of the extended family.

  Raina marched from the living room to the kitchen. No way was she dealing with this until she had food in her stomach. Po Po followed without a word. Mom tried to bring the phone into the kitchen after them, but a curt word from Po Po banished Mom back into the living room. They could still hear the conversation in the kitchen, but at least they could pretend it didn’t exist. Nothing like eating a greasy burger to the tears of a Chinese drama. And oddly enough, it felt like home.

  After several minutes of stuffing her face in silence, Raina asked, “How did Gigi end up stumbling onto the crime scene?”

  Po Po paused with a French fry suspended in midair. “We were playing catch, but then she ran off. And when she came back into sight, she was dragging a plastic lawn chair and running like she had the devil behind her.”

  “And you didn’t see anyone suspicious?”

  “I wasn’t paying attention. I wanted to get to Gigi before she ran into the photo shoot,” Po Po said. “I ruined the whole thing, huh?”

  Raina patted her grandma’s hand. “It will turn out okay. We were halfway through anyway. There must be several good shots. I mean how many wedding photographs do you need?”

  Po Po snickered. “For Jung-yee, probably an entire book. I think the girl has self-esteem issues.”

  Raina snorted. Uh-huh. Jung-yee had been the bane of her childhood. As if Raina could compete on her dad’s government salary. She didn’t miss those days at all. And now her cousin was marrying an ex-boyfriend. When would this madness stop?

  “It’s not about you, you know,” Po Po said.

  “What are you talking about?” Raina asked, wondering if she missed something in the conversation.

  “Jung-yee isn’t marrying Blue to get to you.”

  “I never said she was,” Raina answered, wincing inwardly at her peevish tone.

  She didn’t have feelings for Blue anymore. She was annoyed at the situation. Wasn’t there an unspoken family code to keep exes out of the family? She shouldn’t be forced to make niceties with an ex-boyfriend at family reunions for the rest of her life.

  Mom took this moment to come into the kitchen, saving Raina from an awkward conversation she didn’t want to have.

  “Your aunt is afraid they will be forced to change the venue,” Mom said, dropping into a chair next to Po Po at the kitchen table.

  “Last minute like this?” Po Po asked.

  Raina did some mental calculations in her head. “I think we should be okay. The police would finish processing the crime scene by Tuesday at the latest. So by Thursday, the winery should be back to business as usual. This would still give the vendors Thursday and Friday to get the event center ready for the wedding on Saturday.”

  “As long as there’s no more catastrophes after this,” Po Po added.

  Mom grimaced. “Your cousin fired the wedding planner. I don’t know why. It wasn’t Bridget’s fault a wild beast ran into the photo shoot. Maybe Jung-yee would change her mind after a night of sleep.”

  Raina gave her grandma a sideway glance. Oh, this was awful. With hundreds of guests—and with the potential threat of finding a new venue—her cousin needed all the help she could get. “What will happen now?”

  Mom straightened and gave Raina an unblinking stare.

  Raina’s heart sank. Whenever her mother had given her this look in the past, it had always ended with a job that tested the limits of Raina’s patience. She was in no mood to hear about the twenty hours of labor. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

  Po Po’s head swiveled between her daughter and her granddaughter. “Did what?”

  Mom licked her lower lip. “Do you want your family to be disgraced in front of everyone?”

  “No,” Raina replied grimly.

  “Do you want to see your cousin happy?”

  Raina paused to consider this answer. She didn’t particularly care one way or the other, but she wouldn’t want to see her cousin unhappy. “Yes,” she mumbled.

  Mom smiled in triumph. “I knew you would do your duty.”

  “What duty? Po Po asked.

  Raina sighed. It was just her luck. “I’m the new wedding planner.”

  By the time Raina woke the next morning, she was resigned with becoming the de facto wedding planner. She knew her cousin would do the same for her when push came to shove. Despite the squabbles, her family had always pulled together when it counted. And Raina would not be the one to fail her family.

  Even when her cousins had tried to sue her for the three-million-dollar inheritance, they had remained cordial the entire time, letting the lawyers handle the process. She didn’t hold a grudge against them. After all, if she had inherited one dollar from their grandfather as they did, she probably would have joined the lawsuit too. It was all water under the bridge now.

  Besides, most of the planning was already done. She probably only had to stand aside while the professionals did their job on Saturday. With a bounce in her step, she headed downstairs for breakfast.

  Winter a.k.a. Win—yes, their parents had a sense of humor—was home from college for the summer and worked at the family international shipping company as a forklift driver. He bit into his bagel and cream cheese like he hadn’t eaten in several days. His other hand flicked through the newsfeed on his tablet. If this wasn’t the death toll of the printed newspaper, she didn’t know what was.

  Her brother was medium height, but he still had the lanky look of a growing teen. He had inherited the curly black hair from their father’s side of the family as Raina did, but he kept it cropped close to his head. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown ringed in thick, sooty lashes. Raina would need two types of mascara and half an hour to produce the same look. And nothing could salvage her hair—she looked like a walking cotton ball on a good day. It was a good thing she was no longer in the dating scene. Give it a little more time, and she might stop shaving her legs.

  As Raina put a bagel in the toaster and poured coffee, Win called out, “Rainy, you got to look at this.” He held out his tablet. “I think this is the woman from the vineyard.” He sounded excited, but to an invincible twenty-year-old, death happened to other people.

  She took the tablet and scanned the article. The headline read: “Former child star found dead in a vineyard.” There was a snapshot of the flashing lights from the police and emergency vehicles pulling off the main highway and onto the vineyard. The decorative boulder with the cast plaque proudly displayed the estate name. Talk about bad PR.

  The article was brief. Arianna Cobb had disappeared two weeks ago. Her husband insisted Arianna wouldn’t walk away from her life with nothing more than her purse. However, the police didn’t suspect foul play at the time of her disappearance.

  Raina handed the tablet back to her brother. “Well, there’s definitely proof of foul play now.” She grabbed her breakfast and joined Win at the table.

  Win tapped on the tablet, his eyes scanning the headlines. “Hey, she’s an Angel.”

  Raina looked at her brother blankly. From the way he emphasized the last word, she could tell he meant angel with a capital A. “What does that mean, an Angel?”

  “She loans seed money to small startups or businesses.”

  “Oh, she’s a venture capitalist,” Raina said.

  “No, a venture capitalist is usually a firm, and their loans are always over one million. As an Angel, she loans out her own money. It could be as low as ten thousand dollars.”

  Raina frowned. When did her little brother get so smart? “How do you know all this?”

  Win shrugged. “When you live in the land of startups, you learn these things pretty quickly. I have a friend who got an Angel investor. He’s making bespoke gamer keyboards in his parents’ garage.” Her brother launched into a detailed account
of the keyboard and its features.

  “Uh-huh,” Raina said, mentally reviewing her to-do list for the week. Drop the dresses and tuxedos off at the dry cleaners, locate a backup venue—

  Win’s eyes widened. He leaned forward, tapping on the table to get Raina’s attention. “Hey, Sis. I just had a thought. Once the reporters find out how Arianna died—and I don’t see how the police can hide this—the reporters will be all over the grounds. We might not have a wedding on Saturday.”

  Raina groaned, rubbing her temples. She’d had the same thought, but it sounded more likely when someone else voiced it out loud. “I don’t need this stress.”

  “And it’s bad luck to marry at a crime scene.”

  Not that Raina didn’t want to see her cousin happily married, but she could do without the wedding. “Maybe Jung-yee will call off the wedding.”

  “I doubt it. Our cousin is determined to get married before you do.”

  Raina rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know. Little Miss Competition has to win.”

  “It’s hard to measure up to you. Jung-yee can’t help it if she feels like you’re perfect.” Win gave her a cheeky grin. “But it sucks to be you, Sis.”

  She smacked him playfully on the arm. “Hey, learn to respect your elder."

  "You're not that old. You’re only forty."

  "I'm not even thirty yet, you snot-nosed brat.”

  Win put his plate and mug in the dishwasher. "Close enough.”

  “What do you mean ‘I’m perfect’ ? I have a part-time job, side gigs, and a one-bedroom apartment. That’s not much to aspire to.”

  “You’re engaged to the love of your life, have two degrees and only need to work part-time to pay the bills. And you get to play Indiana Jones in your spare time with your work at the university. Most people around here have to work a full-time job and a part-time one. You got the dream life.”

  Raina cocked her head and studied her brother. “You can have the same if you move away from San Francisco. It’s the ten thousand dollars monthly mortgage payments that are making everyone feel like they’re just getting by. And there aren’t many opportunities for a good full-time job in a small town.”

  Win shrugged. “I still have plenty of time to think about that later. Have a good day, old maid.” He chuckled as he left the kitchen.

  Raina was still smiling when she got up to put away her dirty dishes. She’d always had an easy relationship with her younger brother, unlike the persnickety one she had with her older sister. Sometimes it felt like the two of them were from separate families. She shook her head, hoping to dislodge her sister from her thoughts. This wasn’t the time or place to worry about it. Her top priority was to make sure this wedding took place without a hitch.

  3

  A Fresh Dug Hole

  After her brother left for work, Raina went upstairs, pulled out her laptop and returned to the kitchen table. She got on the cloud drive and looked through the research folder until she found the file for the venues. She took a big sip of coffee and made calls. A couple of hours later, she leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling.

  Raina rubbed her temples. Nothing. Not even a measly hope for a cancellation at any location. With the huge Chinese population in the Bay Area, you would think there would be more venues that could accommodate four hundred guests. And lucky for her—she got to deliver this unwelcome message to the bride and the family.

  This was not her idea of a vacation from managing the Venus Café. She was supposed to meet up with cousins and friends—to visit, to eat at her favorite restaurants, to play with her niece—anything but this. She groaned out loud.

  On top of everything, there was the lingering task of planning her own wedding. Other than the date, Matthew wouldn’t commit to any actual plans. No, he actually said he would do whatever she wanted. But he didn’t sound excited about anything. She had a feeling he wanted something intimate and small. Not that he ever uttered those words. This was how she'd translated his grunts and bland smiles. Unlike Raina, he didn't have to worry about disappointing his family. He only had his grandma.

  “Are you okay?” Po Po asked, entering the kitchen and carrying several small packages from her shopping trip. She set them on the countertop but brought the pink pastry box over to the table.

  Raina straightened and untied the pink twine wrapped around the box of goodies. “Do you need help with the rest of the stuff?”

  Po Po waved dismissively at the packages. “They’ll keep. You know I don’t buy groceries.”

  Once her husband’s business took off, her grandma had employed a cook for over forty years. After a decade of putting up with burned and undercooked food, her husband had felt the expense saved their marriage. As the daughter of a wealthy rice merchant in China, Po Po didn’t spend time in a kitchen until she moved out. She even jokingly referred to the gap between the countertop and the refrigerator as the Grand Canyon.

  Raina bit into a pork bun. Yum. Too bad she had to ruin the moment by delivering the bad news. “If the winery is still closed on Saturday, Jung-yee will have to wait six months for the next available venue.”

  “Then the winery better open on Saturday,” Po Po said, grabbing an egg tart from the box.

  “I don’t think this is up to us to decide. We should set up a phone tree so that if we have to call off the wedding, we can disseminate the news quicker. The out-of-towners would need to cancel their flights and hotels.”

  Po Po shook her head. “We should help the police along.”

  Raina gaped at her grandma. She couldn’t be serious. “Someone executed the victim.”

  “I don’t see how this is any different from plain old murder.”

  “I don’t have time to investigate a murder. I’m the new wedding planner, remember?”

  “Lucy can take care of the wedding. She’s used to planning launch parties for consumer goods. The two of us need to focus on what we do best”—she wiggled her eyebrows—“finding a killer.”

  Raina didn’t want to encourage her grandma, but a part of her wanted the thrill that only came from unraveling a murder. The last few months of managing the café and making plans with her fiancé had been blissful…and dull, dull, dull. Even her grandma had gotten out of town to seek an adventure in Lucy’s hometown.

  “Well?” Po Po asked, bouncing in the chair with excitement. “Should I pull out my new murder kit? I got it on sale from eBay.”

  Raina bit her lower lip. Her grandma often thought of herself as a Miss Marple in training. She would rather jump in headfirst and worry about the danger later. It would be much safer for Raina to take the reins. It wouldn’t hurt to ask a few questions. Po Po could get a flash of excitement without putting either of them in danger, and Raina wouldn’t have to deal with the wedding. A win-win.

  “We should check out the crime scene. Maybe talk to the vineyard owner to see what he thinks will happen on Saturday,” Raina finally said.

  “You are not arguing with me?” Po Po asked.

  “No. I’m saving my breath to warm my stomach,” Raina said. She loved this Chinese proverb. When there was no point in arguing—like at the moment with her grandma—she was better off saving the effort.

  Po Po beamed and patted Raina’s cheek. “You’re such a good girl, Rainy.”

  Being a good girl was what got Raina into trouble in the first place. She couldn’t seem to say no to her family. Some people might call her a doormat, but her family was important to her. And they hadn’t yet asked anything she wasn’t willing to give.

  Besides, she hadn’t promised they would investigate the murder, only to ask a few questions. With Matthew busy with her male cousins today, she had no real plans to fill her time.

  She opened her laptop again and typed a suspect list.

  Husband. What happens to Arianna’s money upon her death?

  Business partner or money manager. What about the angel loans? Who else borrowed money from her? Does the borrower have to make payments
to the husband now?

  Po Po peered over Raina’s shoulder. “Trying to follow the money trail, huh? It’s a start until we find out more.”

  “I’m not sure how we can get the husband to talk to us.”

  “Can we pretend we’re Arianna’s business partners?”

  “That’s not a bad idea. Let ask Lucy to pull up information on Arianna through the PI databases.” Raina hit the save button and pulled out her cell phone.

  “I’ll be back in a jiffy. I got to get into my disguise. I’m thinking of going with the harmless little old lady look,” Po Po said.

  Raina studied her grandma. Her face was a well-traveled roadmap, but her silvery pixie haircut, skinny jeans, and off-the-shoulder blouse gave her a matured urbane look. Her grandma certainly looked too hip to be a little old lady. “Why do you need a disguise?”

  “First, the knitting needles make a handy weapon. Second, nobody notices an old lady in a crowd. Third, I can ask all the questions I want because I’m bored and nosy.” Po Po gestured at Raina’s outfit. “And you pull off the broke grad student look wonderfully, my dear.”

  Raina glanced at herself. She was wearing a well-worn T-shirt from Matthew and baggy shorts. She looked nothing like the young professionals in the city. Too bad it wasn’t a disguise.

  While Po Po was upstairs, Raina texted Lucy. Her foster cousin replied immediately to say she was on it. It was mighty convenient, having a private investigator in the family even if she was still in training. Lucy could probably investigate the murder more professionally than Raina and Po Po, but she had a wedding to plan. And she already got plenty of excitement with her day-to-day work.

  Raina texted the bridal party members to remind them to bring their outfits to the family dinner tonight. She wanted to drop the dresses and tuxedos off at the dry cleaners as soon as possible.

  Blue texted her back.

  Can you stop by my office this morning?

  I need to talk to you.

  Raina frowned at the message and replied.