Smoldering Flames and Secrets Read online

  “I can hear the gears churning. You’ll short circuit one day if you keep this up,” Blue said. “It was a simple question.”

  Raina gave him a cold stare. “Real funny. What was the name of the detective who came by asking you about Arianna Cobb’s death?”

  “A Detective Smith.” Blue shrugged. “Short little man. I don’t think he likes me.”

  Raina sighed. That’s right. Blue had given the detective’s name when they were in the closet of the restaurant. It didn’t register at the time. She was more concerned about the discovery of his connection to Matthew. “He doesn’t like anyone.”

  She gave him the basic details of the Martin Eng case and how she indirectly helped a triad leader. “Don’t you find it rather odd for a homicide detective to be available to take a police report?”

  “So you think this Smith person is here to get back at you?” Blue asked. He didn’t bother hiding the doubt from his voice.

  Raina gaped at him. What? This had nothing to do with her. “He’s a homicide detective. Who do we know is dead?”

  Blue’s eyes widened like someone turned on the lights. “Arianna Cobb?”

  “Ding-ding-ding.”

  He gave her a deadpan expression. “Ha-ha.”

  She grinned. “Sorry.”

  “Not all of us are ace detectives. There’s no need to rub it in. Just because I didn’t go to college doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” Blue clenched his jaw and looked out the window.

  Raina studied the side of his face. Where did this outburst come from? His reaction probably had nothing to do with what she actually said. “Which way do I turn now?”

  “Go straight and pull into the third driveway.”

  Raina pulled into the little shopping plaza and parked next to a late model gold Toyota Camry. She parked and turned to look at Blue. “Hey,” she said softly. “What is this about? Did one of my uncles have a talk with you?”

  Blue continued to stare out the window for half a heartbeat longer. When he glanced at her, his expression was resentful at best. “My father-in-law called. He wants me to tell Jung-yee to move home until the wedding.”

  “Why didn’t he call her?”

  “She’s not picking up their calls.”

  Raina grimaced. Her cousin was twenty-eight-years-old, but she dealt with her parents much like a teenager would by ignoring them. “Sorry.”

  “They made it sound like my apartment is a roach-infested hovel in West Oakland. Maybe you’ll want to douse your cousin for lice before the wedding.” He sounded bitter.

  “If you must give her a disease, give her pink eye. Then I wouldn’t look so hideous next to her in the bridesmaid dress.”

  The corner of Blue’s lips curled like he wanted to find her comment amusing. “I’m having second thoughts about this wedding.”

  “Why? My cousin isn’t the one?”

  “Oh, I know she is the one. I’m just not sure I want her family. Sorry, I know they are your family, too.”

  “No offense taken. The sheer volume of them and the expectations can be overwhelming even for someone who is part of the family. But think of it this way: no in-laws are perfect.”

  “I’m wondering if she’s having second thoughts, too,” he finally muttered. “She seems distracted.”

  Raina wanted to smack her forehead on the steering wheel. When did she sign up to be a marriage counselor? The two of them were acting like children. “Maybe you should talk to her. She thinks you’re having an affair.”

  Blue jumped as if Raina had stabbed him with her grandma’s knitting needles. He sputtered for a moment. “What? Why would she think that? Is someone feeding her lies about me?”

  “No one is spreading lies about you. You’re doing this to yourself. You’re hiding your business relationship with Arianna Cobb from your fiancée. You have been busy trying to raise money to repay the business loan. You looked stress and harried when you should be glowing. What else is she supposed to think? You should talk to my cousin about this.”

  “I don’t want to bother her with work.”

  “So you would rather look like somebody dragged you through a dirt road and threw rotten tomatoes at you. Of course, Jung-yee would assume you no longer want to marry her.”

  “But she already has enough on her plate with the wedding and now the break-in.”

  “You’re adding to the stress by not letting her in. That’s not how a marriage works.”

  Blue was silent for a long moment, and then he unbuckled his seatbelt. “Come on. Let’s go talk to Jason Cobb.”

  For all Raina knew, it went in one ear and out the other. If neither Jung-yee nor Blue wanted to take her advice, there wasn’t much else she could do to help them.

  Raina got out of the car and glanced at the storefronts. A chiropractic office, a dental office, a coffee shop, and two restaurants. She didn’t think Arianna was the type of woman to marry someone who would work in a coffee shop or a restaurant. “Are we seeing the dentist or the chiropractor?”

  Blue led the way to the chiropractor’s office. “I didn’t understand the match either. I always assumed Arianna would end up with someone more glamorous.”

  “Because she’s an ex-child star?”

  “Because she was a party girl when I met her.” Blue held open the door for Raina, and they stepped inside.

  Raina wanted to ask more questions about how he met Arianna. How would her lifestyle come up in a business deal in the first place? It wasn’t like they met at the dance club to discuss the terms for the angel loan. Could it be possible that Blue had more than just a business relationship with Arianna? She was a good fifteen years older than him, but in the photographs published by the newspapers, she was still an elegant-looking woman.

  They stepped into the chiropractor office. The man hunkered behind the receptionist desk had to be Jason Cobb. He gazed fixedly at the open manila file in front of him. They could have been robbers for all the attention he paid them.

  Jason was an unassuming man in his late forties. Brown eyes, brown hair with streaks of gray, and a beer belly. His head was as round as his stomach. He had the look of someone who was ordinarily jolly, but today, he wore his wife’s death on his ashen face.

  The eye bags and pasty complexion competed with his wrinkled clothes for attention. Why the guy was at work was beyond Raina’s comprehension. Maybe some people needed to work during a crisis for the distraction.

  Blue waved a hand in front of the manila folder, and Jason glanced up, blinking. “Can I help you?” He closed the file.

  “It’s me. Blue Luc. I’m a patient of yours,” Blue said, his voice full of concern. “Are you okay, man?”

  Jason nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’m closed today. Didn’t you see the sign?”

  Blue glanced at Raina and replied, “Your ‘Open’ sign is still showing. Do you want me to flip it around?”

  Jason nodded again. “Yeah, yeah. That would be great.”

  Raina could see what Blue meant by “more glamorous.” She wondered if the man might still be in shock.

  Blue went to flip the sign, and Jason went back to staring at a spot on the desk.

  Raina glanced around. At the countertop next to the sign-in sheet were a potted plant and a framed photo of a much slimmer Jason and Arianna. This photo showed a makeup-free woman with an arm around her husband, smiling quietly at the photographer. A woman who looked nothing like the newspaper photographs. Those had Arianna glammed up with a plaster of makeup and a brittle commercial-quality smile. The difference was stark and eerie. Which image of the woman was the correct one?

  Blue joined them again. “This is my friend Raina Sun. She is looking for a new chiropractor.” He glanced at Raina. This must be her cue to take over the questioning.

  Raina rubbed the back of her neck. “I must have slept funny because my neck is killing me.” Oops. Maybe killing was the wrong word choice.

  Jason shifted his glance from the countertop to Raina. His lower lip
trembled. “Sorry. The office is closed for the next week or so. I…my wife just died.” A tear rolled down his cheek. He ducked his head, wiping it.

  “I’m sorry,” Raina mumbled. Jason seemed too distressed for a man who was cheating on his wife. Was this an act? “Were the two of you married long?”

  “Only five wonderful years. It was Arianna's third marriage, but my first,” Jason said. His gaze locked onto Raina’s like he had to confess. He gestured at his body. “I don’t know what she saw in me, but I am the luckiest man. And I did everything I could to let her know how much I loved her.”

  Raina shifted from foot to foot. Should she ask about the affair? It seemed crass to bring it up at a time like this. But when would she get another chance to question him? “I read about your wife’s death in the papers. She’s a beautiful woman.”

  Jason nodded. “She was an angel.”

  Raina pretended to wrinkle her brows. “I don’t understand why the newspaper mentioned the affair.”

  Jason shot out of the chair. He towered over them at close to six feet tall. His hands curled into fists.

  Raina took a step back, and Blue moved closer to her. To protect her or to get away from the chiropractor?

  Jason leaned forward, placing both fists on the countertop. “Lies! They’re all lies. Arianna loved me. She didn’t have an affair.”

  Raina gaped at Jason. What? Before she could form another question, the buzzer at the entrance door chimed. She turned to see Smith looking at them with an unreadable expression on his face. Time to hightail it out of here. She could always come back another day to question Jason further. The last thing she wanted was to end up in the crosshairs of the police.

  She grabbed Blue by the forearm and towed him toward the exit. “I’ll come by when you’re open again, Jason. Thank you.”

  The light went out of Jason’s eyes, and he fell back into his chair. Luckily, the chair didn’t roll away from underneath him. He covered his face with his hands and appeared lost in his misery.

  Smith didn’t budge an inch. His gaze shifted between Raina and Blue. “Can I speak to the two of you outside for a moment?”

  “I’ve already told you everything I know. I don’t know what else you want from us,” Blue said.

  “Gentlemen, let’s take this outside,” Raina said, walking around the detective to open the door. “We shouldn’t disturb Jason any more than we have already.” The two men stepped through the threshold.

  As Raina let go of the door and turned to face them, a cruiser from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department pulled into the parking lot. Oh, no. Could her day get any worse? A bead of sweat rolled down the small of her back. It was bad enough having one police detective questioning her movements. But to have two was like winning the lottery to lead the charge to destroy the Death Star.

  11

  Spy vs Spy

  Detective Wise parked and got out. She sauntered over and joined them. “Smith, why am I not surprised to find you here?” While the words sounded friendly enough, but there was tension underneath the surface.

  Raina forced herself to become a statue, hoping the two police detectives would forget her presence. She hoped Blue would follow her lead. If there were a jurisdictional turf war going on between the two detectives, she didn’t want to be the jelly squeezed between the boulders.

  “Does your supervisor know you are conducting an unauthorized investigation?” Detective Wise asked. She was the same height as Smith and looked him square in the eye.

  Smith stiffened and clenched his jaw. When he finally spoke, his voice was measured and calm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Carol Jean.”

  His deliberate use of her name sounded like fighting words to Raina. Good thing she wasn’t part of the battle.

  But Detective Wise was made of sterner stuff. She arched an eyebrow. “Well, Bradley, I suggest you call your supervisor so he can explain it to you.”

  Raina bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. Bradley Smith? Given his diminutive physique, she would think his parents would give him a stronger name.

  “Jason Cobb is a chiropractor, and he takes walk-in appointments. I threw out my back and needed somebody to work on it.” Smith pointed at Raina. “Like her, I’m here for his services.”

  Detective Wise shifted her gaze to Raina. “Is that right?”

  Raina wanted to groan in frustration. The lowlife sleazeball ratted her out. She rubbed the back of her neck. “I need to upgrade my pillow to a Tempur-Pedic.” She pretended to wince in pain.

  Blue widened his eyes and held up both hands, palms first like he expected the detective to start shooting. “Dr. Cobb has been my doctor for the last three years.”

  This time Raina did groaned. If anyone could look more guilty, it was her former boyfriend. Even her grandma’s acting skills were much better than this. She made a mental note to not take him anywhere in the future.

  “But I can see Jason Cobb is distraught at the moment. I’ll have to come back at another time,” Smith said. He turned and strode to his unmarked vehicle.

  As he drove away, Detective Wise turned her attention to Raina and Blue. “Please don’t talk to him about Arianna’s homicide. Bradley Smith is on administrative leave with his department. You don’t want to get in the middle of an internal affairs investigation.”

  “What did he do? Shoot an unarmed man?” Raina asked. The words slipped out of her mouth before she had time to think it over.

  “I don’t discuss police business with civilians,” Detective Wise snapped.

  “Whoa! I didn’t mean to offend you. And now in hindsight, I can see how my word choice could be offensive for someone in law enforcement. My fiancé is a cop too, so I know how tight-knit the community is,” Raina said. Okay, she was babbling now. She shut her mouth, hoping she didn’t come across as guilty.

  Detective Wise regarded her for a long moment. “Matthew Louie?” At Raina’s nod, the tightness disappeared from around her eyes. She still wasn’t friendly, but at least she looked less Arctic.

  “And he’s my brother,” Blue added. “Though he doesn’t know about our connection yet, so don’t tell him.”

  “And you are?” Detective Wise asked. She wasn’t rough liked Smith, but she had a no-nonsense tone that made you squirm. They must teach the cadets to use this authoritative voice at the police academy.

  “My name is Sebastian Luc, but everyone calls me Blue.”

  “Oh, yes. The groom.” Detective Wise’s gaze shifted back to Raina. “How convenient that everyone is connected. Or maybe we’re connected because someone is revisiting the scene of the crime.” She raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “I hope you’re not planning to leave town?”

  “Of course not, ma’am,” Blue said, ducking his head.

  Detective Wise nodded and brushed past him and into the chiropractor’s office.

  Raina turned to Blue. “What was that?”

  Blue shrugged. “She carries a badge and has a gun. I don’t want to be a statistic for a police shooting.”

  Raina rolled her eyes and unlocked the car door. This investigation was getting stranger by the minute. “So if Smith is on administrative leave, why did he take our police report and interview you? And do we still need to call in for a real police report for the break-in?”

  Blue clicked on his seatbelt. “I say we let the police report go. There are more important things to worry about, and when Jung-yee isn’t at work, she’s safe enough with me.”

  A few minutes later, Raina was heading back to Blue’s construction office. She reviewed what Jason Cobb had said. He seemed genuinely distressed by his wife’s death. And from the way he looked, Arianna was several rungs above him on the attractive scale. “Blue, did you catch what Jason said about Arianna having an affair?”

  Blue nodded. “So she was raising cash for a divorce because she wanted to run off into the sunset with her new lover?”

  “That’s a possibility. I don’t kno
w much about the victim other than what was printed in the newspapers. Do you have any idea where her yoga studio is located?”

  “No, but it must be close to the Starbucks. Arianna said she walked there after class. I’ll text you the café’s address.”

  “That would be good. I want to talk to a few people at the yoga studio to see if anyone else noticed anything odd about Arianna’s recent behavior.”

  Blue took a deep breath. “Hey, I am so glad you are still willing to look into this murder. For a second, I thought Detective Wise scared you off the case.”

  “She hasn’t said anything to me about obstructing justice yet. So far, everything I told her could be true. I could be looking for a new chiropractor, and it was perfectly logical that you would introduce me to your chiropractor.”

  Blue gave her a lopsided smile. “Thank you all the same.”

  Raina dropped Blue off. At first, she had agreed to investigate for her cousin’s sake. Then, it was for her fiancé’s sake because Raina didn’t want Matthew to meet his half-brother for the first time with Blue behind bars. But now, she was in too far to stop. She hoped satisfaction brought the cat back because she feared, in this case, curiosity might kill the cat, especially if she became catnip between the two rival detectives.

  After Raina dropped off Blue, she texted her grandma to let her know she was on her way. When she got to Chinatown, she realized she hadn’t eaten lunch. It was close to two in the afternoon. She got behind the line waiting to get into the Portsmouth Square Plaza parking garage and texted her grandma again.

  In line for the Portsmouth lot.

  Will come by to get you.

  An entire lane for two city blocks became a temporary parking lot for the folks trying to get into the Chinatown underground public parking garage. While Raina waited, she texted Lucy to search for yoga studios near the Starbucks location. Within ten minutes, her foster cousin came back with two addresses. It was wonderful having a reliable assistant.