Balmy Darlings and Deaths: A Chinese Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 4) (2 page)

A red Miata—with her grandmother’s license plate—stuck out from the beauty salon side of the day spa, having shattered three of the glass storefront windows. Part of the black-and-white-striped canopy covered the car like a shroud.

A
knot settled
over Raina’s heart. She couldn’t breathe.
Oh, geez…
The words looped around her head like there was a glitch in the system. She raced over to the vehicle and peered in, but only the white of the deployed airbag was visible.

The hood was crushed in, and a hair salon chair sat on it like a cake topper. Glass littered the asphalt like worn confetti. She jumped over a piece of the taillight to grab the handle on the driver’s door and pulled, but the door didn’t budge. She jerked again, using her entire body, and it squeaked open.

Maggie Louie glanced up at Raina with a dazed look in her eyes and a bruise covering half her forehead. She blinked and her lower lip wobbled. “Oh, Rainy, my foot slipped.”

“It’s okay, Louie Po,” Raina said, using her childhood nickname for the dear lady who was like a second grandma to her. She sniffed—a mix of some kind of chemical powder and talcum powder. No gasoline. Her gaze shifted from Louie Po’s face to the rest of her body. No blood. No protruding bones. “How badly are you hurt?”

“I’m okay. I think your grandma will regret lending me her car.”

“Nah, she doesn’t drive much these days. Were you trying to back up?

Louie Po nodded and then grimaced in pain. “Do you think they’re going to take away my driver’s license?”

A wailing siren could be heard above the hubbub of conversation. “Is the driver okay?” someone called out from behind her.

“I think so,” Raina answered, glancing over her shoulder.

The crowd parted, and an ambulance pulled into the parking lot. Two emergency medical technicians hopped out. A police cruiser parked on the street, and Officer Joanna Hopper took command of the crowd.

“Don’t worry about the license. I can drive you around. We can make a girls’ day out of it.” Raina patted Louie Po’s shoulder. “The EMTs are here.”

Louie Po grabbed Raina’s hand. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere, but I need to let them check you out,” Raina said and backed away from the vehicle.

The EMTs spoke to Louie Po in hushed tones. They helped her out and walked her toward the ambulance. The elderly woman’s gaze searched the crowd like a caged animal, and Raina waved. Louie Po’s gaze locked in on her, and the pinched face eased. She returned her attention to the medical technicians.

Raina’s hands shook, and she tucked them under her armpits. The knot in her chest loosened as the EMTs went through their procedure to check Louie Po out. Oh, geez…

Another police cruiser arrived on the scene. Once the officers started questioning the witnesses, the crowd drifted away, leaving only a few unlucky stragglers. Across the street, peering out from the storefront windows of the Venus Café, Raina noted several familiar faces. A quick glance at the day spa showed Walt tapping at the monitor while four women lined up in front of him. LaShawna was one of the women in line. Raina dismissed the woman; she didn’t have the mental energy to care at the moment.

Raina studied the crowd, but didn’t see Eden. As the town’s reporter, her friend should be front and center with her digital voice recorder. She made a mental note to check on her friend later, but Louie Po was her first priority.

Officer Joanna Hopper sashayed over. Her blonde French braid swayed back and forth behind her like a cat’s tail. Her flinty gray eyes ran up and down the length of Raina, not to check for injuries, but in an assessment only she knew what on earth for because Officer Hopper was cute as a kitten—a kitten with sharp claws.

Raina knew her curly black hair, wrinkled T-shirt, and ripped jeans screamed slob to someone as meticulous as Officer Hopper, but grad school cost more than her weight in gold. And as far as Raina was concerned, they were no longer romantic rivals.

“Raina Sun, why am I not surprised to see you here? Did you witness what happened?” Officer Hopper asked.

“I was inside,” Raina said, ignoring the tone.

Officer Hopper lowered her voice. “Will you get in touch with Matthew?”

Raina sighed, looking heavenward. It would be so much easier to let Officer Hopper contact Louie Po’s grandson and Raina’s ex-husband—if you counted their twenty-four-hour marriage in Las Vegas. So much easier. But Matthew was in China making inquiries for Raina’s family, and it wouldn’t be right to let someone else deliver the news. “I’ll take care of it.”

She followed the ambulance to the hospital. Five hours later, she finally got a drugged Louie Po back to the senior condo complex. Other than a slight concussion and a sprained wrist, the elderly woman got off lucky. Raina got Louie Po settled in bed and returned to the living room to make calls. The first was to her grandma in San Francisco.

“How come you didn’t call me when you were at the hospital?” Po Po said. “I could be at Gold Springs by now.”

“Sorry, there were too many things going on—the forms, the questions from the doctors… I’ll stay with Louie Po until you get here.” Raina didn’t have romantic expectations from her ex anymore, but she dreaded hearing his voice again. She was supposed to watch out for his grandma while he was away, and she sure didn’t do a good enough job of it. “Someone should call Matthew.”

“No…I don’t think we need to contact him yet. You said Maggie is fine, so there’s nothing he could do anyway. She’ll hate having him fuss over her.”

While Po Po might know her BFF better than anyone else, Raina wondered how much of the comment was pure mercenary. If Matthew returned before he could track down Raina’s deceased grandfather’s other family in China, it would delay Po Po’s discovering why and how her husband of fifty years managed to keep this secret from her.

“He would be upset if we didn’t call him. I have a feeling he asked more than one person to keep an eye on his only surviving family,” Raina said.

Po Po sighed as if resigned. “You’re probably right.”

“Is Mom…would Mom be okay with you leaving San Francisco?” Raina hadn’t spoken to her mother in months—not of her own volition—since the fiasco during Chinese New Year.

“She’s fine. I got her involved in a new club…a ladies club.”

Raina waited for her grandma to explain, but Po Po said her goodbye and hung up. Her grandma probably wanted to start packing. She went to check on Louie Po. The elderly woman slept soundly, silver hair fanned out on the silk pillow, a remnant from her more affluent youth. The bruise on the side of her face drew the eye like a beacon.

Raina tiptoed back into the living room and looked around the tidy one-bedroom condo for something to straighten. Small rosewood pieces mixed in with the beige of IKEA furniture not in an eclectic style, but as a testament to reduced circumstances for the elderly woman.

Her eye strayed to the framed photo of Matthew in his dress uniform for his Marine’s graduation on the side table next to the sofa. Her heart lurched at the familiar smile. He was her first boyfriend and probably the love of her life. Too bad he didn’t feel the same way. And having grandmothers who were neighbors and best friends made things awkward in the best situations.

She returned the photo and reached for her purse. It rang, and pipa music floated into the air. It always made her smile to hear the Chinese string instrument.  The call was from Eden. “Hey, girl. How are you doing?” Should she bring up the incident at Myra Jo’s office this morning? Did she want to deal with it now when she hadn’t even caught a breath since Louie Po’s car accident?

“Rainy?” Eden’s voice sounded strained. “I need your help. The police are on their way to ask me some questions.”

Raina hung up, scribbled a note, and left it on the side table next to the bed so Louie Po wouldn’t worry when she woke to an empty home. The short drive along Second Street could have been a peaceful interlude since everything that happened after this morning, but she was distracted by Eden’s phone call. Why would the police be interested in talking to her friend?

She hung a left on Main Street. She squinted at vehicles parked outside the Inner Beauty Day Spa and Salon. The string of small lights lining the streets in the downtown area were more for ambiance than illumination, and the front porch light on the day spa was off. She slowed as she approached and made out the CSI lettering on the van and the two police cruisers. Strange. Why would they be back at this time of day? If not for Eden’s call, Raina would have pulled over nearby to see what was going on.

At the edge of the historic downtown area, Raina pulled into her assigned parking spot at the small apartment complex. The eight units faced each other over a small courtyard like two lines of boys and girls at a school dance. Raina’s unit was across from Eden’s, and her friend’s front door was wide open. Eden sat on the sofa and faced a standing Officer Hopper. Raina couldn’t see anyone else from her angle.

The smooth dark skin of Eden’s face gave nothing away, but Raina knew her friend well enough to know she vibrated with tension. Normally her friend would fire rapid questions at the police to get the information she needed for her story. But today, she was subdued and seemed eager for the police to finish up their business.

Raina popped into her friend’s apartment, waving to Officer Hopper like this was a friendly visit. Detective Sokol was inside leaning against the wall, arms across his chest. “Eden, are we still on for dinner?” It was the first thing that popped into her head.

Eden glanced at the police. “Are we done? I have plans for the evening.”

Officer Hopper raised an eyebrow as if she knew a ruse when she saw one. “Who’s looking after Maggie Louie?”

“She’s napping,” Raina replied cheerfully, ignoring the disapproving look. “Are you here to ask follow-up questions about the accident—”

“We’re not here for the car accident,” Detective Sokol said. “Someone strangled her. The bruise marks around the neck—”

Officer Hopper kicked her temporary partner. “We’re not here to discuss police business with civilians.”

Detective Sokol opened his mouth as if he wanted to argue. He could be a younger version of Danny Devito—short, middle age, dark brown hair—except for the jowls that a Pug would be jealous of. He was promoted to detective in the Criminal Intelligence and Organized Crime Unit—which sounded impressive, but with a fourteen-person police force, everyone headed a unit—less than a year ago.

Raina studied the interplay between the police. What the heck happened while she was at the hospital? A CSI unit at the day spa, and now the police questioning her friend? Did the bruise marks on someone’s neck mean there’d been a murder? “I thought you were in criminal intel,” she addressed the detective. She widened her eyes in mock horror. “Is the day spa a front for the Italian Mafia?” She was only half joking.

“Actually, I’m temporarily assigned to homicide to help out while Matthew Louie is on leave,” Detective Sokol said.

Raina struggled to keep a smile on her face. Homicide? “Who got strangled?”

“I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon enough,” Officer Hopper said. “Thank you for your time, Miss Small. Please don’t make any plans to leave town.”

The police left, and Eden’s head sank down into her hands. The bald spot on her weave drew Raina’s gaze like a beacon. She had to force herself to glance around the apartment. When did the television armoire move into the bedroom? The apartment was silent without even a ticking clock to fill in the space.

Raina cleared her throat. “What’s going on? Are you a witness—or a murder suspect?”

E
den lifted her head
, defeat written all over her face. “I don’t know.”

Raina resisted the urge to ask additional questions. Her friend was finicky about her privacy. It was okay for her to be nosing into someone’s business, but not the other way around. If Raina insisted, her friend would withdraw even further from her and go into Lone Ranger mode. Time to try another tactic. “I got frozen pork pot stickers. You want to come over in fifteen minutes?”   

Eden shook her head, her gaze inward. “Sorry, I’m not in the mood. I need to call Taylor.”

Raina hunched down until her face was at the same level as her friend’s and softened her tone. “Food always makes everything better. Your boyfriend can wait. It will not take you more than ten minutes to eat.” Her friend was notorious for wolfing down food like it was her last meal. “You asked for my help, and here I am. Let me help you.”

“Not now, Rainy. Please…” Eden’s voice wobbled, and she swallowed. “I will tell you about it tomorrow.”

“I’ve never seen you like this before, and I am concerned. So plan on seeing my face first thing in the morning. I’ll camp outside your bedroom window if I have to.” Eden smiled at Raina’s attempt to lighten the mood, but it still stung that her best friend would rather share this bad news with her boyfriend first.

“Thank you. Your friendship means a lot to me. I’ve made bad choices before, and I need to figure out if I want to double down first,” Eden said. “You’ve helped me enough by getting rid of the police for me this evening. Without you, they might have stayed longer.”

Raina hugged her friend, struggling to not tear up after the day’s events. Bad luck came in threes, and she hoped this was the last of it. First, Eden got attacked by that jealous woman, then there was the car accident, and now the police visit about a strangulation. Her problems seemed so small in comparison. She trotted across the courtyard to her unit to grab a change of clothes and called the Venus Café to order takeout for herself and Louie Po.

She parked in front of her favorite restaurant. Across the street, the CSI van pulled out from the parking lot of the Inner Beauty Day Spa. Raina got out of her battered Honda, frowning at the plywood patch on the side of the building where the Miata had run into it.

The police wouldn’t send a CSI unit to process a minor car accident. If Louie Po had run into someone, an officer would have gotten in touch with her by now. No, whatever was going on had nothing to do with the car accident. Detective Sokol had let slip someone got strangled. What if the car accident provided the distraction someone needed? But who died?

Maybe she could ask around at the Venus Café. Raina glanced at the Help Wanted sign on the way into the cafe. As she strolled up to the counter, the buzz of conversation from the other diners in the restaurant drew her attention. She barely even notice the naked nymphs painted on the walls.

“…horrible accident…treatment room…”

“…where’s the sister…”

“…poor boy…”

By the time Raina got to the counter, her shoulders were tense from the strain of listening in on the surrounding conversations. The gossip sounded much worse than she’d initially thought. Who died?

Brenda Sullivan, her friend and co-owner of the cafe, handed Raina the plastic bag full of food containers. As she rang up the tab on the cash register, she asked, “How is Maggie Louie doing?”

“Just a mild concussion. She’s at home resting.”

“I thought you’re supposed to keep them up after a concussion.”

“The doctor said it’s okay to sleep as long as she’s alert and can hold a conversation before sleeping. Arguing with me about whether to call her grandson fits the bill.” Raina leaned in. “What happened across the street? Why is there a CSI van?”

“Give me a second.” Brenda turned around and stuck her head through the swinging doors to the kitchen. She had a quick muffled conversation and came back. “I need a break anyway.” As she stepped around the counter, her husband came out to fill in for her.

Her friend led Raina through the double swinging doors and into the stainless steel kitchen. She poured them each a cup of coffee and led the way to a small corner office. It was more of a cubicle set aside in a corner with a desk and a standing filing cabinet. The clanging pots and pinging flatware hitting the sink kept Brenda company every time she had to do paperwork or make a call.

Raina leaned forward in her seat. “What happened?”

Her friend sipped her coffee, sighing and wiggling her toes.

“Brenda! You’re killing me,” Raina said.

Her friend chuckled. “All right.” The amusement left Brenda’s face. “Did you see the line of women canceling their appointments and demanding refunds after the car accident?” At Raina’s nod, she continued, “Everyone left, and it was just Officer Hopper in the parking lot, filling out forms in her cruiser, when Ryan came flying out of the day spa. Then the two of them rushed inside. Next thing, the EMT was here again.”

“Who died?”

“It was LaShawna Robertson. She died in the treatment room.” Brenda took a sip, her shaking hand sloshing coffee down the side of the mug. “Someone strangled her.”

Raina sat back, a hand over her mouth.
Oh, no.
Someone must have taken advantage of the car accident as a diversion to do the dirty deed. And after a public brawl, no wonder the police questioned Eden like a suspect. “Was LaShawna strangled with bare hands or a weapon?”

“The police are keeping mum at the moment. What will happen to her little boy? They used to come by for a muffin at the beginning of every month.”

“Why once a month?”

Brenda shrugged. Talking about the routines of her customers seemed to calm her down.

“Don’t worry about the boy. He’ll end up with his father. Who found the body?”

“One of the stylists. Claire? Connie?” Brenda paused, giving Raina a sideways glance. “Everyone had been talking about the fight between Eden and LaShawna. Do you know anything about it?”

Share and share alike. The currency of the small town. Since there were several other witnesses, Raina told her friend about LaShawna barging into the spa, but kept quiet on Eden’s termination. This part would come out soon enough without her disclosing it

Brenda tsked, shaking her head in concern. “Your friend is in trouble all right. Will Phil keep her on at the newspaper?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Raina said even though her stomach sank. Did her friend offend someone’s ancestors? Her luck seemed to go from bad to worse.

Brenda shrugged. “It depends. It’s one thing to report on a murder, but it’s another to be a murder suspect. I’m not sure how the advertisers would react when they have to interact with Eden for their placement.”

“But not you?”

“I've been on the other end of the microscope. In a small town, your reputation means everything,” Brenda said. She was referring to the dark side of small town living she’d experienced last Christmas when her husband was a suspect of a hit-and-run accident. “I better get back to the counter or Joe will get overwhelmed. He prefers being in the kitchen.”

Raina followed her friend back into the dining area. “Everything okay with you?”

Brenda faltered and gave her a sideways glance. “Everything is fine. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Raina didn’t answer the rhetorical question. She felt a wave of guilt for bringing up the child. Brenda and her husband found each other later in life—marrying in their late thirties—and had been trying to have one of their own for years now. And after last Christmas’ fiasco with the foster child, children might not be in their future. She gave her friend a hug. “Take care of yourself.”

When she got to the senior condo complex, Raina carried her overnight bag and the takeout bag upstairs. As she opened the front door, she heard a moan from the direction of the restroom. She dropped the bags by the threshold and rushed inside.
Oh, no…

Louie Po sprawled on the floor between the tub and toilet. Sweat matted the silver hair. Her arms wrapped around the toilet, as she strained to pull herself up. When she glanced at Raina, her expression was sheepish. “I can’t get up.”

Raina smiled at the elderly woman even though her heart hadn’t stopped pounding with fear. This was all her fault. She should have been here. “Are you hurt?”

“No. My foot slid out from underneath me. I think there might be a bruise on my hip where it landed on the floor.”

Raina grabbed Louie Po Po underneath her armpits and hauled her up. She wrapped an arm around the elderly woman's waist, and they shuffled back into the bedroom. By the time Louie Po collapsed onto her pillow with exhaustion, Raina was drenched in sweat. She returned to the living room for an ice pack and closed the front door.

They had a quiet dinner—Louie Po in bed and Raina perched on a chair next to her. Afterwards, the elderly lady said Raina was a good girl and fell asleep. Raina tiptoed back into the living room and curled up on the sofa with a lap blanket. Her eyes grew heavy, and she welcomed the promise of sleep.

The doorbell rang. Raina yawned and got up. When she opened the front door, Po Po and Frank Small, Eden's grandfather, stood at the threshold. Raina smiled for the first time since this morning. At times like this, family was a blessing to distribute the weight of responsibility.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you until tomorrow morning, Po Po, but I’m so glad you’re here.” Raina ushered them into the living room, dragging her grandmother’s red suitcase. “Louie Po is asleep.”

Po Po was in her seventies, but lost or gained a decade as it suited her. She tapped her pimp cane—a dark hardwood with a golden horse statuette on its head—in front of her and followed Raina into the living room. Her face, normally mischievous and open, was frowning, deepening the wrinkles into unknown ravines.

“I hopped on the train as soon as I got your message.” Po Po jerked a thumb at Frank. “I figured it would be easier if I got a ride from the train station from someone else.”

Raina blushed, heat rising from her chest to her neck. Her grandmother hadn’t wanted her to leave Louie Po alone, and this was exactly what she did by rushing to Eden's side. Even as she told them what happened from the time she’d received Eden’s phone call to now, she would sense her grandma’s mood dropping even further.

“I’m sorry,” Raina said. “I didn’t think she would wake up before I got back. She’s fine now, but I think we should have a doctor check on her again. I didn’t feel a break on her ankle, and there was no swelling. I think she was too exhausted to get up from the floor once she fell.”

Po Po’s face and tone were grim. “I better check on her.”

As soon as her grandmother was out of earshot, Frank whispered, “What is this business with my granddaughter?”

Raina studied the elderly man. Ex-military and in good shape, Frank Small was still a presence to reckon with. His dark skin, dark eyes, and a head full of snowy white hair made him quite the catch in the geriatric crowd. Too bad he wasn’t dating her grandma. “I’ll know more tomorrow after Eden and I chat.”

“She’s probably a murder suspect. And without Matthew, I’m not sure she’ll get a fair shake. Will you help her?”

“Only if she wants me to. I wouldn’t want to butt in where I’m not wanted. You know how finicky she can get with her privacy. It’s okay for her to intrude on me, but not the other way around.”

“Eden will not ask for help. I don’t know where she got her trust issues from...or lack of it. But she can’t do it alone, not with her…personality.”

“What are you trying to say, Frank?” Raina wanted her friend’s grandfather to spell it out to her. She didn’t want Eden to accuse her of being a busybody later on.

“Eden has offended too many people in this town in her pursuit of ‘news.’ People will not talk to her. She’ll carry on her own investigation, but you’ll be by her side the entire time. Between the two of you, I’m sure this will get straightened out in no time.”

“Eden is the first friend I made when I moved to town. I would do anything to help her, but isn’t this a police matter? Shouldn’t we wait for them to do their job?”

“Detective Sokol is too green and does everything by the book. Eden needs this business wrapped up. She wouldn’t be able to do her job with everyone wanting to interview the reporter on the details of her rivalry with LaShawna. I can’t believe my granddaughter would be stupid enough to get mixed up in this business.”

“Love makes fools of us all. Eden wouldn’t be the first or last woman to let a man get her into trouble. And besides, she did nothing wrong. Taylor and LaShawna weren’t together when they started dating.”

“What about the home-wrecker comment? In my youth, a woman would be an outcast for having such a label.”

“Maybe LaShawna felt like she still had a claim on Taylor. I don’t know. I’m glad we’re in the U.S. rather than a remote village in China. In my grandma’s youth, these villagers still tested an adulterous woman’s innocence by wrapping her in a net and throwing her in the river. Apparently innocence floats.”

Frank shuddered. “Sounds like the Dark Ages.”

“I’ll stop by the day spa tomorrow and see if I can find out anything,” Raina said. “But in the meantime, I need you to keep an eye on Louie Po and Po Po. They might be best friends, but they fight like caged lions when one of them isn’t feeling well. It’s suppressed worry and concern.”

“What does Po means? You used it on both ladies. I thought it was a nickname for your grandma.”

“Po is the formal title for maternal grandma and also a term of respect for an elderly woman. The maternal side of the family gets the short end of the stick because the titles have dual meanings. You can place someone’s rank in the family by the titles they call their relatives.”

Frank nodded thoughtfully and struck out a hand. “Do we have a deal? You take care of Eden and I take care of Maggie Louie?”

“What about Po Po?”

He grimaced. “She’s your nut to crack.”

Raina shook his hand, hoping she projected confidence. When her grandma was worried, her eccentricity magnified tenfold as if she were dazzling them with her outrageous behavior so they couldn’t see the fear eating at her on the inside.