Balmy Darlings and Deaths: A Chinese Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 4) (5 page)

R
aina opened
her mouth to scream—only to have LaShawna put a meaty hand over her mouth and another on her arm, dragging her into the treatment room. The scream died in her throat when she realized the other woman cast a shadow. LaShawna’s skin was balmy and cool. Not a ghost. This, Raina could deal with.

“If you keep quiet, I’ll let you go,” LaShawna whispered in a husky voice made for phone sex. “Nod if you understand me.”

Raina nodded, forcing her body to relax.

LaShawna released her, hands hovering and ready for action.

Raina stepped aside until the massage table stood between them. She studied the other woman—cool as an ice cream cone in a walk-in freezer.

In dim lighting and at first glance, this person could be mistaken for LaShawna with her high cheekbones and big fawn eyes. But on closer inspection, the square face was a tad narrower and the skin tone appeared more russet than bronze.

“Are you LaShawna’s sister or cousin?” Raina asked.

“Sister. I’m her fraternal twin, Denise.”

“So are you the good twin or the evil one?” Raina asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

Denise stared at Raina as if she were the missing village idiot. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Raina gestured at the bucket in the doorway. “I’m here to clean the room. There’s a bridal party coming in tomorrow.”

Denise narrowed her eyes. “Is it the Rodriquez party?”

Raina shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m just the hired help.”

“What’s your name again?”

“Raina Sun.”

Denise studied her, tapping her lower lip. “I know you…you’re Eden’s friend. The nosy one with the fireball hair…”

“Are we playing six degrees of separation?”

Denise flicked a glance at Raina’s head. “She talked about your hair.”

“What?” Raina reached for her hair and caught herself the last minute. Her hand hung midair until she forced it back to her side. When did she end up in a bad sitcom episode? “What are you doing here? Does Myra Jo know you’re here?”

“You think I would grab you if I’m here legit?” Denise continued on. “The two of us need to talk. What time is your shift over?”

Raina frowned. Why would Denise want to have a chat with her? Did she want the details on what happened between Eden and LaShawna before her death? “At two, but I have to be somewhere afterward.”

“I need to pick up my nephew from the day care this afternoon. He’s living with me now that my sister…is gone.”

“What do you want with me?”

Denise pulled out a receipt from her purse and wrote something on it. She held out the paper. “Let’s catch up on Monday. I need to pick up my nephew from the babysitter. I can help you.”

Raina glanced at the phone number and pocketed the receipt.
Help me with what? The murder investigation?
“Where was your nephew when you got the news?” Taylor’s alibi was his son.

Denise took a shuddering breath. “He was with his dad.” Her large eyes flickered above Raina’s shoulder.

“What are you doing here, Denise?” Myra Jo said from behind Raina. The tone was sharp, vibrating in the room meant for hushed conversations.

Denise straightened to her full height of five foot eleven. “Did you kill my sister? Did her success threaten your business?” Her eyes narrowed as she spat her accusations.

“How dare you? I had nothing to do with your sister’s death. She came to pick a fight with one of my employees. She’s lucky I didn’t throw her as—”

“I told the police you trashed LaShawna’s beauty salon last weekend,” Denise interrupted. “And accused her of undercutting your prices and stealing your clients. You were lucky Taylor held onto my sister, or she would have kicked your as—”

Myra Jo laughed, a bitter and harsh bark. “Beauty salon? It’s a shed with two chairs. She’s lucky I didn’t call the police on her for operating an unlicensed business.”

“So you’re telling me the Rodriquez party didn’t make a booking for tomorrow? That was a fifteen hundred dollar booking.”

Raina’s eyes widened and her head pivoted between the two women. Fifteen hundred was a way better deal than the five thousand Myra Jo wrangled from the bride minutes ago. She tried to fade into the background so they could keep at it.

“You’re being ridiculous. I wouldn’t kill someone for a one-time booking.”

“Maybe not, but now you have Ricky without his mom in the picture.”

“I want LaShawna alive as much as Taylor does. Neither one of us wants to be a full-time parent.”

Denise raised her an eyebrow. “And so I get to fill in for LaShawna. Thank you very fu—”

“Oh, stop pretending to be the martyr.”

Denise stalked out of the room, ramming against Myra Jo with her shoulder like a linebacker.

The spa owner yelped, grabbing her side. “Hey, watch where you’re going.”

The bell above the glass front door jangled, and the door slammed.

Raina gave her boss a wide-eyed blink. LaShawna had been Myra Jo’s business rival? Whoa, she hit the jackpot. “Do you want me to get an icepack?”

Myra Jo waved aside her suggestion, rubbing her shoulder. “Did you let her in?”

“No. Did Walt?”

“He left an hour ago to run an errand for his grandma.”

“Did she just accuse you of murdering LaShawna?”

“Denise is lashing out. I had nothing to do with LaShawna’s death.” Myra Jo pressed the palm of her hand on her forehead. “Why couldn’t the woman have died somewhere else?”

“Was there someone in the restroom when you were clearing out the building? Did you see the killer?”

“What are you talking about? I was outside looking at the car accident.” Myra Jo gestured at the white powder on the massage table. “Better get on with it if you still want to leave by two. The place needs to be ready for business tomorrow morning.”

Raina frowned at the spa owner’s retreating back. Why would Walt lie about seeing Myra Jo checking the restroom? She frowned. Was Myra Jo outside at the time? Just because Raina didn’t see the spa owner didn’t mean it wasn’t true. She should ask around the Venus Café to see if someone else had noticed who was outside the building on Wednesday. And if she wanted to be fair, Eden didn’t have an alibi either.

Her hands curled around the receipt in her pocket. That chat with Denise on Monday couldn’t come fast enough. What did she mean when she said she could help?

* * *

A
couple hours later
, Raina grabbed her purse from her assigned locker. As she passed Myra Jo’s office, she stuck her head in and said, “I’m heading out. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

The spa owner glanced up from her computer. Spread across the desk was a file of paperwork an inch thick. “Please get here by six to get the beauty salon ready for the bridal party.”

“I didn’t know LaShawna was a business rival. I hope her death doesn’t make more trouble for you. Like I said before, I would like to keep this job.”

Myra Jo sniffed. “She operated out of her shed, doing weaves for women and selling makeup at bargain prices. She’s not even in the same league.”

“But she was your nephew’s mother.”

“What’s your point?”

Raina ticked the points off her fingers, deliberately choosing fighting words. “She died in your day spa. She’s a business rival whose business you trashed. And she has full custody of your nephew. These are plenty of motives for murder. If you’re not on the police’s radar yet, I’m sure you will be soon.”

“Only a fool would believe I have anything to do with that woman’s death, especially in my own establishment.”

“But Detective Sokol is on the case. Just having him poke around would be bad for business. And I know how he is—once he gets an idea in his head, it’s hard to shake it out of his head. My ex-boyfriend works with him, and I used to see him all the time at their annual picnic.” She made up the last part, but it lent credibility to her assessment of the new detective’s character. She had no idea if it were true or not, but her boss didn’t know this either.

“What do you think I should do?”

“Do you have an alibi? I was right behind you and Eden at the time of the car accident, but I lost sight of you between the hallway and the front door.”

Myra Jo tapped on the side of her leg with her index finger. “I went to clear out the restroom.”

Raina studied her new boss. What a horrible liar. First, she should have worked out the details of her cover story beforehand with her alibi. Second, since she’d already admitted to not being in the restroom, backpedaling now wouldn’t help the situation. Did she think people would forget what was said before? And finally, she’d dismissed LaShawna’s homebrew business, but the huge discounts there must have business from the day spa, or why would Myra Jo check out the competition last weekend?

Time to put pressure in the cooker. Raina frowned, pretending to puzzle over something. “I thought you were outside looking at the car accident, same as everyone else.  Wasn’t that what you said earlier?”

Myra Jo licked her lower lip. “Yes, after I checked the restroom. You can ask Walt. He saw me.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. The police would have no reason to suspect you since you have an alibi for your whereabouts. See you tomorrow.”

As Raina biked home to clean herself up before Matthew came to pick her up, she decided it was time to put the squeeze on Walt. Maybe he would be as good a liar as Myra Jo.

Matthew showed up two thirty on the dot. The man could have been born with a clock strapped to his back. He held out an iced coffee from the Venus Cafe. “Ready to go?”

Raina locked her front door and followed him to the Jeep parked next to the curb. The condensation on the plastic cup in her hand did little to cool the beating of her heart. She couldn’t believe, after all this time, he could still have this kind of effect on her. Would the feeling ever go away?

Matthew gripped the steering wheel as if it might float away. A lock of his black hair fell across his forehead, and Raina glanced away to stare out the window.

He claimed he wasn’t a family man, but the yoke of responsibility would tighten further when Maggie eventually became blind. And of course, he would do it alone because he couldn’t trust anyone with his vulnerability. You would think a decade of saving the world for the federal government would teach him about teamwork.

They trudged up the flight of stairs to the doctor and were told to wait in his office. The doctor was behind on his schedule.

“How is your day going so far?” Matthew asked.

Raina told him about her findings so far with the murder investigation.

“So Myra Jo could have killed LaShawna for being a business rival. But why would Walt cover up for his boss?” he asked.

“To keep his job?” Raina shrugged. “So he could keep selling his pot to wealthy women? Those two are good enough reasons if he doesn’t think he would get caught.”

“Could Eden have killed her romantic rival? Taylor and LaShawna shared a child together. They are bonded together for the rest of their lives through the son whether they like it or not.”

“Eden would never kill over a man.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“She doesn’t love him enough.”

He raised an eyebrow. “People murder for more than love. How do you know her pride didn’t kill LaShawna? Just don’t let your friendship blind you to facts. Unless you’re in the relationship, you don’t know what happens behind closed doors.”

T
he door opened
, and the doctor rushed in. “Thanks for waiting.” He dropped into his chair like he hadn’t sat all day. He grabbed a file from the credenza behind him and flipped it open, glancing at the notes.

Matthew reached over and grabbed Raina’s hand. He patted it as if she were the one who needed his support.

The air conditioner kicked on, a great whooshing sound that stirred the wisp of hair over the doctor’s bald spot. Footsteps faded from the hallway outside the office and then appeared again.

Raina’s stomach churned with the tension rolling off of Matthew. The doctor continued to peruse the file like he had all the time in the world. She gave Matthew a sideways glance, noting the clenched jaw. He stroked her hand like one did a lapdog or a man needing a lifeline.

She dragged her gaze to the framed smiling family photo on the credenza. The ultimate prize…and yet so out of reach. Tears formed in her eyes, and she blinked rapidly to hide them.

“I want to run some tests on Maggie’s retinitis pigmentosa,” the doctor said. “I suspect it’s much worse than she let on.”

Raina almost sagged back into her chair at the inaudible prick of the bubble. Finally! She sneaked another glance at Matthew.

He appeared frozen, his mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out. If things weren’t so serious, she would tease him about mimicking a fish. She squeezed his ice-cold hand with all her strength and broke whatever spell he was in.

“How much time does she have left?” he whispered.

The doctor stared at them in confusion. “Retinitis pigmentosa is not fatal. I don’t see why she couldn’t live to her full life expectancy.”

Raina kicked Matthew in the shin. What was wrong with the man? Geez, he was acting as if his grandma were dead already. “He meant how much time does she have left before she becomes completely blind?”

“I can’t say. That’s why I need these tests done. Maggie is in denial. I also think she’s worried about the payment since the specialist is out of our network. The specialist is in Sacramento, and maybe she’s afraid to drive to the appointments,” he paused, giving them a pointed look.

“I can take her to the appointments. My schedule is flexible,” Raina said.

“Or it might be a matter of paperwork with Medicare. The sooner we get started, the better.”

“How can I convince her if you can’t?” Matthew asked.

“You’re family.” The doctor stood, grabbing another file. “Have Maggie call my office as soon as you can.”

They left the doctor’s office in silence. Matthew still held Raina’s hand like he’d forgotten about it. He trudged back to the car, leading them at his pace. She studied his hunched shoulders and downcast eyes. Geez, he acted as if the world ended. She didn’t know whether to hug or slap him.

As they approached her car, she let go of his hand and he unlocked the Jeep.

“That went well,” Raina said.

He grunted in response.

Oh, great, Mr. Caveman. “What is wrong with you? This is the best possible outcome given the other possibilities,” Raina said.

Matthew turned to glare at her. “Are you listening to yourself? My grandma is going blind—”

“And she will live to her full life expectancy. You have another fifteen to twenty years with her. Buck up, Buttercup.”

“You don’t understand—”

Raina scowled at him. “I wanted to wallow when my dad died. But I had a baby brother, a mom with a broken heart, and a sister who fell apart. Life is tough. Suck it up or get off the road so I can drive. If Louie Po can’t count on you, she can certainly count on me and Po Po.” She jerked open the passenger door and got in.

She crossed her hands, glaring out at the parking lot. Her chest heaved from her outburst, and she fought to hold the tears at bay. 

The driver door slammed shut, and Matthew settled into his seat. “Where do you want me to drop you off?” His voice was gruff with a tinge of embarrassment.

Raina kept her face averted. “The senior condos.”

Matthew started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. The drive was silent, but it suited Raina since she didn’t want talk. She wasn’t sure why she was upset. He wanted a boohoo party, and she refused to give it to him. He dropped her off with a mumbled thanks. Sometimes the man could be such a big baby.

The grandmas were downstairs at the senior center, holding court while Po Po’s arch nemesis—her grandma’s own words—threw sharp looks in their direction every few minutes from the far corner.

Raina made no effort to join them from the doorway and took a backward step into the hall so her grandma couldn’t see how upset she was before she got her emotions under control. Guilt made her stomach churn, but she couldn’t help Matthew—not this time.

He wanted a security blanket while he navigated his grandma’s health issues, but she wasn’t it. And being so readily available would only make him take her for granted. Self-preservation didn’t have to make her a heartless witch. She could still help Louie Po without her grandson knowing anything about it.

Raina took a deep breath, feeling much better with her decision, when the lobby door opened behind her. She turned to see Walt heading toward her with a takeout bag from the Thai restaurant.

“Hey, is this the first time I’ve seen you here?” Raina greeted him. “Which one is yours?” She jerked a thumb toward the open double doors of the recreation room.

Walt waved at Janice Tally—the arch nemesis. Why was Raina not surprised by how her luck ran these days?

Mrs. Tally was a bird of a woman with big round glasses and a mean little walker. She had no fear of rolling on toes and stabbing people’s backside with the knitting needles she kept in a pouch on the walker.

Walt hurried to Mrs. Tally and hovered near her elbow as she made her way toward Raina, pushing the walker in front of her like a battering ram.

Mrs. Tally peered at Raina above her thick glasses. “Bonnie’s granddaughter, right? Are you single? Walt here is a catch—he’s putting himself through college, but he has a lot of potential.” She muttered under her breath, “Any girl is better than nothing.”

Walt smiled good-naturedly at his grandmother’s attempt at matchmaking. There was not even a hint of interest on his face. Mrs. Tally didn’t appear to notice or care.

“I’m not his type,” Raina said. “I’m not manly enough.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, almost daring her to out him. The brittle smile on his face looked as if he was ready to crack. “What do you mean?”

The hair on the back of Raina’s neck stiffened, and she almost shivered at the animosity rolling off of her coworker. It would take a much stronger woman than her to tell Mrs. Tally that her grandson was gay.

“I wouldn’t want to be called a cougar,” Raina said, and curled a hand next to her face to mimic claws and growled.

“Can’t expect much from Bonnie’s loins,” Mrs. Tally muttered again. Obviously, she thought other people’s hearing must be on par with those of her peers.

Po Po was right—her arch nemesis didn’t have a sense of humor. Raina almost laughed at being labeled the village idiot in Mrs. Tally’s mind.

Walt chuckled, but his flinty eyes watched her as if she were an uncaged wild animal.

Mrs. Tally grinned at Raina, exposing her stained dentures. “Do you have any plans this evening, my dear? Can you join us for dinner?”

Raina glanced around looking for an escape from the determined matchmaker. She saw her grandma stalking toward them.
Oh, no…
Her grandma didn’t need to earn any more black marks by antagonizing the head of the social committee. Politics among the geriatric crowd could be even more cutthroat than any corporate hostile takeover.

Po Po pushed in front of Raina. “Why are you harassing my granddaughter? No sane woman would want your grandson.”

Mrs. Tally’s hands whitened around the handles of the walker. “The only one doing any harassing around here is you. The next time you set off the fire alarms again, the social committee will ban you from all activities for the rest of the year.” She swept past them like a queen dismissing the serfs in her kingdom. Walt trailed after her.

Po Po rolled her eyes. “Party pooper. She made it sound as if I set the fire alarms off on purpose. I can’t help if there wasn’t enough ventilation in the communal kitchen.”

“What were you doing in there? You don’t cook,” Raina said.

Her grandma blushed. “Just an experiment with Sunni’s grandson.”

“The high school student who wants to be a chemist?” Raina shook her head. “I don’t want to know.”

Po Po glanced around and then whispered, “I’m working on a mild recipe for teargas.”

Raina’s eyes widened. “Is this legal?”

“It’s only illegal for warfare. The police use it all the time when they have riots. I’m trying to find something that could cause someone to cry on demand. I want it in a liquid form so I can put it into a plastic bottle.”

“Isn’t it easier to bottle onion juice?”

Po Po’s eyes lit up. “That’s just brilliant.”

Raina shuddered at the thought of her grandmother doing science experiments with a high school student at the senior center’s kitchen. “What does Sunni have to say about your experiments?”

“Are you cold, honey?” Po Po asked, mistaking Raina’s reaction. “Do you want me to go upstairs to grab you a sweater?”

Raina declined the offer.

“Sunni thinks it’s great,” Po Po said. “Gives him real life experience. Besides, it’s all small scale. No worse than the stuff the kids do in school or on YouTube.”

Actually some of the stuff on YouTube could be pretty scary, but Raina didn’t want to derail the conversation. As long as all responsible adults—which may or may not include her grandma—were happy with the science experiments, who was she to argue the point?

“I have an assignment for you, but don’t have a hernia,” Raina said, holding her palms up. “I need you to play nice to Mrs. Tally.”

Po Po shook her head slowly. “No way. She’s the reason I got banned from cook-off contests at the senior center. If I weren’t a mature and sophisticated lady, I would have put a handful of worms in that little pocket on her walker.”

“Po Po! She’s on a walker.”

“It’s all an act. If you watch her, you’ll see she doesn’t use it for support. She’s worse than those handicap parking abusers.”

Raina held open the lobby doors. “Walt is one of my suspects. So think of this as reconnaissance. I need to get close to a suspect. What better way to do it than through a proud grandmother like Mrs. Tally?” She gave her grandma a pleading look. “Say yes, Po Po. You’re the only one who can take this on.” Did she lay it on too thick?

Po Po puffed visibly, straightening to her full five feet. “You’re right. I’m the only one who can handle the old crank. What do you need me to find out?”

She told her grandma about the false alibi Walt provided for Myra Jo. “Other than his job, I’m not sure why he would lie to protect her. And by the time I was done with my shift, they finally collaborated on their story.”

“Very sloppy.” Po Po shook her head in disgust. “Amateurs.”

“Exactly. And there’s something else, but I’ll tell you over dinner so Eden can hear it too. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

They chatted about Louie Po’s condition during the short walk to Pasta Romano. When they arrived, they told the hostess their friend was already seated at a table. The dining room was divided into two sections, a bar area and the main dining room. With good pricing and large portions, the restaurant was filled with other early bird diners.

Po Po jabbed an elbow in Raina’s side. “What’s he doing here?”

Raina followed the direction of her grandma’s gaze. Eden waved to them from a corner table. And next to her was Taylor. If he was the killer, the last thing Raina needed was for him to know she was poking her nose in his affairs.