by Vivien Chien
CHAPTER
13
“Leave it to that guy to always find a way to involve you in everything. Things that don’t even make sense!” Adam tapped his chopsticks on the rim of his plate. “The new judge introduction? How does that even apply to you?”
I’d gotten him addicted to scrambled eggs and scallions for breakfast. When he could, he’d come in for a quick breakfast before heading to the station. It had been a while since he’d been able to come in and it cheered me up to see him.
“It’ll be fine, plus I’ll be able to see what’s going on for the contest. None of the other contestants have that advantage.”
“What can you even learn by being there?”
“Maybe the judges will slip and talk about things they’re looking for or mention their favorite dishes. You never know what could come up.”
Adam refused to ease up. “I don’t care. I don’t like him.”
“I know. Believe me, I’m not his number one fan either.”
A couple came in and I got up to tend to them, seating them at a booth on the opposite end. While I got their tea and took their order, Adam finished his breakfast and pushed his plate aside. He sat sipping his tea and checking e-mails on his phone.
“So Ray and Stella will be there too…”
“At least that part makes sense.” He mumbled this as his attention was split between me and his cell phone.
“What do you think about Ray anyway?”
“Huh?” He looked up in confusion. “What do you mean what do I think of Ray?”
“You know … about what happened. Is Ray on your suspect list?”
“I’m not going to discuss that with you, and you know that.” His voice transformed into detective mode. “You’re not supposed to be snooping around, remember? I specifically remember asking you to stay out of it.”
“Well, I am … I was just wondering about Ray…”
“Why him?”
I fiddled with a loose thread on my shirt. “Because he’s someone who doesn’t seem to have a motive … but maybe he does … secretly.”
He pointed to a patch of hair on his head. “Do you see this? These gray hairs … these are from me worrying about you.”
I inched closer and scrutinized his face, crinkling my nose in a dramatic way. “Yeah, there’s some in your scruff too.”
“Har har.”
I stood up, straightening my back, and folded my arms over my chest. “So you’re not going to tell me what you think?”
He shook his head. “Sorry, doll.” He gave his hands one last wipe on the cloth napkin and moved to get up from the table. “What do I owe you for breakfast?”
“It’s on the house,” I said.
Adam kissed me on the forehead and gave my shoulders a squeeze. “I’m only trying to keep you safe. We’re still not clear on motive, and for all we know, this could happen again. People in the contest could be a target … which is exactly why I want you to keep out of it. I’d ask you to drop out, but I know that Peter would never do that.”
“Do you really think it could happen again?” I asked. Almost everyone else seemed to think that we were out of danger. “You don’t think this was specific to Norman? I mean, he wasn’t the best guy.”
“He does have a lot of enemies, I can tell you that. Especially after digging through his history and seeing the number of people he’s pissed off along the way. But, in this job, I’ve learned that everything is a possibility until it’s been ruled out.”
“Aha!” I yelled. “So that means that Ray is a suspect!”
He returned my question with a flat stare. “I’m going to work…”
The time flew after Adam left and I thought a lot about what he said. Anything was a possibility. No clear motive had been established, the killer was out there, and we couldn’t be sure that he—or she—wouldn’t strike again.
Anna May walked in at 9:55 A.M.
“Cuttin’ it kind of close, aren’t you?” I said to her. “I have to meet with Ian and the judges at ten.”
She waved a hand at me. “Oh, Ian will survive if you’re a few minutes late.”
“Of course he’ll survive, but will I?” I asked. “I really don’t want to get an earful from him later on.”
“I’m here now … so go. Quit standing around giving me a hard time.” She gave the dining area a quick glance and then hopped up on the hostess stool. “Make sure you’re back in an hour, I have a class at noon and I can’t be late.”
“Uh-huh.” I grabbed my purse from under the counter. “Let me ask you something…”
“Go for it.”
“This thing that happened with Norman Pan … do you think that he was the main target?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t given it much thought. Why do you ask?”
“A couple of people think that it’s possible the killer could strike again. That maybe it has something to do with the contest and not Norman himself.”
“Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to say without any other evidence.”
“That’s what Adam said.”
“Well, listen to your boyfriend. He’s the cop and all.”
“I suppose.” I headed for the door.
“Lana!” Anna May yelled as I was heading out into the plaza.
I turned around. “Yeah?”
“He probably also told you to stay out of it. And frankly, if I were you, I’d take his advice.”
* * *
I was the last to arrive at Ian’s office. He had rearranged the area where Mr. Feng’s desk used to be, and now in its place was a small love seat, two chairs, and a coffee table. It was a nice little sitting area and it gave the office a more personal and inviting atmosphere.
He’d also chosen to brighten up the room with better lighting. Mr. Feng never turned on the overhead lights, and only used a small desk lamp that left the office dank and foreboding. It hadn’t offered a lot of encouragement for people to swing by.
Everyone turned when I opened the door.
“Oh, Lana, good,” Ian said, getting up and greeting me at the door. “Glad you’re here … now we can get started.”
Stella and Ray were seated in the two chairs and Freddie Yuan sat on the love seat. He smiled at me as our eyes met and I immediately felt myself get flustered. There was something about the way he looked at me that made me blush. My only hope was that no one else would notice.
Ian gestured to the open spot next to Freddie. “Why don’t you take that seat and I’ll grab my desk chair.”
Freddie patted the cushion next to him and then rested his arm on the back of the love seat, which now seemed too small. “Nice to see you again, Lana.”
“You too, Freddie,” I whispered as I sat down next to him. “Thank you for agreeing to help judge the contest.”
“Not a problem. It’s my pleasure,” he replied with a wink.
Stella shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She crossed her legs and then recrossed them. Our eyes met briefly and I saw a tinge of fear in her expression.
Ray appeared unamused. He glanced at his watch, and then twisted in the chair to look out into the plaza.
Ian returned with his chair. “Okay, let’s begin…”
“Yeah, let’s get this show on the road, I need to get back,” Ray spat. “I don’t have all morning to deal with this.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Okay then … well, Freddie, let’s get you properly introduced. I don’t believe you’ve had the chance to officially meet Ray and Stella.”
Ray seemed to size up Freddie. “Wait a minute, isn’t he one of the construction workers?”
Freddie leaned forward; the crook of his arm grazed my shoulder. “Yeah, I helped out with that, but I’m the community center director. Always lookin’ to help out wherever I can.”
Ray scoffed and slouched back in his seat. “Whatever, let’s just keep this moving, okay?”
Freddie went into a brief introduction of himself. Apparently, Freddie and Ian knew each othe
r from Chicago and a fast friendship was built while the two men were attempting to establish a foothold in a city they were both unfamiliar with. Turned out that Freddie was originally from South Carolina and moved to the Windy City for school.
He didn’t have much to offer in the way of credentials, but assured everyone that he would be more than fair in judging the contestants on their culinary skills. I have to admit that I missed portions of what he said because I was too preoccupied with watching the movements of his lips. Once I caught myself, a silent and thorough scolding began.
Ian looked among the three judges. “Stella … Ray … what do you guys think? Are we on board with Freddie being the replacement judge?”
“I’m okay with whatever you decide, Ian,” Stella said quietly.
She was a lot different from the boisterous woman I had met during round one. Even when I’d seen her the other day, she wasn’t as confident as she’d first appeared. I wondered if she’d talked with Adam yet. I’d have to ask her since I knew that he wouldn’t tell me.
Ian nodded. “Great … that’s the spirit.” Turning to Ray, he said, “And how about you, Ray?”
Ray turned his attention back to the group. “Is this really the only guy we could find?”
Freddie’s jaw clenched as he leaned forward again. “If you’ve got a problem with me, man, don’t be shy about it.”
Ray snickered, seemingly satisfied that he’d gotten under the new judge’s skin. “No … no problem here. Like I said … keep it moving. I really don’t care.”
“Okay then, it’s settled.” Ian clapped his hands together, ignoring the tension building in the room. “Now, let’s get you brought up to speed on what’s happened so far, and what’s going to happen next. Everything needs to go as smoothly as possible on Friday.”
“Do I need to be here for this?” Ray asked. “I already know the drill.”
Ian slumped in his chair. “No … I suppose if you need to go, we can take it from here. Mainly I wanted you to be included in the final vote.”
“We’re running out of time, so there’s not a lot of room for argument. This whole meeting was unnecessary.” He stood up and headed out of the office without saying a formal good-bye.
While the other three got heavily into conversation about contest details, I slipped out to catch up with Ray.
“Hey!” I yelled after him. He was already halfway through the plaza and past Ho-Lee Noodle House
He turned his head but kept walking.
I broke into a jog to catch up. When I finally caught up to him, I said, “Hey, what’s your hurry?”
“I have to get back to my restaurant,” he blurted. “Did you need something?”
“You didn’t seem too happy about Freddie replacing Norman. Do you not approve of him?”
“It’s not really my call, is it? The whole meeting was all for show. Even if we disagreed with Ian, he’d still pick Freddie Yuan anyway. Besides, as long as we can get through this contest, that’s all that matters. Hurry up and get it over with.”
“Would you rather the contest be canceled?” I asked.
“What does it matter to me? I’m not in it. I already won last year.” When we reached the main doors, he finally stopped moving and turned to face me. “What is all this about? Why do you care about this so much?”
“I don’t know, I guess I wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I know that you and Norman were good friends. This must be hard for you.”
His eyes shifted to the door. “Well, what can you do, right? People go … they go.”
My mouth dropped. “He didn’t just go … he was murdered. That’s totally different.”
“That’s a way to go too, isn’t it?”
I didn’t know what to say to that, and he took my pause of silence as an opportunity to escape. He left the plaza before I could ask him any questions. I stood at the main entrance and watched him disappear into the sea of cars. If that wasn’t suspicious, I didn’t know what was.
CHAPTER
14
The afternoon was slow at the restaurant once lunch ended, and while we were putting the dining area back in order, my mother and grandmother showed up for a visit.
My mother seemed a little preoccupied and mumbled a hello to me as she and my grandmother went to sit at a booth. Without them asking, I went in the back and warned Peter that they had arrived, got them some tea, and headed back out to their table.
They thanked me for the tea and my mother stared at me and blinked her eyes rapidly.
“Mom, are you okay?” I asked.
“How is everything?” She winked at me this time and glanced at my grandmother.
“Fine … how are you? Are you feeling all right?”
“Yes, I am okay. Do you need me to help you with something?”
My grandmother looked up at me and smiled.
“No…” I scrunched my brows at her.
My mother winked again.
“I mean, yes…” I said, unsure of what was happening. “Yes, can you help me in the office?”
“Oh, yes! I am happy to help you!” My mother exaggerated a smile and hurried up from the booth. She muttered something to my grandmother before grabbing my arm and leading me into the back room.
As we passed through the kitchen, Peter waved a spatula at my mom. “Hey, Mama Lee.”
She gave him a dismissive wave and continued to pull me to the back room until we made it to the office. When the door was shut, she finally let go of my wrist.
“Mom … what the heck is going on?”
My mother let out a frustrated sigh. “Your A-ma is driving me crazy.”
A laugh escaped, and I covered my mouth.
“This is not funny,” my mother said with a scowl. “I need you to take A-ma somewhere. I will work for you.”
“Take her where?” I asked. “And why is she driving you crazy?”
With a groan, she replied, “She is always telling me what to do, and that I am not doing things right. Even when I am cleaning the house, I am doing things wrong.”
We stood staring at each other for a few seconds before I burst into laughter.
My mother folded her arms across her chest. “Aiya, Lana! Do not laugh at Mommy.”
“Oh, come on, Mom … it’s funny. Now you know how it feels.” I took a deep breath to calm my laughing fit. “This doesn’t sound at all familiar to you?”
“No,” my mother replied in a serious tone. “Mommy is very nice to you.”
I blurted out a laugh and shook my head. “Okay, I’ll take A-ma off your hands for a while. I was planning on going out for a late lunch anyway. But I just want you to remember this moment…”
My mother gave me one final glare before I left the office with a giant smile on my face.
* * *
With my grandmother in tow, I ventured over to Liu’s Noodle Emporium. She was none the wiser that I was giving my mother a break from being around her own mother twenty-four/seven. As far as she knew, this was just a granddaughter taking her grandmother out for lunch.
The parking lot was filled with a decent amount of cars, but a little more business probably wouldn’t have hurt.
We ambled inside and I scoped the place out. It was much like any Chinese restaurant you’ve seen—dark wood trim, a few pieces of Asian art on the walls, and plastic tablecloths.
The hostess greeted us with a cheery smile, pulling two menus from the slot on the side of her lectern. “Just the two of you today, miss?”
“Yes. And I’d like to see the owner if he’s available.”
“Oh,” she said, hugging the menus to her chest. “He’s with someone in a meeting right now. Did you have a complaint?”
“No, nothing like that. Do you know if he’ll be long?” It’s not like I was in a hurry to get my grandmother back, so I didn’t mind waiting.
She shook her head. “I can’t say for sure. Could be ten minutes … could be a half hour … or more.”
“Okay
, well, we’ll sit and have lunch while we wait.”
She gestured for us to follow her. “Right this way.”
We walked past a couple of patrons on our way to a booth toward the back of the room. She placed the menus on the table. “Would you both like some tea?”
“Sure.” I slid into one side of the booth while my grandmother slid into the other. Our table came with a nice view of the parking lot. Thankfully the menu was written in both Chinese and English, so we flipped through the pages while we waited for her to return.
The menu was standard stuff, and I decided to go with my usual fallback. It had been a while since I’d eaten at Joel’s restaurant, and I couldn’t even remember what I thought of the food. I imagined it must not have impressed me much since I never made it a point to come back until now.
When she returned with our tea and glasses of water, we gave her our order. I went with hot and sour soup—mild, a vegetable spring roll, and Mongolian beef with white rice.
My grandmother ordered a shrimp mei fun dish, egg drop soup, and an egg roll.
While we waited for our food, the fact that I couldn’t speak Taiwanese or Mandarin in full sentences reared its annoying head. Most days it wasn’t that big of a deal, but now that my grandmother was here and her English was practically nonexistent, I was bothered more so than usual at our inability to communicate properly with each other. A lot of our conversations involved hand gestures or pointing at random objects as reference.
I pulled out my phone and selected the translation app that I recently installed. Maybe my grandmother and I could translate this way. Sometimes the translation wasn’t exact, but it was worth a shot.
The app didn’t have the Taiwanese dialect that my family preferred, but there was an option for Mandarin that I could use. I entered the translation criteria and spoke into my phone explaining what I was doing for my grandmother. When I played it back for her in Mandarin, she smiled and nodded, giving me a thumbs-up. “Okay!” she said.
I asked her if she was enjoying her time in America. And when she seemed to understand the translation, I held the phone up to her mouth and pressed the record option.