Page 10 of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

“Oh!” Vera’s eyes glitter like diamonds. “From which newspaper?SF Chronicle?Bay Area Times?”

“Uh... you wouldn’t know it, it’s online.”

“Aha, online! Yes, I follow many online news.” Vera waggles her index finger. “I always say, if you want stay young, you must think like youth. So youth follows news online, I follow news online. Which one you from?”

“I... from... uh.The Bay...the Buzz.”

The gasp that comes out of Vera is so high-pitched that Riki barely catches it. “You mean the Buzzfeed? Wow! Fabulous, wonderful job, child.”

“Um.” He’s about to say no, but then it strikes Riki,Why not?Buzzfeed is such a huge company it must have hundreds of employees. Less chance of Vera finding out he’s a fraud. “Yep, that’s the one.”

Stars are glittering in Vera’s eyes. “Ooh! I think to myself this morning, I think: Vera, no doubt the newspapers going to come in here with many questions. So you must look presentable.” Sheprimps her hair gently and smiles at Riki, who belatedly realizes that she’s waiting for a compliment.

She must’ve put on that awful pink lipstick and penciled in her eyebrows especially for today. Quickly, Riki nods and says, “Yes, you look very... ah, presentable.”

“Make sure you take my photo in good lighting. And maybe you can do that thing—that Photoshut thing to make my wrinkles disappear?”

“Photoshop? Uh, sure. But first, can I ask you a few questions about Marsh—uh, about Mr.Chen? The guy—the man who died here?”

“Oh yes, ask away.” Vera pours hot water from the kettle into the little teapot. Riki’s never seen a teapot so tiny; it’s about half the size of a small Starbucks cup. It hardly seems worth the bother.

“Well, um...” What would a reporter ask? “Tell me everything. You were the one who found the body?”

“Yes, yesterday morning, I come downstair, it was around four forty-five a.m.—I like to rise early, you know, early to bed, early to life, that’s what I always say. I come downstair, about to go out on my morning walk—every morning I go for long walk, that’s how I stay so slim, yes?” Vera puts the tiny teapot and two teeny teacups onto a tray.

“Yeah, very slim. So anyway, you came downstairs and that was when you saw him?”

“Yes. At first I think maybe a trick of the shadow, but then I go closer and aiya! Dead body right there.” She nods toward the outline of the body as she brings the tray over to one of the tables. “Come, sit. You drink this. Jin Xuan, very good for health.”

Reluctantly, Riki settles into one of the chairs, which is just as uncomfortable as he had expected. “So what did you do then?”

“I call police, of course!”

That’s it? He doesn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved. “Did the police find anything of interest?”

“Hah! I tell you, they useless, absolutely useless. I tell them, I say, this man murdered. And they say we cannot jump to conclusions. Look at my door, I tell you, look at it!”

Riki obliges. The window of the front door is missing, jagged pieces of glass remaining in the frame.

“Does that look like accident?” Vera says, placing a teacup in front of Riki. “Who would break my glass like that? Break in the door and die in my shop? Tch, such bad luck. Is obvious, it’s murder.”

Riki nods, trying to keep himself from looking too bothered by the fact that this old woman is so convinced that Marshall was murdered. When he reaches for his teacup, he finds to his horror that his hand is trembling ever so slightly. He quickly picks up the tiny teacup, wincing at the scalding heat of the china—why don’t these things have handles?—and slurps up the whole thing in one go.

“Aiya! You must take your time. Chinese tea is delicate, not meant to gulp down like that. Is not coffee.” She says “coffee” like the word itself is repulsive on her tongue. Before Riki can refuse, Vera pours him another cup of tea. “Drink like this.” She picks up her own teacup deftly, thumb and index finger nimbly touching the rim, and takes a small slurp. Then she inhales, her eyes closing, a small smile touching her lips. “Ah, Jin Xuan, one of the best type of tea. Is also called ‘milk tea’ because the taste is so creamy and sweet, almost like milk.”

Riki mimics Vera and picks up his second cup of tea gingerly, slurping it the way she does. And this time, he does actually tastethe creaminess she described. It really does taste like milk. He looks down at the tea, which is clear and light and definitely doesn’t look milky. How strange, for something to taste so different from the way it looks. But then again, Riki thinks with a shot of guilt, that’s exactly what he is. Someone pretending to be something he’s not. Someone who’s here with a far darker ulterior motive. When he looks up, he finds Vera studying him so intently that shock bolts down into his very core and he nearly spills the remaining tea. He’s known Vera for all of ten minutes, but already he can tell she’s not to be messed around with. Her eyes are shrewd, her expression calculating. Does she know? Did she serve him this particular tea because she knows he’s trying to be someone else? Is she testing him with all of her statements about Marshall being murdered?

And the last question, searing through his chest: Does she know of his ties to Marshall?

SIX

SANA

Sana has never had her mother’s grace. Nor her mother’s anything, come to think about it, but on this particular morning, what she resents in particular is not having her mother’s grace, because here she is in front of Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse, trying to make a good first impression, and of course,what she does instead is bump into a customer leaving the teahouse so hard that she makes him drop his bag.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry.” That’s the other thing Sana does that annoys her mother.Don’t start your sentences with an apology. Stop apologizing so much. It’s not sincere, it’s irritating.She knows all of this, and yet she can’t seem to stop herself. She bends over to help the guy pick up his bag and only ends up bumping heads. “I’m sorry!” the apology darts out of her mouth without any thought.

“Don’t worry about it.” They both stand up and Sana gets a glance of him before he ducks out. Warm brown skin, just likehers, but he’s not Indian like her. Maybe Southeast Asian? Very attractive. Not that she’s here for that. It’s just kind of hard to not notice those huge eyes and that jawline.

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