Balmy Darlings and Deaths: A Chinese Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 4) (15 page)

A
fter an unsatisfying Sunday brunch
, Raina and Po Po ran into Eden and Frank at the lobby of the senior center. They were on their way out for a late lunch. Po Po and Frank chatted about the senior cruise to Alaska at the end of summer.

Raina gave her friend a sideways glance. It had been a week since they fought side by side for their lives. While much of the bruises had faded, the words that were said in the course of the investigation didn’t. 

Eden’s natural hair was in two plaits, which brought out her cheekbones. Her brown skin glowed like she spent a week at a spa. Raina’s former best friend looked fabulous.

The chatter stopped, and Frank gave his granddaughter a significant look.

Eden cleared her throat, glancing at Raina under lowered lashes. “Erm, can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

When Raina nodded, Po Po and Frank pranced off into the recreation room. Nope, it was not too obvious their grandparents had set up this meeting. She led them to the antique sofa and armchair.

“I’m sorry. I know I don’t deserve your friendship after what happened between us, but I want to say—thank you. For everything,” Eden said.

Raina nodded in acknowledgment. “Everything is okay?” 

“Yes. Phil loves the exclusive, and I got the part-time job at the Venus Cafe.” Eden paused, searching Raina’s eyes. “I wouldn’t let you down. Your friend Brenda won’t regret hiring me.”

Raina nodded again. “Take care yourself.” 

As Eden went into the recreation room to search for her grandfather, Raina turned away from her former best friend. She blinked at the tears burning in her eyes. Why did everything she held dear have to be stripped away from her? First, her faith in her grandfather and now this latest disappointment. Did her ancestors hate her this much?

Her grandma came out of the recreation room and made a beeline toward her. She patted Raina’s shoulder. “She wasn’t good enough for you.”

Raina swallowed the knot in her throat. “She was the first friend I made when I moved to town.”

“I know you think you’re being punished. Our ancestors would never intentionally hurt you. This is a goodbye, not the end.”

“I don’t understand what lesson I’m supposed to learn from having everyone stripped from me. Am I supposed to walk this lifetime alone?”

“How else could you find your inner strength than by being alone?”

“I have you.”

“For now, you do. Just remember a phoenix rises from the ashes.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” Raina said, heading toward the elevator. It would be simpler to be reincarnated as someone’s lapdog than to run through these tests her ancestors gave her.

Po Po pressed the button. “Neither am I. I’m repeating what my mother said to me before she left my father.”

“Does it still bother you that she left you behind as a child?”

Po Po shrugged. “She would have killed herself if she stayed. My father wouldn’t have let her take me with her. I understood this when I became a mom. But as a child, I just knew my mother abandoned me to the other wives.”

Her grandma appeared to live a charmed life—wealthy and educated—marrying a poor man for love who later found his wealth in America with several sons and a daughter. But all families had their shameful secrets—their family was no exception.

Raina slung an arm around her grandma’s shoulder. “At least we’re both trying to figure it out together.” Sometimes this was all she could ask for.

* * *

T
wo weeks later
, Raina dragged a dusty suitcase from underneath her bed. She had less than five hours to pack for her flight to Toronto. She hadn’t meant to wait this long to pack, but every time she got started a minor emergency would pop up like when Po Po got her social privileges revoked again at the senior center or when Eden came home to find the police and the landlord changing the locks on her front door. It almost felt like everyone was conspiring to keep her from leaving town.

She threw in shorts, T-shirts, and jeans. Working for the production company meant she didn’t have to shop for a new wardrobe. While she would never admit it out loud, she was eager to leave for the summer.

After the confrontation with Denise, her apartment didn’t feel like a home any more. Po Po had performed the Chinese cleansing ceremony with the citrus leaves and made Raina leap over burning joss paper in a bowl when she came back from the emergency room. And while the bruises had faded from her neck, she couldn’t help but shiver every time she saw the repaired patch of drywall in the living room.

The reaction would probably fade with time, but it would be easier if she didn’t have to deal with it all summer. Yep, this short interval in Toronto was what she needed to get away.

Knock! Knock!

Raina padded to the front door and looked out the peephole. Matthew leaned against the column of the overhanging roof. His face tilted toward the sunlight, and his eyes were half closed. She groaned out loud. She had hoped to sneak out of town without a big goodbye between them.

When he had first seen the bruises on her neck, his eyes had darkened with fear. Since Denise’s arrest, Raina had run into Matthew almost every other day. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was working up to declaring himself. But since she did know him, he was probably waiting for an opportunity to lecture her.

She opened the door and propped a hip against the doorframe, arms crossed on her chest. “I’m in the middle of something right now.”

“When were you planning to let me know you wouldn’t be around this summer?”

She sighed. “We’re not together anymore. You can’t have it both ways, Matthew.”

He raked his fingers through his black hair until several spiked out of place. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come out like I’m your keeper.”

“Come on in. I don’t want the neighbors to listen in on our latest tiff.”

As he passed her, she caught his clean water and sage scent. It was enough to get rid of her remaining irritation and served as a reminder as to why she needed to leave town. She closed the door and sat down on the sofa. He paced in front of her. Five steps and a turn. Five steps and a turn.

Matthew stopped and pointed at the space above the television. “What did you do with the koi clock I got you for your graduation?”

He was referring to the gilded clock with two kois swimming around the dial. She had removed it from its place of honor after Christmas.

She shrugged. “It’s in a box somewhere.”

“I see.” He didn’t sound too happy with her answer.

He returned to pacing, and Raina tapped her fingers on the armrest. She made a mental note to remember to look for her passport.

“Is everything between you and Eden okay?” he asked.

She nodded. This was odd. It probably would make him happier if she were no longer friends with Eden. “She’s not on admin leave any more for the newspaper office, and she got a part-time job as Assistant Manager at the Venus Cafe.”

“What about her relationship with Taylor?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

“I’m glad you won’t have to worry about her while you’re out of town.”

“Is Denise charged with both deaths?”

“Yes. She initially denied having anything to do with Walt’s death, but a witness heard Walt greeting Denise by name at the crime scene. Then Walt’s neighbor also pointed Denise out in the line-up.”

Raina nodded. She figured as much.

Matthew resumed pacing, and she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to glance at the display. He caught her time check, and stopped to kneel in front of her. 

He grabbed her hands. “I have a proposition for you.”

Raina’s heart picked up speed. Was he going to…declare his undying love?

You aren’t in a romantic movie
, said a small voice inside her head.

“What is it?” Her voice came out in a husky whisper, one meant for pillow talk. She wanted to smack her head against the side table for sounding so eager.

“I want to open up a detective agency,” Matthew said. “Do you want to work for me?”

She swallowed her disappointment. “Are you offering me a job? It’ll have to wait until I get back from Toronto.”

He sat back on his heels. “I thought this might make you stay.”

She shook her head. “No can do.” He didn’t need to know she planned to pursue the investigation on her deceased grandfather’s secret family after his failure to turn up any clues. “Besides, you may not have enough work initially for both of us to investigate.”

He averted his gaze, glancing down at their hands. A faint blush colored his cheeks. “I thought maybe you could help out in the office at first.”

Raina gave his downward head a fixed stare, willing him to meet her eyes. It took all her willpower not to snatch her hands away. “To file and answer phone calls? Let me guess, I get stock options as a starting wage.”

“You are misinterpreting this.”

“Oh? Sounds very cut and dry to me. I’m not good enough to investigate like a full partner, but I’m good enough to be eye candy in the office. Do I need to wear a tight skirt with a slit up to my crotch for this non-paying position?” Was she this much of a doormat that he thought she would jump at this opportunity?

“First, you can’t be a partner until you get your PI license, which you can’t do until you work under a licensed detective—which I am. Second, we must hustle for work until we’re established. I thought maybe you could continue your part-time jobs and come into the office when you have free time. Like people do for a family business.”

She laughed nervously, but it came out flat. Family business? “A non-paying job filing paper and making your coffee. Boy, I’m jumping for joy to be the first one on your list.”

Matthew bent his head and kissed her hands. He met her eyes with a bright gaze. “In these last couple of weeks, I thought I would lose the two most important people in my life—my grandmother and you.” He reached a shaking hand out to touch her neck. “Does it still hurt?” The question came out in a whisper.

Raina shook her head. A brick had settled on her chest, and she couldn’t have spoken even if she wanted to.

“I need you in my life. If I wait…if something were to happen to either one of us…it would be the greatest regret of my life. This detective agency idea would give me the flexibility to take care of my grandmother and spend more time with you.” The smile he gave her trembled. “I thought it was brilliant until you busted my bubble.”

Raina had never seen him like this before—vulnerable and unsure of his path. He had always been one of those alpha males who could take on the world and made her feel like the luckiest woman in bed without breaking a sweat. She wanted to believe him so badly, but she hesitated. What if this was just a phase? What if it faded away like the bruises on her neck?

She averted her gaze and studied their joined hands. Tears burned in the back of her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, hoping to clear them. She had been down this road many times before, and she always ended up disappointed. She just couldn’t.

Matthew pulled one hand away, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a ring.

Raina couldn’t breathe, and her heart hammered against her chest. It was the same ring he had given her during their twenty-four-hour marriage in Las Vegas. A half-carat diamond solitaire on a platinum band. It winked at her, throwing off sparks and possibilities. She had never expected to see it again. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and her hands trembled. “I can’t. Not anymore. I can’t get on the hamster wheel again.”

Matthew swallowed, his eyes brimming with tears of his own. “I love you.”

“I know you do—which makes this harder than you think. I don’t believe you. This is a knee-jerk reaction. Once you get over it, you’ll leave me again.” Her voice broke, and she clamped her lips together to keep the cry from escaping.

“What can I do to make you believe me?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to Toronto.”

Matthew nodded and palmed the ring. “I won’t change my mind. I’ll be here, waiting for you to come back.”

After he left, Raina broke down and sobbed. She hid her puffy red eyes behind large sunglasses on the way to the airport. Po Po bit her lower lip, but thankfully kept silent. When the plane finally left the tarmac, Raina felt like she could breathe for the first time.

If Matthew meant it this time, then he would have to try harder than just showing up with a ring. After all, the first time they got married in Las Vegas, the circumstances hadn’t been much different. He always got weepy when she almost died. But this time he would have to earn her trust—and she didn’t plan to make it easy for him.

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