Meddling and Murder: An Aunty Lee Mystery. Ovidia Yu

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СКАЧАТЬ speaking Mandarin at all, having studied Malay as her second language in school.

      ‘Jonny Ho inherited Patty’s house at Kakatua. But she didn’t leave him much else, that’s why he and Beth are turning it into a school. Did you know Patty Kwuan well?’ Selina seldom encouraged Aunty Lee’s stories, which tended to meander without a point. But there was always a chance the old woman knew something that might be useful. After all, you couldn’t know too much about people you were going into business with.

      ‘I always wondered what happened to that man. They say he is very good-looking. I never got a chance to see him. When Patty first got married again, Helen Chan threw this big dinner party for them so that we could all get to meet her new husband. I couldn’t go. That was around the time when those stupid people were blaming my chicken buah keluak for poisoning them, remember? But Helen told me, wah, that one is a real leng zai.’

      ‘That means “pretty boy”,’ Mark told Selina.

      ‘I know that!’ Selina snapped.

      ‘Anyway, I was waiting for a chance to look at this handsome man Patty had married. But then right after that Helen and her husband went to Glasgow to get a flat for her son. Her son is studying medicine there. And then, so terrible, while they were away their house got burglarized! That’s when the house break-ins just started, remember? The insurance still hasn’t paid up for everything; don’t know why so slow.’ Aunty Lee’s eyes shone with remembered excitement. Even Patty’s handsome new husband had been overshadowed.

      ‘And then after that Patty just stopped seeing people. She wouldn’t accept any invitations, didn’t even join us for the Founder’s Day reunion dinner. I told Helen one of them must have said something to offend her or her husband but she swore they never said anything. Then the next thing we knew, Patty was dead. Must have been one of those sudden cancers or heart attack or something. Maybe she found out about it and didn’t want people to know. She should have told us she was sick, but maybe she lost her hair and didn’t want us to see her. Patty was always very proud of her hair.’

      ‘So you don’t remember Beth Kwuan?’ Selina said with emphasis on the name.

      ‘Oh, of course I remember that Beth: Elizabeth, she was in school; now I know who you are talking about. Elizabeth Kwuan was one year ahead of us in school. She was a school prefect, always very fierce. She went with Patty on that tour to China where Patty met the PRC tour guide that she went and married.’

      ‘So will you help Beth out? She’s your old friend’s sister after all. I’m sure you can trust her—’

      ‘The mushrooms haven’t come yet.’ Cherril, finally off the phone, dashed into the dining room looking desperate. She was followed by Avon and Xuyie. ‘Can you believe how many things can go wrong at once?’

      ‘What? What? What? Quick, quick tell me!’

      ‘That was Elena Lim-Garibaldi on the phone. About this afternoon’s do. About the curry chicken.’

      ‘Hiyah, I told you those skinny dieting people wouldn’t appreciate curry chicken … so what do they want you to change it to?’

      ‘Oh no, they want the curry chicken. The spices are supposed to be good for stimulating the digestion or something like that. But they want only thigh meat without skin. And they don’t want any potatoes in the curry.’

      Aunty Lee could have told Cherril that catering a party for a group of skinny businesswomen celebrating corporate weight loss was not a good idea … indeed, Aunty Lee had told her young business partner several times, though without any real intention of cancelling the job. Aunty Lee liked giving advice almost as much as she liked cooking.

      ‘But the potatoes are the best part of the curry!’ By the time of the party the soft chunks would have absorbed the perfect essence of curry and chicken. ‘And organic, some more!’

      ‘Can we take out the potatoes?’

      ‘I can take out the potatoes,’ Xuyie offered helpfully.

      ‘Of course you can,’ Aunty Lee was surprised but pleased by the girl’s offer, ‘but not yet. Leave them inside until three o’clock, otherwise the gravy will be too salty and too thin. Then we can use and make something else. At least they didn’t tell you to take out the coconut milk from the gravy!’

      This suggestion drove Cherril into another minor panic. ‘Can they do that? I mean, can we do that?’

      ‘Look, we’re short of time,’ Selina said. ‘I told Beth that we would bring Nina back to talk to her. Unless that policeman of hers is still hanging around.’

      Cherril turned to Nina. ‘Inspector Salim likes curry potatoes, right? We can use these potatoes to make something nice for the people at the station. If they like them, maybe they’ll even offer to pay and order more next time! How many people at his office today? Do you know?’

      ‘I don’t know. I don’t talk to Inspector Salim.’ Nina kept her eyes and hands focused on scraping thin strips down the length of a cucumber. But her expression hardened, and Selina picked up on this immediately.

      ‘If that man is still bothering her, it may be just as well to get her away from here for a bit. Nina’s not stupid. But men can be so persistent.’

      ‘I don’t think Salim will give up so easily,’ Aunty Lee said thoughtfully. ‘He’s not the sort to give up. But good for him to have to work harder to get her. Then he won’t take her for granted!’

      If I go away for one week she will see she cannot do without me, Nina thought, then she will have to stop trying to get me married off.

      Working for somebody else will show her what a good boss I am, Aunty Lee thought, then she will do what I tell her to do. And maybe spending one week far away from Salim will make Nina appreciate him more. Just to push things a little further she said: ‘You say you don’t want to see Salim any more, just close your eyes, lor. What for you want to go so far away?’

      ‘Okay, one week,’ Nina said to Selina.

      ‘Okay your head,’ said Aunty Lee almost amicably. She had turned away from them and was rummaging in one of the cabinets beneath the counter.

      Cherril made a sound that was half squeak and half moan. Having been with Aunty Lee far longer than her, Nina was far more efficient at practical cooking than she was.

      ‘I will help,’ Xuyie told her softly.

      ‘So can we bring Nina over to meet Beth?’ Mark’s voice was high in his disbelief. ‘Now?’

      ‘Sure!’

      ‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ Selina all but clapped her hands.

      Nina was the only one who was not surprised when Aunty Lee, clutching her bag and two pineapple tarts, led the way to Mark’s car.

      ‘Wait, Aunty Lee, you’re going too?’ Cherril cried out. ‘What are we going to do with all these potatoes? Throw them away? Such a waste! I should charge them anyway. It’s their fault for not telling me sooner. Can you tell them that we can’t take out the potatoes because without potatoes it won’t be Peranakan Chicken Curry?’

      Aunty Lee was nothing if not flexible. СКАЧАТЬ