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Meddling and Murder: An Aunty Lee Mystery
Ovidia Yu
A delightfully warm and witty mystery from one of Singapore's best-known and most acclaimed writers, perfect for fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY.Aunty Lee is on the case!There is nothing Rosie ‘Aunty’ Lee, amateur sleuth and proprietor of Singapore’s best-loved restaurant, loves more than solving other people’s problems. So when Beth Kwuan, an ambitious businesswoman, tells Aunty Lee her maid has disappeared, Aunty Lee is happy to let her own maid, Nina, help.Only as the weeks go by, little clues make Aunty Lee worry. And as she digs into what is really going on behind the closed doors of Beth’s grand house, she starts to wonder—did Beth’s maid just run away, or did she meet a darker fate?Now the race is on for Aunty Lee to get to the bottom of the mystery…and save Nina before it’s too late!
Meddling and Murder
An Aunty Lee Mystery
OVIDIA YU
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Copyright (#ua6b56452-d868-5dbb-9c04-1d22b2271a2f)
This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.
Killer Reads
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
Copyright © Ovidia Yu 2017
Ovidia Yu asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Cover design and illustration Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
Singapore skyline © Shutterstock (https://www.shutterstock.com)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Ebook Edition © APRIL 2017 ISBN: 9780008222413
Version: 2017-03-03
Dedication (#ua6b56452-d868-5dbb-9c04-1d22b2271a2f)
To Rasu Ramachandran and in memory of his beloved wife, Premavathy Ramachandran
Table of Contents
Cover (#ue3ffb736-2c7e-5bac-af51-5f58329ed16b)
Title Page (#u6bb8b439-4afe-56eb-b31d-0aaca06311b7)
Copyright (#u91aeb78d-b807-5b91-8e78-3f5726e76a93)
Dedication (#u5bd1a4f7-bfae-51f6-9195-efc16fb7c950)
Prologue (#u646eceba-4e95-5198-9c32-d77e4e0dcb93)
Chapter One: Aunty Lee’s Life of Crime (#u98d6d161-f0b8-597c-916b-d91f68c58087)
Chapter Two: Aunty Lee’s Delights (#uc5642e8b-e36f-5a7f-acfd-b0209c659009)
Chapter Three: Beth and Jonny ho (#u90a6b988-485b-5cf3-9b9e-0ebefd00651d)
Chapter Four: KidStarters (#u1b1b22cb-5d04-53b9-ade1-2224c66a1884)
Chapter Five: Helen, & Aunty Lee (#u5e603a15-dfb0-5155-9cb0-fca3b9af9ae7)
Chapter Six: New Boss (#u1035832d-e203-5c28-a505-649829edb116)
Chapter Seven: Alone Again (#ud2bf7a55-c79e-587f-9b2f-618828fc2e10)
Chapter Eight: Tuesday (#u5ea3da5f-c08f-5487-bfb9-64aa73c1db06)
Chapter Nine: Aunty Lee Gets Involved (#ue94df3ae-14e4-5675-a687-c8b2f9af0f98)
Chapter Ten: Salim and Housebreaking (#u1772fef8-62ca-5bae-ac75-a1fa3c194eb1)
Chapter Eleven: Researching Recipes (#uf94b881a-2ac1-54c0-8712-97bf365376c1)
Chapter Twelve: Cognate (#u3a215275-8d0a-54e8-a065-d67fb381cdaf)
Chapter Thirteen: Kopitiam (#ubcc6b0b8-501b-598d-a78a-d3dd61e9a47f)
Chapter Fourteen: Add Water and Stir (#u728ec391-c244-54f4-9aa2-fd7f97342870)
Chapter Fifteen: Beth Gets News (#u93ce2de2-d775-56af-ac67-e4a15e30a7f3)
Chapter Sixteen: Questions (#ue4939b4d-93b6-5076-924f-2871baeeaa3a)
Chapter Seventeen: Fabian (#ud2084725-bec0-5951-8d88-892dc5e46d52)
Chapter Eighteen: Salim Suspended (#ucf4a7deb-e858-512a-9625-23ae6b9b1536)
Chapter Nineteen: Beth and Nephew (#u1c8ac1bf-b618-5205-bdf0-b0c048f8d9b3)
Chapter Twenty: Miss Wong (#u99c2f15e-dcdf-5b27-b1b3-58e18960edcd)
Chapter Twenty-One: Housebreaking Gang Caught (#uf6a04059-ecbc-5633-a715-68942e3a11da)
Chapter Twenty-Two: Fabian? (#u4b7d845f-f2f4-54c5-8d08-0341ffc208c9)
Chapter Twenty-Three: Quiet Women (#u3892e5ae-756d-570a-a935-fb1a1329fd18)
Chapter Twenty-Four: Menu Planning (#u20ecf460-84e7-5978-b266-3214b65c1629)
Acknowledgements (#u775ba18b-f59c-5a2f-9683-472ac975ab23)
About the Author (#u144b4e2b-6caa-5134-9ecc-220c2a2ed9fc)
Previous Books in the Aunty Lee Series (#uc1f97467-6ca0-5a54-ab7e-8f04cbaa6eeb)
About the Publisher (#uf1ffb570-7b71-54cd-a623-3c4972874108)
PROLOGUE (#ua6b56452-d868-5dbb-9c04-1d22b2271a2f)
Of course the stupid woman had been living in a dream, a fantasy. Look at that too short dress (now hitched up, exposing cheap polyester panties) and the way that silver belt and fake gold necklace clash. Those pointed narrow shoes look like torture to walk in. All things considered, putting her down had been a mercy.
She had dressed up like an actress on opening night, ready to be the centre of attention. But the worksite was deserted by the time her big moment came.
Rolled up in blue plastic sheeting then stuffed into the disposal container, she made a surprisingly small bundle. The day’s garbage went back in over her, then the wooden planks over the dumpster pit.
Tomorrow the remaining construction debris would be shovelled in before concrete was poured into the foundation. This was the accepted way of cutting down on disposal fees in land starved Singapore.
CHAPTER ONE (#ua6b56452-d868-5dbb-9c04-1d22b2271a2f)
Aunty Lee’s Life of Crime (#ua6b56452-d868-5dbb-9c04-1d22b2271a2f)
‘This is a big emergency! There is a human body in the drain next to our house. It is a very big body. Please to come fast.’
That was as much as Staff Sergeant Neha Panchal could make out from the panicked caller whisper-shouting in a mix of Mandarin and English.
‘I’ll be right there.’
Panchal got the address and set out immediately, calling to notify her boss, Inspector Salim Mawar, on the way.
The Bukit Tinggi Police Post was mainly responsible for the Binjai Park residential district. Some of Singapore’s wealthiest residents lived in the area and the Bukit Tinggi posting was considered both a career breaker (for its lack of serious crimes) and career maker (from exposure to Singapore’s most influential people). The last few emergency calls from Binjai Park had been triggered by badly parked cars and monkeys stealing fruit.
SS Panchal’s first thought had been to qualify for a new posting as soon as possible. Now she had to admit she had learned a lot from this posting about how understanding people helped untangle the crimes they got caught up in. But Panchal would never understand why Inspector Mawar, who seemed like an intelligent man, would reject offers of promotion to remain in charge of the Bukit Tinggi NPP.
There was indeed a body in the big storm drain next to the caller’s house. Fortunately, it was a live body. It was also very familiar and wearing a bright yellow Curry Up! tee shirt over pink and green batik pants. SS Panchal winced just a little before she leaned over the drain barrier’s green metal railings and called: ‘Aunty Lee! What are you doing down there? Are you all right?’
‘Panchal!’ Aunty Lee looked up, squinting against the sun. She did not seem hurt and was clutching clumps of weeds. ‘Good, you are here. Come down and help me!’
Suspicious heads were watching from the windows of the house. That would be Mr and Mrs Guang who had phoned the police, Panchal guessed. They had to be newcomers to Singapore as well as Binjai Park, or they would have recognized Rosie ‘Aunty’ Lee of the famous Binjai Park café, Aunty Lee’s Delights.
Thanks to her kebaya-clad image beaming from jars of Aunty Lee’s Amazing Achar and Aunty Lee’s Shiok Sambal, Aunty Lee was familiar to food lovers in Singapore and beyond.
And Aunty Lee was familiar to Panchal and the rest of the police force, thanks to the murders she had been involved in. But Aunty Lee was seldom out without her faithful Filipina helper. For an instant Panchal wondered if something was wrong.
‘Aunty Lee, what are you doing in the storm drain? Where is Nina?’ Panchal did not want to be the one to tell her boss that something terrible had happened to the main reason he chose to stay stuck in this backwater posting. ‘Is Nina all right?’
‘Hiyah, everybody only interested in Nina,’ Aunty Lee said grumpily. ‘Why should I care where is Nina?’
Nina Balignasay was Aunty Lee’s domestic helper. Nina, whose nursing degree was not recognized in Singapore, had started as a home caregiver to Aunty Lee’s late husband. Seeing she was smart and hard-working, the Lees had sent her for computer classes and business courses and even driving lessons. This last had required intricate bureaucratic wrangling since foreign domestic workers were forbidden from driving in Singapore. Permission for Nina’s driving licence had only been granted after two doctors and an MP testified she was the sole caregiver for two old people who might need emergency medical treatment.
The Lees’ intention had been to equip Nina for a profession after she left them. Instead, she had become invaluable to Aunty Lee’s business as well as her closest friend and companion after M. L. Lee’s death.
Aunty Lee was the ultimate snob when it came to durians and spices, but she was egalitarian when it came to people.
It was only today that Aunty Lee was cross with Nina.
Back in Aunty Lee’s Delights. Nina was also cross with Aunty Lee. She knew her boss meant well. But why did she have to keep trying to interfere with her personal life?
Nina had already taken care of everything. She had told Salim she would not go with him to meet his mother; made it clear that she would not go anywhere with him, they could never be anything more to each other than customer and waitress. This was slightly complicated by the fact that the customer was a police officer and the waitress was violating her domestic work permit. But if Salim had accepted it, why couldn’t Aunty Lee?
Singapore was a multiracial, multicultural city largely run by English educated Chinese people, and Aunty Lee was a very wealthy English-educated Chinese woman. Fond as she was of her boss, Nina suspected Aunty Lee was barely aware how differently the island’s rules and regulations looked to those below and from the outside.
After Aunty Lee’s last tirade on love and the rarity of ‘Good Men’, Nina was not sorry the older woman had gone out. She only hoped Aunty Lee was not headed to the police post to tackle Salim. Again.
‘What’s wrong with Nina?’ SS Panchal asked. She wondered if it had anything to do with Inspector Salim’s subdued mood over the last week. You didn’t have to be a kaypoh – a busybody – as Aunty Lee was to see how much Salim liked Aunty Lee’s helper. Aunty Lee had not seemed to mind, but her kiasu side might have kicked in. Had she, afraid of losing Nina, banned Nina from seeing the police officer?
‘What’s wrong is that stupid girl won’t listen to me! I told her they should quick quick make up their minds and get married now that the property prices are down. Then they can get a flat near here … Clementi perhaps, or Bukit Batok. Then Salim can go on working at his police post and Nina can go on working for me.
‘I told Nina I was going to tell Salim to faster faster apply for permission to marry her. Do you know what she told me?’
‘That it’s very difficult for foreign domestic helpers to get permission to marry locals?’ Panchal guessed. That was well known. ‘Aunty Lee, can I help you get out of the drain?’
‘Difficult is not impossible. Foreign domestic helpers also not supposed to drive, what? But I got permission for Nina to drive. You just got to apply and apply and apply until they see you are serious. But Nina told me “No”. She and Salim never getting married. Good bye! Finish! Chop-chop!’
‘Ah.’ Panchal could not remember anything about talking people out of drains. But she had attended a seminar on talking suicides off balconies. ‘If you come out of the drain we can talk about it?’
Just then, her phone buzzed.
‘Inspector? No, not another burglary. It’s Aunty Lee. She’s in a storm drain. No, she’s not hurt.’
‘Tell Inspector Salim I said Hello!’ Aunty Lee called up.
Despite having been involved in several of Salim’s murder cases, Aunty Lee was still somewhat in awe of the Inspector. She had been on her way to tell him what cute and clever children he and Nina could have together. And how true love would be enough to overcome any differences in their Muslim and Catholic backgrounds. But remembering Nina’s refusal to listen to her, Aunty Lee’s steps had slowed … that was when she had seen the wild kesum growing on the slope by the storm drain next to the house that had been under construction for so long.
Daun kesum or kesum leaves were such an essential ingredient in making laksa that many people referred to them as daun laksa or laksa leaves. The oils of the young kesum leaves gave just the right aroma to spicy assam laksa. In the old days the creeper with its tiny purple flowers had been easy to find in muddy roadside ditches or growing along shallow drains. When you wanted to cook you went outside and plucked what you needed. But today’s Singapore lacked muddy ditches and shallow drains. As a weed rather than a cash crop, kesum was seldom found in markets and never in supermarkets. Too often Aunty Lee had been reduced to using mint leaves as an alternative. Though no one had complained, the compromise galled her. Forget love problems. Make good laksa, she had decided. That renovations had damaged the protective barrier around the drain made it easier for her to climb round to the weed-filled slope.
‘Inspector Salim would like you to get out of the drain, Aunty Lee,’ SS Panchal said. ‘And I need to let Mr and Mrs Guang know you are not at risk.’
By now the Guangs had come downstairs and were watching from just outside their gate. ‘How did you get down there? Can you get out?’
