“Love is a good distraction. Maybe I get my grandbabies soon,” Ma says with a grin.
I roll my eyes, but I can’t stop the smile from tugging at the corners of my mouth. How does my mom do it, every time? She’ll find me in pieces, and somehow, some way, she manages to put me back together. I reach out and squeeze her hand. “Thanks, Ma.”
“Aiya, thanks for what?” She waves me off and takes in a sharp little breath. “Ah! I forget to tell you I find this outside. Aduh, you are so careless, how can you forget your own key card?” She digs in her pants pocket and brandishes a plain white card.
I frown as I take it from her. “That’s not my key card. I put mine on the table over there.” We both look at the table, and sure enough, my key card’s lying there. I turn the card Ma found over in my hands. On the other side, in plain letters, are the words MASTER KEY. My breath comes out in a small “Oof.”
“It’s Nathan’s card. He must’ve dropped it after he opened the door for me. Ugh, I’m gonna have to return this to him somehow.” An idea pops into my head. “Right after I use it to return the tea ceremony gifts.” I pace the room, working out how and when I should do it. It’ll have to be tonight, right after the reception, while everyone is outside watching the fireworks. I’ll steal back here, grab the duffel bag, use the key card to open the bridal suite, and put it—somewhere. Maybe under the bride’s bed or something, where it wouldn’t be found right away, so it gives us more time before Maureen realizes something’s gone wrong with her plan.
I go over my plan again, poking and prodding at the details to look for flaws, and yeah, obviously there are flaws, but overall, it’s the best plan anyone could come up with given the situation. For the first time since this entire fiasco started, I actually feel kind of good. Yes, there is still a dead body in my bed and a stolen stash of jewelry in my closet, but hey, at least I now have a viable plan to take care of the latter. In no time I will come up with another plan to get rid of the former. Hopefully.
“You think of something?” Ma says.
I turn to her, grinning wide, and am about to tell her my plan to return the stolen jewelry when Ah Guan’s phone vibrates. The sound slices through the air, silencing both of us. I don’t think either of us even dares to breathe. Our gazes shoot to the phone, buzzing on the table like some great big beetle. Reluctantly, I step closer, still holding my breath, and see Maureen’s face on the screen. Argh, great. What now? God, I hope their plan didn’t involve them meeting up once he got the duffel bag. I let the call go to voicemail.
Ma gnaws on her lip. “Maybe you can just ignore—”
The phone buzzes with a text.
Maureen [2:02PM]: SOS. Srsly, where tf r u?
SOS. Dread fills my stomach, leaden and hot. This isn’t going to be anything good. With a deep breath, I pick up the phone and type out:
Ah Guan [2:04PM]: What is it?
The reply is practically instantaneous.
Maureen [2:04PM]: PICK UP THE PHONE U FUCKER.
Oh god, she’s going to call again, isn’t she. I quickly type:
Ah Guan [2:04PM]: Can’t, w/ ppl right now
Maureen [2:05PM]: Get rid of them! This is an emergency!
Ah Guan [2:05PM]: Just tell me what happened.
Maureen [2:06PM]: Over text? R u high rn?
Right. She can’t tell me over text because then it could be used as evidence if things go sideways. Okay. Think, Meddy.
Ah Guan [2:08PM]: I’ll call in a sec but I won’t be able to say much ’cuz ppl around me.
Maureen [2:08PM]: FINE.
“I’m going to call her back. Don’t say a word while I’m on the phone with her.”
Ma nods, and I take a second to gather myself. Deep breath. Okay. I tap on Maureen’s name and call her. She picks up on the first ring.
“Dude, oh my god, things are so bad. I can’t even—everything’s going wrong!” Her voice is shaky, hoarse with tears.
Instinct kicks me to say something. It feels so wrong just standing here being silent. I opt for a Hugh Jackman as Wolverine grunt. “Hmm.”
“They—shit—they found out the stuff’s missing!” she hisses.
Oh! Hope soars. Maybe that’s good. They’ll catch Maureen and—oh. And they’ll interrogate her, try to dig for the truth, and what if she spills then? What if she says Ah Guan came and got the stuff, and then they—I don’t know, what would they do? Maybe search the entire resort? Would they do that? Who am I kidding? There’s easily a couple million dollars’ worth of jewelry and fine watches in that duffel bag; of course they would. They’d do anything to get it back. Shut off the island from the mainland. Tell every guest to stay in their room while they methodically go through everybody’s room. Oh my god. This is bad. This is really, really bad.