Ovidia Yu - Meddling and Murder - An Aunty Lee Mystery

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

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

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperCollins Publishers 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

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

Ebook Edition © APRIL 2017 ISBN: 9780008222413

Version: 2017-03-03

To Rasu Ramachandran and in memory of his beloved wife, Premavathy Ramachandran

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One: Aunty Lee’s Life of Crime

Chapter Two: Aunty Lee’s Delights

Chapter Three: Beth and Jonny ho

Chapter Four: KidStarters

Chapter Five: Helen, & Aunty Lee

Chapter Six: New Boss

Chapter Seven: Alone Again

Chapter Eight: Tuesday

Chapter Nine: Aunty Lee Gets Involved

Chapter Ten: Salim and Housebreaking

Chapter Eleven: Researching Recipes

Chapter Twelve: Cognate

Chapter Thirteen: Kopitiam

Chapter Fourteen: Add Water and Stir

Chapter Fifteen: Beth Gets News

Chapter Sixteen: Questions

Chapter Seventeen: Fabian

Chapter Eighteen: Salim Suspended

Chapter Nineteen: Beth and Nephew

Chapter Twenty: Miss Wong

Chapter Twenty-One: Housebreaking Gang Caught

Chapter Twenty-Two: Fabian?

Chapter Twenty-Three: Quiet Women

Chapter Twenty-Four: Menu Planning

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Previous Books in the Aunty Lee Series

About the Publisher

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.

‘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.