not a problem, ma’am. You want to postpone until tomorrow or another
day? No? But you should speak to Aunty Lee first. She is here, I will pass the phone
to her, you wait—”
“This evening’s client canceled?”
Nina nodded. “She said there is some family emergency, they have to cancel the party.”
“I already ordered dry ice for the drinks chiller—and what about all the food!” Cherril
said. “I’m sure they’re lying. Family emergency, my foot. They are going to order
in Pizza Hut or Kentucky Fried Chicken. I hope they all end up with food poisoning.
They deserve it!”
“Don’t say that,” Aunty Lee said. “Nobody deserves food poisoning.”
Even a rumor of food poisoning could haunt a café for years. Aunty Lee hoped this
would not happen to hers. She turned for assurance to ML Lee’s portrait. ML was smiling
with his usual charm but Cherril, standing in front of the frame, looked really upset.
“It’s just one booking,” Aunty Lee said briskly. The deposit on the canceled meal
would cover what she had spent on ingredients. “Come help me experiment how to package
cooked food for the freezer. I want to make two-person servings of yellow chicken
curry and rice with achar separate. Like they sell at the petrol station to heat up in the microwave. Only
mine will be nicer.”
10
Home Interrogation
The Peters family home was a large bungalow off Binjai Crescent, deep in the Binjai
housing estate and closer to the hilly center of Singapore island. Mycroft Peters
had grown up in this house. Now he and his wife, Cherril, lived in a newly added two-story
wing with its own pebbled path leading from the driveway.
“So this is how the rich people live,” Staff Sergeant Panchal said snidely. Salim
could tell she was intimidated and made no comment.
Salim buzzed the gate intercom. Mycroft appeared at the front door of the main house.
“You shouldn’t park there,” Mycroft said, looking at the police Subaru. Though parking
opposite the continuous white line outside was illegal, it was an offense for which
drivers seldom got fined, especially here in Binjai Park, where people were rich and
roads were wide. Since Singaporeans did not understand the concept of bribery, it
just meant paperwork and bad karma for the traffic officer. Warning people off worked
much better for all concerned and cleared the road faster, which was the point of
the whole exercise.
But few people challenged the police on where they, the police themselves, left their
cars.
“I’ll give myself a warning,” Salim said.
Mycroft laughed. “Come in.”
Mycroft was not usually home at noon. But Cherril had phoned him to say the police
were coming to speak to her at home and he had postponed two meetings, canceled a
lunch, and got back to the house before the police arrived for their appointment.
“They already talked to you yesterday, why should they want to question you again?
And why here if they were at the shop earlier?”
“Mykie, I don’t know!” She looked frightened.
Mycroft looked at his wife fondly. He knew some people thought he had married beneath
him, that he had been seduced into this marriage or had chosen her to spite his parents.
In fact it was Cherril’s addiction to learning that had caught his attention. Her
curiosity about how systems worked matched his own. He had fallen in love with her
when they started learning Japanese together. And now he meant to protect her.
“Mother is out to lunch. We’ll talk to them in the big house.”
Cherril, who had taken some time to get used to living in a house larger than the
three apartments in her old housing block combined, knew that Mycroft was deliberately
trying to intimidate the police visitors with his lawyer side.
“But why? Do you think they suspect me of having something to do with it? Is that
why you rushed home?”
“I think they want to talk to you and Aunty Lee separately,
day? No? But you should speak to Aunty Lee first. She is here, I will pass the phone
to her, you wait—”
“This evening’s client canceled?”
Nina nodded. “She said there is some family emergency, they have to cancel the party.”
“I already ordered dry ice for the drinks chiller—and what about all the food!” Cherril
said. “I’m sure they’re lying. Family emergency, my foot. They are going to order
in Pizza Hut or Kentucky Fried Chicken. I hope they all end up with food poisoning.
They deserve it!”
“Don’t say that,” Aunty Lee said. “Nobody deserves food poisoning.”
Even a rumor of food poisoning could haunt a café for years. Aunty Lee hoped this
would not happen to hers. She turned for assurance to ML Lee’s portrait. ML was smiling
with his usual charm but Cherril, standing in front of the frame, looked really upset.
“It’s just one booking,” Aunty Lee said briskly. The deposit on the canceled meal
would cover what she had spent on ingredients. “Come help me experiment how to package
cooked food for the freezer. I want to make two-person servings of yellow chicken
curry and rice with achar separate. Like they sell at the petrol station to heat up in the microwave. Only
mine will be nicer.”
10
Home Interrogation
The Peters family home was a large bungalow off Binjai Crescent, deep in the Binjai
housing estate and closer to the hilly center of Singapore island. Mycroft Peters
had grown up in this house. Now he and his wife, Cherril, lived in a newly added two-story
wing with its own pebbled path leading from the driveway.
“So this is how the rich people live,” Staff Sergeant Panchal said snidely. Salim
could tell she was intimidated and made no comment.
Salim buzzed the gate intercom. Mycroft appeared at the front door of the main house.
“You shouldn’t park there,” Mycroft said, looking at the police Subaru. Though parking
opposite the continuous white line outside was illegal, it was an offense for which
drivers seldom got fined, especially here in Binjai Park, where people were rich and
roads were wide. Since Singaporeans did not understand the concept of bribery, it
just meant paperwork and bad karma for the traffic officer. Warning people off worked
much better for all concerned and cleared the road faster, which was the point of
the whole exercise.
But few people challenged the police on where they, the police themselves, left their
cars.
“I’ll give myself a warning,” Salim said.
Mycroft laughed. “Come in.”
Mycroft was not usually home at noon. But Cherril had phoned him to say the police
were coming to speak to her at home and he had postponed two meetings, canceled a
lunch, and got back to the house before the police arrived for their appointment.
“They already talked to you yesterday, why should they want to question you again?
And why here if they were at the shop earlier?”
“Mykie, I don’t know!” She looked frightened.
Mycroft looked at his wife fondly. He knew some people thought he had married beneath
him, that he had been seduced into this marriage or had chosen her to spite his parents.
In fact it was Cherril’s addiction to learning that had caught his attention. Her
curiosity about how systems worked matched his own. He had fallen in love with her
when they started learning Japanese together. And now he meant to protect her.
“Mother is out to lunch. We’ll talk to them in the big house.”
Cherril, who had taken some time to get used to living in a house larger than the
three apartments in her old housing block combined, knew that Mycroft was deliberately
trying to intimidate the police visitors with his lawyer side.
“But why? Do you think they suspect me of having something to do with it? Is that
why you rushed home?”
“I think they want to talk to you and Aunty Lee separately,
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