Meddling and Murder: An Aunty Lee Mystery. Ovidia Yu

Proficiency test. That test had been part of the admissions criteria for getting into a teaching course years ago but the precious label had grown in her memory. Beth had lived in Singapore all her life and had never studied overseas, but she always remembered to speak the proper English that had become part of her identity.

      ‘Same difference,’ Jonny said with a teasing grin. That had been one of her sister’s favourite phrases, and he should have known how much it annoyed her. ‘Come on now. Everything also you want to worry about. Success too big also you want to worry. Relax! Go with the flowing!’

      Biting back the urge to correct him again, Beth looked at the man and felt herself starting to relax. It was easy to look at Jonny Ho. He did not have the soft, overprotected good looks of young Singaporeans his age, the easily bruised ‘strawberry’ generation. Look at Fabian, for example. All Fabian was good at was complaining and whining till someone else got fed up enough to sort things out for him. After all the money his parents had put into sending him to study in America he had never got a real job. Beth had seen that coming for years. She would have whipped Fabian into shape given half a chance but Patty and Ken had a blind spot when it came to that boy. He had turned out much like his mother, as a matter of fact. Patty had always got what she wanted without working for it. Ever since they were girls, that was the way it had been. And that was why it had been so unfair of Patty to decide she wanted Jonny Ho too.

      After all, Beth had seen him first.

      And she had watched the young man with far more attention than her sister. Beth had seen how offended he was when Patty asked: ‘Are you a farmer?’ Beth had been all ready to reproach her sister for being rude. But then Patty said: ‘You look like a man who is strong enough to solve all his own problems.’ And Jonny Ho had beamed and said: ‘Exactly. I always solve my own problems. I am independent.’

      ‘I like that in a man.’ Patty had told him. That was Patty all over. Why should it matter to the man whether or not she liked him? He was there to do his job as their tour guide. And since Beth had made all their tour arrangements, any flirting with the tour guide should have been done by her, the unmarried sister, not the grieving widow. It was all part of the unfairness of life. Women who wanted to get married never got a chance, no matter how hard they tried, while other women barely waited to collect one husband’s ashes from the crematorium before picking up another.

      Well, Beth Kwuan was going to show everyone that once she was no longer in her sister’s shadow, she could shine and do better than Patty ever did. Jonny Ho would have to admit that he had chosen to marry the wrong sister. And maybe, just maybe, he would see that it was not too late to put things right. Of course, Beth would never propose such a thing to him. Beth’s moral standards were higher than that. She had always held herself to far higher standards than Patty in everything. She had even done better than Patty at her O-levels, not that anybody had paid much attention. Well, Patty had never taken on a business project like KidStarters. That was why Beth had to make a success of it.

      Beth knew she would have been a far better wife and mother than her sister. KidStarters would show all the men who hadn’t given her a chance how good she was at bringing up the best and smartest children. KidStarters had to succeed.

      She had almost forgotten that it was Jonny who had been the drive behind KidStarters. Beth had talked about her child training theories for so long that she didn’t immediately realize Jonny was taking her seriously. But once the details started to fall into place she saw it was the perfect plan. They could both keep the house and have something to live on.

      Beth pulled her thoughts back and looked around the mess that was the ground floor of the house. The old wire fencing had been dismantled but the wood planks for the new privacy barrier lay in unassembled stacks next to the bundles of stickers (showing cartoon children playing ball, reading books, chasing ducks) meant to decorate them. Jonny had got a huge discount for the stickers, just as he had for the shiny dark wood planks. Beth had been delighted by how classy the planks and stickers looked. But the stickers had been delivered without the waterproof, smudge proof protector sheets and the dark wood planks without any end posts. Work had halted till these could be delivered. Until then nothing separated the house from the drain and pavement except the ugly gash of upturned earth and broken roots where Patty’s ornamental hedge had once stood. It had been a stupid low hedge that only reached halfway up the fence as though the residents wanted to show off their perfect lawn and perfect house. Even in her panic over deadlines the sight of the lawn now dug up (for the children’s outdoor play area) and the front walls of the house hacked through (to install the required soundproofing insulation) gave Beth some pleasure. She had loved and hated this house for so long – this house that Patty had taken for granted filled with such pointless decorations.

      ‘The insulation materials still haven’t arrived yet,’ Beth said. But Jonny was not listening. He was on his mobile phone again, shouting instructions in Mandarin too swift and colloquial for her to follow. Jonny always shouted at his business contacts so Beth was not worried. She just hoped that it was their supplies he was shouting about. Jonny Ho had so many projects all going at the same time.

      Beth had naively assumed that all it would take to transform this family home into a child centre was childproof locks and toys and children’s books. That was all her nephew Fabian had needed growing up there. Beth knew, because she had helped bring him up. She had probably spent more time with her nephew than his parents had, Patty had never been very hands on as a mother and Ken had seldom been home. It had been Beth who made sure his homework was done and that he studied for his tests. But of course that just made the ungrateful little boy take her for granted and walk all over her while worshipping his parents.

      ‘You said the new insulation was going to arrive today. Shouldn’t you make sure it’s here before the workers come back?’ Beth asked as soon as Jonny ended his call.

      Regulations called for soundproofed playrooms. Unfortunately, it was only after the walls had been hacked that the bales of insulation material had been cut open and were discovered to have been soaked; the insides were foul-smelling and rotting. Very likely they had fallen into the sea at some stage and then sunned till the outside was dry. Beth had been furious, certain that they had been cheated and wanting to complain and sue, but Jonny Ho calmed her down and said it was more important to get them replaced fast than win a lawsuit years too late. He was smart like that, Beth thought fondly. That was what made him such a good businessman. She just wished he would notice what a good businesswoman she was becoming … she wished she had a chance to show herself that. After all the excitement and noise of the hacking this waiting was so frustrating.

      ‘Come and meet the ECDA people with me,’ Beth suggested again to Jonny. ‘Maybe after the meeting we can look at some non-slip tiles for the paddle pool area.’

      ‘Somebody has to stay here,’ Jonny said. ‘Look, anybody can walk in and steal everything!’

      He was right. It would have been all right if only Julietta had been there to watch the house. But Beth did not want to think about Julietta.

      A car slowed down and stopped outside. Beth looked out and saw that Mrs Selina Lee was back. Beth met her at the ECDA where Selina had been trying to get information on local school resources. Beth had talked to her at length, hoping Selina would register her children with KidStarters and also get her friends to. She had also hoped to talk her into becoming an investor. The renovations were coming to much more than Beth expected. Selina had been interested but stingy. Still, Jonny said she might turn out to be useful so Beth didn’t mind. As long as it wasn’t Jonny that Selina was interested in, Beth didn’t mind her sniffing around.

      ‘I really should go,’ Beth said again. Jonny did not answer. She made no move to leave.

      Aunty Lee looked at the large, detached bungalow. She remembered a gracefully landscaped lawn with sloping side gardens. Today it looked like a bomb had gone off, destroying the windows and some walls and wrecking the garden.

      The last time she had been here was years ago when both her husband and Patty’s first husband were still alive. It had been during Chinese New Year and Aunty Lee had been awed by the driveway lined with large traditional glazed dragon pots containing kumquat trees