“You were?” He raised an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between Bernadette and me.

“Oh don’t worry, she didn’t tell me anything. Not that I didn’t ask her, of course.” I hurried to clear Bernadette from suspicion. “I got the info from . . . another source.”

“I see. And you’re not going to tell me who this source is?”

Tita Rosie cut in. “Excuse me, Jonathan, but what are you talking about? Source for what?”

He sighed. “I’m sorry Rosie, but this isn’t a social visit. We received an anonymous tip that had the chief speed up the results on the dishes we took from you. They tested positive for arsenic. I’ve got a warrant to search your home and restaurant.”

I stiffened and stopped my aunt from responding. “This all seems pretty quick. I think we need to get our lawyer here.”

“Anak!” My aunt grabbed my arm. “We have nothing to hide and Jonathan’s right. The sooner they solve this case, the sooner I get my restaurant back. Right?” she asked, looking at the detective.

He smiled, as if he’d already anticipated my aunt’s answer. “Of course, Rosie. I’m just trying to do my job here, you know.”

“Tita, we really should wait for Amir to look this over—”

“Ay, Lila, stop fussing.” She lowered her glasses onto her face to look over the document. “This seems to be in order. Do we need to do anything?”

“A team is going to search your house while I head over to your restaurant to lead the search there. You should all stay here, OK?”

He made the call and waited until another officer knocked at the door. He let him in, showed him the signed document, and instructed the team on what to search for. They went to work and Detective Park took his leave.

I watched him for a moment before coming to a decision. I grabbed Bernadette and pulled her aside. “Ate, do you think you can stay with Tita Rosie while this is going on? Amir should be here soon, but I don’t want her to be alone for this.”

She nodded. “You going over to the restaurant?”

“Of course. I can’t let them do this to us. Besides, I don’t exactly trust them. Not after what happened with Ronnie . . .”

Bernadette’s lips pulled into a thin line at the mention of her ex-boyfriend and his troubles. “Go. I’ll take care of Tita Rosie. You handle your business.”

I hurried out to my car, trying to push down the sense of panic that’d been rising since I first got Adeena’s call.

We’ll be fine, I told myself. We didn’t do anything, so they couldn’t possibly find anything on us. Right? Right.

I sure hate it when I’m wrong.

Chapter Thirteen

I pulled into Main Street Plaza parking lot, a lump rising in my throat as I saw the stream of police officers entering our restaurant. I cut off the engine and hopped out, interrupting Detective Park’s conversation with one of his officers.

“Ms. Macapagal? What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to be on the premises while it’s being searched. Just in case.”

Detective Park’s nostrils flared, a sight I would’ve found amusing if it wasn’t also terrifying. “Just in case of what?”

“I have a right to be here,” I said, though I wasn’t sure that was true. Still, act like you know what you’re talking about, Lila!

He was about to give in to me, I knew he was, when a shout from inside interrupted us. We looked at each other and both ran inside toward a group of officers in the kitchen. One was holding an open bag of jasmine rice in his gloved hands.

He nodded at Detective Park. “Just like the note said, sir.”

Before I could puzzle out what he meant by that, another officer came up to us holding a duffel bag I’d never seen before. He held it out to Detective Park, the bag’s contents rattling as he gestured toward me.

Detective Park pulled on gloves and took the bag from the officer. “Ms. Macapagal, does this look familiar to you?”

I shook my head, eyes still locked on the bag.

“That’s funny, because it was in your locker.” He sighed. “I think we need to have another talk. Down at the station.”

I felt light-headed and gripped a table to steady myself. “I . . . But I’ve never seen that bag before! Someone must’ve put it in my locker. It’s not mine!”

Detective Park flipped out. “Are you accusing my officers of planting evidence? Is that what you’re doing, Ms. Macapagal? Trying to pin this on the Shady Palms Police Department?”

I backed away, my hands in the air to show I was being cooperative. “Sir, I didn’t say it was one of your officers. I just said someone else must’ve put it there because it’s not mine.”

“Save it for the station,” he said, gesturing toward the door.

“Am I being arrested?”

“No. I just want to ask you some questions.” He grabbed my arm to keep me upright as my knees started to wobble from his very unreassuring answer.

As he walked me out to his car, Adeena popped out of the coffee shop next door to see what was going on. Before getting in the backseat, I yelled, “Tell Amir to meet me at the station!”

She nodded, whipping her phone out of her apron, ready to go to battle for me.

As the car backed up and pulled out of the lot, dread settled into my stomach. Looks like I needed his help after all.

Chapter Fourteen

Detective Park drove to the station in silence, then bustled me into an empty room with a table and a few chairs that obviously valued function over style—and their function was to keep me as uncomfortable as possible while I waited for Amir to arrive. All very familiar emotions as I sat there wondering what could possibly happen next.

“Do I need a lawyer? I think I should wait for Amir,” I told Detective Park, as I fiddled with the bottle of water he gave me, feeling the need to fill the silence as he sat there watching me.

“You can if you want, but you’re not under arrest. There’s no reason to wait for him.”

He must’ve read the skepticism in my face, because he shrugged and said, “Hey, the sooner you answer my questions, the sooner you get out.”

Remembering there was also a search at my house, I figured now would be a good time for me to get some information as well. “How’s my aunt doing? Did they find anything at our house?”

The friendly expression he’d adopted as he tried to get me to talk was quickly replaced by a somber one. The change was so quick and unsettling, my body physically reacted. The spasms in my stomach brought to mind the day I was foolish enough to think I could run a half marathon. As I’d stood there at the starting line, at an ungodly hour on Lake Shore Drive, surrounded by people who’d been training for this year-round, my stomach twisted in anxiety, fear, and nausea, wondering what the heck I’d gotten myself into. That same feeling crept over me as I watched Detective Park debate just how much information to disclose.

“We didn’t find anything in your house. Your aunt and grandmother seem to be cleared from suspicion, unless we find something in that bag of rice.”

I blinked at him. “Oh, that’s a good thing, right? Why did your expression change?”

He ran his hand up the short-shorn hair on the back of his head, the nervous gesture oddly boyish and charming on someone like him. “I just feel bad for Rosie, is all. But I’ve got a job to do.”

He got up and walked out for a minute, returning with a large cardboard box. He pulled out the half-full bag of rice they found in our restaurant kitchen, this time in a labeled evidence bag. “Could you tell me about this, Ms. Macapagal?”

My eyebrows scrunched up as I studied the bag. What was so special about it? “I don’t really know what to tell you, Detective. It’s the same brand of jasmine rice we’ve been ordering in bulk since I was a kid. We use it for most of our dishes.”

“And did you use this bag the day Derek Winter came to your restaurant?”

I laughed, then sobered up when he glared at me. “Sorry, it’s just impossible to tell, you know? All the bags look the same. Besides, we pour the rice into storage containers to keep them fresh once we open them. If that bag is still half full, we must’ve opened it recently.”

“Why do you say that?”

“My aunt is nitpicky about cleanliness and food hygiene. As soon as we open a bag, we pour the whole thing into a storage container. We don’t usually leave open bags laying around.”

“‘Usually’?”

“Well, I mean nobody’s perfect. Could be one of us started filling the container and got called away to do something and never finished the job.”

He noted this all down without further comment, which made me even more nervous. What could I possibly be saying that was important enough to write down in an official capacity?

“Sir, why all these questions about the rice? Considering it’s sitting there in an evidence bag, do you think there’s something significant about it?”

“Did you know that rice has higher levels of arsenic than other foods?”