Homicide and Halo-Halo (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #2)(22)

“Hoy, Rosie! What’s your detective going to do about this?”

This last question, phrased so indelicately, came from Ninang April. Of course. Tita Rosie turned bright red, though whether from embarrassment or frustration, I wasn’t sure.

“He’s not my anything. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, but you can be sure he’s going to hear from me.” Tita Rosie cleaned her glasses, not looking at us. “I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding. Like Bernie said, they just took her in for questioning. They’re probably going to do that for everyone involved with the pageant.”

At that, Ninang June turned to me. “Have they questioned you yet?”

I shook my head, regretting the action when the dull ache in my head became sharper from the sudden movement. “Only when we first found the body. There hasn’t been any follow-up. So it’s official then? Rob was murdered?”

Amir nodded grimly. “They haven’t released the details yet, but the police department says it’s definitely murder. Considering Rob Thompson was an important Shady Palms citizen, and his connection to the town’s beloved pageant, the mayor is putting the screws to the department to solve this as quickly and discreetly as possible.”

Ninang June’s nostrils flared. “Which means they’re going to do anything to pin this on my Bernie rather than Rob’s high-class wife. Don’t want the Thompson name being dragged through the mud.”

I squeezed some calamansi over my bowl of arroz caldo. “Beth Thompson? Why are you so sure it’s her?”

Ninang June sniffed. “Because it’s always the spouse. Especially when the victim is a no-good cheating as—”

“June!” my aunt interjected. “No speaking ill of the dead. It’s not seemly.”

Ninang June rolled her eyes and shoved an extra-large piece of pandesal in her mouth to keep herself quiet, but there was no stopping Ninang April.

“He’s already dead, Rosie. There’s nothing we can say that’ll hurt him more, especially when it’s the truth. Besides, if it wasn’t his wife, it was probably the husband of one of the women he was having an affair with. I heard one of the original pageant judges was forced to leave after he confronted Rob about the affair.”

Thinking back to the pageant potluck, I said, “Whoa, was Mr. Weinman the original judge? Nobody would tell me anything when I asked, but he crashed the event the other night. Valerie told me Rob slept with his wife, so she and the mayor were worried about him making a scene. He mostly just wanted to promote his store though.”

Lola Flor made a dismissive noise. “I always knew that pageant was no good. Adulterers. Murderers. Shameless women. At least now you can quit judging. Bernadette, tell Joy she should quit, too.”

Bernadette and I reacted at the same time. “What? No! She needs this!”

“Lola, I made a commitment. I can’t back out now, it would reflect poorly on the cafe and Adeena would kill me.”

“You want to die for real? A man is dead. I’ve told you and your mother time and again that those pageants are a waste of time and full of bad people. I don’t want you involved.” Lola Flor picked up her dishes and walked back to the kitchen, ending the conversation. She expected me to just fall in line, no arguments, no listening to my side.

Tita Rosie cleared her throat. “May I ask . . . if it was indeed a murder, why aren’t they shutting down the pageant? Or at least postponing it? It seems so unfeeling for them to keep pushing forward with the contest.”

Amir sighed. “The mayor as well as the board of directors at the Thompson Family Company think it’d be bad PR to focus on Rob’s ‘untimely death.’ That’s a direct statement from the company, by the way.”

He cleared his plate and stood. “Thanks for breakfast, Auntie. I’ll be in touch again soon. Don’t hesitate to contact me if anything comes up.”

Bernadette also stood up. “I need to get ready for work, so I’ll head out with you. Lila, you got a second? I have that book about medicinal plants that Elena wanted to borrow. You mind dropping it off for me?”

“Sure. Today’s the soft opening, so I should head over to help out anyway.” I thought I’d want to head home and nap, but the arroz caldo did its job, soothing my throat and tummy, and caffeine would dull the ache in my pounding head. I checked my purse to see if I still had the baggie of ube chocolate chip cookies I’d set aside for menu sampling. Hopefully they were enough to get Adeena off my back. “Let me know if you need anything later, Tita.”

We waved goodbye to everyone and walked out to Bernadette’s car, Amir following us over. I sensed this was more than needing my help with an errand. “What’s going on, you two?”

Bernadette sighed. “I didn’t want to freak everyone out, but it’s more serious than we made it seem. My mom was right when she said I was the main suspect.”

I stared at her, waiting for her to go on.

“Joy told me that Rob had hit on her and Katie at the potluck. She says he was pretty subtle about it, but it made her really uncomfortable.” Bernadette’s fists balled up. “She’d waited to tell me till after the potluck was done because she didn’t want to cause a fuss, but I tracked him down at the Shady Palms Lounge later that night. Seems an entire bar full of witnesses told the cops I’d threatened Rob shortly before he died.”