Previous Books in the Aunty Lee Series
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.
The Lees’ intention had been to equip Nina for a profession after she left them. Instead, she had become invaluable to Aunty Lee’s business as well as her closest friend and companion after M. L. Lee’s death.
Aunty Lee was the ultimate snob when it came to durians and spices, but she was egalitarian when it came to people.
It was only today that Aunty Lee was cross with Nina.
Back in Aunty Lee’s Delights. Nina was also cross with Aunty Lee. She knew her boss meant well. But why did she have to keep trying to interfere with her personal life?
Nina had already taken care of everything. She had told Salim she would not go with him to meet his mother; made it clear that she would not go anywhere with him, they could never be anything more to each other than customer and waitress. This was slightly complicated by the fact that the customer was a police officer and the waitress was violating her domestic work permit. But if Salim had accepted it, why couldn’t Aunty Lee?
Singapore was a multiracial, multicultural city largely run by English educated Chinese people, and Aunty Lee was a very wealthy English-educated Chinese woman. Fond as she was of her boss, Nina suspected Aunty Lee was barely aware how differently the island’s rules and regulations looked to those below and from the outside.
After Aunty Lee’s last tirade on love and the rarity of ‘Good Men’, Nina was not sorry the older woman had gone out. She only hoped Aunty Lee was not headed to the police post to tackle Salim. Again.
‘What’s wrong with Nina?’ SS Panchal asked. She wondered if it had anything to do with Inspector Salim’s subdued mood over the last week. You didn’t have to be a kaypoh – a busybody – as Aunty Lee was to see how much Salim liked Aunty Lee’s helper. Aunty Lee had not seemed to mind, but her kiasu side might have kicked in. Had she, afraid of losing Nina, banned Nina from seeing the police officer?
‘What’s wrong is that stupid girl won’t listen to me! I told her they should quick quick make up their minds and get married now that the property prices are down. Then they can get a flat near here … Clementi perhaps, or Bukit Batok. Then Salim can go on working at his police post and Nina can go on working for me.
‘I told Nina I was going to tell Salim to faster faster apply for permission to marry her. Do you know what she told me?’
‘That it’s very difficult for foreign domestic helpers to get permission to marry locals?’ Panchal guessed. That was well known. ‘Aunty Lee, can I help you get out of the drain?’