Fortune Cookie (Culinary Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

building as well as to a few associates. We’ve finished going through some paperwork we took from her apartment, but nothing has stood out. I’m afraid the state of the body was quite . . . poor, and so forensics hasn’t given us their final report yet.”
    Sadie asked about some of the details from the articles. No one had seen anything strange the night of the fire, and although the police were unsure of the exact day Wendy had died, they were guessing it was May twenty-second. That was the last day her phone and her credit card had been used. There was no note indicating suicide, and it seemed that Wendy had been taking a bath when she died. Neighbors in her building said she didn’t come and go much; they suspected she’d been ill through most of the winter, though there seemed no evidence that she’d been seeking medical treatment for anything specific.
    In turn, Detective Lopez asked if Sadie could add any information about her sister that might be helpful to the investigation, but she had to admit that she didn’t know anything about her sister’s life. Sadie put aside her rolling pin and turned so that she was leaning against the counter.
    “You didn’t speak to her regularly?” the detective asked.
    “I didn’t speak to her at all,” Sadie said, feeling the sadness of that fact. “I haven’t seen her since my mother’s funeral fifteen years ago, and the last time I spoke to her was when our father died four years ago.”
    “I see,” Detective Lopez said. Sadie imagined him making a note in his notebook: “estranged sister.” “So you have no idea if anyone would have targeted her or wanted to harm her?”
    “No,” Sadie said. She vacillated as to whether or not her relationship with Wendy as a child was relevant to the case, but worried it was her discomfort in talking about it that made her hesitate. She took a breath and then told Lopez a condensed version of her childhood. She didn’t go so far as to suggest that perhaps Wendy hadn’t changed and someone else she’d mistreated had gotten back at her, but she felt sure that Detective Lopez picked up on the possibility.
    “That’s consistent with information we got from her neighbors and friends,” he said, though he sounded a bit cautious. “It seems she had a lot of conflicts with people. I appreciate knowing a bit more about her history.”
    Pete had moved on to another cupboard in need of hinge repair, but she could feel him listening.
    “I assume the apartment’s been cleared by the police?” Sadie said, ready to move on to another topic. “We’re okay to move her things out?” The landlord had given Ji the keys, so Sadie felt safe assuming the police were finished with their part.
    “Yeah, we’ve cleared it as a crime scene. Other than the fire, which remained well contained, there’s no evidence of a struggle or anything that would lead us to conclude that she died of anything other than natural causes.”
    “You said there was no sign of a struggle, but one of the articles said there was a robbery involved?”
    “Yes, we can’t find her purse, phone, or laptop computer, but there isn’t any suspicious activity on her bank account or credit cards, so the thief likely only took whatever cash your sister might have had in her wallet—though she seemed to be a charge-card kind of girl.”
    “What about jewelry?” Sadie said, thinking of her mother’s pieces that Wendy had taken after the funeral.
    “We did find a jewelry box with several items—costume jewelry mostly—when we searched her apartment.”
    “It wasn’t stolen?”
    “No, we found it in a dresser drawer, so it wasn’t immediately evident. The thief probably knew that electronics sell fast and easy. It seemed to be a pretty quick job.”
    “Other than the burglar taking the time to light the body on fire,” Sadie added.
    Detective Lopez paused and cleared his throat. “Well, yes, other than that. I’m afraid this is a unique case, and it has