Oriental Palace Buffet was in the Hillside Shopping Center, a strip mall on the east side of town near the highway exit. It was situated between a Snip N Clip and a pawn shop. The fragrance of garlic, sesame oil, onions, roasting meats, and vegetables set off a series of memories but nothing noteworthy or exciting.
It was a little after seven o’clock, but between lunch and the Santa Walk fried apple pie and vanilla ice cream, which, for the record, had been delicious, I was still full.
The hostess, an Asian woman, escorted us past four buffet lines of food and two rows of booths before we took a right near the bathrooms and into a banquet room. Inside, there was a long table with at least eighteen people, including three small children.
My heart fluttered as most of the heads swiveled in our direction.
“Ezra!” a large man with a gray beard, black mustache, and a balding head shouted. I recognized him, even without yellow makeup, as the Homer Simpson Santa. He stood up and shoved his meaty palm at Ezra. “It’s good to see you.”
“Good to see you, Uncle Orsen.” Ezra obliged the man with a friendly handshake.
I was beginning to think this was not a family of huggers until a red-haired woman next to Uncle Orsen grabbed Ezra into an embrace.
“It’s been too long,” she said. “You don’t write. You don’t call.”
Ezra smiled at me over her shoulder. “Hey, Aunt Lettie. Merry Christmas.”
“You’re the best present.” She squeezed him tighter for a moment, then gave his back a slap. “I’m so happy you decided to come home this year.” Aunt Lettie pushed him an arms-length away. “I swear you get more handsome every time I see you.”
Ezra put his hand on my back. “Aunt Lettie and Uncle Orsen, this is my partner, Nora Black.”
Orsen gave me a strange look. “Work partner?”
Ezra shook his head and put his arm around my shoulder. “More like life.”
“Oh,” Orsen said. “She’s your sweetheart.”
“Sure,” Ezra agreed with a grin. “That’s accurate, too.”
“Interesting,” Lettie added, giving Lynn a quick glance. “How long have you two been…. You know.”
“Together?” Ezra asked. He pivoted his gaze to mine, and he smiled. “How long has it been now? Three years?”
“Just about,” I agreed. It had been two years, seven months, and some change, but I didn’t want to sound as if I were counting the days.
“It’s nice to meet you, Nora,” Orsen wiped his hand on his shirt and then offered it to me. “Any friend of Ezra’s is welcome at the family table.”
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you too.”
Ezra’s dad beamed with pleasure as everyone got up from the table to greet Ezra and me, while his mom’s face was fixed with a tight-lipped smile.
Introductions went around the table. There was Rollo, who I’d met earlier, and his brother Baxter, along with their wives, Carla and Wendy. Lettie was Lynn’s younger sister, and there was another sister, Lorena, the oldest, and her daughter Rose Marie. Rose Marie was in her mid-forties, and she had her adult son, Ryan, with her, along with Ryan’s girlfriend Amber and their toddler son Dusty.
Lastly, a brunette in a Christmas sweater, who was sitting with two small children on either side of her, got up and hugged Ezra. “How’s it going, brother?”
“Good, you?” Ezra gave her a sympathetic look.
“I’m surviving,” she said, then looked over at two little girls, both in booster seats. “You know how it goes.”
“I do,” he affirmed. He turned to me. “Nora, this is my sister Elaine. Elaine, this is….”
“The notorious Nora Black.” She had her arms crossed over her chest as she sized me up with a sweeping gaze from head to toe. Finally, she shook her head and grinned. “You weren’t lying. She’s very pretty.”
“I never lie,” Ezra quipped.
Elaine's eyes, the same color of blue as Hal’s, met mine. “Then you must be the smartest, most talented woman on the face of the earth,” she teased.
I rolled my eyes but laughed. “That sounds slightly exaggerated.”
“Not an exaggeration,” Ezra smirked. “Even so, I don’t think I said all that. At least, not out loud.”
“Not in so many words.” Elaine shrugged. “But you definitely implied.”
There was an easiness between them that reminded me of Gilly and me. I found myself really liking Elaine. “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” I told her.
Two small girls, one around five, the other around two, closed in on Elaine’s legs. “This is Prissy.” She caressed the back of the older girl’s neck. “And this bashful thing,” she picked up the small one, “is Tessa.” She smiled at her daughters. “Girls, this is your Uncle Easy.”
Ezra’s eyes softened at the corners. “You need to send updated pictures. They have gotten so big.”
Elaine shook her head. “That happens when you don’t see a child but once every few years.”
Two waitresses came to the table with trays filled with drinks and began handing them out.
“I think we’re all here.” Orsen spread his hands wide. “We should go get our food.”
“What about Penny?” Rollo asked. “She’s not here yet.”
Lettie fretted nervously, “I haven’t been able to get a hold of her since this afternoon. She told me last week she was planning on coming, but you know how she is.”
Orsen nodded. “She’s probably finishing up stuff for the Santa Walk. I’m sure she’ll get here when she can.” He didn’t sound certain, but even so, he pulled his shoulders back and lifted his head. “She helped organize the whole thing this year.”
Lettie gave her husband a grateful smile. “This was the biggest turnout yet.”
Ezra gripped my hand and leaned to my ear. “If we’re lucky, she’ll be busy all night,” he whispered.
“So, Nora,” Lorena, the oldest aunt, said on approach. “I hear you own a shop. What do you all sell?”
“Hand-crafted soaps and lotions, along with skin and hair care.”
Her nose wrinkled as if she were smelling something unpleasant. “You make your own products?”
“Most of them,” I told her. “It’s always been a dream of mine.”
Lorena crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “How long have you been doing it?”
It was starting to feel like an interrogation. “For a few years.”
“What did you do before that?”
“I was a sales manager for a beauty company.”
“Retired, huh?”
I choked on a laugh at the soft dig at my age. “I did take an early retirement.”
She narrowed her shrewd gaze at me. “It must’ve been hard starting over. You know, at your age.”
The digs were no longer soft. “I took a year off from my job to take care of my dying mother.” Sorry, Mom, I thought. But I felt like she would approve, considering Rude Lorena looked like she’d just sucked a lemon. “After she passed away, I decided to stay in Garden Cove and start my business.”
Lorena’s arms dropped to her sides, and she shuffled her feet uncomfortably. “Sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks. It’s always hardest during the holidays.” It was kind of mean to play the mom card, even if it wasn’t a lie. I missed my mom something terrible, especially around Christmas, but Lorena had it coming.
The woman gaped at me then her eyes darted around the room as if looking for an exit. “Oh, everybody’s getting food. Better go before the buffet’s picked clean.”
I gave her my most genuine smile. “Good idea.”
Elaine came up to me after. “That was masterful.”
I snorted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She laughed. “You lie, and I’ll swear to it.”
Ezra put drinks down on the table in front of two empty chairs. “You want to get dinner?”
“Yes.” I took my coat off and put it on the back of a chair, and set my purse on the seat. I was still full from the pie and ice cream, but I’d passed some hot and sour soup on the buffet that looked like the perfect way to cap off a day of excellent food.
Ten minutes later, the long banquet table was a buzz with family, food, and chatter. I was spooning down the soup like it was going to run away from me if I didn’t hurry while contemplating a second bowl. “This is so good,” I said to Ezra.
“Mmm hmm,” he agreed as he took a bite of General Tso’s chicken.
“They’re pretty consistent,” Rose Marie, Lorena’s daughter, informed me. “I like that in a restaurant.” She had curly, dirty-blonde hair that framed her face like a lion’s mane in the coolest way.
I nodded. “Me too.”
“Sorry about my mom,” she said. “She can be a little intense.”
“She’s fine.” I gave a slight shrug. “Actually, I was expecting worse.”
“Well, she’s always been a little too protective. She’s chased off more than one of my boyfriends over the years.” She leaned a bit closer and spoke quietly when she said, “I haven’t even told her about the new guy I’m dating.”
“Yikes.” I felt bad for Rose Marie, but on the other hand, she was a grown woman who needed to learn how to set boundaries with her mother. “Is the relationship serious?”
“We’ve been going out for a couple of months,” she confided.
Ezra put his hand on my leg and gave my thigh a squeeze. “You doing okay?” he asked.
“Yep.” I slipped my hand over his. “No worries. I’ve been at business dinners with tougher crowds than your family.”
“What is he doing here?” I heard someone hiss.
Ezra and I turned to look. Rob, Elaine’s soon-to-be-ex, was standing in the doorway to the banquet room.
“Dad!” Prissy squealed. Tessa started crying, but that could’ve been because of the abrupt way her mother got up from her seat.
Elaine held up her hand when Hal and Lynn stood up. “I’ve got this,” she said. “I can handle it.”
The entire table had grown quiet except for Tessa’s crying. Lynn came around the table and picked the little girl up from her booster, and started bouncing her.
Elaine stopped him before he reached the table. “Why are you here?”
He frowned and shook his head. “If any of you bothered to answer your phone, I wouldn’t have had to show up unannounced.”
“No one wants to talk to you,” Lynn retorted. “This is a family-only dinner. You’re not welcome.”
“Mom,” Elaine protested. “Let me handle this.”
“Have any of you heard from Penny?” He looked around the table. “I was hoping she’d be here.”
“You need to leave,” Hal ordered, his voice hoarse and raspy.
I’m not sure what scent triggered the memory. It could’ve been all of them, but suddenly….
“Mom. Dad. We’re pregnant,” a woman says. I recognize the voice as Elaine’s. There was a man next to her and a couple across the booth table from them. “Rob and I wanted you both to know first.”
“That’s wonderful,” the man across the table tells her. He has to be Hal, but his voice sounds more robust than it does now. “How far along are you?”
“Two months,” Elaine says.
Lynn fidgets with her napkin. “My baby is having a baby. I’m so happy for you. I’m so pleased for the two of you.”
“Thanks, Lynn,” Rob says. “I can’t wait to be her dad.”
“Her?” Lynn pressed her fingers to her chest. “It’s a girl.”
This is the restaurant where they announced their first child. I wasn’t sure if the memory belonged to Rob, Elaine, Lynn, or Hal, but it had definitely been his arrival that triggered it.
“Why are you looking for Penny?” Lettie asked as I came out of the strong memory.
“Yeah, Rob,” Hal accused. “Why are you looking for Penny?”
Rob’s focus darted around the room, and he bit down on his lower lip for a second, then said, “Because I need to speak to her.”
“There’s nothing you need to say or do with Penny,” Hal said. “She’s your wife’s cousin, for Heaven’s sake.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lettie asked.
“It means your trifling daughter has been trifling,” Lynn intimated.
Elaine’s face fell. “Is this true?” she asked Rob. “Are you seeing Penny?”
His eyes went wide, and he shook his head vehemently. “Of course not,” he denied. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“I honestly don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do anymore,” she said, then looked suddenly ashamed and embarrassed. Finally, she asked, “If you’re not sleeping with her, then why do you want to find Penny?”
“Because she’s in trouble.” He scrubbed his bearded face with his palms, then took a calming breath. “She called me yesterday about an urgent matter.”
“What matter?” Ezra asked.
“A good question,” Rob replied. “One that I don’t have the answers for. Penny was going to tell me at lunch today, but then you showed up at Weston’s, and she clammed up. I was hoping someone here…” he scanned the faces at the table, “…might know something that could help me. Did any of you know why Penny wanted to talk to me?”
I could see the wheels spinning in Ezra’s head. He glanced at Elaine and then back to Rob. “Why do you think she’s in trouble now?”
He pulled out his phone and brought up a low-resolution video. “This is a security camera behind Trinity Bar and Grill at five-thirty tonight.”
The whole family, except for the little ones, Ryan, and his girlfriend Amber, had gathered around.
“I have to warn you all. This might get a little too intense,” Rob cautioned.
Lettie walked away and sat down. “Just tell me,” she told Orsen. “I don’t want to watch.”
The low-quality recording on Rob’s cell phone had today’s date and a time stamp of 17:53:09. It showed Penny waving her arm as if stretching as she stood on a step outside a door near a large trash bin. She was still wearing her red and green striped hat, the green tunic, and red tights.
A dark SUV, full-sized, drove past her. The way the camera pointed down from a high vantage point, it was impossible to see the driver or the license plate. When it stopped, only the side of the tail end was in view. The hatch on the back raised open. A few seconds later, someone in a full Santa suit with a beard and hat walked into the frame. He made a grab for Penny, and she jerked her arm back. She had a phone in her hand, and the Santa slapped her arm. The phone dropped to the ground, and he stomped on it. Penny then looked to be yelling as she wildly gesticulated at the man. It was hard to gauge height, but the Santa looked taller than her by a few inches.
“Is there volume?” Ezra asked.
Rob gave a quick head shake. “’Fraid not.”
“Is that the guy she was fighting with at the parade?” I asked Ezra. “He seems a little different here, but it’s hard to tell.”
“Do you know who she was fighting with?” Rob hit the pause on the playback. “I mean, did you get his name?”
“Penny said she worked for him,” I supplied. “If that’s helpful.”
“Clark Faber?” Lettie shook her head with disbelief. “Why would Penny fight with him? She liked her job, and she liked working for him.”
Rob didn’t comment. Instead, he tapped the play button and resumed the video.
Penny stepped back from the obviously yelling guy in the suit and fake beard. When she walked over to the opened hatch, another taller Santa came around the corner. He was holding something in his hand that, from this view, looked like it might be a weapon. Penny crawled into the back without a fight. Her face angled up, and I could see the anguish in her expression. My stomach churned as the hatch began to lower.
Rob turned off the video. “The video doesn’t show what happened before or after. By the time the bar owner saw the video and checked the alleyway, the SUV was gone.” He looked around at the family. “I’m afraid Penny’s been taken.”