Why does wixData query fail in a browser but works under dev?

Question

I am having difficulty understanding why the following code works when using the Wix debugger. Its a form to enter email. I am trying to determine if the email is in the site members database. The code is incomplete, trying to get past the first hurdle of getting data from the members database. When run in Wix, it acts as expected, returns a result if there’s a match. However when running in Chrome, the result is always nothing or not defined, the count is 0.

Any help appreciated.

// Velo API Reference: https://www.wix.com/velo/reference/api-overview/introduction
import wixUsers from 'wix-users';
import wixLocation from 'wix-location';
import wixData from 'wix-data';

async function verifyEmail(email) {
    let options = {
        "suppressAuth": true,
        "suppressHooks": true
    };
    //debugger;
    let myResult = await wixData.query("Members/PrivateMembersData")
        .eq("loginEmail", email)
        .find(options)
        .then((results) => {
        debugger;
        console.log("count = ", results.items.length);
            if (results.items.length > 0) {
                let items = results.items;
                let firstItem = items[0];
                console.log("Email found.");
            } else {
                // handle case where no matching items found
                console.log("Email NOT FOUND.");
            }
        })
        .catch((error) => {
            debugger;
            let errorMsg = error.message;
            let code = error.code;
        });;
        let another = myResult;
}


$w.onReady(function () {
    $w('#loginNow').onClick(function () {
        let email = $w('#loginEmail').value;
        let password = $w('#loginPassword').value;
        //
// test code
        verifyEmail(email);

// end test code

//  org below
        wixUsers.login(email,password)
        .then(() => {
            wixLocation.to('/Home')
        })
    })
});