You're Invited(59)

EP: Could you give us some examples? Did the younger Miss Fonseka say anything?

LAT: Oh, well, she didn’t need to. You could see it all over her face. Over all their faces. I’ve spent, what, five weeks with the family now? The beauty of living with a group of people as busy as the Fonsekas is that they rarely notice you floating around. Always on their phones, always working, always keeping up. With their charities and their events. It makes it easy to pick up on things, you know. I guess Kaavi never paid much attention to Tehani, but Tehani, well, I think she’s a lot smarter than the Fonsekas give her credit for. Sure, she likes to drink and party, but I mean, don’t we all? [Laughs]

[Pause]

She’s been quite upset with the way everyone’s been handling things. With the wedding, I mean, and especially the wedding expenses. I saw her the other day, looking over the business’s accounts and getting quite upset. “Would you spend close to a million rupees on fucking fireworks?” she asked me.

I mean, I tried to tell her that things were so much cheaper in Sri Lanka anyway, but she seemed quite pissed off and didn’t want to hear it.

EP: And you think this rift about finances is cause enough for the younger Miss Fonseka to hurt her sister?

LAT: Look, I don’t know. All I’m saying is that I know bitterness when I see it, and Tehani was as bitter as a grapefruit spoiling out in the summer sun. I don’t know. Maybe it was hard for her. Kaavi was so perfect, so wonderful, it would have been difficult, I guess, growing up in her shadow. Having everyone fawn over Kaavi when Tehani was pretty much forgotten.

EP: Thank you, Miss Thompson. Can I also ask you a few more questions, now that I have you here?

LAT: Sure thing. If you think it’ll help us figure out what happened to Kaavi, I’m an open book. I really hope this is all one big misunderstanding. Like, you know, The Hangover or something. That she’s just locked up on a roof somewhere or—oh my god, have you checked the roof of the hotel?

EP: Thank you for the suggestion. The security are combing every inch of the hotel as we speak.

LAT: Oh, that’s great. Tell them not to forget to check the roof, okay?

EP: Yes. Now, if you don’t mind, could you please tell me what happened on the morning of the twenty-second?

LAT: Um, the twenty-second?

EP: Yes. There had been a disagreement in the Fonseka household. A few of the guests mentioned that you seemed quite upset.

LAT: Um, well, I—I was upset, of course. I didn’t understand what was going on, and Mrs. Fonseka, well, she seemed really angry. And I—um, I thought she was upset with me.

EP: And why would she be upset with you?

LAT: I was, um, I had been, well, I wanted to check my email. And the Wi-Fi downstairs wasn’t working for some reason. And so I thought I’d try using Uncle Nihal’s computer instead.

[Pause]

Aunty Fiona burst into the room, and she seemed quite irritated that I was there. I—I thought she was angry with me. She was speaking in Sinhala, you see, she often does when she’s upset, and so I couldn’t understand what was going on. And when they called a meeting and asked me to stay downstairs, I—well, I thought they were talking about sending me back or something.

EP: Quite an overreaction to you checking your email, don’t you think?

LAT: Well, like I said, I had no clue what was going on because I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

EP: And you were on the phone, afterward. May I ask with who?

LAT: [Pause] I don’t know what you mean.

EP: One of the houseguests said she heard you on the phone. Her room was quite close by and she had her door open, she said.

LAT: Was it Aunty what’s her name? Aunty Geetha? She’s always snooping around.

EP: Do you remember who you called?

LAT: No. No, I don’t.

EP: It was only three days ago. Would you mind checking your call history now?

LAT: [Pause] I—I suppose I could.

[Pause]

It was—just my father, see?

EP: Tell us about your father. I’m to understand he does business with the Fonsekas, am I right?

LAT: Yes, they’ve been friends for many years and he has invested in Fonseka Jewellers as well.

EP: Look, Miss Thompson, time is very valuable right now, and we need to get to the point. Do you know the penalty of impeding an investigation?

LAT: Um, well—

EP: It could easily lead to imprisonment, Miss Thompson. So I want you to be very honest with me, understand?

LAT: I—I don’t—

EP: Because I don’t think, for a moment, that you’d like to spend time in a Sri Lankan prison.

LAT: [Pause] Look, I didn’t want to, okay? It was all my dad’s fault. It’s him. He made me do it.

EP: Please explain.

LAT: My father thought, and I guess he is right to think, that, well, the Fonsekas are broke. Completely and totally broke. The gem business hasn’t been doing well for a while, and now they’re opening another store and none of it makes any sense. It’s just about keeping up appearances in Colombo. He sent me here to try and gather as much information as I could so he could sue them for falsifying their accounts. They’ve been dipping into company money for years, and now with the wedding—oh gosh, that was all I was doing. I didn’t want to snoop in the first place; you have to believe me. I love Kaavi. I didn’t want to backstab her. But Daddy, well, he insisted.