You're Invited(92)

“It isn’t that. Listen. It’s important—”

“Look, I honestly don’t care, okay? I have bigger issues to deal with right now.” I tried to shut the door in her face, but she stuck her arm out and pushed her way inside.

“Hey! What the—”

But my words died in my mouth as I saw the knife in her hand.

“We really need to talk, Kaavi.”

I gulped.

This bitch was crazier than I could have imagined.





AMAYA


Interview Transcript: Amaya Bloom (abbrev. AB)

Date: January 25, 2020

Location: The Mount Lavinia Hotel

AB: My name is Amaya Bloom. I live in Los Angeles, though I’m currently staying at my family home at 75 Gregory’s Road, Colombo 07.

EP: Miss Bloom could you please explain to me what you were doing at the Mount Lavinia Hotel on the night of the twenty-fourth? It is our understanding that you were disinvited from the wedding.

AB: Yes, I was disinvited. But Kaavi is my oldest friend. I hoped she wasn’t serious when she asked me not to come. Besides, I had already booked and paid for my room many weeks ago and didn’t want it to go to waste.

EP: But you did not attend the Poruwa?

AB: No. I requested a room with a seaside view and watched from my balcony instead. It felt wrong not to respect her wishes on her big day.

EP: But you did visit her room later on that day?

AB: Yes. I did. I wanted to apologize.

EP: To apologize for what?

AB: For—well, it’s a long story. All of it. But mainly I wanted to apologize for everything that happened at the bridal shower, and to tell her the truth about what happened. Why I stopped talking to her so long ago.

EP: Did Miss Fonseka appear normal to you, during this visit?

AB: To be honest, no.

EP: Would you please elaborate?

AB: She appeared distraught and upset. Mainly with her fiancé, Matthew Spencer. She spoke to me about leaving him. She said she had an air-ticket booked to Singapore, and intended on flying out early this morning.

EP: You are certain of this.

AB: Yes. That is what she told me. She said she would contact her parents when things settled down.

EP: If this is the case, Miss Bloom, may I ask why you delayed informing her parents or the authorities of such vital information?

AB: Because she asked me to. She didn’t want it getting out until she was gone. She was afraid.

EP: Miss Bloom, I’m sure you are aware that there were signs of an attack in Miss Fonseka’s room. During our investigation, we were able to take an inventory of Miss Fonseka’s belongings. Among them was her passport.

AB: Her passport was in her room?

EP: Yes. And the night guard on duty claims that she never left from the main entrance, which she would have to do if she were to leave anytime before 6:00 a.m., as all other entrances would be locked.

AB: [Silence]

EP: Miss Bloom, would you mind telling us about your relationship with Miss Fonseka?

AB: I can’t believe this.

EP: What can’t you believe, Miss Bloom?

AB: That this is happening. Kaavi and I have been friends since we were children. We grew up together. We went to the same school here in Colombo. She even decided to apply to universities in the US with me instead of going to the UK like her parents would have preferred. We were like sisters. We remained close through university, which is where I met Spencer.

EP: Yes, Mr. Spencer. You were romantically involved with him, am I correct?

AB: Yes.

EP: You must have been jealous, then? That your friend was marrying your boyfriend?

AB: I was not jealous. I was scared.

EP: Scared of what? Of losing your boyfriend? Is that what motivated you to hurt Miss Fonseka?

AB: No. I— Listen.

[Pause]

[Takes deep breath]

Let me start from the beginning. When I first met Spencer I had just turned nineteen and had never really been in a serious relationship before. He, well, he took care of me. I wasn’t ever taken care of much growing up. My mother died when I was young, as you must have heard by now, and my father never really wanted anything to do with me. Spencer was this handsome, dashing man who paid attention to me and, well, I suppose you can imagine the rest. On the surface, we looked like your run-of-the-mill couple. We were in love. We were happy. He was friends with my best friend.

EP: Could you please get to the point, Miss Bloom?

AB: Y-yes. That’s what I’m trying to do here.

[Pause]

He was, well, I guess you could call it controlling. It was nothing significant, at first anyway. He had a preference for how I dressed. He hated it when I wore high heels, or makeup, for instance. At first, he would say that it was because I didn’t need it to look beautiful, but then he used to get, well, almost irritable if I ever even wore lipstick. And then one day I came home to find that he had thrown away every bit of makeup I owned.

It escalated from what I wore, to who I spoke to, where I went. It’s all a bit cliché now, of course. I didn’t see it at first. It was almost like, well, like those rocks that get shaped by a river. How could something as soft, something as beautiful as a river have the ability to change the complete structure of something as hard as a rock? Because I was as hard as a rock. I’d lost my mother. I’d survived. I was indestructible.