Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
And still no word on where all his money is going.
It definitely didn’t go toward financing his condo—at least not openly. Perez was able to confirm it was purchased by a corporation, which then transferred the deed to Advani’s name, free and clear. He’s trying to see behind the corporate setup, find out where the money actually came from, because he doesn’t think it was Mom and Dad after all.
Says he’s not getting “happy family vibes” there. Gotta agree. Audrey Advani is seen a lot with her elder son, Raja, but neither of us has been able to find a recent photo of her with Tavish. Then again, could be the corporation is Daddy Advani’s baby. He’s certainly showing up for his boy.
Perez’s theory is that Tavish Advani is funneling “ill-gotten gains” through various corporations to clean them up. If he is, he might’ve outsmarted us—we’ll have to pull in the finance cops if Perez has no luck.
Time: 14:00
Got a call back from Emilio Vasquez, Advani’s old college roommate. Apparently they’re still in touch online but not really close after Vasquez relocated to New York. Per Vasquez, Advani was always “choosy.”
“Could have any girl he wanted,” Vasquez said. “It wasn’t just the looks. Don’t want to sound like an asshole, but I’m not exactly ugly. But Tavish…he just knew what to say to the girls, how to make them feel important and beautiful. Hell of a thing to watch. I figured maybe it was the acting genes—you know, from his mom.
“I used to be happy to go out as his wingman because he’d attract the women and sometimes I’d get lucky after a disappointed girl turned to me as a consolation prize. I didn’t mind. I was a dumb college kid who wanted to get laid.”
Per Vasquez, Advani didn’t have a steady girlfriend that he knew of in college, but— “He was definitely seeing someone off campus. He took a gap year toward the end of our course, so I wasn’t with him for that. But before that, he used to vanish all the time on weekends and come back grinning like a man who got real lucky. When I asked, all he’d say was that her name was Suzi, Suzi W.”
Suzi W.
It’s some kind of starting point at least.
Chapter 19
“I only know bits.” Ajay thrust both hands into the front pockets of his jeans, his shoulders hunching up. “Shumi mentioned her to me once, said how sad it was that baby Ani had died at only three, or I would’ve had an in-law close to my age. Ani was two years younger than Diya.”
“She died as a child?” It made more sense now that Diya hadn’t mentioned her to me; to her, it would’ve been a lifetime ago.
Except that she’d said Ani’s name as she lay bloody and wounded in my arms.
Ani…they said…about Ani…not…
“I don’t know how she died.” Ajay pushed up the bridge of his glasses. “Shumi only ever mentioned her in passing, and I was a teenager at the time and not interested in finding out more. But I remember that Shumi said how she couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like for Rajesh uncle and Sarita auntie to lose a child, even if she was adopted.”
“Do you know why they adopted her or from where?”
“It was local—back when we all lived in Fiji.”
I frowned at the mention of the group of Pacific islands that—as I’d learned after meeting Diya—had a significant ethnically Indian population due to the vagaries of history. “All of you? For some reason, I thought Shumi was born here.”
“No, and neither was I. We were neighbors with the Prasads out in the boonies. That’s where Bobby and Shumi first met.” A slight smile. “God, she’s always been crazy for him.”
The smile faded. “But I wasn’t even two when Ani died, so I don’t know any other details. I’m sorry.” He removed his hands from his pockets, then didn’t seem to know what to do with them. “Why are you interested in Ani anyway?”
I didn’t see any point in lying. “When I found Diya, she mentioned her.”
“Oh.” Tears appeared in his eyes; Ajay hadn’t inherited either his mother’s intense ability to lock away her emotions or his father’s grim resolve.
“I guess it’d be natural to think about her sister when she was so hurt,” he said, “especially if she knew her parents were gone, too. And probably Bobby, too. God, can you imagine what Diya and Shumi must’ve seen?” His voice cracked…and I noticed for the first time that he always used Shumi’s name, rather than the word for elder sister.
Diya had never used Bobby’s name except when first introducing him, always referred to him using the word for brother—“bhaiya.” It was just how she’d been brought up. But Ajay had clearly not been taught to refer to his sister with similar deference.