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)
“All hidden. Shame’s a big thing in Indian families.” Enough to silence a woman who’d once held a high-powered job and had endless interests. “With the Prasads being so notable, and with how much she loved them, I don’t think she would’ve wanted to rock the boat.”
“I can imagine. What a mess.” He touched my shoulder. “I’ll give the other staff the heads-up to keep an eye out for Bobby Prasad. Just in case.”
After Jack left, I went to look in on Shumi…to find her alone but for Ajay; as with Diya, the nurses were keeping an eye on her from their station. He was dressed in jeans and the same checked shirt he’d been wearing the day he arrived in New Zealand; his expression was stark, his voice shaking as he described the events of that morning. “I was the only one here. Mum and Dad were having breakfast near the motel. I didn’t know what to do, Tavish.”
I hugged him.
Arms clenching tight around me, he clung to me and sobbed, a young man who was doing all he could to be there for his sister. “It’s okay,” I said, over and over, until at last he was able to breathe again, speak again.
Drawing away, he took off his glasses to wipe the backs of his hands over his eyes. “My parents will be here soon,” he said, almost as if he was apologizing for their absence. “They love Shumi so much.”
I just nodded, the Kumar family’s relationship dynamics not my business except for the fact that they went a long way toward explaining why Shumi had attached herself to Bobby from such a young age—and why she’d never turned on him even when he hurt her. To her mind, his controlling nature might well have equaled love.
Because even when they weren’t dating, they’d spent time together.
Shumi fell down a gravel embankment. Scraped up her legs, bruises everywhere. She said she wasn’t paying attention and slipped, but I know she was out walking with him.
It was attention, after all—of which, it was becoming clear, Shumi had received precious little from her mother and father. One preoccupied with her golden boy, the other a workaholic. “I’ll stay with you until then,” I said. “You want me to get you coffee?”
“Yeah, thanks.” A shaky smile. “I’m so glad you’re here, Tavish.”
* * *
—
It was just over twenty minutes later that I returned to Diya, thinking of how desperate Mrs. Kumar had looked as she checked that Ajay was okay after the fright he’d had. All the while, her brutalized daughter lay unmoving in the ICU bed behind her.
“I wonder if either she or her husband ever think about how they set Shumi up for abuse,” I said to Diya. “I know she’s your best friend, but she’s broken inside, sweetheart. I don’t know if she’ll tell the truth about what happened the morning of the fire.” Because to do so would be to betray the one person she believed loved her. “You have to wake up, D. For me.”
A twitch under my hand.
“Diya?” I jolted up, staring at her.
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Baby, come on, baby, wake up.”
A sigh, another flutter, then a little sound.
Chapter 54
Private notes: Detective Callum Baxter (LAPD)
Date: Aug 17
Time: 16:12
Still haven’t talked to the friend who stayed with James Whitby prior to Virna’s accident. Whitby was happy to provide her name and contact info, but turns out the woman is a professor who studies remote tribes or something and has been incommunicado in the Amazon since the start of June.
Per Whitby, “She’ll come out when she comes out. Never ended up missing yet.”
Not much I can do but wait.
Time: 23:09
Decided to drive by Tavish Advani’s condo, and Jesus, he has a woman living there with him. I was hoping it was just a hookup when I spotted her out on the balcony, but I managed to chat to a neighbor of his who was returning from a party, and he confirmed that the woman moved in recently—he couldn’t give me an exact date.
I have to warn her.
Chapter 55
It took Diya four hours to fully wake, and even then, she was groggy and lost.
Ackerson had got wind of her stirring consciousness and was hovering near the monitoring station, but the head nurse stood her ground and said the patient needed to see a familiar face first.
Now the nurse and Dr. Chen kept Ackerson at bay as Diya focused on me at last. “Hi, baby,” I said, fighting to keep my voice from shaking. “You’re in the hospital. You’re fine.”
When she tried to speak, nothing came out.
“I have water.” Picking up a water bottle into which the nurse had placed an extra-long bendable straw, I put the straw to her lips.
Diya managed to take a sip or two before whimpering, “Tavi, it hurts.”