TF: Well, I really don’t see why you need to ask me more questions. I mean, all the proof is there, right? Why don’t you call the police and ask them to arrest this wedding crasher, already?

EP: We will be making arrests in due time, Miss Fonseka. Until then, I’d love to clear just a few things up.

TF: [Pause] Okay, fine.

EP: So you explained to us that your family and Miss Bloom were not on speaking terms. To your knowledge, she and your sister were not on speaking terms, am I correct?

TF: Yeah, that’s right. Why are we going over all this again? I thought we weren’t focusing on Amaya anymore.

EP: Bear with me. There’s something I can’t seem to wrap my head around. I’ve been informed by numerous parties that your family had cut ties with Miss Bloom. If that were the case, then who invited her to the wedding?

TF: [Pause] I don’t know.

EP: Are you sure about that, Miss Fonseka?

TF: [Pause]

EP: Miss Fonseka, did you invite Miss Bloom to the wedding?

TF: [Pause]

EP: Miss Fonseka?

TF: No. Of course not.

EP: Miss Fonseka, I’d like to remind you that while we are not the police, you can be in serious trouble for lying during these interviews. The statements we take are as good as a sworn affidavit. You could be arrested for hindering this investigation. Now, let me ask you once more—did you invite Miss Bloom to the wedding?

TF: Okay, look. I thought—well—yes. Yes, I did invite her to the wedding, okay? So what if I did? I didn’t . . . Okay, look. I never thought, not in a million years, that she was serious. That she’d actually want to harm Kaavi. They were best friends, after all.

EP: Let’s backtrack a moment. How did you send her the invitation?

TF: She wouldn’t have come if she thought the invitation was from me. And my sister always left her laptop lying around. As you are already aware, I pretty much know all her passwords. It wasn’t too difficult to send Amaya an invitation from Kaavi’s account.

EP: And why, may I ask, were you motivated to do that?

TF: [Pause] [TF dabs a tissue over her eyes]

EP: Miss Fonseka?

TF: Because my family is full of lying hypocrites, that’s why. Especially my father and my holier-than-thou sister. They lord over everyone else, pretending to be so perfect, but they are full of so much bullshit they could fertilize all the paddy fields in the country.

You know my dad is broke, right? Or about as close to it as you can get when you have half of Colombo at your beck and call—no offense. Don’t worry, I’m sure you and your security company will still get paid.

But he’s pretty much run Fonseka Jewellers into the ground. My poor grandad would turn in his grave . . . but here we are—booking out the entire fucking Mount Lavinia Hotel, paying for my sister to fly to Singapore on a whim just to buy a ridiculously overpriced dress that she’ll only wear once.

He was supposed to help me out this year, you know. He’d promised that if I got my business plan together, he’d give me the cash I needed to start my own fashion line. I spent so long on it, you know? Took me ages to source the fabric and find all the suppliers and get the branding just right. I’d networked with all the boutiques in Colombo, and they’d all promised to carry my designs and everything. And then, well, he just goes and has a change of mind. Says that this isn’t the right environment for a start-up. Actually has the gall to tell me that no one in their right mind would spend thirty-five thousand rupees on a dress. All the while he’s happy to pay for a fucking lobster station at Kaavi’s wedding and decides to spend money he doesn’t have on some bullshit new store just so he could make a big deal about getting Spencer to run it.

I knew if Amaya came back that their bullshit and secrets and lies would be exposed. Everyone might look like they have their shit together, but I know my family. There’s so much simmering just below the surface, waiting for a match. Amaya was that match. It would only be a matter of time until my mother blew her fuse. And my father would be exposed as the hypocrite that he is.

EP: And what about Kaavi?

TF: Okay, look, I didn’t want her to get hurt. Not like this. I just wanted her exposed. She deserved to be exposed. She’s such a fucking fraud. Forget the years she spent belittling and outshining me. Lecturing me and pretending she was better than everyone else. Forget all of that. What kind of friend marries her best friend’s ex-boyfriend anyway? There was something seriously fucked-up in her head. And still, and still, she’d never be anything but my father’s little princess while the rest of us are just forgotten.

EP: Sounds like you have a lot of pent-up anger toward your sister.

TF: Well, duh. Of course. But I didn’t hurt her, if that’s what you’re getting at. I hate her, sure. But my parents would probably set up some sort of shrine for her or something, if she died. She’d be a fucking martyr if she was murdered. If I can’t compare to her while she’s alive, could you imagine what a disappointment I’d be if she was dead?

No, I just thought, well, Amaya being here will stir up some old feelings. I mean, I knew what Amaya was thinking—she wanted closure. She told me so. That was all she wanted.

EP: When did she tell you this?

TF: [Pause]

EP: Miss Fonseka, could you please elaborate on when Miss Amaya told you that she wanted closure?

TF: Okay, look. This is going to sound fucked-up, but you have to know that I didn’t mean any harm. I just—damn, I’m just sick of being left in the dark about everything, okay?

EP: I understand. Please go on.

TF: Well, I always thought there was something strange about Amaya. The way she lurked around my family. The way she hung on to every word my father said but gave my mother and me the cold shoulder. Even though my sister and her were inseparable, I knew something wasn’t right.

And then there was that summer, five years ago, when she suddenly showed up in Colombo and stayed with my family. I wasn’t here at the time. I took a leave of absence from my university and traveled to India. It wasn’t a rehabilitation center, as many here like to call it, you know. I just needed time off to reset and find myself. College in New York was harder than I thought it would be, my grades were slipping, and I’d met this guy . . .

Anyways, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something . . . happened. Something bad. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors by now—about her and my father. The timing of Nadia’s adoption always felt off to me. My parents had never discussed having another child before, much less adopting. And then Amaya just, well, disappeared. Okay, look, don’t get me wrong. I was happy she was finally out of our lives. But like I said . . .

It started out as just a way to keep tabs on her at first. I used to check her Facebook and Instagram, just to see what she was up to. To be sure she was keeping her distance from my family. She was hardly on social media though. I couldn’t really get a sense of her life. Then I noticed she had shared a post from some support group—Dr. Dunn’s, I think. He’s some famous podcast motivational speaker. I joined the group, just to check it out. Just to see what she was up to. Turned out she was very active on there. I just lurked, at first.

Okay, look, I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of creep. You have to understand. Amaya went from practically living at our house, to being closer than I ever was to Kaavi, to being adored by my father, to suddenly vanishing from our lives. I was just curious. About what happened, about Nadia, about whether she ever planned on coming back.

But then Kaavi announced that she was going to the US for her college reunion. And I wanted to know whether Amaya and she were meeting up. I tried asking Kaavi but she was cagey about it—she never really spoke to me about shit anyway. I wanted Amaya to stay away. She never brought anything but bad news, and things had finally settled down. And so I created a profile, under a different name, and I sent her a message.

EP: I see, and when did you first establish contact with Miss Bloom this way?

TF: Probably around [Pause] I think it was around August, the year before last.

EP: So that was about one and a half years ago. And what was the nature of these messages?

TF: Nothing damaging. Nothing wrong. I just befriended her. Of course, I couldn’t tell her who I really was, you know. She’d never have spoken to me, not honestly anyway. I just wanted to make sure she was still in LA, not San Francisco, where my sister was going for this bullshit reunion. Kaavi tries to be tough, but I know their friendship broke her heart, even though I never learned what happened. That was probably why she was going to the reunion to begin with—to try and speak to Amaya.

And then, my online friendship with Amaya, well, it just got out of control. She was suddenly messaging me at all hours, confiding in me, trusting me. I thought it would be a good idea to keep the conversation open. Just so I could try to learn more. About what happened.

EP: And all this time she thought you were someone else?

TF: Yes, she still does. She thinks my name is Beth, a call center associate from Milwaukee with a history of drug abuse.