“What is it, Akki? Tell me. Anything that’s mine is yours.”

I swallowed. I just had to spit it out.

And so I asked him.

He didn’t react immediately.

Then he turned around in his seat and slid his sunglasses up onto his forehead so I could see his eyes. He didn’t look angry or upset, thank goodness. But he did look amused.

“Is this because of what happened the last time you were here?”

Oh my goodness—did Mahesh know? If he knew, then everyone in Colombo knows for sure. Oh gosh.

I took a deep breath.

“The last time I was here?”

“There was a break-in or something, no? At least, that’s what my mother said. About why you went and stayed at the Fonsekas instead of at your place.”

“Oh, um, yeah. Something like that.”

“You’re of course mad, aney. You should have at least called me, no? I didn’t even know you were here at the time.”

“I know.” I knew about those rumors, of course. I even knew who started them.

I had prepped for this.

“I know there’s been a bit of talk about the last time I was here in Colombo. But there’s a reason I haven’t come back all this time.”

He was quiet, for once. I could tell he wanted to know why. Everyone I know back home wants to know why.

“The truth is, the last time I was here—well, I was attacked.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Attacked? By who?”

I instinctively looked at the clock on his dashboard. 5:14 p.m. Oh no. Not now. What if I were to stall for a minute? 5:15 was a pattern. I could work with a pattern.

“Akki, who attacked you?”

I took a deep breath and cast my eyes down. Held my breath like Dr. Dunn said. Tried to steady myself. When I looked up again the numbers on the clock had changed, thank goodness.

“Akki?”

5:15. Finally.

“Your mother was right. There was a break-in. To my house. I think it was a burglary gone wrong.”

“My god, Akki. Why didn’t you tell me? Did you call the police?”

“Yes, but they, well, they weren’t too helpful.”

Mahesh clicked his tongue.

“Why didn’t you tell me, aiyyo? The deputy inspector general is a good friend of mine. I could have made sure they looked into it properly, no?”

“You know, honestly, I was too scared. I just wanted to put it behind me. That’s why I stayed at the Fonsekas.”

Mahesh frowned. I was being vague, and I hoped he wouldn’t question me further. I wasn’t sure I could keep this up if he did. I was never a good liar. I was brilliant at avoiding the truth, but straight-up deceitfulness wasn’t something I was comfortable with. I guess I had to make my peace with it now though.

“I see. Look, getting something like that here—it’s not easy, you know. It’s not like in America.”

That’s what I was afraid of.