Who was Kaavi on the phone with?

What had she done to upset them?

Why were they threatening her?

I checked the time—4:44 p.m.

How could this be a good sign?

LAURA

Interview Transcript: Laura Abigail Thompson (abbrev. LAT)

Date: January 25, 2020

Location: The Mount Lavinia Hotel

LAT: So, um, I’ve been trying to talk to you for a while. I’ve been telling the security since I heard about what happened. I have, well, I have an idea who could have done it. I thought you should know.

EP: Thank you for coming forward. Would you mind giving me your name and address for the record, before we start?

LAT: So, you want, like, my full name, right?

EP: Yes, please. And your current address too.

LAT: I’m Laura Thompson, um, Laura Abigail Thompson, though I haven’t really used my middle name in a long time. I’m staying with my host family, the Fonsekas, at their home. I don’t, um, I don’t, like, really remember the address. Would you mind if I text it to you later?

EP: Could you confirm that this is the address, please?

[Shuffling papers]

28 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 07.

LAT: Yes, I guess that’s right.

EP: Miss Thompson, you had mentioned to the security officers that you had your suspicions about who might have had cause to hurt Miss Fonseka. Would you mind filling us in?

LAT: Sure, of course. Um, okay, well, it’s not easy to say this, you know. I mean, the Fonsekas have been awesome. They’ve really, you know, welcomed me into their home. Especially Mr. Fonseka. He’s very kind. And Kaavi, she’s just, well, she’s so awesome. We’ve known each other since we were kids, you know. Well, kind of. They’d stay with us when they visited Texas, and I’ve always been in such awe of her. But, you know, she’s a bit older than me, so I guess I’ve always kind of been the brat that hung around. You know, I think—

EP: Would you mind telling us about your suspicions, Miss Thompson?

LAT: Yes, my suspicions. Of course. Yes. Well, I guess there’s no easy way to say this. But I think the middle sister, Tehani—I think she did it.

EP: And what makes you think that?

LAT: Well, she hated Kaavi’s guts, for one thing. You know, seeing the two of them together made me thank god that I’m an only child. I’ve heard of competition between sisters, of course, but those two. I mean, that was some next-level shit.

EP: Could you give us some examples? Did the younger Miss Fonseka say anything?

LAT: Oh, well, she didn’t need to. You could see it all over her face. Over all their faces. I’ve spent, what, five weeks with the family now? The beauty of living with a group of people as busy as the Fonsekas is that they rarely notice you floating around. Always on their phones, always working, always keeping up. With their charities and their events. It makes it easy to pick up on things, you know. I guess Kaavi never paid much attention to Tehani, but Tehani, well, I think she’s a lot smarter than the Fonsekas give her credit for. Sure, she likes to drink and party, but I mean, don’t we all? [Laughs]

[Pause]

She’s been quite upset with the way everyone’s been handling things. With the wedding, I mean, and especially the wedding expenses. I saw her the other day, looking over the business’s accounts and getting quite upset. “Would you spend close to a million rupees on fucking fireworks?” she asked me.

I mean, I tried to tell her that things were so much cheaper in Sri Lanka anyway, but she seemed quite pissed off and didn’t want to hear it.

EP: And you think this rift about finances is cause enough for the younger Miss Fonseka to hurt her sister?

LAT: Look, I don’t know. All I’m saying is that I know bitterness when I see it, and Tehani was as bitter as a grapefruit spoiling out in the summer sun. I don’t know. Maybe it was hard for her. Kaavi was so perfect, so wonderful, it would have been difficult, I guess, growing up in her shadow. Having everyone fawn over Kaavi when Tehani was pretty much forgotten.

EP: Thank you, Miss Thompson. Can I also ask you a few more questions, now that I have you here?

LAT: Sure thing. If you think it’ll help us figure out what happened to Kaavi, I’m an open book. I really hope this is all one big misunderstanding. Like, you know, The Hangover or something. That she’s just locked up on a roof somewhere or—oh my god, have you checked the roof of the hotel?

EP: Thank you for the suggestion. The security are combing every inch of the hotel as we speak.

LAT: Oh, that’s great. Tell them not to forget to check the roof, okay?

EP: Yes. Now, if you don’t mind, could you please tell me what happened on the morning of the twenty-second?

LAT: Um, the twenty-second?

EP: Yes. There had been a disagreement in the Fonseka household. A few of the guests mentioned that you seemed quite upset.

LAT: Um, well, I—I was upset, of course. I didn’t understand what was going on, and Mrs. Fonseka, well, she seemed really angry. And I—um, I thought she was upset with me.

EP: And why would she be upset with you?

LAT: I was, um, I had been, well, I wanted to check my email. And the Wi-Fi downstairs wasn’t working for some reason. And so I thought I’d try using Uncle Nihal’s computer instead.

[Pause]

Aunty Fiona burst into the room, and she seemed quite irritated that I was there. I—I thought she was angry with me. She was speaking in Sinhala, you see, she often does when she’s upset, and so I couldn’t understand what was going on. And when they called a meeting and asked me to stay downstairs, I—well, I thought they were talking about sending me back or something.

EP: Quite an overreaction to you checking your email, don’t you think?

LAT: Well, like I said, I had no clue what was going on because I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

EP: And you were on the phone, afterward. May I ask with who?

LAT: [Pause] I don’t know what you mean.

EP: One of the houseguests said she heard you on the phone. Her room was quite close by and she had her door open, she said.

LAT: Was it Aunty what’s her name? Aunty Geetha? She’s always snooping around.

EP: Do you remember who you called?

LAT: No. No, I don’t.

EP: It was only three days ago. Would you mind checking your call history now?

LAT: [Pause] I—I suppose I could.

[Pause]

It was—just my father, see?

EP: Tell us about your father. I’m to understand he does business with the Fonsekas, am I right?

LAT: Yes, they’ve been friends for many years and he has invested in Fonseka Jewellers as well.

EP: Look, Miss Thompson, time is very valuable right now, and we need to get to the point. Do you know the penalty of impeding an investigation?

LAT: Um, well—

EP: It could easily lead to imprisonment, Miss Thompson. So I want you to be very honest with me, understand?

LAT: I—I don’t—

EP: Because I don’t think, for a moment, that you’d like to spend time in a Sri Lankan prison.

LAT: [Pause] Look, I didn’t want to, okay? It was all my dad’s fault. It’s him. He made me do it.

EP: Please explain.

LAT: My father thought, and I guess he is right to think, that, well, the Fonsekas are broke. Completely and totally broke. The gem business hasn’t been doing well for a while, and now they’re opening another store and none of it makes any sense. It’s just about keeping up appearances in Colombo. He sent me here to try and gather as much information as I could so he could sue them for falsifying their accounts. They’ve been dipping into company money for years, and now with the wedding—oh gosh, that was all I was doing. I didn’t want to snoop in the first place; you have to believe me. I love Kaavi. I didn’t want to backstab her. But Daddy, well, he insisted.

That day Aunty Fiona walked in, I was actually trying to download some of the company accounts, and I thought they’d found me out for sure. That they were going to hand me over to the authorities or something like that. I was scared out of my mind.

But that’s all it was. My father suspected that Uncle Nihal wasn’t being honest with him. He was upset, yes, but none of us ever had anything against Kaavi. I told you, I adore her.