It’d be insane to fly to another country on the strength of such a vague droplet of information…but whatever it was that had tormented Diya in that moment when she’d spoken her dead sister’s name, it had to do with the place where Ani had lived and died.
“Our house is in the back of beyond,” Diya had told me while showing me the black-and-white photos her mother had so cherished. “Used to be sugarcane fields all around us, a lot of farmers in the region. Not sure what the crop is these days, but it’s still mostly farmland. No intensive development.”
In an area that rural, people would remember the family of doctors who’d lost a child.
“It’s only a three-hour flight,” my wife had shared with a nostalgic smile. “Available throughout the week. We’ll go after you’re more settled here.
“It’s so peaceful,” she’d added, “the breeze that comes off the ocean like a kiss on the skin. The beach near the house is hidden, only really used by locals—pure white sand and coconut palms,water clear enough that you can see tiny tropical fish swimming around your ankles in the shallows. You’ll love it, Tavi.”
My heart twisted and twisted until the agony threatened to send me to the ground. The only thing that kept me upright was the knowledge that if I didn’t fix this, if I didn’t get Ackerson’s attention off me, then Diya would wake to a husband accused of multiple murders.
Taking out my phone, I looked up the travel requirements for a US passport holder who wanted to go to Fiji, found that I didn’t need to get a visa. That hurdle passed, I began to search for flights.
There was one the next morning at nine, complete with a single empty seat.
My gambler’s heart saw that as a sign.
I booked the fare, locked in my return flight two days later. Ended up having to pay for a seat on a charter flight for my return connection so I could make my international flight on time. That done, I found Ajay—seated at Shumi’s side—and told him about my decision to head to Fiji. He looked surprised but promised to keep an eye on Diya.
I also found Hazel, the nurse who was most often with Diya during the day, and told her. “I don’t want to go, but I have to.” It was the truth, the idea of leaving Diya wrecking me. “Has to do with preparing for the final rites. I don’t know when the police will say it’s okay to have funerals, but I need to be ready.” The staff, I’d come to learn, had a deep understanding of different cultural practices—part of the reason for the generous ICU visiting policy was to respect the needs of the local Maori population.
I felt bad taking advantage of that understanding, but I had no choice.
Hazel gave me a sympathetic smile. “I understand. We’ll take care of Diya until your return. I’ll make sure to speak to her, keep her mind active, and so will everyone else.”
Her sincerity only made me feel more like shit. “Thank you. I’ll only be gone for two days.”
I couldn’t afford to be out of the country longer without making it look like I was running away. Right now, if Ackerson even noticed I was gone, I could play it off much as I’d done with Hazel, say I’d gone in preparation for laying Diya’s lost family members to rest—specifically to fetch a sentimental item from the family estate in Fiji.
Because that estate was still there, still in Prasad hands.
Diya had shared that the property’s value had skyrocketed after their sleepy seaside village began to attract the attention of scouts from the companies that set up resorts. “But my parents won’t sell,” she’d said with a faint smile that held an edge of sorrow I’d mistaken for wistfulness. “Too many memories there.”
I hadn’t known about Ani then. Now that I did, I understood all the layers of Diya’s statement. She’d have told me about her baby sister, I realized. She’d already been dropping hints, building up to sharing this awful, dark part of her family’s history.
“I’ll find out about Ani,” I promised Diya before I left. “You just hold on for me, D.”
The first thing I did after I was out of the hospital, however, was call my father from the privacy of my car. Perhaps I was paranoid, but I didn’t trust that the cops hadn’t bugged my motel room.
After hearing what had taken place, Anand Advani said, “For fuck’s sake, son, can’t you ever keep your nose out of trouble?”
My hand tightened on the phone. “You really think I could do this? Murder an entire family?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think except as your lawyer—and as your lawyer, this looks bad. Most people don’t have even one suspicious death attached to their name. You already have two even before your in-laws are factored in. You know what the number is to be termed a serial killer? Three.”
There was a reason Anand Advani was considered a vicious asshole by those who’d come up against him in court. But I didn’t see him that way. To me, my father was a weak man in thrall to a woman who saw him as a trophy, and who’d probably mourn his death, when it came, more for theater than out of any true emotion.
My mother loved only two people on this earth: neither my father nor I were on that list.
“Can you help me find a local attorney or not?” I asked the man part of me loved even as I pitied him. Because for all his faults, he’d stood by me when the shit hit the fan…and he’d never once asked me if I’d killed Jocelyn or Virna.
He didn’t know about Susanne.
“Let me make some calls.” The sound of air being dragged in, exhaled. He was smoking again. “That cop—Baxter—he’s still sniffing around. Called me to ask what you were doing on the other side of the world. Didn’t believe me when I said you’d run off and had a quickie Vegas wedding, so I sent him a copy of your marriage certificate.”
“He reply?”
“Sent a message saying we have an extradition treaty with New Zealand. I told him that was nice, but that I had paperwork for JasonMusgrave’s seven-figure donation to a certain fund related to the police and just how fantastic it would look in a defense brief.”
