A shudder ripped through my entire body. Mrs. Jenson’s hydrangea petals would float into my room whenever the window was left open.
The pile of hair on the floor was growing.
“Of course that greedy shit found your letter. What an asshole. Trying to blackmail you like that. Ruining my plans. Can you believe that he was going to speak to the cops?”
That was probably the arguing that everyone heard.
“S-so you got Sam to—?” I suddenly felt afraid of her answer.
She gave a little laugh.
“Sam? Now that was another pain in my ass, but you insult me by thinking I would ever use him. I did everything myself, Lihini. Just me. The way it’s always been.” She was enjoying this. Taking credit for all her planning. An artist, finally unveiling her masterpiece. If I kept her talking, would I be able to figure out a way to escape?
“How did you make Arun disappear?”
She was pleased with my question. Like she had been waiting for me to ask it.
“Simple.” She grinned. “You even saw me wheel him away. Don’t you remember?”
My mind spun. Mrs. Jenson from the apartment upstairs had been wheeled off somewhere early that morning. At least, I’d assumed it was her. She had been swaddled in her large coat and I hadn’t seen her face. Her hydrangea petals were in my bedroom the next day, which meant that someone could have easily climbed through her fire escape and into my room, or out of it. Maybe even carried a body upstairs. Maybe I would have realized something was off if I wasn’t so freaked out.
“It was really fun to let you think you’d imagined the whole thing. I thought for sure I was a goner when you saw me in the apartment, but you’re more fucked in the head than I thought. Had a panic attack, right there in the stairwell. I just slipped you a little something to keep you out of the way until I cleaned up. Your super keeps his bleach in stock, so that was a relief. Luckily for me Arun kept me posted on how to avoid most of the cameras. Hey, you taught him that, didn’t you?”
But it wasn’t a question, and something else struck me like a punch in the gut.
If she killed Arun, then, oh my god—
“And Ida?”
She frowned at this, and put the scissors down. Grabbing a small tub of what looked like a pink paste, she started rubbing bits of it into my hair.
“I didn’t want to kill her, really. She was a sweet old dear. But she knew you. And then she went and set up a meeting with Mr. Williams, and I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have him seeing you. Being able to recognize you. It would ruin my entire plan. I had to make Mr. Williams think she wasn’t home that morning, before you went over. That’s who she wanted you to meet, in case you were curious. I’d just knocked her out when Mr. Williams rang the doorbell. Thank god you were late, or you’d have walked in on the whole fucking mess.”
But I could only focus on one thing.
“Ida’s dead?” I thought my chest would burst.
She shrugged.
“You almost found her, you know, locked in the downstairs bathroom. Thank god you didn’t break your way in until after I had gotten rid of her body. I’d gotten sloppy, though, and forgotten her phone. All this would have been a lot cleaner if everyone simply believed she’d gone to San Diego.”
No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening.
I choked down a sob. I had to keep going. I had to keep her talking, at least.
“But why? Miss Chandra sends a letter and now you find me. How?”
She grinned. It was sudden and cruel.
“I was hoping you’d bring up my letter. It was my first stroke of brilliance. You see, I spent years searching for you. We didn’t have the internet back then, of course, but the moment I could get online, I was hooked. There were too many damn Evanses and I thought it might be impossible, at first. I had no other information to go by. No first names. Didn’t even know if you still lived in California. But I waited. I bided my time. And I was rewarded. Elizabeth Evans finally made it to the news. The Angel in the Bay. It’s funny, I used to think she was my angel once. Little did I know . . . Anyways, all the press made it easier to find her. To find you.
“After that, it was easy. Two letters—one from a guilt-ridden Miss Chandra to Mr. and Mrs. Evans, finally looking to make peace with herself for the crime she committed all those years ago. They had no way of knowing Miss Chandra was already dead.”
I swallowed.
“You sent the letter?” I couldn’t believe it.
“The other letter,” she continued, ignoring me. She stepped back and surveyed what I looked like now. She was loving this. Loving how she was tormenting me. “The other letter invited them to participate in some ridiculous charity event in Sri Lanka. Once they were there, a cut brake line on their rental car was all it took.”
She didn’t slap me, but I recoiled like she had.
“M-my parents?”
I could barely breathe.
She smiled.
“You’re so much stupider than I thought. It’s like you didn’t even care what was real and what wasn’t. You never even realized that the last postcard wasn’t from them. That I sent it to you myself. That message was from me. I couldn’t wait to see you, my sweet girl.”
Oh my fucking god. She was crazy. She was absolutely nuts.
Fear and desperation crashed over me in waves.
“W-why?” I managed. “Why would you go through all of this?”
She stepped behind me again and started undoing the rope that bound my hands.
“That’s a really good question, Lihini. Why. Why not? I suppose is the better question, no? Why not? Why shouldn’t I have found you? Why shouldn’t I have left you alone? Why shouldn’t I have, when you took away from me the only chance of hope that I ever had? Why not?”
She yanked me up to my feet and pulled my hands in front of me, retying the length of nylon. I didn’t try to twist away. Not just yet. I had to pick the right moment. I had to keep her talking.
“S-so, all this was revenge?”
Paloma’s smile wavered. “Don’t get me wrong. It was fucking hilarious watching you go crazy. But there’s something more important that I wanted.”
What? What more did she want? She’d already taken my parents away from me. What else was there?
“Access to your life, you dumb bitch.”
What?
“I needed all the documentation, of course. Ida had some, which was great. Your parents had entrusted her with most of it, and she kept it labeled in a handy folder, right there for me to find. But I still needed your social security and adoption certificates and all that. And I only just managed to get them. To think that dumb bitch next door almost fucked everything up when she caught me leaving this house. I only just managed to hide the box when you came out to save me.”
The missing box from my parents’ closet.
“It’s a good thing she’s freaky as hell, because it was so easy to get you to believe that she attacked me.” Paloma snorted. “But I have everything I need now, finally.”
I had to get out of my binds. To get out of this garage, and out of this house. Now. I had to get out now. But I also had to ask—
“E-everything you n-need for what?”
Her smile grew wide. The Cheshire cat.
“To get my life back, of course.” She was tying the rope into something. “Don’t get me wrong. It was fun watching you unravel. But now it’s time for me to finally take back what’s mine.”
She held a kitchen knife between my shoulder blades and started to lead me out of the garage back inside the house. Oh fuck, where was she taking me? Maybe I could distract her.
“It’s money you want? Oh god, you can take it. Take it all. I’ll meet Mr. Williams and get the paperwork signed. Then this house and whatever is left in their bank account is mine. You can
have it all.”
Her smile slipped.
“You think that’s all this takes? You think I went through hell all these years for the money? God, you really are fucking stupid. No, Lihini. I don’t just want your money. I want your life.” She raised an eyebrow. “There’s not much left of it anyways. No one left to recognize you. No friends, no boyfriend, no family. No Ida. Definitely no roommate. It’ll be easy for us to swap places again. Simple, in fact.”
She led me to the kitchen and straight over to the stove. The hot plate was already turned on.
“A-are you going to kill me?” It was a stupid fucking cliché. I sounded like an absolute moron.
“No, Lihini. I’m not going to kill you.”
The little animal inside me took a gulp of air. She wasn’t going to kill me. She wasn’t going to kill me. She wasn’t going to kill me. But then why was she still smiling?
“But Gloria is about to die.”
And with that she grabbed the rope off my wrists and pressed my hands down onto the piping hot stove.
49
RATMALANA, SRI LANKA
THE GROUND FELT SOFT, like I was sinking into it. But that didn’t stop me. I finally saw the heavy, old clock that hung at the top of the main corridor. Ten twenty.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans were supposed to arrive at ten thirty. I had to think fast. The corridor leading to Perera sir’s office was deserted, thank goodness. I tiptoed the best I could to a small cupboard I could hide inside and was just opening it when someone grabbed my shoulder, hard, spinning me around.
“You never learn, do you, child?” Miss Chandra’s face was red. I had never seen her this angry. She raised her arm up high and slapped me across the good side of my face, but I couldn’t even feel it.
“Please, just let me go with them. I won’t tell anyone anything. Just let me go with them.”
“Too late, child. Too late. I kept you locked up for your own good but now you’ve ruined it. Looks like no amount of Piriton can keep you down.”
Just then, we heard the grating metal sound of the gate being opened.
“Good lord, they are here. What are we to do with you?”
I thought she would drag me back to the sickroom. I got ready to scream well and good. But to my surprise, she pushed me roughly into Perera sir’s office.
“I promise,” I spluttered. “I promise I won’t tell.”
“Sit down.”
“Thank you. Oh, thank you.”
I collapsed into a chair and held my head in my hands. My face was wet. That’s funny, I didn’t even remember starting to cry.
“There, there now. It’ll all be okay.” Miss Chandra was rubbing my hair. I didn’t see the needle in her hand until it was too late.
“No!” I tried to shout. Tried to push her off. But it was like I was moving in slow motion.
“Stay calm now, child.” She hugged me to her wide chest and lifted me to my feet.
I could hear cheerful American voices coming down the corridor. Just in time! They would find me. There was no way Miss Chandra could drag me to the sickroom now.
But she pulled me towards the door behind Perera sir’s desk instead. Everything started swimming around me. The injection was working. I fought it as hard as I could, but it wasn’t long before I felt my body go limp like a doll.
I slipped between the real and unreal. I could feel my body being pushed into the small room. I knew when Miss Chandra tied my hands together, and when she pushed a rag into my mouth to muffle my voice.
The room was barely more than a cupboard. The mirrored panels on the door only reflected one way, I supposed, because I could see right into Perera sir’s office. It was hazy, of course, but then again, everything was hazy.
Mrs. Evans! She wouldn’t be fooled by Lihini and Perera sir and Miss Chandra. She would know right away that it wasn’t me. She would find me here, and take me home. She would rescue me. She would protect me. She had to. I escaped and got to America. That’s the way my story ended. I moved to America and lived happily ever after. It had to be this way.
Mrs. Evans fanned herself with a small booklet as she entered the room. Mr. Evans and Mr. Whittaker followed as Perera sir asked them all to sit down.
I’m here, I screamed, but no sound left my body. I’m here. Come and find me.
“They told me she didn’t have any special dietary requirements, but I just want to double-check . . .”
Mrs. Evans! I’m right behind him!
“Of course, we know the first few months will be an adjustment, but we are hoping that . . .”
Please! Help me!
“What’s the Sinhala word for hello? Do you know if . . .”
I need you! I need you! Please help!
Maybe a weak sound left me then, because they all stopped talking.
“Did you hear that?” she asked. I couldn’t see it, but I could just imagine her perfect forehead wrinkling as she spoke.
She started to get up.
Yes! Yes! I’m right here! Please help me!
The door to Perera sir’s office swung open. It was Miss Chandra and she was leading in—
Oh my goodness, she was leading Lihini inside. Her hair was in one braid instead of two, and she was wearing my new pink dress from House of Fashions.
She smiled, and I saw her tooth, and it made my stomach hurt—Lihini wasn’t my friend anymore. She betrayed me. She was trying to take what was supposed to be mine.
But Mrs. Evans would know. She would know right away that it wasn’t me. That it wasn’t the same girl who was reading Wuthering Heights and who loved pink as much as she did.
“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Evans,” Lihini said in the same practiced voice that Miss Chandra makes us use when we memorize something. “It’s so lovely to see you both again. I can’t wait to be your new daughter.”
Any moment now.
Any moment and Mrs. Evans will figure it out. She’d realise it was an imposter and demand to see me. Me. I was Mrs. Evans’s sweet girl, not Lihini. Perera sir would have no choice but to let me go to them.
“Paloma!” Mrs. Evans cried out, leaping from her chair and wrapping her arms around Lihini. “Welcome to our family!”
I wanted to scream, I wanted to bash my head against the wall, I wanted to kill her.
But it was no use.
Whatever part of my soul that was left withered and died. They were gone. They were supposed to be my family, but they didn’t even know it wasn’t me.
50
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
IT TOOK A FEW moments for my brain to register the heat. For a second there, it just felt like my hand was freezing. Then smarting. Then white-hot, agonizing pain.
She shoved a kitchen towel in my mouth as I screamed, until I finally dropped to my knees.
I could barely think through it. Never before had my mind worked so slowly. What the fuck was I supposed to do? I had to buy some time.
“The police!”
“What?”
“Th-they’ll call me about Arun. They said they would.”
Paloma rolled her eyes. “Oh please, they all could see what a train wreck you were. I doubt they’ll come looking for you anytime soon. And even if they did, I’ll be long gone by then.”
She had tied up all my loose ends. There was no one else. No one who would come for me.
The doorbell rang. Her head snapped back and she glared at me.
“Expecting anyone?”
Maybe it was Sam. Maybe his persistence would pay off after all. But my heart sank. Fuck, the police probably had him in custody. My one shot and I fucked that up too.
“People know I’m here, Paloma.” I was crying. My hands throbbed and my head was spinning. “People know who I am. Let me help you. I’ll give you the money. Help you set up a life here. I’ll make it all up to yo
u, I swear.”
Fuck, I just needed a way out of this. One final goddamned lifeline. Please, I pleaded silently. I didn’t even know who I was pleading to. It’s not like I ever prayed. Please, let me get out of this. If I get out of this, I swear I’ll come clean. I know what I did was wrong. I really am sorry. I’ll fix it. I’m not lying when I say I’ll fix it. I’ll explain to everyone what happened. Help Paloma get the life she deserved.
The doorbell rang again. Maybe if there was a higher power, they’d actually heard me. I had no clue who it was, but Paloma was distracted. Her eyes darted around the kitchen, calculating what she would do next.
“Hello, Paloma? You there?” It was Gavin from next door. Thank god. “Paloma? Look, I know it’s the middle of the night. Appy said she heard screaming. Wanted me to check in on you.”
“They know where my parents have hidden the spare key. It’s only a matter of time till they come inside.” It was a full-on lie, but she didn’t have a way of knowing that, right?
I could see her weighing this out in her head when the doorbell rang again.
“Paloma?” It was a woman’s voice this time—thin and frail. “I’m sorry about earlier. Are you okay?” Appy was here too.
The doorbell again.
And again.
And again.
“Calm down,” we heard Gavin say. “Maybe she’s not home.”
“I’m telling you, something’s wrong. I saw that dog walker lady come in here. We have to call the police.”
That caught Paloma’s attention.
“If you so much as breathe differently,” she warned, pulling me back onto my feet and pressing the knife against my back again. My hands were untied but she held my wrists in her left hand, making me yelp.
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