by Vas, Mahita;
Tamara kicked the box, emptied of its bejewelled shoes, and stomped towards their bedroom.
“Tamara, darling. Please …” Uday followed her, walking quickly to catch up. Grabbing her wrist, he whispered, “Tamara, please understand. It’s been hard for Lavi since her mother died. They were extremely close. We all were. Please just give her some time.”
Tamara glared at Uday, her nostrils flaring to the rhythm of her quick breaths. With an angry tug, she pulled away from Uday and hissed, “You’ve spoilt her, Uday! She’s playing you against me, but you refuse to see that! No matter how much time I give, no matter how kind I am towards her, she will always hate me.” She threw herself on their bed and sobbed.
Uday sat by her side and stroked her back. He should not have allowed Ashwin to talk him into testing the waters. This outcome proved nothing. Tamara was a good woman who loved him. She would make a good wife. Her parents had been respected research scientists at Stanford University, but the family had left abruptly after being accused of espionage. Tamara was fifteen and was fluent in English by then. In China, they lived comfortably under the auspices of the State.
A woman like her was not meant for a simple man. She needed someone who could keep her in the life she deserved—carefree and luxurious—while being adored. That did not make her a gold-digger. Uday was only too happy to indulge Tamara. She deserved it. He kissed her bare shoulder.
“It’s all an act, Daddy. Looks like Ashwin was right.” Uday turned to see Lavinia at the door. He couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to him in Hindi.
“I thought you were out.”
“I was supposed to be, but changed my mind. Sorry, Daddy, but I heard everything.” Lavinia stuck her tongue out like she used to when she was little and was caught telling one of her tall tales or wearing her mother’s lipstick. He could not blame her for eavesdropping.
Tamara turned around. She had stopped crying, but her face was streaked with stale tears and smudged make-up. “What did you say? It’s rude to speak in a foreign language in front of people who don’t understand it. Your mother didn’t teach you that?”
“Don’t you dare speak about my mother. You’re not fit to be her cleaner.” Lavinia turned around, her ponytail swinging wildly, and stormed out of the room.
Sitting up, Tamara looked at Uday and said, “See? She hates me. She will do everything to keep us apart.”
Uday put his arm around her, only to be rebuffed. “Time. That’s all we need. Please trust me, Tamara.”
“Trust you? You don’t trust me! You want a pre-nup. Why? Because you think I am marrying you for your money?”
“Forget the pre-nup. We won’t have one.”
“Easy for you to say. Your daughter won’t let you forget.”
“Maybe we should give ourselves a few more months before we get married. Give the children time to get used to the idea. It’s only fair. I was hasty—”
“Hasty? It’s been five years!”
Uday sighed. “Tamara darling, you were married until less than a year ago. I meant that I was hasty about the marriage itself, not the intention to make you my wife.”
“You want to wait? We’ll wait. For as long as you want. For as long as your precious Lavinia wants. In fact, if you—no, I mean, Lavinia—wants a pre-nup, we’ll have a pre-nup. Anything to make darling princess Lavinia happy.”
Before he could respond, Uday heard the bathroom door slam shut.
Everything about Tamara’s latest response felt odd. Her sudden acquiescence, her unusually shrill voice and the sheer mention of Lavinia’s name just one time too many. Uday stood in front of the bathroom door. He needed reassurance that the stirring in his gut and the thumping in his head were due to nothing but an imagination gone just a little wild.
Uday was about to knock on the door when he heard Tamara hum a familiar tune as the shower rained on the marble floor. The tune sounded like something by Lavinia’s favourite singer. He placed his ear against the door. Uday wasn’t familiar with the tune but it didn’t sound particularly angry.
Time was all they needed to be happy together. Forever.
10
An Evening in Mid-February
Uday looked forward to a relaxing evening with his family. Dinner together on weeknights was a ritual which had become increasingly difficult to maintain ever since Tamara moved in.
It took a lot of courage on Angela’s part to tell Uday why his sons and Priyanka were suddenly working longer hours and having to eat out or in their own homes. Harder still was the confession that Lavinia’s evenings doing volunteer work were largely spent at either Ashwin’s or Sayana’s apartment, doing data entry for an animal welfare charity. All these tactics to avoid sitting at the table with Tamara.
With Tamara in China, having been summoned by her father to visit her sick mother, Uday asked his family to gather for Sunday dinner at seven. Wati and Conchita were out on their day off, so Uday arranged for pizzas and buffalo wings to be delivered at eight.
He knocked on Lavinia’s door. She did not respond. Perhaps she was in the bathroom. He opened the door, and noticing the bathroom door was ajar, spoke in a raised voice, “Lavi, your brothers and sisters are here. Join us as soon as you can, okay?” The room was still and quiet. The air-conditioner had not been on for a while. “Lavi?” Uday called her handphone. His heart beating rapidly, Uday composed himself before walking back to the living room. “Anyone heard from Lavi? She’s not in her room and she’s not answering her phone. I’ve tried twice.”
Everyone checked their phones. There weren’t any missed calls or messages from Lavinia.
Priyanka said, “I saw her this afternoon, when I got back from the supermarket. She was waiting for her ride to some event … I can’t remember. Something to do with Monopoly.”
Ashwin said, “Scrabble Sundays. She’s been part of this group that meets every Sunday to play Scrabble. Friends from her first year in university.”
“Yes, that’s right! Lavinia was preparing for a national tournament in June. Maybe she got caught up in a game and lost track of time,” said Angela. “We all know how focussed she can be.”
Uday shook his head and paced the room. “She can be focussed but she was really looking forward to this evening with just us. She said she’d be back by six, as usual. She’s now over an hour late and it’s not like traffic is a problem on a Sunday night.” Uday tried Lavinia’s phone again. “Still no answer.”
Ashwin offered his father a drink. “Maybe her battery’s dead. I’m sure she’ll turn up soon.”
Uday sank slowly into an armchair, rubbing his chest. “I’m getting a bad feeling. Something has happened to her.”
Priyanka, whose cousin had got killed in a drunken brawl in Delhi, said, “Don’t worry, Dad. Singapore is nothing like India. Lavi will be home soon.”
The family sat around and waited, each of them retreating into their own worlds, scrolling through their phones. Uday stared out of the window and wondered out loud. “Does anyone know who are her Scrabble buddies and where they meet for Scrabble Sundays?”
They looked at each other in awkward silence. Uday asked himself when he had stopped talking to Lavinia about anything and everything. He knew so much about her—her favourite things, from cakes to colours, from movies to mammals, from books to bags and even her favourite swear word. But none of these mattered when he couldn’t remember her best friend’s name or where she lived. He had no idea how many people were in her Scrabble Sundays group, which had been meeting now for more than four years. Maybe she had told him, but he hadn’t paid attention. Or maybe she hadn’t bothered to mention it because she didn’t think he would be interested. The things that mattered were the things he now desperately wished he knew.
Sayana said, “I’m calling Grab. They’ll be able to tell us where she was dropped off if we give them her number. We could drive there and hopefully she’ll still be playing Scrabble. If not, her friends might know where she is.”
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br /> After being put on hold for five minutes, he was told, “Grab does not divulge such information.” Ending the call, he asked no one in particular, “Who the hell says ‘divulge’? She could’ve said they don’t provide such information. Or release, or give. Divulge? Why do Singaporeans like to use big words when there are so many normal words?”
Priyanka replied, “They think it makes them sound smart, but it really makes them sound like stupid people trying hard to sound smart. Much like most of my clients. They should stop dictating ads and leave that to us copywriters.”
Uday rubbed his chin. “If she were in an accident, the police would identify her immediately from her identity card. She carries it in her wallet, right?”
“Yes, we all do. We’re supposed to. So maybe she wasn’t in an accident—”
Ashwin added, “Or maybe the police haven’t gotten around to telling us. Maybe we should start calling the hospitals. There aren’t that many.”
Sayana turned to Ashwin, “Why, Ashwin? We’re all trying to be positive and you must assume the worst. Why don’t you just shut up until we know more?”
“I see. Sitting here scrolling our phones, checking Facebook and emails, is going to tell us what happened?”
The doorbell rang. “Pizza man. I’ll get it,” said Priyanka as she searched for her wallet in her handbag.
A large pepperoni pizza and a medium margherita pizza sat in open boxes next to each other on the coffee table. The buffalo wings were transferred from the box into a bowl, soggy from spilt barbecue sauce. Priyanka offered Uday some buffalo wings. “You should have something at least.” Uday waved her away.
Angela tried calling Lavinia. “She’s either switched off her phone or her battery’s dead.”
The room went quiet. Angela rested her head on Ashwin’s shoulder and said she was trying not to cry.
Ashwin called the first hospital on his list. “Changi General? I’m just wondering if you have a patient named Lavinia Aurora. Yes, Lavinia. L-A-V-I-N-I-A. Last name, Aurora … Yes! That’s exactly how it’s spelt. Oh, your sister’s name is Aurora? Sleeping Beauty … No, I didn’t know that … Yes, thank you, I’ll hold …” Ashwin placed a hand on the mouthpiece and asked, “Did any of you know that Aurora is Sleeping Beauty’s real name?”
Priyanka took a slice of pizza. “Of course. She was also known as Briar Rose. How could you not know that?”
“I thought her name was Sleeping Beauty, and that she didn’t have any other name,” confessed Sayana.
Angela chuckled. “To me, she was always Shui Meiren, as she is known in China. I only learnt about the English version when I watched a pantomime while studying here.”
Ashwin took his hand off the mouthpiece. “Nothing? Alright then, thank you.”
“Keep trying, Ashwin. And let’s not talk about Sleeping Beauty. I’m not in the mood for frivolity.” Uday knew that Lavinia still loved her Disney princesses. When channel surfing on cable television, Lavinia always stayed on a channel where a Disney movie popped up, no matter how far in it was from the beginning or how close to the end. Cinderella was her all- time favourite and Lavinia especially liked the movie with Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother. The ballgowns are so ugly, though, she would always say. Would she have known about Sleeping Beauty’s name, he wondered?
Ashwin began to call the next hospital on the list that showed up on his computer screen.
Angela asked about Charlie. She had a soft-spot for terminally ill children, having volunteered at a home for sickly, abandoned children when she was a teenager. Uday was miffed at the distraction, but perhaps that was Angela’s intention. She was as compassionate and empathic as Ashwin. Uday knew they were a perfect match from the moment Ashwin brought her home, soon after meeting her at a financial conference.
“He’s very ill. Last legs, I think. Tamara admitted him into hospital yesterday, before leaving for the airport. Aaron jumped at the opportunity to spend a few days in Phuket. Suits us all not to have him around.”
Uday looked at his watch. Nearly nine. “She’s three hours late. She hasn’t called any of us. No messages from her and her phone is off. Something is wrong. We should call the police.”
“They won’t do anything, Dad. She’s an adult so you can only file a missing person’s report after twelve hours. Let’s give it another couple of hours and then we’ll call the police, even if they are unlikely to do anything until later.”
Uday was in his living room staring at the book on his lap. Unable to bear the oppressive air from their collective anxiety, he asked his sons and their wives to return to their own homes. Everyone promised to keep each other posted if they heard something, anything. Uday had tried watching television, surfing across every available channel. His favourite comedies failed to elicit even a chuckle.
He called Tamara. “Something bad has happened to Lavi.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. She promised to be home for dinner at six. It’s now ten-thirty and still no sign of her. No calls, no messages, nothing.” Tamara did not respond. “Hello? Tamara?”
“Yes, Uday. I’m here. I’m … shocked. I’m sure she’s okay. Singapore is so safe.”
“I have a very bad feeling, Tamara. The boys and I have decided to call the police if we don’t hear from Lavi by midnight.”
“The police? Isn’t that too hasty? Maybe wait until the morning?”
“No. That might be too late. I should keep all the lines free, just in case. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
Uday realised he hadn’t asked Tamara how she was and if her mother was feeling better. He’d call her again in the morning.
11
Sunday Night, Mid-February
Ashwin was adamant about not involving the police and Uday was too distraught to fight. But he rejoined, even as he agreed to take Lavinia to their family doctor, “If the injuries are much worse than we think, we’re calling the police. Damn all your plans for revenge.”
“Let’s take things one step at a time, Dad. If Lavi needs to be taken to hospital, the police will inevitably be involved,” said Ashwin as he turned towards Sayana. “Hey, we have to go. We’re taking Lavi to Dr Dubash.”
Sayana walked over and took the bag from his father. “The guy I’ve been interrogating in Chinese, trying to find out what happened, is the good guy, Dad, and needs to get out of here. So do we.”
“No, wait! He must tell us everything he knows about this before we give him a cent.” Uday could not understand how a good guy found himself in such a situation, in a room with his half-dead daughter.
“He did, but now’s not the time for a long chat. Let’s get Lavi to the clinic quickly. Sayana looked at his sister. “You’ll be okay, princess.” Sayana passed the bag to the man, who limped towards Lavinia. “Stay the fuck away from her!”
The man jerked backwards and with his hands clasped in front of him, said in halting English, nodding along with every word, “Sorry, Miss. Very sorry. I no make harm for you. I think you be okay.” The man bowed as he turned and shuffled out as quickly as his pummelled frame could manage.
Uday shook his head. “Alright then, call Dr Dubash. We’ll take her to his clinic. He’ll be able to check her and make her well.”
“It’s nearly 12.30am!”
“He delivered all three of you, took care of your mother. He’ll expect us to call him at a time like this.”
They drove to the clinic in Holland Village with Lavinia curled up in the back seat, her head on Uday’s lap. The bleeding had been staunched with the help of towels from the factory. Dr Dubash was waiting for them at the parking lot in front of his clinic, with a wheelchair.
Ashwin gently lifted Lavinia onto the wheelchair, while Sayana held her limp legs and placed them on the foot rests. Standing in front of Lavinia, Uday sobbed as he watched Ashwin place her dress over her knee, her body slumped and her head dangling, as if held to her neck by a thin sliver of skin.
Shaking his head and
grabbing the wheelchair handles, Dr Dubash said, “Wait at the reception. I can only offer you water from the cooler at this hour. I don’t know how long this will take, but please be patient.”
The three of them settled into an L-shaped sofa, underneath an air-conditioner which blasted cold air onto their faces. Ashwin found the remote control and turned it down, expecting to wait for several hours.
“Tell me all.” Uday was staring at the terrazzo floor. “I want to know everything. No sugar-coating.”
Sayana sat upright on the sofa and turned his face to the ceiling. Blinking a few times, he began, “His name is Ah Huat. He said his boss called him while he was in his dormitory and told him to go to the factory and wait for a man named Shaun—”
“Shaun is the monster who did this? Who the hell is he?”
“We’ll soon find out. Shaun Lin or Lim, he wasn’t sure. Shaun gave Ah Huat five thousand dollars—a lot of money for a butcher from Malaysia—with clear instructions to …” Sayana rubbed his hands over his face and shook his head. “You don’t want to know this. Leave it to Ashwin and me to find Shaun and deal with him, Dad.”
“Tell me what this monster had in mind for Lavi.”
“He wanted Ah Huat to chop Lavi up into many small pieces and throw her into the two furnaces …”
Uday’s eyes widened as he clutched his chest. Leaning forward, he groaned, “No. No … that’s what he meant when he talked about burning Lavi? Chop her up and … no … I cannot bear this.” Uday stared straight ahead, unblinking, breathing slowly and deeply. “Kill her and leave no evidence. Who? Who is the monster? Why would anyone hurt her? Do any of you have enemies who might want to hurt your sister?”
Sayana slapped his forehead. “Dad, please! Neither of us would get into situations that would result in such brutality. Nor do we know the kind of people who would retaliate like this. What about you? You’re into gazillion-dollar business deals. Any egos you might have inadvertently shattered? Some people’s propensity for revenge—Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, even Indian—over a perceived slight is well-documented. You interact with them more than anyone else we know. Something you know and should tell us?”
