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Sita shook her head. “No—something bigger had to have happened. Didn’t you hear the way she was talking? It soundslike you’re the reason they broke up, Reeva. No wonder you’re the favorite—she always felt sorry for you.”
“Okay, what?” cried Reeva. “I’m not even the favorite. And what exactly could have happened to me?”
There was a pause, then Sita snapped her fingers triumphantly. “I bet you walked in on Dad and Leela. As a kid.”
“What!”
“It happened to a friend of mine,” continued Sita. “She walked in on her dad sleeping with some other woman. It scarred her for life. She was only about eleven years old. It would have been even more traumatic if you were five and you walked in on your dad and his lover.”
Reeva shuddered. “I... don’t think so.”
“Oh my god, what if we’ve got this all the wrong way around?” cried Jaya. “What ifMumwas the one who had the affair? She’s way more the type. And then Dad caught her and attacked her lover. Maybe Reeva saw the attack!”
“What?” cried Reeva. “We can’t just assume that. And Dad seems so chill—he wouldn’t just attack someone.”
“Mum said they argued all the time,” said Jaya. “And he’s definitely intense. Look at the lack of stuff in his house, the fact he went along with being dead, even his folder on us and the money stash... It’s why I thought he was a spy; he has assassin energy.”
“I don’t agree with anything she just said,” said Sita, pointing at Jaya. “But it is true that Mum says they argued a lot.”
“Yeah, he argued with his wife—that’s not the same as attacking someone,” cried Reeva.
Sita shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s something in this... Mum said it was her fault too. What if they both had affairs?Either Dad did it first and Mum had one out of revenge, or Mum did it first and then Dad turned to Leela for comfort.”
“Isn’t that a bit much?” said Reeva.
“Something big had to have happened to necessitate the death-faking, and two messy affairs is definitely bigger than one,” pointed out Sita.
“Especially if Dad almost killed Mum’s lover,” added Jaya.
Reeva frowned. She hated this cheating narrative—it was bad enough when her sisters thought her dad had been guilty of having an affair, but now they were accusing their mum too. “This is ridiculous. I thought you were convinced it was all about Leela.”
“She’s obviously got something to do with this,” said Sita. “Mum’s reaction proves that. It’s just it could be more than a simple affair.”
Reeva shook her head. “There’s no evidence for this. All we know is that Dad blamed himself. Mum blames herself. And it affected five-year-old me the most.”
“Maybe he abused you,” suggested Sita. “Like, sexually.”
Jaya and Reeva stared at her in shock.
“Oh my god, Sita, you can’t just invent abuse claims,” said Jaya.
“I... No,” said Reeva. Her sister was voicing something that had also crossed her mind. Something so awful she had instantly discarded it. She tried to be rational and see the situation how she would if it were happening to one of her clients. “I would have remembered. Often, people do. They have memories. Or it comes out in dreams and things. If it had happened, I’d know. I know I would. And Mum isn’t talking about it like it’s that. She would have checked I was okay more than she did if it was that. Well. I hope she would have.”
“Okay,” said Sita. “But we really do need to consider all options. Not just the affairs.”
Reeva’s phone vibrated. She looked at it in relief—a message from Nick would be the perfect antidote to this conversation. But it was just Lakshmi.Your cat is needier than you are. I’ve just had to play laser with her for 30 minutes.
Reeva’s face creased in worry. The pet book she’d bought said it wasn’t healthy to let cats play with lasers for longer than ten minutes. Was Lakshmi neglecting FP? Should she go back and recuse her cat? Life had been so much easier before she’d had the never-ending responsibility of looking after this damned feline all the time. Reeva was starting to really empathize with Sita’s motherhood struggles. Though she decided it was best to not verbalize this aloud.
Her phone vibrated with another message. Lakshmi.But fear not; I’ve found a genius solution...
Reeva tapped on the image below. It was a video of Fluffy Panda playing with something purple buzzing around the wooden floor. Reeva examined it closer then cried out in horror.
Sita peered over. “What is it? Is that your cat?”
Reeva nodded, still speechless.
“Oh my god, cute!” cried Jaya, leaning over. “I didn’t know you had a cat. What’s it playing with?”
