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“You have no idea! Empress of the World. The Center of the Universe.”
“Mother! She is a horrible person.”
“She is, actually.”
“But you nearly live with her.”
“I consider it research. Like Nellie Bly.”
Lisa looked blank.
“She was a nineteenth century reporter who did things like commit herself to a mental institution so she could write an exposé. I want to write a true crime novel about how an ordinary person can be the epitome of evil.”
“Evil?”
“Her parents very conveniently died before they could cut her out of their will.”
Lisa looked at her mother. “You think Janet killed them?”
“I don’t want to believe that, but sometimes I think she is capable of it.”
“Mother! You have to get out of here. You can go back home with me. We can—”
“No,” Sylvia said softly. “I can’t leave now because, well... The secret part is that Janet has a hold over me.”
“You? You haven’t done a bad thing in your life. You—” Lisa paled. “But I have. I’ve done...” She didn’t want to say things out loud. Transporting drugs. Selling them. Back then, she did what she thought was necessary to pay for her habit. “Is Janet threatening you about me?”
Sylvia didn’t directly answer her daughter’s question. “Something I learned a long time ago is that things happen for a reason. I was very lonely after your father died. Then this woman showed up and introduced herself. She told me I was the author of her favorite books and she’d worked hard to find me. She seemed quite proud that she’d been able to sleuth me out. She went to a conference and asked—” Sylvia waved her hand. “How she found me doesn’t matter. Janet said she was moving to Lachlan and she and I were going to become best friends, that we were going to start doing everything together.”
Lisa gave a snort. “Didn’t her presumption put you off?”
“Oh yes. I was quite firm in telling her that I wasn’t interested. I needed a friend but she wasn’t exactly my type.”
“Understatement,” Lisa muttered. “Why didn’t she take the hint and leave you alone?”
“But darling, empresses think they’re honoring a person with their presence. Truth is that I wavered between being amused and horrified by her—but the horror won out. As kindly as I could manage, I told her no.”
“Then what?”
“Janet is brilliant at finding out things about people. Like how she got past the so-called secrecy of my pen name. I don’t know how, but she found me. Anyway, she went away for a month and when she returned, she had evidence about...about...”
“Me.” Lisa thought about who knew of what she’d done and how to find it out. A bit of research into the records of her roommates, a talk with their angry landlord, a police record or two, and a lot could be discovered. After a serious near bust, they’d dispersed, and Lisa got clean. But she knew Phil was living in LA. He always was a snitch. Give him a hundred bucks and he’d tell all. “She threatened you with me, didn’t she?”
“Yes,” Sylvia said. “But it’s okay. In a way, she and I are good together.”
“She bosses you around, tells you what to eat, what to wear.”
“I know, but in return I listen to her. She can talk for hours about the awful things that people have done to her—and how she has repaid them. I write it all down. I have nearly a book’s worth now.”
“What if she finds out what you’re writing?”
Sylvia gave a little smile. “It’s all well hidden. Not a scrap of paper or anything on a computer. Only one tiny flash drive.”
“How can anything be hidden? She’s everywhere.”
“I did a bit of remodeling on this house and let’s just say that I have a place no one will easily find.”
“You can’t—”
