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I sighed and entered the building, taking the elevator to Lara's floor, bag of food in hand. I greeted Chrystal, the woman who sat at the front desk, and she got up and led me down the hallway to Lara's office. Of course, I knew my way around the office, having visited countless times before, but I gave Chrystal a smile and let her lead me.
"I hope everything goes well for you at the trial, Dr. Morgan," she said as she took hold of Lara's doorknob for me while I balanced the tray of drinks and bag of food. "I think it's horrible what that woman tried to do to your wife and what she did to Derek."
"Thanks," I said. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine." She opened the door. "Did you know Derek?" I asked, stopping to look her in the eye.
"Yes," the young woman said, a blush rising on her cheeks. "We met at a party at his house. This was after Lisa and he ended their relationship. It's very terrible what happened."
"It is. Thank you for the help," I said and went inside. She nodded and closed the door.
Lara was seated behind her desk, on the phone of course. She pointed to the side of the room where a sofa and two chairs were positioned around a small coffee table. I went over and placed the drinks and food down and removed my jacket, throwing it over the back of the chair. I sat and waited while Lara finished the call, trying hard not to listen in. She did most of the listening so I didn't hear much, and besides it was at the end of the discussion.
She hung up and came over.
"There you are," she said and bent down to give me a kiss on the cheek, before sitting across from me. She reached out to take a drink and one of the sandwiches, which I had laid out on the table. "I'm starving. What did you get for us?"
"Corned beef from a little deli around my place. I know you love it."
"I do," she said and placed a napkin on her lap before lifting the sandwich to her mouth, smiling.
We ate our food and talked of nothing serious for a while. I told her about Sophie's latest antics and she told me about her plans to go on a cruise in the Caribbean in January.
Finally, both of us were done with our food and we sat back. She wiped her mouth carefully, giving me the once-over.
"So, tell me how you're really doing," she said and took a final drink from her cup. "I'm sure this must be really stressful."
"I'm fine," I said. "Just feel bad that all this is happening. It shouldn't have if I did my work and vetted Lisa better before I became involved."
"Don't," Lara said and pointed at me. "You can't control someone else's mental illness. She's suffering from erotomania combined with borderline personality disorder and probably, sociopathy. That's a powerful combination. She didn't even have to have sex with you for it to happen. I've read of cases where the person merely met the object of their obsession and built a whole fantasy world completely without even exchanging a word with them. Once you met her and she latched onto you, that was it. It was only a matter of time."
"The thing that gets me is that in the year between when I stopped seeing her and I met Kate, she'd been concocting this whole plan to get involved with me."
"She must have been livid when you met Kate. People like her go way overboard, imaging that the relationship exists despite the fact that nothing happened. Or in your case, nothing more than sex happened."
"We barely said two words to each other outside of scene," I said. "You know what it's like."
"I do. I had no idea she was sick."
A knock came at the door and Lara called out. "Come," she said.
Chrystal entered and came over, handing Lara a small envelope. "Here it is."
"Thanks," Lara said. "You can go now. Don't forget to put in for half a day."
"Thanks," Chrystal said. "I will."
Then she left.
"Give me a moment," Lara said and held up the envelope. "I have to check this out."
"Go ahead," I said and waved at her. I sat for a moment in silence, while Lara went back to her desk, removed something -- a flash drive -- from the envelope, and appeared to plug it into her computer. She clicked on her mouse and watched for a moment and I heard some sounds that sounded muffled.
"Come and take a look," she said and waved me over.
"What is it?" I asked and went to her side. She leaned over her desk, watching a video on a small screen. I glanced at it, standing behind her. From where I stood, it looked like pornography, except the woman was wrapped up in rope. It was a bondage scene. I recognized it immediately.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"It is," she said and stepped out of the way so I could see better. "The full video. I had a friend in the prosecutor's office make a copy and smuggle it out so we could see it and discuss."
