The Haunting

"Here's where I really got nasty. I left my hairbrush in the bathroom where he'd find it and I wrote the names of our future children on a scrap of paper for him to find."

Lisa told Gloria about the night she and Ian came up with the names. Now, Gloria took a moment to wipe her eyes with a tissue.

Gloria interrupted again. "Wait, what about your mother, didn't it bother you that your mother would think you're dead the entire time you were missing?"

Lisa gave a small smirk in response to the question. "For me, it was another revelation. I watched my mother being interviewed on FOX and CNN the first afternoon at the Crane's. I was ready to call her and give her the good news. I watched my mother revel in the attention she was getting. It was all about her, not about me.

"My dad was my real parent until he died, my mother rarely paid attention to me. Oh, once or twice I think she tried, but she never warmed up to me. She loved Ian more than me. I tried to be a decent daughter -- the whole Judeo-Christian 'honor your mother' and all that - but it was mostly a façade on both our parts."

Lisa paused. "Can I have more coffee?" Both women got up to pour a second cup.

"I'm not going to bore you with every detail of what I did over the next few days. I did call him at work Thursday, disguised my voice and told him I watched as he let his wife die. I told the police the same thing a few days later. Reading his email, I had a copy of his itinerary, so Sunday morning I flattened one of his tires and left a love note in the spare tire compartment. Oh yeah, I also hid my letter opener in the side pocket of his suitcase.

"After I found out his girlfriend was moving in, I got creative.

"I bought a phone at Walmart and planted it in one of his coats in the closet. I called the number when I knew she'd be there alone and asked to speak to Ian. Told her I was his other girlfriend and she should have him call me, I sent a text that I enjoyed our time Tuesday night and wondered if he found the panties I left there. You should have heard her screaming." Lisa was smiling as she thought back to how much fun she had while freaking Carmen out. "The best part was sneaking into the apartment in the middle of the night and 'ghosting' her. That was after calling Ian's hotel and having the desk clerk wake Ian with the news that his wife was trying to reach him."

Gloria couldn't contain herself. "None of this is unlawful. In fact, I think it's damn inspirational. I understand from what I read in the papers that you're not being charged with any crime. But I guess I feel a little sorry for Carmen, she's been charged with negligent homicide and may end up serving a few years in jail. Seems harsh."

Lisa shook her head. "Maybe she'll stay away from other women's husbands when she gets out. I didn't set out to do anything but break them up and make Ian confess to what he did; I never dreamed it would end up with Ian dead."

Gloria, being a married woman herself, thought it might serve as a lesson to other would-be husband stealers, maybe Lisa is right. She silently nodded and let Lisa finish.

"I guess if the police want to get nasty, they can make a big deal out of the fact I faked having amnesia for ten days. But they'd have to prove I didn't have amnesia and they don't seem too interested in making a case out of where or why I was hiding out."

Gloria stopped taking notes and looked up. "Well Lisa, in this first session you've given me some great background. What do you want to get out of our future sessions?"

"Three things. I want to trust people again, to see the best in people; I've become jaded and I don't like it. Two, I want to understand why Ian couldn't love me as much as I loved him; where it went wrong. And third, I want to be able to spend the half million dollars I received from Ian's life insurance without feeling any guilt."

THE END