Val stared blankly. Her heart banged against her chest. She heard Julia’s voice. The sound of it was terrifying. Struggling to move, to do something, to just get out of this, Val realized it was no use. She was trapped.

“Actually, I’m the person you knew as Julia. I stole her identity a long time ago. As you know, I’m calling myself Molly now.”

Desperately, Val tried to breathe but it felt as if she had a thousand pounds sitting on her ribcage. Swallowing was also difficult and the back of her throat began to fill with saliva, making her panic more.

“What happened to the real Julia DeHaviland? We both worked for the same organization. Julia made the mistake of telling me about this big new house she had bought in Buffalo. She was really looking forward to moving into it. She was also getting ready to set up a surgery practice. Julia had quite a large sum in savings, which made it easy for her to do all of this, and easy for me to do what I wanted to do. Two weeks after our mission, we went back to the States. I asked Julia if I could stay with her for a while. She agreed.” Molly went quiet for a few seconds and Val couldn’t tell what was going on, where Molly was. “After I killed Julia, a friend of mine got me the job at the medical examiner’s office and then helped me do the job.”

The word friend caught Val’s attention. She thought, Oh my God, did I place my confidence in the wrong person?

Molly laughed, “You know Julia’s biggest worry about coming back to the U.S. was that she didn’t know anyone in Buffalo. She said that making friends was hard for her. She was happy to have me with her. Honestly, Val, she wasn’t a good judge of character.”

Val’s chest ached terribly and saliva had pooled to the point that she felt like she was drowning. The pain was becoming unbearable. I have to fight this, or I am going to die. Val forced herself to pay less attention to the agony and more to the person speaking. There was only one way to escape from this lunatic. And Val had to be ready.

“Why did I kill Julia? It was nothing personal, I just wanted her identity. She was part of my brilliant plan to become wealthy. Do you know how easy it is to assume someone’s identity and then make a lot of money? I mean, actually become that person and then become rich? Let me tell you. It’s so easy, it’s almost shocking, especially if you know what you are doing… and have the stomach for it.”