Eileen nodded. “I’ll go today.” She stared down at her milky coffee, dreading the moment she would have to try to explain to her mother that Clare was gone. It would be awful under any circumstances, but how would it play out with a woman whose mind slipped further and further every day into a tangled gray fog of confusion and loss? Would she even understand what Eileen was telling her? “What about…what other arrangements still need to be made?”

“I don’t know. Everything, I guess. Clare’s publicist is coming. She’s hired someone to help us, some sort of professional planner.”

“A funeral planner?” Eileen asked, never even considering once in her life before this moment that such a profession existed. “Like a wedding planner?” she clarified and immediately regretted mentioning two disparate life events that threw their current situation into such a stark contrast. “I’m sorry… I just—why a planner? Won’t someone at the funeral home just sit down with us and help us pick out… I mean, go through the details, let us know what we need?”

“If it was me that had died, yes,” Simon said. “But it’s not me; it’s Clare Collins. I don’t think you’re realizing this could turn into a circus, a total media shit storm. And the sheer number of people who will try to be there—her most devout following? We need more help than a funeral director can offer. I’m sure you saw what happened when the publicist released the initial announcement, just the basics?”

Eileen thought of the two women in the airport bookstore, commiserating and buying Clare’s new book. Obviously, people knew her sister had died, but Simon was alluding to something more. “I guess I didn’t. I’ve been pretty out of touch since your call yesterday.”

He nodded and pulled his phone from his robe pocket and swiped the screen awake. “I told the publicist, just a basic announcement that she’d passed away, here at home. That we wanted some privacy. She had advised being more forthcoming. She wanted us to verify the death was a suicide.” Simon handed Eileen his phone so she could see what was happening for herself. “I just couldn’t do it—I still can’t. But people are speculating wildly now. Some are even wondering if her death was drug-related, or even murder. There’s all sorts of theories all over the internet and social media, people making wild leaps of logic, some based on characters or plots from Clare’s books—especially because of that book.” Simon pointed to his copy of A Perfect Life. “That’s part of the reason the publicist and planner are coming today.”

“Damage control,” Eileen offered.

“Exactly.”

“How much information will you release?” she asked.