“That you are just like your sister, a grasping little rube who thought she could get away with stealing what rightfully belonged to others.” She pulled her hand out of her purse. There was something black and bright yellow in it. Her arm jerked out and touched my chest. There was a sizzling sound and pain surged through my body as if I were on fire. A garbled sound emerged from my mouth and I fell to the ground, shivering and gasping.

“One would prefer to see one’s enemy suffer, don’t you agree, Lily?” Sarah stood above me, regarding me like an insect. “It might sound like a strange term to call Claudia my enemy. After all, we had so much in common. At one time I was very much like her, a patient of Alec Gorevale’s. The good doctor transformed my life, as he did so many others. Really he was quite amazing.” She gave me one of her frigid smiles.

“Gorevale?” The realization hit me with the force of a slap. Something one of Claudia’s friends had said, about how Claudia had had to leave Gorevale’s house, because his girlfriend was coming back for a visit. Sarah had been living in California, caring for her mother. She had been Gorevale’s absent girlfriend.

“The problem with falling in love with your doctor is that he always has other patients. Alec was always getting entangled with patients and I was always having to free him from the net, so to speak.”

“Claudia,” I mumbled. All I had to do to reach the phone was get my hand up to the top of the desk, but when I tried Sarah took it and unplugged it.

“Alec became enamored with her, but I could live with that. Alec had all sorts of girls, and he thought nothing of them, so why would I care? But he became obsessed with Claudia. Like an old fool.” Sarah’s voice was steady. “Alec, who had always preached against marriage and family all of a sudden wanted to have one with your sister. I had wanted him to marry me years ago, but he didn’t even want to live together, and I’d respected that. I trailed around after him from place to place. Then, when my mother became very ill, I moved to California to be with her. Alec and I carried on our relationship long-distance. It seemed like a good arrangement. His little trollops were never around when I came to visit. What a fool I was. He even gave Claudia his grandmother’s engagement ring. I’d dreamed for years that one day he would give it to me.”

While she was talking, I started crawling to the front door. She was so wrapped up in what she was saying, she didn’t seem to notice.