Kate and Jeanette

"If I had known you were in there, I would have dragged you out kicking and screaming," Jeanette said to Kate while chewing her thumbnail.

"I know that now. Why were you there, Jeanette?"

"It's like I told you. It gave me a feeling of power. Breaking into someone else's life."

"Was your own that bad?"

"No. It was like an addiction, breaking into his house. I liked having a secret no one else knew about. I know it was dumb. I just couldn't seem to stop. I wasn't the only one, either. I caught Vincent there once. He couldn't tell me why he was there, either. After we all found out what happened to you, I guess we just wanted to be there to try and make sense of it all. But you can't make sense of that kind of experience, not from the outside."

"Not from the inside, either," Kate replied despondently. "Why did you take stuff from the house?"

Jeanette sighed. "I guess it was like a killer taking trophies. Sounds sick, but I don't know any better way to explain it. Look, Kate, there's something I've really wanted to say for a long time. I had no intention of taking over your life. Yes, I envied you at one time, but I never set out to-"

"I know. I had no intention of doing a lot of things either. Believe me, I get it. I never meant to ruin you for what I helped set in motion, either."

"I know that now. Did you love him, Kate?"

"I did. At first, I thought I did. I loved the sanctuary that he was. His attention to detail. I had never felt so known, so understood. I realize now that was part of his method of control."

"I'm glad you agreed to come stay with me. This is the last place anyone would expect you to be."

"I am too. I feel genuinely safe here."

"Ready to start plotting some revenge?"

"Yep."

"Who's first on the list, and why?"

"My mother," Kate answered without hesitation. "She knew where I was because she helped put me there. She knew I was about to expose her dirty little secrets, so she decided to teach her Katie-Cat a lesson. But she got caught in her own trap. See, I was only supposed to be at Martin's for a few days, but it all got away from her, and as time passed she saw the chance to cover her tracks when everyone assumed I had been murdered and that my body would never be found."

"She knew?" gasped Jeanette. "And she just left you there to rot?"

Not only left me there, but slipped Martin cash for my upkeep regularly. I can prove it, too."

"Oh my GOD." Jeanette leaned forward tensely in shock and disbelief.

"This is where I need your help first, Jeanette. I need you to buy something for me."

"Okay. What?"

"The old May Plantation house. It would be best to buy it under the name of a dummy corporation. I know someone who can help with that. I'd buy it myself, but I can't be traced to it or the rest of the plan will crumble."

"Why the May Plantation? It's out in the middle of nowhere."

"Exactly. And it has a HUGE basement." A grin split Kate's face, her eyes shining.