She shrugged. “Well, that’s all in the past, isn’t it?”
“Apparently not, if you’re still suffering the after-effects.”
“Stone, I’ve always been an honest person. You mustn’t think I’m some sort of career criminal.”
“I don’t. I’ve always thought it was Paul’s idea to screw the insurance company.”
“It was. Of course, I went along with it, after he’d spent a few months persuading me. Who knew it would end the way it did?”
“Did you love him?”
“Oh, God, did I love him, and for years! It had begun to wear off, though, by the time we hatched the plot. My plan was to take half the money and kiss Paul goodbye.” She smiled. “That’s when I fell into your bed.”
“As I recall, it was your bed, but it hardly matters. I had just had the shock of my girl running off with somebody else, so I was easy.”
“Yes, you were,” she said, her voice low. “Maybe, now that I’m going to be legal again, we could see something of each other.”
Stone shook his head. “For the moment, all I can do is represent you in trying to put things right with the insurance company. If I spend any more time with you than that, then I’m a part of a criminal conspiracy.”
“But once I’m legal again …”
“That’s different.”
“I mean, I don’t want to start using my old name again, or anything like that. I just want to know that I can cross a border without popping up in some computer.”
“Not much chance of that, since you’re supposed to be dead.”
“I still have my old passport. I used it, until I married Winston. Then I used my old birth certificate to get a new one.”
“Did he know about your past?”
She shook her head. “Not the bad part. I reinvented my life without Paul Manning, and he believed me. He was a dear soul. He never doubted me.”
“Well, I think you’re right to want to settle this thing with the insurance company. How high will you go?”
She looked thoughtful. “Five million?”
“I should think they’d be delighted to get that much back. They wrote off the money a long time ago. Can you afford it?”
“Oh, yes. I still had ten million when I met Winston, and he had a considerable estate. Also, the market has been very kind to me.”
“You’d need to square things with the IRS.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, maybe file an amended return. Get a good accountant and let him handle it. It’s worth the money to be righteous again.”
“Yes, I suppose it is.”
“Well, Allison … I’m sorry, what do you call yourself these days?”
“Elizabeth.”
“That’s nice. I …” Stone stopped. No, it couldn’t be.
“I’ve had to be so wary all the time. Only last weekend, I met the most interesting man, but he’s apparently pretty well known, and I just didn’t want to get into anything like that until I had my life in order, so I got all nervous and just walked away from him.”
Yes, it could be. “And where were you last weekend?”