Clarisse doesn't speak right away. She's not sure what to say.

The cottage and the cat seem like a poor reward for all the years of bullshit, but she reminds herself that most people don't even get that much. That's the happiest ending a lot of people could hope for.

She'd asked for a story that would distract her, and this one did, but in exchange for getting her mind off of Ellie it seems like Gwen has dredged a dozen other memories out of the murkier waters of her brain. Still preferable to the way she'd been feeling, but not exactly good, either.

"Thanks for telling me," she says finally, leaning back in her seat. "It was a good story." It was, too. It even had murder in it.