Come on Karen, you can do this. You've gotten this far; now quit crying like a baby and tell them what happened. Karen wiped the tears away, steeling herself to continue. "A month ago, I was living a fairly normal life. I was married, and I had a job as an accountant in Atlanta. I didn't know it at the time, but my best friend - the real Lisa Blankenship - was having an affair with my husband. Those two were the real criminals in this story. They planned to come on this cruise together, and they wanted me out of the way. About a week before Christmas, I discovered that my bank account was completely empty. Lisa was some kind of computer whiz, and it turns out she had embezzled a bunch of money from the company, dumped it into my account so it would look like I had done it, and then withdrew it all using a forged ID she had made. They were planning on me being arrested for the crime, but after I discovered my account was empty, I went home and found them together with the money. Lisa pulled a gun on me. They...they tried to kill me, but I kicked the gun away, and..." She started to sob again, but soon got it under control. "there was a fight for the gun, and I got it first. I shot them. Both of them, in self defense." The image of Lisa and Allen lying in their own blood burned through her mind once again, as it had so many times since that night. So much blood...it seems like I can smell it even now.
"And then I panicked and ran away. I know I shouldn't have, but it seemed like all the evidence was against me, and I was absolutely terrified...I started hiding behind Lisa's identity. I boarded this ship pretending to be her, thinking the authorities wouldn't find me on a cruise ship, and maybe I could escape to Bermuda or something. And now, here we are. I am so ashamed; you guys have been the only thing making my life bearable the last couple of weeks. I don't deserve friends like you all have been to me."