Karen returned Chelsea's hug; it was so comforting, she didn't want to let go, but she couldn't keep hugging her forever. Then she listened carefully to what Sean had to say. "Yes, I understand, but I guess the lawyer will have to wait until we get rescued. Thanks for trusting me enough to not lock me up; I promise I'll keep someone with me, and when rescue comes, I'll come straight to you and surrender myself to your custody."
It hadn't occurred to Karen that someone might try to make her a scapegoat for the murders on the ship, and the prospect frightened her. "You're right, it's probably best that as few people as possible know about this. I'll continue to go by the name Lisa for now, but I should probably know who else will be told about this. As far as I know, there is only one other person on this ship who knows the truth: the minister, Gregory Prather. I told him under the seal of confession. He's one of the reasons I decided to turn myself in; he said I probably wouldn't get any peace of mind until I took responsibility for my actions. Aside from him, only you three know. At first I thought I might just tell you, Sean, but Molly is so close to both of us, I thought she needed to know too. And you Chelsea, since I've been staying with you, I definitely thought you had the right to know. I thought about maybe bringing one or two others in on this as well, but then I thought better of it. You all needed to know, but I didn't think anyone else did."
Karen suddenly realized that her crying had ceased. It was such a relief to have the story out in the open, and it seemed her friends weren't going to reject her after all. That had been her biggest fear. The prospect of time in jail seemed to pale in comparison. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She was actually starting to feel like her old self again.
"There's a little more you should see," she said. She leaned forward and clicked open the latches on the briefcase. Turning the case so that it faced towards Sean and the others, she opened the lid to reveal stack upon stack of U.S. bills of various denominations. Atop the money sat an automatic pistol and two driver's licenses. The two licenses, both bearing the name "Karen Chandler", appeared to be identical, except that one bore a photograph of Karen, and the other bore a photograph of some other woman.
"This is the money that was withdrawn from my account, minus the original balance that was in my account legitimately. I've counted the remaining money; it's exactly $400,000. I haven't spent any of the stolen money; it's all there. Also, that gun is the one that was used in the shooting. Careful; it's still loaded, minus the two rounds I used on Allen and Lisa. I'm sure Lisa's prints were on the gun, but they probably got rubbed off and replaced with mine during the struggle and the shooting. One of those IDs is my actual driver's license, while the other is the forged one Lisa used when she withdrew the money."