Jane tried her best to comfort the poor girl. The mistakes the girl had made were born of naivete, not stupidity. And no one had shown even the slightest interest in telling the difference. She let the girl cry herself out, and finally the tears stopped.

"I am SO sorry about that. You've been so nice, and I shouldn't be dumping stuff on you like that." She looked thoughtful, probably for the first time in a long time. "I don't know what I would do with her even if she didn't want to kill me."

Jane grinned inwardly. ‘That,' she thought, ‘is something I can indeed help you with.' "Maybe...