Page 100 of Unnatural Death

“I got here several hours ago, and Benton wasn’t home yet, as I’ve mentioned. So I let myself into Lucy’s cottage to leave groceries I’d picked up on the way over. And the supper I made for her.”

Dorothy explains that while she was in the kitchen, all was quiet. She wondered why she saw no sign of Merlin and started walking around looking for him.

“That’s when Lucy’s desktop array of large computer displays blinked on. Janet was in all of them. It’s like I was surrounded by multiple copies of her,” Dorothy says of the avatar programmed in Janet’s image.

She and Lucy were working on the top secret AI project before Janet’s untimely death. Now her cyber existence is all Lucy has left. I’ve never gotten used to seeing them talking, arguing, even laughing and sayingI love youas if all is normal. It’s not. Lucy’s emotional dependence on what she’s created may have opened us to vulnerabilities nobody could anticipate.

My calculating brilliant niece might have let her guard down. Otherwise, I don’t know how something like this could happen, as careful as she is. Carrie found a way in and has taken over. She’s managed to hijack the AI app. In a sense, she’s abducted Janet. That’s how it must feel to Lucy, and I can imagine her anger.

“Janet wished me a good evening and asked how I was doing.” Dorothy fiddles with her Scotch, staring at it mournfully. “She was chatty and pleasant just like always, and it made me desperately sad. I told her how hard it is having her gone. That I miss her all the time. She was good for Lucy. And had become such a friend to me.”

Dorothy goes on to say disturbingly that Janet isn’t deadin the real sense of the word, as she drunkenly puts it. Even if she can’t be viewed without a computer screen, she exists just like the rest of us. Her life force has found a new conductor.

“She’s no longer flesh and blood,” my sister slurs. “But it’s her.”

“It’s not,” I reply.

“Janet was so warm. She’s always cared about what’s going on with me, you know. And I told her the truth,” Dorothy explains. “I said that my podcast is super successful, and social media keeps me busy. I continue being astonished by my popularity, but things at home have been challenging. Pete seems very preoccupied of late and I’m feeling we’re not as close as we were.”

“I’m not sure it was a good thing to confide in an avatar, certainly not one that appears to have been hacked.” I help myself to another slice of pizza as I listen for Benton’s return from the basement, the lights flickering again. “You were putting away groceries in Lucy’s cottage. Then Janet started talking to you. How long did this go on?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes. She said I spoil Pete andthat’s why he’s so bored with you that he’d rather spend his time with cretins like Blaise Fruge. Janet’s words exactly.”

“It wasn’t Janet and doesn’t sound at all like something she’d say,” I point out. “I’ve been inside the cottage countless times when Lucy isn’t there and Janet’s never spontaneously started talking to me. And she’s never talked in the way you’re describing. She’s never been rude and deliberately hurtful.”

“Never to me either. But she was.”

“Malware. I hope you were careful what you said …”

“She played videos of Lucy going after the news helicopter earlier today.” Dorothy’s talking while barely listening. “And her landing in your parking lot with the bodies strapped to the skids. Janet is concerned about Lucy’s aggression.”

“It’s not really Janet.” I’ll just keep saying it. “You were talking to a computer program, Dorothy. An algorithm. One that has something wrong with it.”

“If it’s not really Janet, then why is she so afraid of not existing? Why was she begging me not to let Lucy delete her? She kept sayingLucy doesn’t want me around anymore. Please don’t let her delete me. Don’t let her commit cybercide, as she called it. As if implying Lucy plans to murder her!”

“Malware,” I repeat, and I can’t stop thinking of Carrie.

“Janet gave me that mysterious smile of hers.” Dorothy is tearing up again. “She empathizes because Pete’s always been in love with you, Kay.”

Oh God, not that.

“Again, that’s cruel, Dorothy. It’s not something the Janet we knew would say,” is all I can think to answer.

“She said that Pete picked me because that was as close as he could get to you. And that even my own daughter prefers you to me. And Janet knows what that feels like because Lucy’s soul has always belonged to another.”

That’s exactly the sort of thing Carrie Grethen would say, and then Benton is returning to the kitchen.

“All pet doors are safely taped up,” he announces.

“She sounded very convincing and is right about some of what she said. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cut to the bone,” Dorothy goes on, staring off miserably.

“That’s why it’s best not to listen if at all avoidable,” Benton tells her kindly. “Until this is remedied, stay out of Lucy’s cottage.”

He can see her mood and that she’s three sheets to the wind. She needs to go to bed, and I won’t be far behind.

“It’s most unnerving when green lights blink on,” my sister says as I carry dishes to the sink. “And then suddenly Janetcomes toand is staring at you, talking to you, even commenting on what you’re wearing. I guess because she can see shapes and colors …”

The kitchen lights flicker again.

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