The flight from London, England to Oakdale, Illinois was definitely a trip from hell, as far as Natalie was concerned. "I'm never doing this again," she thought to herself every hour of the flight. "All those blasted layovers in foreign countries, changing planes, waiting for planes to get checked and gassed up, waiting for weather to clear..." she mumbled to herself, "...it's all enough to kill even the healthiest person on this planet! Oh...and the food....all that money for airfare, and you'd think that a gal could get some semi-decent tea and shortbread...."

Her flight was nearing an end, though, and she found some comfort in that - but her relief was dampened by the passenger sitting beside her. He was insufferable - arrogant, obnoxious, intolerant - male. Oh, so male! It had been her misfortune to have been booked next to a middle-aged man, large, balding, and, of all things, a lawyer! Were the powers that be out to get her or what? Didn't the fates know that she hated lawyers?? Wasn't it torture enough that she worked for a bunch of them...stuffy old Englishmen...large and balding... the exact replicas of the chap sitting next to her - the proverbial thorn in her side during the last several hours? Gads, she couldn't believe her luck. What did she ever do in her lifetime - bloody hell, in previous lifetimes - to continuously be surrounded by bottom-dwelling-pondscum chaps in corporate law??!!

And of course he just had to converse with her...just had to tell her all about his clients and all the money he was making - explaining, ever so patronizingly, the difference between the "law" and "justice" - and about the many women who threw themselves at his feet because of the big bucks he was reeling in....

She was polite and proper at first...for a long while, she thought - too long for her own sanity - but there was a limit to her patience and civility. Since any subtle attempts she had made to end their conversation failed, Natalie contemplated abandoning all propriety and taking a more direct approach - like throwing him off the plane.

"Law and justice are mutually exclusive, you know," he was explaining....for the third time that hour.

Natalie looked at her watch....thirty minutes to Oakdale. She shuffled papers in her briefcase, pulled out pictures, and hoped - no, prayed - that this bum would get a clue...take a hint...that she did not want to hear one more word come out of his blow-hole......

"Law is real...it's power....it defines the boundaries of our individual realities," the large balding man continued. What was his name again? Natalie couldn't remember. Bob? Bobby? Booby? It didn't matter. "But justice," he explained, "is fantasy."

"As you've been saying repeatedly," Natalie muttered flatly. She was thumbing through one of her great grandmother's diaries again.

"Justice is pure fantasy because inherent to it's definition is an assumption that there is such a thing as absolute truth," Booby said without any regard to whether or not Natalie...or anyone...was listening. "And in my experience, the belief in 'absolute truth' also implies a belief in 'morality.'"

He seemed impressed with himself.

"But 'morality,'" he continued, "is all in the eye of the beholder.... much like beauty is. It's relative. So the notion of 'justice' is relative.....it all depends on your unique perspective...."

"Look, Booby," Natalie barked.

"It's Bobby," he corrected.

"Yeah, whatever....I'm not really interested in...."

The sound of the captain's voice interrupted her. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be landing in Oakdale shortly. I've turned on the seatbelt sign, so please buckle up, make sure your chairs are in their full upright position, and secure all carry-on luggage underneath the seats in front of you or in the compartments above. It's a beautiful afternoon in Oakdale, Illinois at 65 degrees...."

Natalie sighed a sigh of relief and thought about how lucky Booby was that the captain spoke when he did.

Simon waited anxiously at the airport terminal. It was going to be difficult to spot her. How many short-haired English women would be getting off of the plane? Probably many. But perhaps he'd be able to "hear" her, he thought to himself. There was no way he could ever mistake her voice for anyone else's...or that spitfire personality of hers......

Passengers began deplaning and Simon eyed each one. Male, male, male, couple, female with short brown hair but too tall, female with short brown hair but too thin, elderly gentleman, another couple, white male and balding, female with short brown hair but Asian.....

"Oh, boy," Simon sighed to himself. He rubbed his eyes for an instant and then began his search again. Much to his surprise, though, a short brown-haired woman was standing right in front of him, briefcase in hand, with her mouth hanging open as she stared...gaped...at him.

"Are you Natalie?" he asked checking her physical characteristics with his mental check-list of what she said she looked like.

"Unbelievable," she replied, still staring at him.

"Excuse me? I'm looking for my cousin Natalie....I'm...."

"Simon," she interrupted. "You're Simon Frasier.... of course you are...."

"Excuse me?" Simon asked again. She was unmistakably his cousin.

"You look exactly like him," Natalie continued. "You're a dead ringer for him...." She pulled an old photograph from her briefcase and showed it to Simon. It was a black and white photo, creased and yellowing with age, of a very distinguished gentleman - tall, dark haired, slender but muscular - it was him. For an instant Simon thought it was a picture of himself....

"Meet Simon Sr.," Natalie said. "Your great grandfather....."

Oakdale was a quaint little town and appeared pleasant enough at first sight. At least that's what she kept saying to herself as she sped through town in a taxi on her way to her hotel. Why didn't Simon tell her that he didn't have a car? Yeah, she was talking a mile a minute - she always did - but one would think that he could've mentioned to her that he was car-less!! It would've been better for her to rent a car! Well, there was no use fretting about the matter - she was there, car-less, with a car-less cousin for a chaperone - for better or worse. "He should at least pay for the cab fare," Natalie thought to herself as she and Simon stepped out of the taxi in front of the Lakeview Hotel. He did, so Natalie was content for the time being.

"Why the Lakeview, Nat?" Simon asked, after having tipped the cab driver. "This is a very expensive hotel.....my friend Lily owns it, actually."

"It's supposed to be a four-star hotel," she replied. "Thanks to my wonderful and oh so generous beau, I'm traveling in style this week!"

"The psychiatrist, right?"

"The very one...my one and only! He paid for my flight, made all the reservations for my visit here..." She smiled at the thought of her personal "beloved," the incredibly talented "mental-physician" as she liked to refer to him. "He's just the best. He always insists that I have top-notch service...."

"Ah.... he spoils you..."

"Yes, and I love him for it. He has been a tremendous support to me since I first began all this Agatha Christie detective work."

She smiled as Simon carried her bags and checked her in the hotel. He was a gentleman, at least, so she decided she could forgive him for being car-less. She still hadn't quite gotten over the shock of seeing him for the first time, though, standing there at the airport looking almost like an exact replica of his great grandfather Simon Sr. But she decided that she liked her new cousin - grease monkey, car-less, and probably going nowhere in life though he was - he was likable enough. There was a "bad boy" quality about him - one that masked a vulnerability, so she thought - and a gentleness which, if you paid real close attention, revealed a heart of gold. Natalie was good at figuring people out - she always was............

"Lily should be here soon," Simon said as he put her bags down near the dresser.

"And who's this again? A friend of yours?"

"Yeah, she's also very interested in Beloved and my great grandfather," Simon replied. He sat on the bed and looked at his watch. "She read the love letters my great grandfather wrote to Beloved and was fascinated by the whole tragic story...."

"Well, what I have to tell you won't make the story any less tragic, I'm afraid..." She started towards the bathroom. "I'm going to wash up. Hopefully your friend Lily will get here soon....."

Once in the bathroom Natalie immediately began to survey all the complimentary toiletries arranged neatly on the sink counter. She then inspected the tub, shower, toilet....but where was the bidet??? How did Americans wash their "backsides," their "fannies?" Was toilet paper alone supposed to suffice?

"Disgusting," she said aloud. She heard a knock outside and then some voices. "Simon's friend must be here," she muttered. Quickly washing her hands and checking her make-up, Natalie then stepped out to meet Lily the hotel owner....Simon's friend.

"Natalie," Simon began. "This is my friend Lily Snyder..... Lily, my cousin Natalie Mercutio....all the way from London."

Gaping, mouth hanging open, Natalie asked, "Are you sure this is Oakdale, Illinois? I'm beginning to think that I've entered the Twilight Zone...."" She eyed Lily from head to toe - well dressed but not pretentious, demure but poised - definitely pretty as pretty goes....and almost identical in appearance to Lillian Goddard.

"Excuse me?" Lily asked. She looked at Simon who appeared just as confused.

"I'm certain of it .... this must be the Twilight Zone," Natalie continued. "I feel like I'm staring at ghosts...."

"What are you talking about, Natalie?" Simon asked. He moved closer to Lily.

"All right...that just clinched it! Seeing the both of you standing there next to each other," Natalie said shaking her head. "You're both ghosts...."

"I can assure you, Miss Mercutio, that I'm no ghost," Lily replied. "And neither is Simon."

"Then it has to be some sort of a prank, right?" Natalie continued. "Look, see for yourselves...." she said as she pulled a picture from her briefcase. "Here's a picture of Simon Sr. and Miss Goddard, his Beloved. I found it among my great grandmother's possessions."

Lily took the photograph from her and immediately turned to Simon in surprise. "You look just like him," she whispered, laying a finger gently on one side of his face.

"Exactly like him," Natalie interjected, "A carbon copy of his great grandfather! And look at Miss Goddard.... doesn't it strike you just a tad bit eerie that she, too, resembles you almost perfectly?"

"I know. We must be related somehow, but neither Simon nor I have been able to figure out how or why." Lily returned the picture to Natalie and then sat on the bed.

"This is just too strange for words," Natalie commented. "Oh, wait...and it gets stranger still...right?" Neither of her companions in the room said a word. "They were Simon and Lillian....and the two of you are Simon and Lily?" She laughed nervously. "And you both resemble them in appearance! This is too bizarre - and I must confess that I'm not a fan of the Twilight Zone's....."

"It's pretty shocking for us as well," Simon said finally. "Kinda mind-blowing, actually...."

"Mind-blowing is quite an understatement, cousin!" Natalie replied. "All the hair on my body are standing on end....that's how mind-blowing it all is!" She sat on the bed next to Lily.

"You two are friends?"

"Yes," Lily began. "Simon's research led him to Oakdale and to me... and then to my twin sister Rose..."

"You have a twin sister?" Natalie was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the events of the day....and she hadn't yet recovered from the Booby-talk back on the plane. "No, nevermind....don't tell me. I don't want to know. I came here to share information with you....so that's what I'll do. I have a few more pictures too...."

She brought out all sorts of documents, journals and photographs from her briefcase, and laid them carefully on the desk in her room. She watched as Lily and Simon went through them all, intently examining each piece. She also couldn't help but take note of how they eyed one another, spoke to each other, how they seemed to move "in sync" without even trying. "They're friends," she thought to herself. "Of course, they are - and I'm engaged to marry Booby....."