Summary

Because Mercer Mann was losing her job as an adjunct professor as a result of budget cuts, she was meeting with a stranger who identified herself as Donna Watson about a job at a prep school. She was being considered because she’d had a novel published. Mercer was working on a second novel but it was still not done even though she had been working on it for three years.

When Mercer arrived at the restaurant, the lady first told Mercer that her real name was Elaine Shelby. Mercer was spooked by the first lie but promised to hear Elaine out, at least until she had eaten. Elaine said that Mercer would be paid to finish writing her novel, and at a better salary than had been listed in the e-mail.

Elaine tells Mercer about the theft of the Fitzgerald manuscripts and the...