Chapter 81

After she dressed, she slipped into her coat, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door. When the elevator doors opened on the first floor, an attractive older woman stood behind the front desk, her hair in a bob that stopped just above her shoulders. A broad smile spread across her face when she saw Kiki.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Long." The woman placed her car keys on the counter and slid them across to her. "A friend of yours asked me to give these to you when you came down."

Kiki smiled as she picked them up off the counter. "You're a mind reader. Thank you miss-."

"Ms. Bennet."

"Like the fictitious character Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen?"

The woman's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Not fictitious. I have you know that I am a direct descendant of Elizabeth Bennet herself."

It was all Kiki could do to keep from smiling, but the woman's face was so serious that she dared not. "The character Elizabeth Bennet is one of the most complex fictitious characters ev