AKA: Cecile Dubrow, Lana Foley, Desiree Cerrenzi, Meg Harper, and a few others saved for a rainy day.
Desc: Bright blue eyes. Her hair is normally a dark red but it has been every color of the rainbow at one time or another. A firm meaty frame and a nice amount of junk in the trunk. She keeps fit as a means of staving off the fact that she eats like a horse. Surprisingly strong grip. Can wear anything and make it look good.
History: If it weren’t for the body count, her story would be tragic. Lorna was 16 when she and Randy decided that the baby needed to have married parents. Her job at the Pick-n-Pay didn’t matter too much, but Randy was a mechanic and he made decent money. Enough to trick out that truck of his with nearly every bell and whistle there was.
And you know that’s probably the way it would have gone too. Except Randy could occasionally be a mean drunk. I’m not saying he beat her regular. He even tried to stay off the sauce because he didn’t really like the person he could turn into. Was at least man enough to be deeply ashamed when he got liquored up and busy with his fists. In fact, he told her once after smacking the crap out of her at a party, that she should leave him. Begged her to leave him because he was afraid he was going to hurt her real bad like his old man had done to his mom once upon a time. For a girlfriend/baby-mama beater, he was shockingly self-aware.
But she wouldn’t leave. She loved him. And they swore together that night that they would work it out somehow. Randy tried therapy. Lorna had a girlfriend she could talk to about these things.
But you know, sometimes you just can’t plan for the fuckers in your life. Randy’s best friend Bobby didn’t really care for Lorna at all. Some people say that he just didn’t like that Randy was looking to settle down. Others say that maybe Bobby was looking to cut off a slice of Lorna himself. Me. I tend to think it was the combo platter. Anyways, about two weeks before they were going to get married, Bobby took Randy out for a bachelor party and got him very, very, note-the-emphasis-here, very drunk.
And you know even that might not have resulted in a tragedy, had not Bobby filled Randy’s poor ears with all sorts of bullshit about how his girl had been playing tic-tac-toe and maybe that rug-rat might not even be his.
So, Randy went home, like he’d been fired out of a shotgun and beat her down like he’d never done before.
Lorna went to the hospital.
Lorna lost the baby.
She got out after about 2 weeks. She went home to live with her parents and had her girlfriend collect her things. She never spoke another word about what happened that night. She sat up in her room and watched television, got heavy and...silent.
The community made it pretty hard on Randy. And people who were paying attention gave Bobby down the road, but nothing was really going to happen to those dudes. Bobby had nothing but a couple of people's word tying him to the whole mess. And Lorna refused to press charges against Randy.
So it was really kind of a shock when 2 months later, Randy ended up crushed under his truck while working on it. Somehow, one of the axle jacks failed and it was over...very very quickly. And Bobby died like a week later. Heart attack from nicotine poisoning they said. Apparently, something he drank, or maybe it was the glass he drank it out was laced with pure nicotine. At least that’s what the county coroner said at the time.
It was a bit of a one-two punch really. Some said it was God’s justice on those two. Others grunted and went on about their business. Some muttered darkly that maybe Lorna had done something. And some even said that the restraining pin on the Axle jack might have had a tool mark on it from a set of bolt cutters. People like to talk, you know?
Lorna went to Randy’s funeral. Lorna did not attend Bobby’s funeral. It was probably best. Lorna had a lot of complicated feeling about Bobby. I mean, she managed to get close to him without anybody seeing it happen, and managed to go off into Crater Woods all by themselves. And you know it was kind of unexpected that she would get so much pleasure out of fucking a man that she knew she was going to kill.
By the time the local PD began to have doubts about what had happened and take a second look at things, she had already left town and was looking for greener pastures.
She moved to a new place, changed her hair, started going by her middle name, (Madeline, if you must know.) got herself a new wardrobe, got herself a decent job working as a personal assistant for a lawyer. Patton was smart, but a little volatile and highly strung. The first time he threw her down on the desk and did it to her...well. He wasn’t exactly gentle. But rather than cry or press charges, she pretended to like it. Insisted on rough treatment in the bedroom in fact. He was, to put it mildly, incredibly relieved...But she did want Patton to marry her.
Which he did. He wasn’t a complete fool. He made her sign a pre-nup. Funny thing about that, though, The document was supposedly safe as houses and mysteriously went missing after they recovered his body. It was pretty open and shut. Patton was a climbing enthusiast and his gear failed in front of 8 witnesses. Madeline wasn’t even in town when it took place. No one ever did locate the trace amounts of low molarity acid on his high test rope. it was only a matter of time really.
This time, Lorna got it all. Patton was a damn good lawyer and had made a very decent amount of money. And you know what, over the last few years Lorna had decided that she rather liked the good life. She turned Patton’s house into cash, along with his life insurance settlement and all his personal wealth, and then she went to Europe and dropped off the map a bit.
And that has been her life for the last 15 years. Marrying some man, and then having him meet some horrible tragedy, and walking away rich and scot free.
Now, she’s arrived on the social scene in this town. A rich socialite, a recent widow, and rumored to like the rough stuff. Certainly hot and not necessarily tediously serious about the relationships that are being offered to her. One can only imagine what will happen next.
Attitude: “Real talk dear. Some men...Well. They have violent urges. I mean. I’ve known men who are peaceable souls and wouldn’t hurt a fly, but you get them in the bedroom and some switch just gets flipped and well... The best a woman can do really is try to roll with the punches. I don’t mean real punches. I mean...Well, you know what I mean. I will say that being willing to deal with those urges...I really do think all men have them...Has made me very rich. So I think it all balances. At least it did for me.
Skills: Composure, Manipulation and Presence at 4+ Striking looks+2 Fleet of foot+2 plenty of points chunked into socialize, subterfuge, persuasion, and investigation (Detective fiction specialty) Probably could claim a dot or two in Science and medicine (poisons as a specialty naturally.) Has never used a pistol to kill anyone, but is skilled in its use. Just in case. HAS used a taser on more than one occasion. Morgan was especially egregious and he had to have certain things EXPLAINED to him before he was going to die...in agony. No real serious combat ability, but she does seem to have a real knack for hitting her targets at a time and place when they are completely unable to respond or don’t see it coming.
Gear: Bought one of those funky rings like the Italian noblewomen supposedly used to poison their husbands. Damn thing turned out to be useful.
Has the typical smartphone and a purse that is functionally useless for holding anything larger than a condom and a lipstick.
Home: Palatial. She can afford it. but often leased instead of bought, that way, if she has to de-camp for any reason, she’s not out the price of a house. Often she’ll lease a little bolt-hole with enough clothes, cash, and make-up to completely erase her former identity. She’ll also keep the professionally made fake IDs and passports in a metal box along with a pistol.
Circle: Tends to surround herself with the rich and intelligent. Over the course of time, she’s learned that dumb and rich are a lot harder to work. Whereas intelligent people are convinced that they could never be taken in. Many of the “BFF’s” in her circle secretly loathe her. She is aware of this and it amuses her. But it’s a sad fact that if it weren’t for Frenemies and potential suitors, she’d have no one to talk to.
Story Uses:
“Are you enjoying your drink?”
It’s entirely possible that some PC or even an NPC might connect up with Lorna as an entrée into the high society set. It could be the stuff of high comedy if Lorna takes it into her head to marry the PC, and then try to off him. Lorna has less invested emotionally in that sort of relationship than in her shoes, so if you give her the “Let’s just be friends” speech, she’ll shrug and go on about her business.
“ Oh god. It was all so sudden.”
PC’s might be in the unenviable position of having to unravel a series of murders among the movers and shakers in town. Lorna is careful and knowledgeable. She’s a maven for any crime show on TV and has read a LOT of detective fiction. She varies her M.O. and works pretty hard to make everything look like an accident. (Except for Morgan. He was a special case.)
“You know. I feel like I have finally come home at last.”
It’s funny. If Lorna were to marry into one of the families involved in The Vermillion House, They’d invite her to the inner circle. Like, yesterday.
Connections:
* Lillian Penobscot is one of those women who is essentially one of her "Frenemies" While something about Lorna rubs Lillian the wrong way, she has to admit to herself that she's got great taste and her desire to fill her place with art is keeping the gallery in the black. So they make nice and chatter about society things without sharing any of their deeper secrets.
* Norman Cayce is liable to catch the case if she should ply her feminine wiles to deleterious effect upon the town's menfolk. It's better than even odds that he'll catch forensic evidence that others would miss.
Lewis Flowers sees her in dreams occasionally. Oh, what he would give to meet and master this one. He would give much... Oh yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment