Fighting Back

She whirled on one foot and turned to stare at the diminutive monster at the front of the room.
"You! You stupid... you... arsehole! How dare-"
"Dare? This is... business. I do what I need to. Risk doesn't come into it, so I don't need to dare a thing."
One step forward.
"You knew all along?"
"Of course."
One step closer.
"You did nothing!"
"Oh, you misunderstand my... motives. I did everything..."
One step more.
"... I assumed that Jenny would tell. She needed to. It's a part of who she... is. She was always going to be the crux that just needed the right... leverage-"
"You killed her!"
"Not outright, no. This is business, and quite lucrative. I have... people... to handle matters like that. I asked them to take care of it..."
One step. The odour of rotten garlic.
"But why?"
"Jenny's death was necessary to push Carl... forward. He needed to achieve great... things. Of course, he had to do them very quickly. How was he to know he wouldn't be alive... long."
"Carl? Who... who is Carl?"
One foot paused in mid-air.
"Carl Hooper. Jenny's Carl-"
"Wait. When you say Jenny's Carl do you mean that Jenny is Carl? Or that Jenny owns Carl?"
"Possessive apostrophe-"
"But she died. How can she possess-"
"She did... possess, so-"
"Well, not technically. I think she'd disagree with the idea of posses-"
"Yes, yes, but past tense possessed means present tense possess-"
"Regardless of death?"
"Interesting... idea. So she used to be with-"
"Which we can argue is a form of-"
"Possession, yes. In that format, she'd be possessive... apostrophe Carl's, right?"
"Sound so far, yes."
"Imagining that they continued to be... together, we can argue that possession, and the possessive apostrophe, continues-"
"But not if she died..."
"... can we... assume... that we couldn't use ex- in this context?"
"Oooh. A bit harsh, perhaps? They didn't break-up. And they weren't married-"
"Which rules out widower..."
...
"Do you want a coffee while we work this out?"