Vera Claythorne\n\n Vera wants to escape a past in which she killed a small boy in her care, Cyril Hamilton, so that the man she loved would inherit Cyril's estate. Although the coroner cleared her of blame, Vera's lover abandoned her.

At heart, Vera is a loner, the daughter of a bird taxidermist who provided a bleak, unloving childhood, but left her with a cozy house on a hill outside of town. Loneliness is an ongoing theme  Vera recognizes it well in the people she interviews and has an uncanny knack for getting them to confide in her.