Cold reading?
racetraitor - that was kind of my point. Literally within seconds of meeting my Dad, this woman came over all confused and was mentioning things she couldn't have possibly known. She'd have had to have known them as kids, known their secret jokes, and finally, known how Peter died.

Cold reading, it surely wasn't.

I freely acknowledge that this was an event from some 35 years ago, when I was only 7, so I can't swear to the dialogue's complete accuracy. But her confusion and distress were clear and real, as was my Dad's reaction.
(Leo Sasquatch hates being the grown-up, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 19:11, Reply)