"I'm going to have to tell her something. I'd rather it be the truth." Perhaps creatively phrased, but still, in essence, the truth.

"I am dead and she is going to know about it. That isn't negotiable. She is not unreasonable, Valdis. It was only because Tarantulas's trespass was so great that she cursed him the way she did. She understands debts. And she knows about Max."