picked up the phone and heard these words: "Miss Mills? ... This is Harper Lee. ... I wonder if we might meet."

So began a professional relationship that morphed into something more. At the time of that phone call, Mills was in Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Ala., doing research for a story on To Kill a Mockingbird, which had just been chosen by the city of Chicago for the "One Book, One City" reading program. As any intrepid reporter would, Mills had knocked on the front door of Lee's house — and to her surprise, the door was opened by Lee's older sister, Alice, who, at the time, was 89 and still practicing law. Alice had liked what she'd heard about Mills from other townspeople and she invited thereporter in to chat and tour the modest home — outfitted with an old plaid couch, a small TV, and books, books, books — which she shared with her famous baby sister, whom she called "Nelle."

That magical phone call from Harper Lee came the next day, and Mills was soon paying "social calls" to the two sisters and returning again and again to Monroeville, the inspiration for the fictional town of Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird. In 2004, at the Lee sisters' urging, Mills rented the house next door and lived there for 18 months. She had coffee in the mornings with Harper Lee at the local McDonald's and went to exercise class with her to work off their dinners at Melvin's barbecue joint. They even did