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Continued from previous page…
Friday, September 24th, 1988, 4:05 P.M.
Belinda sat in the passenger seat of Jane’s recently purchased, fire red, 1988 Toyota Supra and fidgeted nervously. It was a natural reaction to what was about to occur. At the moment, they were silent, as they had been for the last couple of minutes. Occasionally, they would shoot glances over at each other, neither one of them knowing exactly what to say. Jane was equally as nervous as Belinda was. The two of them were both coming off a night of relative debauchery over at Kathy’s house and now it was time for Belinda to face the music. After speaking to Myles on the phone early Thursday evening, she had felt a tremendous outpouring of relief and a huge weight lifted off her shoulders based on their conversation. Myles was passionately gushing his love for her over the phone as he simultaneously expressed how much he could not wait for her to come home. Belinda could sense the sincerity in his voice as she returned his sentiments in precisely the same manner. Her heart also ached to see Lorna and Michael so badly, she was essentially numb to the fact.
Apparently, someone with connections to the case, had all jurisdictions related to her escape dropped from the county Sheriff’s Department. Since Belinda was never originally charged with a crime, her escape was considered nolle prosed, and she was therefore released into the custody of the one who admitted her.
That was Myles.
And, whooo–wee, was he in a peck of trouble with her.
Would you want to piss-off Belinda Carlisle? I wouldn’t.
Belinda had a pretty good idea who the culprit was that had all of these entanglements so conveniently dissolved. But the information that Kathy divulged from the previous night, proceeded to put a damper on Belinda’s suspicions about the whole confounded quagmire. It made perfect sense about what she said regarding Beck Malenstyn and his drunken mechanics. She visioned him doing exactly what Kathy had spelled-out. In a room full of coked-out caballeros, who would notice a thing?
But what about Myles? Why was he so adamant about placing the blame on her? Why did he not believe her?
These were questions she was determined to find out, sooner or later.
And what about slinky Charlotte and her devious machinations? When would she get a chance to confront her? When would she get a chance to put her hands around her neck and throttle the sexy bitch?
So many questions, so many problems.
“Do you know what you’re gonna say?” asked Jane, breaking the silence.
Belinda looked over at Jane with a worried expression on her face. Surely, she had tons of questions and issues to which she would pour upon Myles. But Jane’s question made her wonder exactly how she would present herself. How would she go about it? How would she begin such a conversation?
“I have a basic idea,” she returned in her classic, husky voice.
After a few seconds of silence, Jane took the conversation into a different direction.
“I can’t believe what you said about Charlotte… I can’t believe she would come into your room like that.”
Jane’s statement put Belinda into a trance. She stared out the front windshield and barely moved.
“Well, she did.”
More silence prevailed as Jane contemplated her next thought.
“Are you.. taking into consideration… that she might have been someone else?” she asked.
Again, Belinda barely moved an inch.
“Yeah.. I have… But I don’t think that changes things.”
“Why not?”
“Because she can’t keep using that as an excuse,” Belinda answered, breaking her motionless stance and turning her head directly towards Jane.
Clearly, Jane did not want to ride the fence on this. As friends, her loyalty would not allow her to take sides on this matter. While she realized that Belinda was the one who suffered in this particular circumstance, she also realized that she had an extremely complicated issue involving her other compatriot.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
“Nothing makes any sense in this case,” said Belinda, cutting off Jane’s train of thought.
“Charlotte gave up her feelings for Myles a long time ago,” Jane continued. “Why would she make such a scene? It all sounds so dramatic.”
“It was dramatic,” Belinda agreed. “It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever been a part of. You should have seen it.”
The two of them sat there in their seats trying to envision the whole scenario. Belinda’s vision came from memory, while Jane’s vision was imaginary.
“Maybe.. she just got done watching an episode of Falcons Crest.. and she morphed into Pamela Sue Martin.. And then she came into your room,” Jane cogitated.
Belinda cocked her head to the side and gave Jane a disbelieving look. She was willing to let Jane have a moment of fun.
“I highly doubt it,” disputed Belinda.
“You don’t think that’s possible?” Jane continued.
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because Charlotte doesn’t watch Falcons Crest.. She watches Knots Landing.”
The two of them smiled at their witty repertoire.
“Well, something’s got to explain it,” Jane surmised. “She loves you, Belinda… You have no idea how much she loves you.”
Belinda allowed this information to set in for a moment. She sighed from contentment as she pondered all the so-called ‘love’ she was receiving from everyone.
“She sure has a funny way of showing it,” said Belinda in a subdued tone.
As Jane turned off of Lomitas Avenue and onto N. Roxbury Drive, and was now approaching Belinda’s magnificent, white, brick mansion, the butterflies in Belinda’s stomach started flapping their wings furiously.
“Are you ready?” asked Jane.
Belinda did not answer right away. Instead, she basically ignored Jane’s inquiry and started surveilling the situation out of the car windows. She was hoping that Myles would be waiting for her out in the driveway.
“I can’t wait to see my kids,” she said with a heartbroken expression on her face.
Jane did not say anything.
Instead, she curiously wondered why Belinda mentioned ‘her kids’ first in order, rather than Myles.