John Francis

Carol had driven home after confronting Amanda with a surprisingly heavy heart. She wanted to feel justified in her actions, but seeing the hurt she had caused went against her nature.

It would have surprised Amanda to know that Jon’s mother was known as much for her engaging personality as her determination. She had never shown her softer side and it was this side that felt no relief, no resolution, only an anger at herself and - to her surprise - shame. At this point there was nothing she could change though as the information the investigator had found would damage her son and that she could not allow.

Her husband was out for the evening when she made the final decision to go back to Jon’s. There was one more thing she had to do, as much as she now regretted it.

Calling out Amanda’s name as she entered the house, she went upstairs and saw that the room was empty. She went back down the stairs, walking through the house until she got to her son’s office. Sitting on his desk was an envelope addressed to him. She opened it, revealing the contents. Along with two credit cards, there was jewelry and the engagement ring. She unfolded the note that slid out and read it.

You won’t understand why I’m doing this and the worst part is that I can’t tell you. Something happened, Jon. Something I couldn’t have known. What matters is that I have to go and you have to go back to the life you had before we met. It turns out I’m not who I seemed to be. I love you. Amanda

Carol sat there for several minutes and then taking a sheet of paper from her purse, she replaced Amanda’s note with one she had written. She left it on the desk and took the envelope with her. Returning to her home was longer than expected as she found her eyes blurred more than once with unshed tears.

~~~

Jon looked at his phone with frustration as once again he was unable to reach Amanda on either her cell or his home phone line.

After hanging up with her earlier that morning, the day had been crazy. He’d been on the set constantly as the production seemed plagued with problems. Cameras breaking, lights failing, weather uncooperative. Even standing around waiting was not what it should have meant as script re-writes were coming at him faster than the rain on the set.

By the time he had been released, with instructions to return in less than seven hours, it was far too late to call.

Wednesday morning had progressed pretty much as Tuesday had done, until finally, at nearly four that afternoon London time, Jon was at the current point of staring at his phone, trying to think of reasons why he shouldn’t throw it against the nearest wall.

No answer to his text messages.

No answer on his home phone.

He tried her cell again.

Straight to voice mail.

That had his eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

He dialed again.

Again, straight to the message.

That meant her phone was off. He relaxed slightly as he thought that if her phone was off, she would have turned it off.

And, if she turned it off, after it had been ringing from his several calls, then at least he could assume she was okay …

He wasn’t buying it. Not one damn bit.

Another number dialed, a click…

“Hey, Dorothea? Would you do me a favor … ?”

~~~

It had taken Dorothea until two that afternoon to get over to Jon’s house. First one delay then another, including another call from Jon, until she had finally told him she was on her way.

Driving up to the door, she saw one of the guards who nodded as she got out of her car. He continued on his way as Dorothea went to the door.

“Hello? Amanda?” Dorothea called out as she came into the silent house.

Removing her coat, she walked to the stairs, still calling out Amanda’s name as she went up to the master bedroom.

The door was partially closed and she hesitated and then knocked.

“Amanda? Can I come in?”

There was no answer.

Dorothea pushed the door open and went into the room. It was dark with the curtains drawn, yet she could see there was no one in the bed. She moved to the bathroom, but the open door and darkened inside told her there was no one there. Flicking on the light, she took a quick look and then went back into the bedroom.

Moving to check the rest of the rooms upstairs, Dorothea found nothing of interest. Downstairs, she continued to call Amanda’s name as she went to the kitchen, the game room, the gym, and finally to Jon’s office.

Standing with her hands on her hips, Dorothea was turning to go look through the house again when the phone on Jon’s desk rang. She hesitated, then moved to the desk to see the caller ID. She grabbed for the phone.

“Jon …”

“Amanda!”

“No, it’s me, Jon, Dorothea, I saw you were calling and …” Her voice trailed off as Jon began shooting questions at her.

Trying to answer him, but failing to break through his questions and exclamations, Dorothea’s eyes strayed down to the desktop. She frowned when she saw an envelope there, with Jon’s name on it. She picked it up and slid the unsealed flap.

“Jon! Shut up!”

In London, Jon blinked in surprise at Dorothea’s tone while his rant came to a stumbling halt.

“What?” He growled into the phone, then repeated himself twice more into the silence that followed.

“Dot, what the fuck is it?”

Dorothea stared at the note she had found, her mouth opened slightly to answer Jon, but unsure as to what she should say.

Slowly she started telling him what she had found.

“Jon … she’s married …”