Chapter 3

The court appearance lasted twenty minutes for Kendall's wife and his supposed best friend. Pleas were entered, and bails were set. The difficulty was the press. They were everywhere. The story was too good, and well ... the news wires were slow that day. Juicy stories like this one didn't come often enough anymore.

The last straw was the leaked video that ended up on Youtube. There was little question what was going on. The district attorney was wondering how he'd ever get together an unbiased jury after that video had come online.

The religious zealots were ready to burn the two fornicating adulterers at the same stake. How they knew what was on those videos was an amusing speculation by many in the district attorneys office.

Both of their lawyers, for a fee, got them out of town, discreetly. They had signed away a good deal of their wealth, for the bail. All in all, it had been an extremely humiliating affair.

The two didn't talk to each other. They had been told it was best, right now, to not make contact. That was no problem for either one, as they were rather suspicious of the other at this point.

As each knew, Kendall Jackson was not prone to rash behavior. For him to go missing was a very bad omen. It was an omen that would take considerable tact, to prove that they'd had no part in his disappearance.

Their lawyers had gone over the district attorney's charges. Most were trumped up allegations. The charges were meant to grab the media's attention, more than trying to prove anything useful in the courtroom. Unfortunately, nowadays, battles were fought as much in the media, as they were in the courtroom.

Little had been done in 'finding' Kendall by the lawyer teams. He had simply vanished. That, of course, didn't look good for the wayward couple. Too many court cases in the past few years had found murder convictions, without a body.

Proper motivation was the key, and those damned tapes. It had been obvious that someone had taken them on purpose, but who? Had Kendall seen them? Why, after almost three months from the time the first one had been recorded, (this was known by the clothes that were worn), had they surfaced? Did someone who wanted Kendall out of the picture, find this as a perfect motive for disguising their actions?

Kendall's wife and his ex-best friend hadn't bothered to see all of the tapes. It was that last tape, the one that his wife had suggested they make. After telling Kendall he was perverted for watching porn, it was the only one that Kendall may well have known about. It could have changed their outlook. Had they paid any attention, many of their questions would have been focused in a different way. As it was, they were scared out of their minds. Being threatened with spending any more time than the one horrid night they had been forced to endure in the county lock-up, before bail could be set, was enough to drive both of them insane.

Andy took hold of Kendall's arm as she got off the scooter. Her legs felt like rubber. It wasn't because he was driving fast. Hell, that scooter could only hit forty, max. No. It was because the roads were mostly dirt, the scooter had little in the way of shocks, and the seat had almost no padding. Andy almost pulled Kendall off balance.

He reached over, telling her to hold on, and then held onto her. It took almost two minutes, but she finally stepped away from him. She was embarrassed that they had been practically embracing.

Suddenly she had this 'flight' feeling. She wanted to get away from this man whom she barely knew.

It was then that she realized just how stuck she was.

Her hand had gone to her side, where her purse had always hung. She hadn't paid any attention to it, before. There had been many more pressing issues. Now the stark realization she was without her passport, wallet, or money; hit her hard.

Kendall had seen her hand reach, and the surprised look on her face. Her dropped head and eyes searching for something that wasn't there. It didn't take many brain cells to know what she was looking for. A woman's purse was her life, in many cases.

Not wanting a scene to erupt, Kendall took the best action he could think of: diversion.

Reminding her that he had told her that hunger had been the cause of her lack of judgment, he felt obligated to feed her. After all, he had practically forced her to come with him.

Andy looked on him, warily. She wondered if he knew how dependant she was, at this point, on his good graces. However, hunger won out, at this juncture.

The small open-air place had been across the street from where they had stopped. Kendall had hoped to reach a larger town. This one looked smaller than the one from which he had originally left. It did have a gas station. The fuel gauge, as well as his stomach grumbling, had caused him to stop.

Ordering had been almost amusing. A small child, who was not quite ready for school, had been a sort of interpreter. After attempting to order, Andy and Kendall weren't sure what was going to show up at the table. The food arrived in no time at all, and it was excellent. As soon as both became hydrated and sated, conversation tentatively started.

Kendall couldn't contain his curiosity any longer, asking what she had been doing out in the middle of nowhere.

After a long drawn out sigh, Andy told him about the party with her friends ... the drinking, the guys with the Jeep...

He was incredulous that they left her in the first place, and was staggered to believe someone wouldn't have come back.

His questions gave her a sense of depression.

The two sat in silence for several minutes. He didn't know what she was thinking, and he wasn't happy with himself for putting her in such a mood.

Suddenly she looked up at Kendall, and asked what he had been doing out there. He didn't speak Spanish, and this wasn't exactly a tourist area.

Kendall looked into her eyes and wondered what he should say. His face started to show the feelings welling up inside.

Andy was about to say that she didn't need to know. Part of that was because of the sad look his face displayed. The other part was that she didn't know if she really wanted to know.

Before she could muster up those words; Kendall told her he was, in essence, running away.

He noticed the startled and very nervous look upon her face. He could have smacked his forehead, realizing how what he'd just said could be taken many ways. So he explained, in detail, what had gone on between his wife and best friend.

Andy sadly shook her head, patted his hand, and told him that it sucked ... big time.

Again, they were plunged into silence.

After a bit, she asked why he just ran away.

At that point, Kendall told Andy what he had done.

She laughed. Laughed!

After that died down, she explained that any good lawyer would get them off.

He responded with the reasoning of why he did it. It wasn't to send them up the river for life. It was to embarrass them. He was pretty sure that what he'd done had done that job very well.

She thought about that for a minute. Then she said that in a smaller city, yeah, she could see that. Where she went to school, though, no one would take notice.

Talking about his town. Or the town he used to call home, eighty thousand wasn't small, but it wasn't that big either. It always seemed like you saw someone you knew, anywhere you would go. So word would get around. His wife and ex-best friend would either have to endure, or would have to move and start new jobs. Thinking about how it also caused that for him as well, he said that it now seemed to be a petty revenge.

She answered that he was creative, given the circumstances. Then she went on, telling him about a psych class she attended last year. One of the lectures had been about people who suffer in relationships that downgraded them. Andy had a little grin on her face as she told him that he was very creative in doing something about it, plus he hadn't killed anyone, either.

The way she said it made him laugh. He had to admit that there was no way he could bring himself to do anything like that, even as mad as he was.

Andy smiled. Once again, she relaxed with a bit more understanding of who this person was, sitting across the table from her.

Kendall could tell there was a bit of relief in her voice. He had brought up a subject that was not very pleasant.

Feeling as though he could speak freely, he told her of the wild idea of going off to the Caribbean, and living a totally different lifestyle.

Her eyes widened as she stumbled out the words that asked if he was that rich.

Kendall laughed. It was a wild idea. He would have to work again, even if he did have a nest egg in a bank on Grand Cayman Island.