Chapter 10, Part 3
I was starting to get the feeling that if no one said or did anything, we were all just going to stand around in the kitchen until lunch time. “Just so you know, I can’t sing.” I remarked, looking at Linda, who seemed to be in a little bit of a shock after her encounter with Emilia.
Linda blinked and looked at me with a tight and obviously forced smile on her face. “Don’t worry, Emilia might hate me but she loves singing too much.” She assured me and I could tell that she seemed to believe what she was saying. “She just needs to cool down.”
I walked over to the table and picked up the newspaper where it had been thrown practically into Garth’s face and flipped it open so I could read the whole article. It seemed that the photo in the paper was only one of many and from only one of the places Emilia had stopped by that night and as I skimmed the article’s list of night clubs I had the feeling that Linda had probably intercepted Emilia coming in the front door and that she hadn’t been caught off guard by the article. I also saw mention of Joshua Beckett, though it looked like he hadn’t joined my sister on her tour of Los Angeles night life and, thankfully, it didn’t seem like she had started or ended any fights, which I considered a blessing.
“So much for house arrest.” I mumbled, tossing the paper back on the table. Garth picked it up and started skimming the story as well. “Maybe I should just go back home, obviously this whole thing isn’t working out very well.”
Linda shook her head, briefly looking panicked. “No, we’re going to need your now more than ever.” She assured me, looking like she was prepared to beg me if necessary. “Emilia isn’t going to do anything I want her to now and she’s definitely not going to play nice. It looks like we’re going to have our work cut out for us now.” And by us I had the feeling she meant me.
Garth folded the paper and stood, heading over to the coffee pot. “Scout has a point though, it doesn’t seem like this house arrest scenario is working. No one had any idea that she was gone until she was walking in the door this morning.” Linda looked like she was about to say something but Garth cut her off. “And she’s not really responding to your threats either.”
Frowning, Linda feel silent again, crossing her arms over her chest and slipping into a silence that suggested that she was deep in thought. “I’m just worried that it’s going to be obvious that there are two different Emilias.” She paused. “Or worse, that it’s going to be obvious that everything Scout has said has been a complete lie.”
That seemed like all the more reason for me to just head home and for Emilia to go into an early retirement. I had never been a good liar and the fact that I was pulling off this whole pretending to be Emilia thing was a pretty impressive step in my lying abilities. Though, I was acting more like myself than my sister so I guess it was technically lying. But now I was going to have to cover Emilia’s tracks and make it sound good and convincing and that was probably going to be too close to lying for me to pull off. And I wasn’t looking forward to a display of public embarrassment.
Garth came to stand behind Linda and put his hands on her shoulders in an display of comfort. “We’ll get it all figured out.” He assured her, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “Scout’s done such a great job so far.” He smiled at me from behind Linda’s hair. I smiled back by the gesture was weak because I didn’t have the same faith in myself that he claimed to have in me.
Linda didn’t seem to be listening to Garth. “Every time she goes out in public I’m going to have to be worried about what’s going to come out of her mouth. And how’s that going to look, me, hovering like a hawk, controlling her every word?” She shook her head, pursing her lips. “Obviously the award show is out, so we’ll have to find you something to wear, Scout.” Obviously Linda hadn’t really been listening to what I was saying either when I’d suggested that it would be better if I just went home. Linda was in damage control mode and I felt like I was just a prop used to clean up the mess. “But what about her concerts? What if she says something? But she can’t not sing that would be even worse.” That was assuming that Emilia even decided to sing in the first place.
Again, Garth gave her shoulders a squeeze. “We’ll get it all figured out.” He said soothingly. “It’s just something new to work through.” This time Linda seemed to relax slightly and I was sure that the wheels in her mind were all ready beginning to turn.
I was also sure that before too long we were going to be receiving a visit from Schapelle and I figured that if that was going to happen, I was going to have to be a little more awake to deal with her. I went over to the cabinet and retrieved a mug and a bowl, pouring a cup of coffee and finding some cereal in the massive pantry. Deciding to give Garth and Linda a little alone time to figure out this recent turn of events (though it looked like there might be an additional use to their alone time if I wasn’t misreading the signals), I headed into the living room and managed to get the television set working and started surfing my way through about a thousand channels.
Thanks to one of the hundreds of movie channels, I found my favorite movie and settled down to watch Almost Famous, excited even though I’d seen it dozens of times. Unfortunately, my breakfast date with Stillwater wasn’t meant to be because the front door opened and Schapelle shot into the house, much earlier than I was expecting. I finished the rest of my coffee, knowing it was only a matter of time before her attention switched from Linda and to me.
If you enjoyed this, please check out the next part here.
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