Killing Monica

She looked at SondraBeth, who was looking back at her as if she couldn’t comprehend what Pandy had become.

What she’d done.

“Why?” SondraBeth asked, her voice full of hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let me go on like a fool, acting like you were Hellenor?”

“I never said I was Hellenor,” Pandy said sharply. “It was everyone else—”

“Oh, please.” SondraBeth crossed her arms in disgust.

“I seem to recall that you were the one who invaded my space, ‘sista,’” Pandy continued. “If you remember, I was happily alone in Wallis, waiting for Henry to arrive so I could change my clothes, find a wig, and get back to being Pandy, when you showed up with your paparazzi circus.”

“So it’s my fault, huh? I interrupted your plans?”

“What plans?” Pandy shouted.

“Pretending to be Hellenor. How long were you planning to keep it up?”

“I wasn’t planning to keep it up at all!”

“You knew about the mob, and you were planning to kill Monica!”

“Of course I wasn’t,” Pandy replied. “Why would I want to kill Monica?”

“You tell me.”

When Pandy continued to shake her head, SondraBeth spoke to her like she was an idiot. Stating the obvious, she said, “You wanted to kill Monica to get even with Jonny.”

“Honestly,” Pandy said, “it never even crossed my mind.”

“Well, I suppose it’s not going to happen now,” SondraBeth said, frowning. “Now that I know you’re Pandy.”

Pandy lit up another cigarette. “You sound kind of disappointed.”

“I’m just shocked, that’s all.” SondraBeth took another cigarette and looked at Pandy assessingly. “I do understand why you did it. If I had a husband like Jonny—”

“Well, aren’t you lucky. You never have,” Pandy replied. Now it all made sense. This wasn’t about Jonny. It was about Monica. SondraBeth had believed she was Hellenor and, knowing that Hellenor had the rights to Monica, had obviously brought her here to convince her to make more Monica movies. Just like PP.

“Either way, what difference does it make? Because I’m alive.” Pandy took a mournful drag. “Why should you care about what happened between me and Jonny anyway?” she asked suddenly. “After all, you certainly didn’t care about me and Doug.”

SondraBeth took a step back and sniffed. Looking as if she was recalling that terrible moment on the island when they’d fought about Doug, she said, “Oh, I get it. You’re still mad.”

“About what?”

“Doug Stone?” SondraBeth said tauntingly.

Pandy laughed snidely in return. “Of course I’m still mad. It’s not the kind of thing I’d ever forget.”

“Of course it isn’t,” SondraBeth said.

Pandy laughed this off. “Why did you do it?”

“You really want to know?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Pandy crossed her arms.

“Oh, Peege,” SondraBeth said. “You always made these things bigger than they were. There was no conspiracy, nothing. I was just jealous. Don’t tell me you haven’t been jealous of me.” She tossed her head.

“When?” Pandy challenged.