Picket Fences
Previously in Picket Fences:
Payton was injured while he and Zavier fled from Connie’s home. Martin Cray killed his father before fleeing the scene, leaving Connie and Angela to cover up the crime. The big fundraiser ended.
At the end of every good party there is a list of tasks to do; say your thank yous, say goodbye to your guests, settle with your vendors, but most of all, clean up after yourselves. The mess waiting for Angela and Connie would prove to be a hard stain to remove.
As the guests start to leave, Angela turns to Payton and puts her arm around him.
Before she can get a word in, Payton jumps in pain. “Ooooh!” he yells. “Payton! What’s wrong?” Angela questions. “Nothing,” Payton replies. Having heard Payton cry out, Xavier runs to his side. Angela investigates to find the source of the pain and finds the swollen bruise. “Payton, what happened,” Angela frantically asks. “I fell on the steps carrying the Vincent Fecteau sculpture,” Payton says, quickly coming up with an answer. “I’m taking you to the doctor,” Angela declares. At that moment, she feels a tap on her shoulder and hears Connie’s voice, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asks. Payton flashes back to what they found in Connie’s house. He replies, “I’ll be fine mom, you have a lot to do here.” Connie interjects, “Perhaps his friend can take him home until you get there.” Without missing a beat, Xavier jumps at the chance, “Yeah I’ll take him, Mrs. Wingate.” Angela, feeling trapped, concedes “I’ll be home as soon as I can. Thank you, Xavier.“ Angela and Connie head toward the back room.
Walking into the room the two quickly think of a plan.
“The address on the registry said San Francisco… So, we’ll take his car back to San Francisco, in the Tenderloin, we’ll prop him up in the seat, and leave the car unlocked,” Angela says. “We have to leave now, the cleaners are coming soon, we can use Payton as a cover story. I’ll go get rid of Olivia,” Connie responds. Angela felt alone in the room thinking, “How did I get here? What am I doing?” And a tear starts to roll down her face. Connie comes back into the room. “This is never going to end, is it? I’m always going to be attached to you,” Angela says. “I don’t think that’s the hot issue right now. Olivia is on her way home. It’s just us, we have about 30 minutes.” Angela falls in line and the two carry out the plan and hit the road.
The two women arrive in the Tenderloin District.
Connie parks the car and joins Angela in her Mercedes Benz parked in the alley across the street. “Well, now we wait,” Connie says. “I have a life Connie, I have a family I – I can’t do this,” Angela says trying to appeal to Connie’s humanity. Don’t make me out to be the monster. If your family only knew who you really were, they would run from you in a heartbeat,” Connie replies. Angela turns to her with tears in her eyes. “Leave me alone, I got out – ” Connie cuts her off, “What makes you think you’re the one who wanted out?” Connie says. Connie notices people by Mr. Cray’s car. “Here we go.” Just as planned, people start to ransack the car and loot Mr. Cray’s body. Angela wipes her face and composes herself “It will be stripped by morning.” Angela puts the car in gear and smoothly accelerates to head home.
You see, as you try to wash the Past away you find that some stains will never come out.
