Michael hired Catlin to find Victoria and arranged to meet him at the Loves'.
Jake (having successfully burst in on Marley in the guise of room service) attacked her and refused to leave her alone. SHE KISSED BACK.
Cast tried to talk to Kathleen on the phone. Larusso bashed him and Cecile said things designed to make Kathleen think she and Cass were carrying on.
Nancy finds Adam worshipful it seems. She showed Dee Vic's note. They pondered the flight. Nancy said she couldn't believe what Jake had done. Dee was all agog. Nancy would say only either Jake was in jail or he'd found Marley. Adam rushed MJ out of Mary's Place as a result of a telephone call.
Jake said Marley must still love him or she wouldn't have let him kiss her like that. (It was pretty wild, for Marley.) He said he'd never let her go. She said it wasn't up to him. He said he'd regained his focus on life and his feelings for Victoria were approaching hatred. He reminded her he'd told her that. She said he hadn't the last time she saw him in her apartment. She denied having met him in the stables. They figured it out. He thumped things and raved wildly. She assumed this meant he'd made love to her. He said far from it. He feels pretty rotten about the things he said to her. She said Vic would never let him go and that was why she had to. (People do strange things when their contracts expire.) Goodbye. He didn't budge. She told him she was going away. He said he'd find her. She said kissing him hadn't meant anything and she didn't love him. He was crushed. She said she wanted to be free to meet (etc) other men. She wants a man who's free to love her. She wept and said he'd never see her again. He wept too, both looking rather hysterical. They wept buckets and said goodbye. Out in the corridor Jake wept some more.
Kathleen told Felicia about Cass' call. She refused to say who she thought had come on the line. Adam and MJ dashed in with a tape and potential trace. Felicia heard Cecile's voice for herself. She feels murderous.
Cass mumbled that he'd been kidnapped and loved Kathleen. Cecile condoled with him about his poor head and assured him she hadn't spoken to Kathleen while he was unconscious. He suspected a plot afoot.
Michael telephoned Victoria's hangouts. Peter gazed out the window. Britney demonstrated the baby and suggested Peter hold him. He refused. She asked what was wrong. He said it was Victoria. She took the baby to bed as Catlin came in. Jake rushed in looking for Victoria. Michael shoved him into a chair.
MJ and Adam rushed the trace through. Felicia provided them with tapes of Cecile's voice to identify the woman on the phone. Samuels appeared and found MJ wanting. She's behind in every other case in the world.
Cass refused a drink. The yacht was suddenly discovered by a helicopter. Cecile took fits. Cass tried to attract its attention. Cecile bellowed for LaRusso. The chopper got away. Cass asked who was looking for her. She said no one. She fussed because he'd bashed her face in the mad scramble for the window. He coaxed her into a better temper.
Jake was put wise to the situation. (Americans in British novels are forever saying "put me wise." It's so adorable. Michael asked why he was charging around looking for Victoria. Jake asked if he knew what she'd been up to. Michael admitted to knowing Vic had been pretending to be Marley. Catlin seemed to find this extraordinary. (He was so surprised that I found myself wondering if he knew they were identical twins.) Donna said she would have known had Vic tried it with her. Wrongo, said Michael. (Why do I keep expecting him to call her Bella?) Catlin was more surprised that Jake hadn't perceived which twin he was with. Jake explained she'd kept turned away from him. Strangulation will insist on creeping into Jake's conversation. He doesn't know or care where Victoria is. Donna doesn't like his attitude. Jake said he'd been to Chicago. Michael asked if Marley had called him. Donna asked if he'd hurt her. (Ye gods. Quite the other way around, I thought.) Jake said he'd finally had it brought home that it was OVER.
The voice was identified as Cecile for certain. Felicia evaporated, downcast. Adam advised MJ to get caught up. She was stubborn.
Catlin found out Victoria had no friends. He asked about friends in Lassiter. Bridget said there was Becky Peterson (PETERSON?) and Trish Alonzo. Donna was surprised that Bridget knew when she didn't. She's had no dealings with them recently. Peter saw Britt drooling on the edge of her seat and SUGGESTED she go to bed.
Jake is sloshing. He was on about being the loser from Lassiter. He wants to be a movie of the week. He asked to hear Dee's life story. He went for a drink from behind the bar he built from the ground up with his very very bare hands. Nancy told him he'd had enough. He denied it. Dee said he was ripped. Nancy said he was smashed. No, make that half-smashed. She asked why. He said he wanted to. She asked about Marley. He said it had gone great and she'd given him his freedom. He wants everybody to be happy.
Cass seems to have mellowed somewhat. Cecile was suspicious. He said he felt bad about bashing her. When he had her distracted he stole her little mirror.
Dee and Nancy tried to keep Jake quiet. He sang and suggested a dance sandwich. The sinister bartender refused to serve him. Nancy suggested they take the party back to her place in desperation. Jake was surprised. They steered him out.
Michael and Bridget and Catlin rushed upstairs to check Victoria's room for clues. Brittany declared she'd heard the baby crying and rushed off in Catlin's wake in spite of Peter's objections. He complained to Donna about Brittany's terrible drooling. He told her according to the blood test Peter was his baby. If Brittany dares go to another man they need only put their little plan into action. (Peter must be fibbing about the baby. I think he knows he's not his but wants him anyway. It's rather revolting. I'm still terrified that they expect us to feel sorry for poor Brittany the erstwhile deaf mute in love with a man she can't have present female change to a loveless marriage and in love with a man she can't have. I will be so sick if Catlin takes her side.)
The Tanquir people had to duck when the helicopter came by again. Cecile refused to tell Cass anything. She stubbed her toe and hobbled off after LaRusso calling for a flashlight.
Nancy sent Dee to cover for her in Mary's Place and tried to move Jake onto the couch to sleep. He fell on top of her. She looked revolted.
Donna and Michael blamed themselves. She convinced him to stay in an actual guest room. He assured her they'd retrieve Vic and make her feel welcome. Catlin took his leave. Bridget attempted to waylay him but Brittany wanted to waylay him too. Being in a position of power she was able to send Bridget to see to the baby. She asked if he'd be around the house in future. He said he had a job to do. She said she knew he'd find Victoria. She asked how he was doing and said she hated seeing him in pain. Peter loomed large on the horizon and ordered him out.
The call was traced to the Virgin islands. St Thomas. MJ said she was going. Samuels said she wasn't.
Cass has the missing flashlight.
Admirable restraint on Tom's part, I thought. Perhaps we can try him in the Hotel Clarendon. I woke up with my head out the window there. I was surprised. My most drunken behaviour ever occurred there you know. I wrote a letter (funny how many letters I've written) to the desk clerk stating I was sober as a judge. We really must manage this pull to the east.
People have no business in other people's basements.
Brittany is quite the most sickening drooling person imaginable.
Would Donna have had to list Catlin on her questionnaire? Would he be a lodger or what ? The stables would be a completely separate dwelling, such fun.
"I wish I understood Americans," said Charles-Édouard. "They are very strange. So good, and yet so dull."
"What makes you think they are so good?"
"You can see it, shining in their eyes."
"That's not goodness, that's contact lenses."