Betrayals by H. G. McKeown

Disclaimer: The TV series "Charlie’s Angels" and all its characters are copyright Spelling-Goldberg Productions. Don’t sue me. I’m very poor.

Spoilers: Pilot.

Synopsis: Woodville returns with disturbing news for Bosley.

P.S. When you get to the end of this story, you will be mad at me. But look at it this way, if it ends like this, Sabrina never leaves and there would be no Tiffany and no Julie! I wrote this in one hour. It’s inhuman, but I was able to cope.

There was a quick knock on the office door. Kris Munroe downed her vitamins and took a swig of her milk. Then she opened the door. A fat, balding man with reddish hair stood there in an uncomfortable brown suit.

"Yes? Can I help you?" asked Kris.

The man blinked. "Who are you? Where’s Jill?"

"I’m Kris. Jill’s my sister." Kris explained. "She just left for Paris two days ago. Did you know her?"

"Yes." The man replied. "That is to say, not well."

"Oh."

"Is John Bosley in?"

"Not yet, but you can wait for him." Kris replied. She opened the door fully and motioned to the couch.

At the table at the far end of the room, Sabrina looked up from the papers she was reading. "Oh my God."

"What?" Kelly asked, stepping out of the bathroom. Then she saw the man in the doorway. "You?!"

Kris looked around in confusion. "Am I missing something here?"

"Woodville, what in the world are you doing here?" Sabrina said aghast.

"Yeah, you’ve got some nerve showing up here!" Kelly agreed. "You’d better leave before Bosley shows up."

The man known as Woodville raised his hand up for silence. "Girls, I came here to see Bosley himself."

Kelly looked like she was going to punch him. Sabrina was shocked. "Are you crazy? After what you did?"

"After what who did?" asked Bosley as he came up the stairs. Then he saw the man in the doorway. The façade of the mild-mannered accountant fell away and Bosley lunged at the man.

Kris was appalled and so she pulled him off Woodville. "Bosley! What’s going on here?"

"Get out!" Bosley screamed. "Get out now!"

Kelly took one arm and Sabrina took another and they were about to escort Woodville off the premises when he said quietly: "John, she died yesterday. I thought you might want to here it from a friend and not some stranger."

Kelly and Sabrina stopped and stared at him in shock. Bosley’s jaw dropped, his knees buckled. Kris helped him to the couch.

"John, I’m sorry." Woodville said.

Sabrina raised herself to her full height and turned to Woodville. "You heard Bosley, get out. You’re not a stranger, but you’re not a friend either."

Woodville shook his head and turned towards the door. Bosley murmured something in his direction.

"Pardon?" Woodville asked.

"How did it happen?" Bosley asked, his voice was hoarse and dry.

"It was very sudden." Woodville said softly, "She was puttering around in the kitchen and I heard the sound of some pans falling and some glass breaking…and I found her there. The doctors say she just…there wasn’t any pain. An aneurysm. They don’t know how to explain it."

Bosley nodded. He sat there, staring off into space.

"There are some things…an envelope. It looks like a long letter…" Woodville sighed. "There’s a whole box of things that she wanted you to have. I left it by the stairs."

"Thank you." Bosley said. His voice was dead. It sounded like it was a million miles away.

Woodville let himself out. Kris closed the door after him.

"What’s going on?" she whispered to Sabrina, alarmed at Bosley’s expression.

Sabrina put her finger to her lips, and motioned that they would talk later. Then she got up and went over to the bar. Then she poured Bosley some scotch.

"Bosley…" Kelly murmured, embracing him. "I’m so sorry."

Tears were running down his face. Kris knelt down on the floor and laid her head on his lap. She wished she knew what to say. She wished she knew what was going on. "Did you love her very much, Bosley?"

Kelly kicked her in the thigh. Hard.

"I loved her terribly, Kris." Bosley said hoarsely. "God help me, I loved her. I still do."

"Shhhh." Sabrina said, offering him the scotch. When he didn’t take it, she set it down on the table within his reach.

The phone rang.

"I’ll tell Charlie." Sabrina whispered. She walked over to the big desk and lifted the receiver. "Hi, Charlie. No, no we’re all here. I didn’t put you on the speakerphone for a reason. Woodville was just here…"

"Sweetie, do you want me to drive you home?" Kelly asked. "Or would you like Sabrina to stay with you?"

Bosley only buried his face in his hands. Kris stood up to get him some Kleenex.

"I…I think I want to be alone, just now." He said. "I’ll just drive myself home."

"Are you sure?" Kelly asked.

"Yes." Bosley replied. "I’ll be fine."

"Boz…" Kelly began.

"I said I’ll be fine!" he snapped. Then his voice turned soft. "Sorry. I’m sorry… I…"

"No, don’t worry about it." Kelly said, she kissed him on the forehead.

Kris handed him a box of Kleenex. "I’ll cook dinner for you and drop it off at your place tonight, okay?"

Bosley nodded as he walked out of the door and down the stairs.

"Nice going, Kris." Kelly snapped.

"What?! I don’t even know what’s going down!"

Sabrina got off the phone. She walked up to the two girls and stood between them. She turned to Kelly. "This isn’t helping Bosley at all. Ease up on her, okay?"

"What’s going on?"

Kelly sighed. "When Charlie first recruited us, he did it through Bosley and that man Woodville. Woodville and Bosley seemed to get along well. I think they were buddies for a pretty long time."

"What happened?" Kris asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Well…" Sabrina explained. "Bosley was originally Charlie’s man-Friday and Woodville was supposed to manage things on this end. Bosley wasn’t too happy with his job, so Woodville proposed they switch. And it seemed to work out pretty well…"

"And then…?"

"Then Bosley’s wife packed brown shoes with his black suit. That’s when he started getting suspicious. His wife was very particular about that sort of thing. Then when we came back from an out-of-town case one day, Bosley went home and found his house deserted."

"She ran off with Woodville?"

"Bingo!" Kelly said, shaking her head.

"Oh my God. Poor Bosley."

Sabrina nodded. "He always felt that it was his fault. That maybe there was something he should have done or maybe there was something he did that made her leave. It took him a long time to get over it."

"It’s Woodville’s fault." Kelly growled.

"And his wife isn’t totally innocent either." Kris added.

"Well, she’s gone now, and that’s a closed book." Sabrina stated. "I think cooking dinner for him is a good idea."

Kelly tried to smile. "Yeah, Kris and I will do the cooking. You go get the ingredients."

It was around 7pm when the Angels parked in front of Bosley’s house. Kris took out the lasagna out of the trunk carefully. It was Bosley’s favorite. Sabrina held the tray of steak carefully. The steak was pre-marinated but Kelly didn’t want to cook it right away just in case it got cold on the way to Bosley’s house. Kelly locked her car, and led the way to the door.

It was unlocked.

"Bosley?" Kelly yelled.

Sabrina and Kris set down the food on the kitchen table. Then Kris pulled Kelly’s sleeve. "Hey, maybe he just wants to be left alone, huh?"

Kelly frowned. "Let’s check to see if he’s okay, first."

"I’ll check the bedroom." Kris agreed. She walked down the hall and knocked on the door at the end. "Bosley? Bosley, it’s Kris. Can I come in?"

Kris waited for a moment. "Bosley? Are you okay?"

"Is he in there?" Sabrina whispered.

Kris shrugged.

"Kelly’s gone to ask the neighbors if he went out for a walk. His car’s still in the garage." Sabrina replied. "I’m going to call Charlie."

"Okay." Kris said. Then she started to knock again. "Bosley, I’m coming in."

She opened the door a hair, and peeked in. The room was a mess. It looked like Bosley had thrown things around. She found a bottle of Black Label on the floor beside his bed. She shivered. "Bosley?"

The box was open. There were letters, a few pictures, a few documents that looked legal in nature. He had ripped most of them to shreds.

"Oh, Bosley." Kris sighed in sympathy. Suddenly she noticed wetness beneath her feet and saw that the carpet was wet. She turned to the bathroom and saw that the water was coming from there.

"Bosley?" Kris yelled, pounding on the door. "Bosley, it’s Kris."

There was silence.

"Bosley, say something!" Kris yelled, almost in tears. She tried the door but it was locked. She could hear the rush of water audibly now.

Kris felt an unidentified feeling of dread. She threw herself against the door. "Sabrina! Kelly! Help!"

She heard Sabrina put down the phone. She started yelling again. "Sabrina! Kelly! Help!"

"What’s wrong?" Kelly said, as she and Sabrina ran into the room.

Sabrina looked around. "What the hell happened here?"

"Help me break the door down!" Kris said. "The hinges won’t give."

"Is he in there?" Kelly asked.

"I just know he is! Help me!" Kris screamed. "Bosley! Bosley, please open the door!"

The Angels threw their weight against the door several times before it broke down. They found Bosley lying fully clothed in the bathtub. The tap was running. He had covered the whole floor with plastic…so that the blood from his slashed wrists wouldn’t be so hard to clean up.

Kris screamed.