BBM for emphasis..
well, Stell , that's my fave bit, really.. it's where one is truly obligated to suspend any logic at all. Let's enter into the Gerard/Toni sphere of thought for a few seconds..
She has completely done her block at him not 18 hours previously.. her words.. ' I lost it, I was in a rage , '... she pretends she is interested in Alisons actual welfare, to boot, by stating that Alison deserves to know she, Toni, will be there.. like, as if.. What Alison deserves from both Toni and Gerard has not exactly been a driving force up until that moment , but let's take it on it's face..
She leaves Gerard with the ultimatum. Alison isn't to go .. I presume that Toni means that merely by Gerard telling Alison Toni will be there will do the trick.. that Alison wont go, and she , Toni will be free to enjoy this conference, which from her statements all up, conferences seem to be the highlight of her life.. all that buzz and backslapping etc.. they meant a lot to her.
Does Gerard trudge home and lay this news out on Alison?? I very much doubt it. Doubt if he had told Alison by 8.3pm because Alison is calmly speaking with Olivia re a sleepover .. Alison hasn't rung Kate Rankin to cancel their arrangement to meet the next morning ( Gerard is out of the loop about this particular meeting ) .. and at no time does Alison ring Kate to cancel, not then, not later ,and not when she gets up early to 'go for a walk'. Of course, now we know she couldn't. She was dead.
So Toni , obviously, goes to the conference.. has Gerard rang her to tell her to suck it up , Alison just wouldn't co-operate and Toni will have to deal with it? or.. I tried, Toni, but I just couldn't get it across without dropping you in it.?? or.. .bad luck , GG , can you pretend to be ill and not go??
not a bit of it. And they have the means to contact each other by phone, but this call that isn't made is equivalent to the dog that didn't bark in the night..
Toni knows two people from Gerards office are going to it. ..the evening before she even had advice to Gerard about how he can afford to send two. She rings Gerard, she says, at the lunch break from the conference, this is about 1pm ( Gerard is mid burble with detectives ) to tell him Alison isn't at the conference.. no mention of why Kate Rankin isn't at it from Toni.. just Alison.. From Toni's position, realistically, both Kate Rankin and Alison are 'missing'...
If Alison isn't at the conference,.. where does Toni think she is? and why does she take the risk to ring Gerard to tell him?? She told him that Alison wasn't to go, so what's the mystery to Toni? Alison could be standing right next to him as far as Toni should know.. right at his elbow, if she isn't at the conference, surely this is such a peculiar risk to take at this stage of their entwinement... Alison could be right there in his office, leaning over his desk, or in the car with him showing property now that she has agreed to not go to the conference, why does Toni take this enormous risk in ringing Gerard at that time ?
unless she actually DID get a call from Gerard which neither are mentioning... a quick buzz before all this police stuff, or a call from someone else on the sly, who isn't being scrutinised as closely as Gerard is that morning.. unless she already knows that Alison is 'missing'..
Like you, I cant see Toni girding her girlish loins in happy anticipation of the great time she is going to have at the conference with this conundrum still unresolved, and serenely turning up at the seminar, flags flying.. Just cant see that at all.
