Either that, or they just knew that was their best bet afterwards.
Excellent, as always. But since Jane Osa asked so nicely, here I go!
The following is the opinion of SuperDave, and does not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.
Okay, my theory (at least for now): Let's assume, for the moment, that the story about JB being asleep when they got home is false. Burke asks for a bedtime snack. Patsy sees a bowl of pineapple on the kitchen counter and gives him some, telling him not to paw at it. Both children have some.
JOHN: "Come on, honey. Let's get you to bed. Be with you in a minute, son."
BURKE: "I'll wait for you there, Dad."
PATSY: "Just a quick check to see if I missed anything."
Patsy is now alone. She's doing her thing. John puts JB in bed. They speak for a minute. Maybe something else. Maybe he gives her privates a "quick check." He goes down to the basement.
Patsy's catching her breath in the living room. John and Burke come up.
JOHN: Head on up to bed, son.
BURKE: "Okay, Dad."
The parents are alone.
JOHN: "Come on up to bed."
PATSY: "No, I'm not done yet."
JOHN: "You shouldn't take so much on yourself."
PATSY (irritated at him): "I have to. I do everything around here."
JOHN: "Sorry I mentioned it."
John goes upstairs. Soon, JB is back down.
PATSY: "What do you want now, honey," with a little irritation in her voice.
JB: "I did it again."
PATSY: "Oh, God. Come on."
Up to JB's room.
PATSY: "I dont see anything."
JB: "I didn't go to bed yet."
PATSY: "Can't you do anything I ask?"
JB: "I'm sorry."
PATSY: "Get in there."
Into the bathroom. Patsy cleans her up.
PATSY: "Here, don't tell you're father."
JB: "You and Daddy tell me secrets."
PATSY: "Secrets?"
JB: "Yeah, Daddy tells me to keep secrets."
PATSY: "Like what?"
JB (suddenly sullen): "It wouldn't be a secret then."
PATSY (now more irritated): "Fine."
Patsy becomes rough.
JB: "OW! Mommy, that hurts! Daddy's nicer."
PATSY: "I didn't think your father cleaned you up."
JB: "He doesn't. He calls it our special game."
PATSY's head snaps up. Their eyes meet.
JB (whispering): "I told the secret."
PATSY (in a rage): "YOU ROTTEN LITTLE LIAR!!"
JB (almost in a panic): "I'm sorry, Mommy!"
PATSY: "I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget!"
JB tries to run away, but her pants are still around her knees. She tries to pull them up, but trips. As she gets up, Patsy grabs her collar and flings her. She MEANS to toss JB onto the bed face-first and spank the daylights out of her. But she mistimes it and JB goes headfirst like a missile into the bedpost at tremendous speed. It cracks her skull.
Patsy sees JB crumpled on the floor.
PATSY: "That won't work, you little faker. You're in big trouble."
She picks JB up and lays her on the bed. But she's so limp.
PATSY: "I said, cut it out."
Nothing. JB is in shock and doesn't seem to be breathing.
PATSY (anger replaced by worry): "JonBenet Patricia Ramsey, you cut that out right now. Baby? (Now panicked): BABY?! PLEASE say something! Oh, GOD, I didn't mean to! No, oh, God, no! Not my baby!"
John comes in.
JOHN: "What the h*** is going on in here?!"
Patsy turns. Her eyes, full of tears and hate. She blitzes him.
PATSY: "YOU B*****D!"
He grabs her wrists. "Are you crazy?!" He sees JB. "What did you do?!"
PATSY: "Me?! You couldn't get it from me, so you took her! And I believed YOU!"
JOHN: "You stupid, crazy
! I have to save her!"PATSY: "It's too late now! She's dead!"
JOHN: "NO! That's impossible!" (Keep in mind, John's lost Beth.)
PATSY: "I'll see you rot for this!"
JOHN: "How?! You killed her."
Patsy fights until she's fought-out. She collapses to the floor, sobbing.
JOHN: "Honey..."
PATSY: "We can't leave her like this. She's so beautiful. like an angel. She deserves better."
JOHN: "I can't believe this. Burke...what will happen to him?"
PATSY: "He can't ever know about this. He can't think we killed JonBenet."
JOHN: "How do we make this right?"
PATSY: "I thought you were the big expert!"
JOHN: "Shut up! I'm trying to think."
PATSY: "What kind of person would do this?"
JOHN: "The kind we saw in the Navy. Damn, I wish I could remember who they were."
And it just spirals from there. Putting anything they can think of into a possible scenario, they stage a scene. But Patsy's dramatic flair puts it over the top. John, wracked with guilt, knows she hangs by a hair, so he says nothing. He also knows that the truth will put him in prison where the inmates will line up to get a shot at them in horrible way...
PATSY: "What kind of knot do we use?"
JOHN: "Do it yourself."
Patsy ties a sloppy noose and sloppier wrist ties.
JOHN: "I can't even look at her like that."
They think about bundling her up to dump, but it's too risky. In the basement.
PATSY: "Wouldn't she have been messed with down there?"
JOHN: "Don't ask me to--"
PATSY: "You already DID! That's how we got into this mess."
JOHN: "I can't touch her like this." He uses the brush to avoid touching her privates. His fibers end up on her, having scuffed off his sleeve on her clothing when he pulls his arm back. "Can you write left-handed?"
PATSY: "Yeah, but--"
JOHN: "Come on."
John dictates part of the note, she writes. At this point, she's caught up in this. Her greatest pageant, her greatest adventure. It's exhilerating.
And that's it. Thank the gods, because I have NEVER felt ANYTHING as heart-wrenching as writing that, with the exception of burying my parents! I cried and sobbed the whole way through that! PLEASE don't ANYONE ask me any more! I think I have to relax for a minute.
