Fri. May 1, 1970
Today has been one of the difficult days Quentin Collins has ever faced… For on this day, Sabrina Stuart and Chris Jennings' double funeral has been held… Returning to Collinwood after the funeral, Quentin has decided to tell Angelique that he plans to leave Collinwood forever…
Angelique Rumson walked with Quentin back to Collinwood after Chris and Sabrina's funeral. A reception was being held at the Collinsport Inn, but Quentin did not feel as though he could bear to attend. He let Roger and David Collins, along with Mrs. Johnson, go without him.
After entering through the front doors of the Great House, Quentin immediately went for the liquor cart in the Drawing Room. Angelique closed the front doors behind her and looked concernedly towards the Drawing Room. "Do you think that is wise, Quentin?" Angelique asked as she entered the room, a worried expression on her lovely face. "You told me about your hangover this morning, and how you couldn't remember what you did last night…"
Quentin gulped down some brandy and grimaced. "I'm pretty sure I only dreamed that I showed Dameon my portrait."
"It doesn't hurt to be too careful!" Angelique admonished. She turned and shut the Drawing Room doors. "Do you think you can trust your… friend?"
"My friend…" Quentin said with a chuckle. "Dameon would steal from his own mother, if he thought it could benefit him!"
Angelique looked surprised. "Why are you friends with him, then? Why let him stay at Collinwood?"
Quentin looked wistful. "We have a history, Angelique. For years, in Portland, he was the only person I could talk to…" Quentin looked up at Angelique and stared sadly into her blue eyes. "We're both leaving—tomorrow, at the latest—but I cannot stay at Collinwood. Not now, not after…"
"Quentin!" Angelique exclaimed. "No! What about me, Quentin? And what about Maggie Evans, too! When she comes back from visiting her sick aunt…"
"Maggie…" Quentin murmured, thinking of the stack of postcards from Boston and the letters that he had received from her, mostly unread, all of them unanswered. His romance with Maggie seemed a million years ago…
They were interrupted by a knock on the front doors. Angelique answered for Quentin, and found none other than Horace Gladstone, the Collinsport University Library director, standing there on the doorstep. "Horace!" Angelique gasped, recognizing him. She looked back to the Drawing Room nervously.
"I'd like to speak to Mr. Quentin Collins," Horace Gladstone smirked, with a twinkle in his eye. "Angelique…" he whispered.
"Certainly," she answered, recollecting herself "Horace." Angelique shook her head with bemusement. She closed the doors behind them as Horace took off his coat and looked around the Great Hall with awe.
"You have a visitor!" Angelique called out to Quentin in the Drawing Room. She walked in with Horace in tow, who smiled as he looked into the room at Quentin…
Act One:
Quentin barely looked up from pouring himself another brandy. "Who're you?" he demanded, raising an eyebrow and swigging down his glass of brandy…
"Mr. Horace Gladstone," Horace offered his hand to shake, but Quentin ignored it while setting the brandy decanter back onto the cart. Horace looked over at Angelique for help. "I was at the funeral… I worked with Sabrina at the university library… I-I'm very sorry for what happened."
"Thank you," Quentin answered. He took his newly refilled brandy and sat down on the sofa.
Out in the Great Hall, Dameon Edwards came out from the kitchen door under the balcony, hearing their voices coming from the Drawing Room...
Horace glanced at Angelique again, and walked over to the sofa. "Uh, Mr. Collins… Do you happen to know what happened to the moon poppy I gave Miss Stuart? You see, I have a greenhouse on my property, and I was the one who gave it to her… as a gift."
Quentin stared up at Horace in surprise. "You… gave Sabrina the moon poppy?" Quentin leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "Why? How much do you know, Mister… Gladstone… was it?"
Dameon crept closer to the Drawing Room doors to hear what they were saying better.
Horace looked down. "Well... I've been reading the papers for the past two years, and I put two and two together since Sabrina started working at the library…" Horace glanced back at Quentin. "It's surprising the secrets people will talk about out loud when they think no one is listening…" Horace looked over at Angelique. "It pays to be an unremarkable-looking, quiet man, I guess."
Quentin shook his head with amazement. "Then you can guess what really happened to Sabrina, then."
Dameon raised his eyebrows with interest. What had really happened to Miss Stuart?
Horace nodded. "I presumed the creature finally killed her…"
Quentin sipped at his brandy. "And with Chris also dead, I suppose there's no reason to tell anyone else about this, is there?" Quentin looked pointedly at him.
Out in the Great Hall, Dameon smiled to himself.
"No, no one would believe me anyway," Horace admitted. "Mr. Jaeger is probably the only person who would… Mrs. Rumson, I noticed that he was not at the funeral today. Would you happen to know where I could find him?"
"Of course," Angelique conceded. "John is staying at my home. Come, I'll take you to see him. He was extremely depressed after what happened to Sabrina—he really thought he could save her…"
"I know," Horace nodded. "Well, Mr. Collins, it was nice finally meeting you… Next time I see you at the Blue Whale, I'll buy you a drink!"
Dameon hurriedly sneaked back to the kitchen door to avoid being seen. First Quentin's portrait, now moon poppies? Dameon wondered what it all meant...
Quentin smiled and nodded to himself sadly, thinking how everyone wanted to help Chris and Sabrina, but they all ultimately failed. As Angelique and Horace walked out of the house, Quentin could only shake his head in amazement that there was someone else actively trying to help Chris and Sabrina that whole time…
Act Two:
"That was quite a performance, Horace," Angelique told Horace on their walk through the woods along the path to the Old House. "I had no idea that you were helping Chris and Sabrina—a MOON POPPY, indeed!" She shook her head with dismay. "Well, it was a fruitless effort, anyway… Our Master got his payment of pain and misery, after all!"
"I only wanted to see if it would work!" Horace hissed. "If it had, Chris Jennings and Sabrina Stuart would have been indebted to me!"
When they entered the Old House, Angelique called up the stairs in the foyer, "John! I've brought a visitor who wants to see you!"
After a few minutes, John came moping down the stairs in a state of deep depression. He had been laying in bed all day, and now, he had hastily put on some clothes to meet them. "You!" he exclaimed when he saw Horace standing in the foyer.
"Hello, Mr. Jaeger," Horace smiled. "I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you wanted. I tried to help Sabrina, myself. I gave her the moon poppy to use on her boyfriend—I probably never should have interfered… I must admit."
John was amazed. "You KNEW all along? I don't believe it!" He stepped off the stairs. "The moon poppy? That's a real thing?"
"Yes, I have my own greenhouse," Horace said. "Come, let me tell you all about it…"
Angelique left the two men to talk in the Old House drawing room, and walked upstairs to go to her new room. While Horace was explaining everything to John, they heard the shrillest scream either man had ever heard before. John and Horace stared at each other for a second, then hurriedly got up and ran upstairs. They found Angelique standing in her room, standing in shock, just inside the doorway.
"No!" Angelique cried, pointing to the wall, where Josette's portrait now hung once again. It was completely unscathed—it was as though it had never been burned and destroyed in the fireplace! Angelique brought her hands up to her mouth. "No…"
John looked over at the painting on the wall, and his eyes narrowed. "I don't understand, Angelique… Isn't that the portrait you said you burned—the one you didn't care for?"
"Yes," Angelique nodded, gulping with a mixture of fear and anger, "And it seems to have made a miraculous recovery!" She glared at Josette's face—it seemed to have an expression of satisfaction, now. Angelique turned to Horace. "Mr. Gladstone, I think it's about time we had another… MEETING!"
Act Three:
Dameon Edwards found Quentin sitting and drinking, once again, on the Drawing Room sofa. "Poor Grant..." Dameon smiled. "Your friends are all gone, now. It's just me and you, just like it always was." He sat down next to him on the sofa.
Quentin shook his head and scowled. "Go away, Dameon, I'm not in the mood."
Dameon ignored him and poured some brandy into a glass on the coffee table to take some for himself. "The only thing left to do now is to break it off with that Angelique woman, and then things can finally get back to the way they were before…" He lifted up the glass and took a sip.
Quentin suddenly swiped the glass out of Dameon's hand, causing it to go flying. "Things are NOT going to go back to the way they were in Portland!" he barked at Dameon, his face red with anger. "I told you I'm going to LEAVE Collinwood! And besides, I don't let others tell me who I can and cannot see!"
Dameon wiped the brandy off of his mouth and smiled wryly. "It's entirely, up to you, GRANT, but we wouldn't want another little ACCIDENT happen to the lovely Mrs. Rumson, now would we?"
Quentin shook his head in confusion. "Accident? What are you talking about, what accident?"
Dameon stood up from the sofa to pace. "Remember two weeks ago? Remember there was an attack in a dark alley? Well, I can't take FULL credit for that little accident, but I could arrange for it to happen again, if you don't get rid of her!" Dameon stared at Quentin for a moment, then walked out of the Drawing Room to head up the staircase.
Quentin got up from the sofa and hurried to catch up with him. "Wait… are you telling me you set that up? Wait, Dameon!"
Dameon continued up the stairs, but stopped at the balcony overlooking the Great Hall. "That's right, Grant!" he called down "And unless you start listening to me, and start doing what I say, she might not be so lucky, NEXT time!"
Quentin's long legs took him quickly up the stairs, and he finally caught up to Dameon on the balcony. "You bastard…" Quentin shook his head with disgust. "You're even worse than I ever thought!" Dameon turned to open the hall door, but Quentin grabbed him by the jacket lapels and pulled him roughly towards him.
"Let go of me, Grant!" Dameon hissed. He pushed against Quentin's chest, but Quentin grasped his jacket tightly.
"Now, listen to me, old friend... You're gonna leave Collinwood, right NOW!" Quentin demanded. "And if I ever see you again, ever—I swear to God that I'll KILL you!"
Quentin finally let go of Dameon's jacket, right as Dameon once more attempted to shove on Quentin's chest, harder this time. Losing his balance, Dameon fell backwards against the wobbly balcony railing, but this time, it broke with a sickening snapping sound.
Dameon reached out towards Quentin and grabbed at Quentin's jacket, just as Quentin tried to stop Dameon's fall by grabbing his arms. But neither man was able to hold on, and Quentin watched with horror as the balcony railing and Dameon fell backwards to the floor of the Great Hall below…
Cast:
Angelique Rumson… LARA PARKER
Quentin Collins… DAVID SELBY
John Jaeger… CHRISTOPHER PENNOCK
Horace Gladstone… JOHN HARKINS
Dameon Edwards… JERED HOLMES