1006 ~ Mon. May 4, 1970
At the Old House, Angelique has taken over as mistress of the ancient home—but a ghostly inhabitant has decided to fight back… After burning the portrait of Josette Collins, Angelique has been shocked to her very core to find that the painting has of Josette has re-materialized…
After talking John into having a séance with her and the rest of the coven, Angelique called Hannah on the phone. "I want you to come back to my house tonight, Hannah!"
Hannah stood in her bizarrely decorated living room and frowned. "Tonight? Why?" Hannah frowned with worry. She did not want to go near that PRESENCE again!
"We're having a SÉANCE!" Angelique exclaimed. "At eight o' clock—I expect you to be there!"
"All right, Angelique!" Hannah acquiesced. She knew it was no use arguing with the head of the coven.
After Angelique finished the phone call, she decided to ask Quentin to join them. As she walked down the path to Collinwood from the Old House, wondering if all her plans to take over were going to be ruined by one, solitary ghost.
Angelique stopped at the front doors of the mansion and looked back to the path from her vantage point. "I hope Quentin is in decent enough shape to join us tonight, and not drunk with grief!" Angelique said out loud. She knew that he was deep in mourning for Chris and Sabrina, but maybe the séance would help get his mind off of them, even for a little while. Besides, she needed time to convince him not to leave Collinwood—her plan up to this point was to marry Quentin and become a Collins again. If Quentin left, she would have to change everything…
Angelique knocked on the front doors, but neither Quentin, nor Mrs. Johnson, or even Roger answered… Knocking again, Angelique decided that everyone must still be at the funeral reception. She carefully opened the front doors and peered inside. "Hello?" she called into the Great Hall. No answer.
Angelique stepped inside and closed the doors behind her. Turning around she switched on the lights next to the foyer and gasped in shock at what she saw. Dameon Edwards' body lay on pieces of wood, his head twisted at an unnatural angle—his neck almost certainly broken. The table with the fisherman statue on it had flipped over from the force of Dameon's body hitting it. Angelique glanced up at the balcony above the Great Hall, and realized that the pieces of wood were parts of the railing that had broken off.
Angelique stooped over Dameon's body, feeling for any sign of life. She looked up from the body and looked back up at the broken balcony above. She shook her head with dismay. "Quentin," she gasped. "Quentin, what have you done?"
Angelique got up and stepped over the table, and called out: "Mrs. Johnson! Quentin! Anyone?" She walked into the Drawing Room and lifted up the receiver of the desk phone. "Hello, police—I'm calling from Collinwood… There's been an accident… One of the residents has fallen to his death!" Angelique listened to the officer and thought of Quentin, wondering where he was, and if he was responsible for Dameon's death…
Act One:
Detective Larry Chase stood in the Great Hall of Collinwood, studying the debris all over the floor. The paramedics had already taken Dameon's body onto the ambulance to take it to the hospital morgue. Angelique stood just outside, watching the ambulance pull away and head back down the driveway.
"There's been an awful lot of deaths around here, lately" Larry said to Angelique as she walked back into the hall. "Where did you say the family was, again?"
Angelique looked startled. "I assume they're all still at the funeral reception—at the Collinsport Inn!"
"The deceased was the houseguest of…" Larry looked at his notepad, "A Mr. Quentin Collins… Is that correct?"
Angelique shrugged and looked towards the balcony. She wondered if Quentin was still somewhere in the house, but she did not want Detective Chase to talk to him until she had a chance to. "Of course—they were VERY good friends!"
"And where would Quentin Collins be at the moment?" Larry asked Angelique, studying her reactions.
"I assume he's with the rest of his family—I just got here myself when I found the body—as I told you before!" Angelique snapped.
"So Dameon Edwards was here, all alone," Larry pressed, "No one was—"
Just then the phone rang, and Angelique hurried to answer it. "Hello, Collinwood residence?"
There was a pause of a few seconds, then a woman with a thick Boston accent started to speak. "Yeah, hello? I'm callin' for a Dameon Edwards? Is he at home right now?"
Angelique rolled her eyes. "Mr. Dameon Edwards is deceased!"
There was another pause of a few seconds, then the woman spoke. "What?" she croaked, her accent seemingly changing.
"Mr. Edwards just had a horrible…" Angelique looked over at Detective Chase, "ACCIDENT! I'm afraid he can't and won't be coming to the phone!" Angelique paused to listen to the caller for the moment. "He had a fall... Dameon fell to his death!" With that Angelique hung up the phone.
Buffie Harrington cradled the phone at the Blue Whale, and stared ahead in a daze, her mouth slightly open. "Dameon…" she whispered…
After Angelique hung up the phone, she turned back to face Larry Chase again, but found the man stooped over the chalk outline of Dameon's body. "What's this?" he asked outloud, noticing something glittering in the lamplight. He pulled a pair of tweezers out of his pocket, and a little plastic bag. He picked up the little round, glittering object into the plastic bag and held it up in the light.
"What is it?" Angelique asked, frowning. She looked at the object he held up, and instantly recognized it as being one of the buttons on Quentin's jacket that he wore that day.
"Do you recognize this button? It looks like it came from a man's suit jacket…" Larry held up the little bag in front of her face.
Angelique shook her head. "No! Of course not! I'm sure I've never seen that button before!" she exclaimed. She looked away, wondering where Quentin could have gone. She needed to warn him to get rid of that jacket...
Act Two:
A frantic Buffie looked behind the bar at the Blue Whale for some Kleenex. "It's a lie," she told herself. "It's just some trick. That bitch lied to me…" she nodded to herself, dabbing the corner of her eyes with the newly-found Kleenex.
She looked up to see Horace Gladstone and John Jaeger walk in. Buffie put on her most brilliant smile. "Hey guys! I don't think I've ever seen you two together before!"
Horace smiled up at John. "Oh, we're having a little PARTY tonight, and John is feeling a little shy tonight." They sat down on some stools at the bar.
"Yeah," John glanced over at him. "Horace is buying me a drink to FORTIFY me in preparation…"
"Oh, a party!" Buffie smiled, still sniffling a little bit. "I'd love to come, if you want me?"
John smiled in agreement and looked over at Horace, but Horace shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss Harrington, but it's a very small, intimate group at someone else's house, and I'm not sure how the person would feel about an uninvited guest… Maybe the next time—I'll mention you to her…"
Buffie smiled again, but looked crestfallen. "Yeah, next time… Okay guys, what'll it be?!"
John gave Buffie a weak little smile. "I'm sorry Buffie—I don't really want to go myself."
Buffie shook her head at John. "It's all right—really, it is! Now, what can I get you?"
While they were ordering, Detective Larry Chase walked into the Blue Whale. "Has any of you seen a Mr. Quentin Collins?" he interrupted them at the bar.
John, Horace and Buffie all glanced at each other questioningly. They all shook their heads. Buffie spoke up. "No—not at all, he hasn't been in here all day."
"Well, he hasn't been at the Collins family's funeral reception for Sabrina Stuart and Chris Jennings, either!" Larry told them. "I'd like to find him so I can ask him a few questions!"
"Why are you looking for Quentin Collins?" John asked. "What's he got to do with you?" he demanded.
"A Mr. Dameon Edwards was found dead at Collinwood today, and the police suspect foul play—and I'm the detective assigned to the case!" he showed them all his badge.
Everyone looked shocked, but none looked quite as despairingly as Buffie did, who had to quickly turn away from the bar so that no one could see the tears well up in her eyes…
Act Three:
Angelique, Hannah, Horace and John sat in a circle in the drawing room at the Old House. All the electric lights were off and the Old House was lit by candlelight like it always had been until a week ago.
"I still don't think we should be doing this, Angelique," Hannah told her. "I felt that presence upstairs—"
"I'm not discussing it any more, Hannah!" Angelique snapped. She looked over at John. "Don't listen to her John, she's just an old worrywart…" Angelique turned to each person around the table. "Tonight we are gathered here to contact a higher power—someone who can exorcise this house of the spirit that is trying to drive ME away!"
John closed his eyes and grimaced. 'This was so crazy,' he thought to himself. He could not believe that Angelique had really talked him into this. It was all nonsense, right? But then, John thought about his visions of Sabrina and the werewolf, and realized that anything was possible in this world…
"Everyone put your hands on the table!" Angelique commanded. "Everyone's hands must touch the person on either side of them!" Angelique put her own hands down on the table, and touched Horace's with her right, and Hannah's with her left. John sat directly across from her. "Now, we must have complete silence, while everyone concentrate's on our objective!"
John kept his eyes closed and concentrated. 'Is there anyone there?' he thought to himself. 'Is there anyone who can help Angelique?' He kept thinking the same thing over and over. After a few minutes, he began to feel strange, numb. A buzzing sound started to form in his ears, and a pulsating, vibrating feeling started to form around his neck…
John groaned and Angelique's eyes snapped opened. She looked over and saw him with his eyes shut, moaning, his head flopping down. "Ohhhh!" Horace and Hannah looked over at him with surprise.
"Who is it? Who's there?" Angelique whispered, breathless with anticipation.
John opened his eyes with horror and screamed. "No!" Suddenly, a wind blew through the drawing room, and made all of their candles blow out, plunging them into darkness. Hannah screamed with terror, and stood up, knocking her chair down behind her. "I-I'm not staying here!" she exclaimed.
"Hannah!" Angelique shouted. "Stay seated! The circle cannot be broken!" Hannah did not listen, of course, and Angelique heard her run out of the house, not even shutting the door behind her.
Angelique quickly got up and turned on the nearest lamp. She turned back at the table, and saw that John was staring at her with a wicked smile on his face. "Angelique…" he said, in a voice that was not his own…
Cast:
Angelique Rumson… LARA PARKER
John Jaeger… CHRISTOPHER PENNOCK
Horace Gladstone… JOHN HARKINS
Hannah du Noir… PAULA LAURENCE
Dameon Edwards… JERED HOLMES
Buffie Harrington… ELIZABETH EIS
Det. Larry Chase… KEN MCEWEN