§ § § -- August 19, 1990

Roarke arrived with a police escort in the middle of a raging thunderstorm, whose exact center seemed to be the chateau. Heedless of the rain and the bolts of lightning cracking the sky, he unlocked the gate and rushed across the courtyard with the cops hard on his heels. The front door was open, and they all swarmed in and zeroed in on the steps to the dungeon.

The darkness was so complete as to render everyone blind; but the noise was another story. It sounded like sheer mayhem, as if someone had gone on a destructive spree and was still at it. Roarke knew there was a light switch somewhere, and after a moment's quick investigation of the wall near the stairs, he brushed across it with one hand. Grasping the switch, he concentrated for a moment, flipped the switch down, then back up. The lights came on.

Instantly there was a long screech of "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!" that could have shattered eardrums. Roarke and the cops all turned in the direction of the noise, and Roarke recognized his daughter's mother-in-law, just as he had suspected. Tellervo Komainen recoiled from the light as if it burned her, wailing incoherently and trying to cover her head.

"She is the one we are looking for," Roarke said, indicating her, and the policemen surged forward and made short work of restraining her. Roarke studied the room; Arthur Laursen was crouched in a ball on the floor, hands over the back of his head, in the midst of an ocean of glass shards. The body of Teppo Komainen, half covered with a sheet, lay supine on an enormous wooden table; and Leslie was on her knees with her arms wrapped around the table leg nearest Teppo's head, her eyes half-closed and her face bearing a faraway expression. She, too, was surrounded by broken glass.

Roarke hesitated a bare moment before going to Laursen first. "Mr. Laursen?" he questioned, stepping carefully across the floor, glass crunching under his shoes.

Laursen turned his head slightly, opened his eyes and blinked, then grinned widely. "Mr. Roarke!" he burst out. "You sure are a sight for sore eyes." Roarke extended a hand so that Laursen could avoid using the glass-covered floor as leverage to get himself to his feet, and the guest pulled himself upright, peering around him. "Man, what a mess. She sure laid waste to this place, didn't she." He noticed Tellervo Komainen then, cuffed and subdued, still mumbling incoherently. "Leslie told me who she really is and what she had in mind. What'll happen to her now?"

"She'll be returned home to Finland and placed back in the sanitarium from which she escaped," Roarke said. "Her surviving children will take care of her."

"Good," Laursen said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Uh…you might want to see to Leslie. That woman was trying to bash her head in for a little bit there, and from where I'm standing, she doesn't look too good, if you get my drift."

Roarke turned and picked his way across scattered bits of glass till he had reached Leslie; he pulled the sheet off the body, wrapped it around one hand and brushed away glass till he had cleared enough space to kneel in front of her and deliberately place himself in her line of sight. After a moment, he saw her focus on him and blink as if she were just awakening.

"Are you all right, child?" Roarke questioned softly.

"Did you see him, Mr. Roarke?" she murmured dreamily, a tiny smile forming on her face, which he only now noticed was wet with recent tears. "Teppo was here. I saw him."

Laursen overheard and approached hesitantly. "Is she talking about…him?" He gestured a touch nervously at the body on the table.

Roarke spared his guest barely a glance, leaning forward. "What did he tell you?"

"He told me it wasn't my fault that Lempo caught him in the birthplace," she said, her voice a thready whisper, her eyes sliding out of focus again. "That it must have been the way he died that drove his mother fully into madness. That he loved me." She closed her eyes then, and Roarke rose, reaching out and lifting her to her own feet before gathering her close.

"You were given a special gift," he told her quietly. "You were given the chance to say goodbye, to give yourself a measure of peace. Cherish that, my daughter, for it's extremely rare."

She lifted her head and stared at him for a moment. "He also told me to tell you that his will stipulated his wish to be buried here, on Fantasy Island," she added.

"Indeed?" said Roarke and smiled. "Then we shall certainly fulfill his final request."

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‡ ‡ ‡ -- August 20, 1990

The farewell song was an old one that Leslie recognized from the fall of her first year on the island, and its nostalgic familiarity made her smile. They bid Ace and Lisa Wilkerson goodbye, then turned to the car that bore Arthur Laursen.

He stepped out and paused in front of Roarke and Leslie, looking unsure of what to say. He seemed to be relieved when Roarke spoke first. "So, Mr. Laursen, what was your final impression about your fantasy?"

Laursen's expression grew thoughtful. "Well, it was about as far as you can get from what I was expecting," he admitted, "but maybe that's a good thing. One thing it wasn't was boring, I gotta tell you." He grinned sheepishly, and Roarke chuckled before Laursen turned to Leslie. "I don't know if I helped you any," he said. "I wasn't much of an Igor. I mean, I was kind of expecting the whole thing to be a sort of movie that I was playing a role in, and instead it wound up causing you pain, in all sorts of ways."

Leslie smiled. "Don't worry, Mr. Laursen. My head's fine, just a little sore in the back. I think my heart's going to be all right, too. And don't be so hard on yourself. Your fantasy helped both me and my husband, and I think it might even have helped his mother. I just want to thank you for trying to protect me, and for 'giving' your fantasy to set right a horrible wrong."

Laursen shrugged and grinned. "I'm glad I could help," he said. "Thank you for a very stimulating weekend, Mr. Roarke and Leslie." He shook their hands, then sauntered off towards the plane, whistling to himself.

"So," Roarke said, as they both watched the charter plane taxi into the lagoon, "do you think you are ready to face Teppo's siblings, since they are on their way here in order to take charge of their mother? And do you think they're going to believe you about Teppo's will?"

"They rightfully should," Leslie said. "It really is Teppo's last request. He told me so."

Roarke regarded her for a moment, then slipped an arm around her shoulders. "So he did." She put her arm around him in return, and together they ambled back to the car that would take them home.

THE END

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The references in Chapter 4 to the chateau and its former occupant are taken from the episode "The Chateau / White Lightning" (original airdate February 7, 1981), first story arc, with guest stars David Hedison and Pamela Franklin.