Episode 1429

Aired: Thursday December 16, 1971

Christopher Pennock's voiceover: "When Harrison Collins arrived in the strange and dangerous world of parallel time in the year 1897, he had no idea that the world he had landed was one of murder and treachery. While one supernatural killer has her designs on taking over the great estate, another has only begun to learn the true nature of his crimes....crimes that he himself has been obsessed with solving...."

Gladstone is looking over Stokes' body (played today by that handy "I'll work for free and save Dan Curtis some big bucks" stand in mannequin) in the woods, but seems far away. Harrison is there as well, asking if there is any sign of "foul play." Gladstone doesn't answer and Harrison asks "Sheriff? Is there something wrong?" Gladstone snaps out of it and says "It looks like his neck was broken when he fell. I don't see any other clues around here. Why do you think foul play may have been involved" Harrison says "There's been a great deal of infighting over the will at Collinwood. I have my own suspicions." Gladstone says "I can't go on suspicions alone...I'll need more evidence than that if you want to prove your Mr. Trask responsible. Besides, he seems to have an air-tight alibi." He looks around the area and then sees another footprint. We hear him think "Another one...the missing toe and the flattened heel... was I here as well? It's impossible... I know exactly where I was when this death took place...unless I had been here earlier and forgot...." His thoughts are broken by Harrison asking "Sheriff? Did you find something?" Gladstone turns to Harrison and says "I'm sorry... I was thinking of another case I'm working on. It's similar to this one." Harrison says "Do you mean the black masked killer?" Gladstone says yes, and Harrison asks him if he's any closer to catching him. Gladstone answers "I may be too close," and Harrison wonders what he means.

After the titles, Harrison has told Quentin about Gladstone's conclusions about Stokes. "Where's Valery?" he asks. Quentin says she's locked herself in "a room in the west wing. She won't stop crying." Harrison remarks on how losing her father and finding out about her husband "must be too much to bear." Quentin says that he'll miss his "eccentric old Uncle. And I hope the doctors can find a way to reach Stanford. Such a brilliant man... it would be tragedy if he lived out the rest of his life as a mute stroke victim." Harrison asks "You don't think Trask had anything to do with it? To keep Valery here?" Quentin pours himself a drink and says "I thought the same thing, but it's impossible. Trask was here in this house the entire time Roderick and Stanford went off into the woods. Though I wonder if this has anything to do with my Uncle's strange theory about that succubus creature...." Harrison says "If it did, wouldn't your Uncle have been killed by aging instead of from a broken neck?" Quentin nods and says "Yes...unless one wanted to avoid suspicion." Harrison agrees, but Quentin adds "I suppose it's grasping at straws to look for foul play in this, but with all the strange things happening around here, I can't chalk it up to mere coincidence." Harrison says "If your uncle was right about a succubus being among us, it may be that the demon is clever enough to cover her tracks. If he knew the most about how to destroy such a creature, it would make sense that he'd be her victim." Quentin says he can't believe Lucy is "some sort of monster." Harrison says "Not Lucy. But someone else." Quentin thinks this over as we dissolve to Gladstone tracking the footprint he saw in the woods. "More of them... off in that direction..." we hear him thinking. "I can't account for my whereabouts last night... when I looked around my room, I found some dirt from these woods I can't explain.... have I become some sort of a sleepwalker?" He sees the footsteps suddenly stop near a pile of branches. "They end..." he says aloud. "How can that be? How can someone simply vanish?" He looks around in vain.

Rachel and Lucy are going over some lessons with Jamison when Quentin enters. He asks to speak to Rachel alone. Jamison asks Quentin if he will play some chess with him later, since "I've learned some new moves." Quentin smiles and says "Maybe later. I have a better surprise for you though, Jamison." Jamison asks what, and Quentin says "Well, let me discuss it with your mother first, and then I'll tell you." Jamison demands to know what it is, and Quentin says "Well, then it wouldn't be a surprise!" He leads Rachel from the room as Lucy wonders. In the hallway, Quentin motions for Rachel to be quiet as he leads her into another room. "Well, this is a rather obvious way to be alone with me," Rachel says. Quentin says "It's not that kind of meeting. I wanted to ask you if you've thought over my idea to take Jamison away from here for a while." Rachel says "And I still want to know why you want this." Quentin says "Because I believe his life may be in danger." Rachel is shocked, and says "Who would want to harm him?" Quentin says "There's another will that my grandmother left behind. One that will supersede the one giving control of the estate to Valery." Rachel snaps "You can't possibly believe that Valery would wish to harm Jamison!" Quentin stops her from leaving, and says "Not Valery, but her husband! Trask has already tricked Valery into signing away control of the estate to him. He's determined to take over the Collins fortunes, and he won't let anything stand in his way! I think Valery is in danger too, but...." Rachel says "This other will... you've seen it?" Quentin nods. "Jamison gets everything once he reaches adulthood. The rest of us only get to live here as long as we want. But if anything happens to that boy, the property could be up for grabs, and Mr. Trask, for all of his deficiencies as a human being, is a very good lawyer! He may find some way of making that other will stick!" Rachel looks concerned. We cut to outside the room, where Kitty stands at the door, listening to every word....

Lucy is still working with Jamison when Kitty enters the room. She asks Jamison what he is studying, and he says "math." Kitty spins a globe on the desk and tells Jamison about how much more he could learn about things if he traveled the world. "Like my Uncle Quentin?" he says. Kitty smiles and says yes. She says that "for example, I've seen many great ancient buildings in Egypt and in what used to be Babylonia... that's where you would see what kinds of great things math can do, for engineers and architects." Kitty apologizes for disturbing Lucy's lesson with "my silliness," but Lucy says "it's all right, maybe it's time we took a break anyway, Jamison." Kitty asks Lucy if she has any books on ancient history, and she says she does, back in her room. Kitty asks Jamison if he'd like to look at them, and he says "Will you show me the things you and Quentin saw when you went to those places?" Kitty says yes, and asks Lucy where she can find the books. Lucy says "Oh no, Miss Soames, I'll get them. I'll be right back." Lucy leaves, and Kitty closes the door behind her, turning and smiling at Jamison, who she is now alone with. He smiles back at her innocently. Outside, Quentin and Rachel pass Lucy and ask her where she's going. Lucy explains that she's getting some books Kitty wanted to show Jamison, and Quentin and Rachel head in Jamison's direction. Rachel enters the room where Kitty and Jamison are sitting together. Rachel asks Jamison if he'd like to go on a trip with her. Jamison says "A trip?" Rachel says "Yes. Your uncle and I thought it would be good for you to take a trip with me...to Boston. For a few days. I can show you many interesting sights there." Jamison looks at Kitty for a moment and then says "No, I'd rather stay here." Quentin says "Jamison, you've always told me how much you've wanted to go to Boston. Look, I'll even join you there after a couple of days. You'll have a good time." Jamison looks at Kitty again, and then suddenly jumps up and yells "No! No! I won't go! I can't leave! Do you hear me? I can't leave now! I can't!" He runs out of the room, leaving Rachel and Quentin aghast. Kitty says "Why is he so upset?" and tries to look innocent.

Lucy is putting some books away in Jamison's room when Beth enters. Beth asks Lucy why she seems upset, and Lucy tells Beth about Quentin and Rachel's plans to take Jamison away. Beth asks if Quentin and Rachel are planning on "going away together," and Lucy says that Quentin seems "worried" about Jamison, and then says "It may be all a waste of time anyway. Jamison is refusing to leave." Beth asks why, and Lucy says she's not sure, only that "I left him alone with Kitty Soames. Maybe the boy has a crush on her." Beth remarks on how "strange" Kitty seems. "Not like the Kitty I remember before she went away," Beth adds. Lucy asks "How?" and Beth remarks on how Kitty would not let Beth clean her room or go near her jewelry box. Lucy laughs and says "You don't think she thought you'd steal from her?" Beth says "No, it wasn't like that. It was like she was protecting something, or guarding it. I don't know, I've never seen her act like that before. All I ever saw in that jewelry box anyway were little medallions and such. She doesn't keep her expensive pieces in there, and...." Lucy cuts her off. "Medallions? What sort of medallions?" Beth says she's not sure, they "looked like letters or symbols." Lucy thinks a moment and says "I think I may have seen one of those." She turns to Beth and says "I want you to keep a close eye on Kitty Soames for me." Beth asks "Why? What are you thinking?" Lucy says "Maybe nothing, but maybe something very important. And if you're watching her, she may not notice you as much as she'd notice me." Beth asks "What will you do?" Lucy says "I think I'll keep an even closer eye on Jamison." Beth thinks this over. Meanwhile, Gladstone is still searching around the area where the footprints end when he sees a rope sticking out from the branches. "What is this?" he says, taking it into his hands. As he pulls on it, the branches clear, and he finds a trapdoor leading down below, into the small hill he stands on. He starts down a rickety stairway. In the shadows, he sees a burned out torch on the wall. He takes out a match and lights it, using it to light the rest of his way as he continues down. He finds himself in an underground cave. There are unlit torches sticking up our of the ground extending down along the walls. He lights them as he goes, and then stops and gasps at what he sees. Along the walls, arranged in pairs, are the skeletal remains of hands. They lead towards a table with a book sitting on it, along with a feathered pen sitting in an inkwell. Hanging on a wall in back of the table is a black cape, mask, and the same scimitar we saw. In disbelief, Gladstone walks towards the table, and then sees the last pair of hands are fresh and bloody. "Oh my God..." we hear him think. "This is the lair of the killer....and my footprints lead here...." He looks at the old battered book, and then opens it. As he turns the pages, he grows more and more fascinated. "It's a catalogue....a listing of all the victims of this killer....I recognize the names from my research... the killer knew the names of all his victims...." He keeps turning pages backwards and then we hear him think "What's this...1792? 1787?" he keeps flipping and then says aloud "These records go back to the 1600s... how can anyone live that long?" He then flips forward towards the end of the book and then gasps in horror. "1897..." he says aloud. "This book lists the victims yet to come!"