Roger Collins drives to a small house. He goes to the door and knocks. Getting no answer, he starts to bang on the door, but there's still no reply. He gets back into his car and drives off. Vicky is in her room writing a letter. There's a knock at the door. She answers it. It's Elizabeth Stoddard's daughter Carolyn. She comes in and introduces herself and asks, "I hope I'm not bothering you." Vickie replies that she isn't, that she's only writing a letter to a friend. She opens a drawer and puts the letter in it. Carolyn tells her about the place and asks her, "Any questions?" Vicky replies, "Yes. One. Who's Burke Devlin?" Carolyn replies,"Burke Devlin? I don't know. Never heard the name." Vicky tells her, "Well, your uncle Roger has. When he heard the name, he reacted rather strangely." Carolyn muses, "Yes my uncle Roger. What a charming man! He's the kind of man a woman really wants. Not like the man my mother's trying to fix me up with. Joe Haskell! He's just a fisherman! Can you imagine?..." Joe Haskell returns to the Blue Whale bar. Burke Devlin tells him, "I have a few questions to ask you about Carolyn Stoddard"
Roger Collins goes to the diner at the Collinsport Inn. Maggie Evans, the waitress, tells him, "It's only 5 minutes till closing time." Roger tells her, "I need to see your father. It's important." She tells him she doesn't know where he is. He remarks, "I hear Burke Devlin is back." She replies, "Yep. I understand he's hit it big. He took three rooms upstairs and has been handing out big tips. I remember how he used to pose for my father for quarters. Funny, my father used to be quite close to him, but he never mentioned him once while he was gone."
At Collinwood, Vicky and Carolyn walk down into the drawing room. Carolyn tells Vicky, "I don't know why Roger reacted like that when he heard the name 'Devlin'. He must have had a reason." Vicky points to a picture on the wall and asks who it is. Carolyn tells her, "That's Isaac Collins. He's the one who started the Collins Dynasty back in the 17th century." While they are talking, the door starts to open. Vicky sees the door open and tells Carolyn, "You know, I'm sure I closed that door." Carolyn tells her it must be the wind.
At the Blue Whale, Burke Devlin tells Joe Haskell that he's willing to pay him $2375, that he knows he wants to buy his own boat and that that's the price of the down payment. Joe asks, "And what do you get?" Devlin replies, "Information."
A man named Bill Malloy goes to the diner and tells Roger, "I saw your car outside. I've just heard that Burke Devlin is back in town!" Roger nonchantly answers, "So? 10 years is a long time."
Malloy tells him he's surprised he's taking it so calmly. Roger replies, "I have more things to worry about than the movements of an ex-convict" Malloy remarks, "You must be a bigger man than I've thought. Or a bigger fool..."
At the Blue Whale, Burke Devlin is sitting in the phone booth, talking to Wilbur Strake. He tells him that he's done a good job in his file on the Collins family and that he's going to give him a bonus. Devlin returns to his table and tells Haskell, "You're at Collinwood a lot. You must see things, hear things. All I want to know is what you see and hear." Haskell tells him he's not sure, that he'll have to think about it.
Devlin asks him, "You ever hear of a place called Montevideo? It was in a filthy bar there that I started to hit it big. A stranger at a table offered me a proposition, just like I'm
offering you one now. I didn't think, I just took it. That's what you should do." Bill Malloy shows up. He tells Haskell to leave. Haskell does. Malloy asks, "What did you want with the boy?" Devlin replies, "Oh, nothing. We were just having a friendly little chat." Malloy says, "Please, Devlin. That family's had nothing but trouble. Leave them alone." Devlin growls, "The way they left me alone?"
At Collinwood, Carolyn, having shown Vickie part of the house, tells her, "That's enough for now. We'll continue the tour some other time." They go back to Vickie's room. Vickie notices that the letter which she had put into the desk drawer is now lying on the bed and asks, "What's that doing there? I'm sure I put it in the desk drawer..."
written by Tony Lew on the alt.tv.dark_shadows newsgroup in the late 1990’s
Written by drosso46561 on Mar 2, 2022