1176 - December 28, 1970

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: Early evening on the great estate of Collinwood

and everybody in the house waits for the news

from the village courthouse where Quentin Collins

is being tried for witchcraft.

They do not know that Quentin,

together with Desmond Collins, his attorney,

has suffered a severe and threatening setback.

And at Rose Cottage, Gerard Stiles,

the man responsible for it, plays his game,

knowing the news will come.

Flora, I realize the strain you're under

is interfering with your work.

That's quite obvious.

Oh, I worry so about Quentin.

If there was only something I could do.

Desmond is doing enough.

[sighs] We should all do more to help clear Quentin.

Oh, now, Flora is that aimed at me?

My dear Gerard, I did not mean you specifically.

I am glad because I am doing everything I possibly can.

Oh, that's the trouble with this whole thing.

We all get nervous and turn on each other.

I know you didn't mean to turn on me.

When is it all going to end?

This trial goes on and on!

And Barnabas.

Where could he have gone?

He's been missing for three days.

Trask seems to think that...

What could've happened to him?

I don't care what Trask thinks.

Flora, please.

Trask seems to think that Barnabas has left town

because he didn't want to testify for Quentin.

How dare he think a thing like that.

Gerard, you seem to take Barnabas'

disappearance very easily.

Now, Flora...

Yes, you do.

Barnabas left this house after dining with us

and hasn't been seen since.

[crying] Flora!

Oh, Leticia, how did the trial go?

[sobbing]

Well, what happened, what is it?

[gasps] Oh, Flora.

Tell me what's happened.

LETICIA: It's Desmond.

What about my son?

He's being arrested.

For what?

For... For witchcraft.

[eerie music]

Desmond arrested?

How could that be?

[crying] Oh, it's all my fault.

They took him after the trial.

Oh, I must go to him.

They won't let him see anyone for an hour or so.

I tried.

But why did they arrest him?

On what grounds?

If they only hadn't made me testify.

But, Leticia, what could they possibly make you tell?

What did you say?

They asked me about the head.

FLORA: The head?

What does that got to do with anything?

It is the head of Judah Zachary.

That head was in this house?

That is why Desmond had The Journal of Judah Zachary.

Judah Zachary, what are you talking about?

A warlock who lived in Bedford years ago.

He was tried for witchcraft and found guilty.

Then he was beheaded.

Just like Quentin's going to be and Desmond.

[sobbing]

I'm sorry.

But what are we going to do?

You're going to finish telling me about Judah Zachary.

The head was put on display in the town square

as a warning to Zachary's foes.

But it disappeared.

It disappeared.

Yes, I remember.

It's a legend, the head has certain powers

and it can possess a man.

It did.

It could, it possessed Desmond.

- What? - I saw it, Flora.

Desmond was fighting it but he was losing.

I stole the head from him.

I hid it and then it began to possess me.

The eyes would open.

They would stare at me and I would seem to hear

a voice in my mind telling me what to do.

I told the court that this afternoon.

Why didn't they arrest me instead of Desmond?

Where is the head now?

The head was destroyed in the tomb.

But Charles Dawson says that the head was not destroyed.

That Quentin brought it, that Desmond brought it to Quentin,

and now Quentin is being possessed by Judah.

I don't believe any of this.

There is a curse.

I remember reading about it in The Journal of Judah Zachary.

Before he was beheaded he vowed that he would serve revenge

against the three judges and all their families

that sentenced him to death.

Amadeus Collins was one of those judges.

I must go to Desmond.

[door closes]

[sighs]

Why didn't you tell me about the head?

I could have helped you.

Well, you need help now.

If you want to help someone help Quentin or Desmond.

If, Leticia?

If?

If I wish to help someone, this case can be easily solved.

All we have to do is find the head

and prove that it has been destroyed.

Quentin can know longer be possessed

with something that doesn't exist.

And Desmond [chuckles]?

Desmond is merely a victim and no court will ever,

ever, ever behead a victim.

So you told mother, Leticia?

I guess you had to.

I can just imagine that scene.

Well, she'll be here pretty soon dressed in black

and we'll play out a chapter of one of her novels.

I'm not being fair.

I wish to God I could make light of this.

Well, maybe it's not so bad, Desmond.

If we can prove that the head has been destroyed,

Gerard, well, he says that will end it all.

Oh, he does, does he?

Leticia, if Judah Zachary is possessing the body

of anyone in Collinsport, that person is Gerard Stiles.

Prove it, I can't.

But I know it, I just know it!

You really think that Gerard has the head now?

It's too perfect.

Judah Zachary vowed revenge after his death.

Vowed to k*ll the judges and all their families.

Well, maybe Amadeus Collins escaped but we haven't.

Just look at the Collinses now.

Daniel is dead, Barnabas disappeared,

Quentin on trial for witchcraft, me here.

Now just who does that leave, Leticia, who?

Gabriel.

And Tad.

Oh, he would never harm Tad.

Not the Gerard who brought me to Collinsport.

He wouldn't.

He is not the same Gerard who brought you to Collinsport.

Gerard Stiles is Judah Zachary and Judah Zachary

is now master of Collinsport.

And the sooner you realize it, the better.

I must go and talk with Gerard.

No, you are not.

Please, I don't want him to hurt you or to k*ll you.

And if you make him force your hand he will.

There's no one who can help us.

No one.

If only Barnabas were here.

Where is Barnabas?

Julia, I would give every power I possess right now

if I could just see where he is.

Are you really in love with him?

You still doubt me?

I don't know.

No, I suppose I don't, not anymore.

The only comfort I have is that I think

he understood at last that I love him.

Oh, Julia, we've got to find him.

He mustn't be dead [sobs].

Julia.

Oh, Leticia, yes, we know about Desmond.

You and I must go to the tomb of Judah Zachary.

Leticia!

Why would you go there?

Did you tell her about it?

No.

Well, it doesn't matter.

Everyone in the town knows about it now.

We must find out whether the head is still in that tomb,

because if it isn't, Desmond thinks he knows where it is.

[dramatic music]

Why didn't you tell me about Judah Zachary, why?

Oh, mother!

Oh, you sound as you did when you were a little boy

and I used to irritate you about your homework.

Well, we're going to find the best possible lawyer.

One who will simply overpower this Charles Dawson.

If only it were that easy.

What I don't understand is how Dawson found out

so much about that head and Judah Zachary.

It'd have to be from Gerard, of course.

Desmond, Gerard only knew this evening that

that head was in Rose Cottage.

Mother, do you believe everything he says?

Well, I have no reason not to.

Am I not reason enough?

Oh, let's not quarrel.

Mother, please, just listen to me logically.

Now, the journal was read in court this morning.

Dawson found the journal in Quentin's laboratory.

Now, mother, how did it get there?

Three weeks ago I found that journal in Gerard Stiles' room.

I took it, but before I could read it,

I had my mysterious att*ck.

In the excitement, the journal disappeared.

Now, there were only two people in that room.

You and Gerard.

Then you think Gerard took it and put it

in the laboratory for Dawson to find?

Yes, but I can't prove it.

I can't be so wrong about someone.

Mother, you are.

Face it.

He is Judah Zachary.

He must know where Barnabas is.

I've got to make him tell me.

But how?

Judah loved me once when I was Miranda.

Even though Miranda betrayed him,

some part of Judah must love me still.

Gerard?

Have you heard from Barnabas yet?

No, you know, you were at Rose Cottage with him

the last night he was here.

Didn't he say anything that might give us

some clue as to where he is?

Yes, well I was thinking over

the conversation we last had.

He didn't give any indication where he was.

Oh, my dear, you mustn't cry.

Oh, how can I help it?

Well, you and your husband were quite estranged

when you first came here.

Well, that doesn't mean we didn't love each other.

Were you ever in love, Gerard?

Deeply in love?

Yes.

Once.

Very long ago.

But you still remember her?

Oh, yes.

At night I would sometimes dream about her.

And if she were ever in trouble,

you would still try to save her, wouldn't you?

No.

No, I would not.

Never.

Well, if you still dream about her, you must love her.

I dream about her only because I hate her

for everything that she ever did to me.

No, she may not remember but I would certainly

never help her now.

[dramatic music]

The head is not there.

It is definitely not in that tomb.

Gerard has it.

Where is Gerard keeping it?

If we can find that out, if we can somehow get the court

to realize that Gerard is possessed by the head.

I wish I could be as sure that it is Gerard as you are.

Judah Zachary would never let that head

be far away from him.

How do you know?

I just know, Julia, that's all.

Would Gerard have it in his room?

He's just gone to Rose Cottage.

I should go there and look, shouldn't I?

Leticia.

I spoke so bravely just then.

I don't feel bravery about it at all.

Not about searching for that head.

I'm just as frightened as both of you are.

Julia, I've been thinking.

If Charles Dawson found that journal

in Quentin's laboratory, maybe we could find

something there that might help him.

Oh, what could we find that they didn't?

Well, we could at least make sure there's

nothing else they could come back and find.

All right, let's go to the laboratory.

Yes, then if they plant something there tomorrow

or the next day we will know about it at least.

[spooky music]

LETICIA: Oh, it's funny, it sure is.

A staircase with a door on top.

If you want my opinion,

Quentin Collins could be tried for being crazy.

Imagine building that here.

In this room.

Quentin was very serious about this staircase.

It was an experiment.

Eccentric, perhaps, but an experiment to transcend time.

Yes, if you walked up those stairs and opened that door

you might find yourself in another century.

It's true, I know it.

It's true.

These stairs lead from our time in to some other time.

I know it!

Don't, Leticia, don't!

Leticia.

Oh, oh, wow.

Now, what happened to you?

LETICIA: It was as if I heard someone calling to me.

Who?

Well, I don't know.

But we've got to get rid of these stairs.

Oh, Julia, if Charles Dawson ever brings these up in court.

No, now listen, Leticia.

You must never tell anyone,

anyone the effect that these stairs have on you.

Not even me, no one.

No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't.

Julia, would you mind very much staying here alone?

Well, it's something about these stairs.

Of course not, Leticia.

You go, I'll stay here and keep looking.

The head of Judah Zachary is not in Gerard's room.

Not anywhere.

I'm relieved to know it in a way.

Well, maybe it's not true that Gerard is possessed.

If only there was some real way of finding out.

Where is she going?

She's afraid.

These stairs.

I never knew when I came down them that

anything like this would happen.

When you came down them?

Yes, yes.

I came down them, that's the way I came here.

Barnabas and I had seen the stairs appear and disappear

many times near the playroom in Collinwood in .

But that night, that night,

that final night when the ghost of Gerard

had k*lled the two children.

The house was burning and he had almost captured me.

And I suddenly saw the stairs.

Barnabas and I were running down the upstairs hall.

I saw the stairs, I reached the stairs.

Barnabas wasn't able to.

I started to go up the stairs.

I didn't know where they would lead.

But when I came down them, I was in Collinwood in .

I don't know whether to be grateful for the stairs

or not or hate them, because they may have led

to the death of Barnabas.

[suspenseful music]

Reading your own fortune, my pet?

I was just trying to find out

what's going to happen to Desmond.

No, I am sure he will have a happy ending.

I'm quite sure.

LETICIA: Are you?

Yes, well don't your cards tell you that?

[chuckles]

I suppose I was too frightened to finish.

Sit down, Gerard, and let me tell your future?

You already have told it, Leticia.

And you said, of course,

that I would become extremely wealthy.

Well, that's come true, hasn't it?

Yes, it has.

Also that you said I would never truly love a woman.

Well, either I was wrong or you've changed, love.

Does that mean another woman?

Queen of Spades.

And what does that mean?

She will replace someone you loved and lost.

But you've already told me I will never

truly love another woman.

And the Ace of Clubs.

What does that mean?

She will marry you, hating you.

What do you mean?

LETICIA: I only tell you what the cards say, love.

I believe you're making this up.

Why should I do that?

I don't know but it's sheer nonsense

and I will believe only the previous reading.

[ominous music]

No, you should never take a chance like that, Leticia.

For your sake, Gerard must never suspect you.

Now, don't play games like that again.

I had to find out.

Are you convinced now?

The cards don't lie.

The first time I read Gerard's cards,

I saw his future as he would be as himself.

Tonight I read the fortune of another man.

I saw the future of Judah Zachary.

I know it, Gerard is being possessed by Judah.

There's only one way to end this.

If I could get out of this jail I would k*ll him myself.

No!

You still feel for him.

Gerard?

Oh, Desmond, you are so kind.

When I was possessed by Judah,

when I was doing what he was telling me to do,

you wouldn't have k*lled me.

You would've tried to help me, wouldn't you?

Yes, you know I would have.

Well, then we must try to do the same for Gerard.

There must be a way of saving Gerard from Judah.

DESMOND: How?

I don't know!

But I must.

I must.

Julia, we found nothing that helps Desmond.

Nothing at all.

But we may.

I'm still thinking about Barnabas.

Listen, I'm gonna go upstairs.

I think I should go into town and speak to Lamar Trask.

I still feel that perhaps he's behind this in some way.

I don't think Lamar Trask

would endanger himself in any way.

He wants everything at the trial to go

just the way he wants it.

He won't take any chances.

I'm still going to talk to him.

[suspenseful music]

[knocking]

Who is it?

Someone's coming.

Someone coming from where?

Someone's coming.

Who?

[eerie music]