Laura

[SunlessNick]

"I've got to destroy that damned thing," he says. "I don't know what's wrong with it, but it's not going to do anybody any good."

"I'm sorry Daddy, I have to go out again," Maggie says. "Vix is missing and I need to help look for her. There's some food in the fridge." She hesitates, then adds, "That's a good idea. I think there's something up with Laura."

"Looks like I go in the hard way, with your permission, Mrs. Stoddard. I'll grab some tools from the garage. Oh, by the way, I found this, near the passage to David's room."

He holds out the part that was removed from Roger's car, and a wrench that could have been used to loosen it.

Maggie looks beseechingly at Mrs Stoddard when Joe makes his request. Her hand goes to her mouth when she sees the car part. She only just manages not to blurt out the idea that it could be David who sabotaged the car. Instead she thinks back to what Victoria had told her before. "Vix was looking for that. She wondered if it was Burke who messed with the car back then. But I never told him about the passage."

OOC:   Looking back, that last bit seems to be true, but I figure Maggie is assuming it rather than remembering for sure.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met yet," says Victoria, confused. "David's the only child I've taught so far. How do you know me? And how did you get in here? Did he lock you in here too?"

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met yet," says Victoria, confused. "David's the only child I've taught so far. How do you know me? And how did you get in here? Did he lock you in here too?"

The childish voice lets out a laugh.

"You are pleased to be merry. Very well, I can play the fool also."

The blurry figure makes a move which suggests a curtsy.

"I shall be the Queen of Spain, Sarah the First, and you shall no longer be governess, but my lady-in-waiting."

By this time, Joe has managed to make his way through the secret passage into the West Wing.

"Vicki? Vicki? I swear I hear somebody."

"Oh, dear," says the girl's voice. "I must leave. You must tell David that he has been very wicked, and that he shall no longer be my friend if he does not behave."

With that, the glowing figure of light fades away, leaving only darkness.

By this time, Joe finds the locked room.

"Hang on, Vicki. I've got some tools to remove the hinges. You'll be free in a minute."

He is as good as his word. Victoria is brought back to the drawing room.

When he learns what David has done, Roger sends him to his room without supper.

"I swear I don't know what to do with that boy," he confesses. "Perhaps he'll be better off with his mother after all, despite all her eccentric beliefs. Anyway, a little time alone will give him a chance to think about it."

After all the excitement is over, Maggie returns home to discover that her father has wrapped bandages around his hands. He is also working on a bottle of Scotch.

"Hurt myself when I tried to tear up that damn painting. Burnt my hands, like there was some chemical on it or something. Should heal up after a few days. Can't do any work until it does."

While changing the bandages, Maggie notes that her father's hands are covered with blisters. As long as they're kept clean, it shouldn't get any worse. He has turned the painting to the wall, so he doesn't have to look at it.

[SunlessNick]

Maggie gives Victoria a hug at seeing her back safe. If they manage a private moment before Maggie leaves, she says, "Joe found the wrench and stuff in the passages right outside David's room. What if he's the one who messed with the car? Be careful around him, Vix."


Back home she relates to Sam that Victoria is ok. She cooks a dinner that's easy to eat with injured hands, and makes sure he get to bed ok.

Then she takes the painting out back with a knife, and tries to cut the canvas apart.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you, Maggie," says Victoria, hugging her back. "I swear David seems like two different kids at times. There was also what looked like a little girl in old-fashioned clothes, but she was very blurry. She recognized me and knew me by name, and David too, though I've never seen her before. She said her name was Sarah."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Maggie gives Victoria a hug at seeing her back safe. If they manage a private moment before Maggie leaves, she says, "Joe found the wrench and stuff in the passages right outside David's room. What if he's the one who messed with the car? Be careful around him, Vix."


Back home she relates to Sam that Victoria is ok. She cooks a dinner that's easy to eat with injured hands, and makes sure he get to bed ok.

Then she takes the painting out back with a knife, and tries to cut the canvas apart.

As soon as the blade touches the canvas, the handle feels as if it is red hot. Maggie yelps with pain and drops the knife, which proves not to be warm at all. She has escaped serious injury, but her hand is going to be sore for a while.

Spoiler:

reduce Dex by 1 for a couple of days

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"Thank you, Maggie," says Victoria, hugging her back. "I swear David seems like two different kids at times. There was also what looked like a little girl in old-fashioned clothes, but she was very blurry. She recognized me and knew me by name, and David too, though I've never seen her before. She said her name was Sarah."

Some time later, idly flipping through a book relating the history of the Collins family, Victoria comes across a drawing that resembles the little girl, at least as far as she can tell from the vague image in the locked room. The caption reads Sarah Collins 1786-1796.

[SunlessNick]

Next plan, do Sam and Maggie have a shed or something they can hide the cursed thing away in?

When the deputy next stops by the diner, she asks what happened with Laura's death report (though she's understanding if he can't tell her).

[Mr. Handy]

Victoria reads on with fascination to find out more about Sarah Collins. Could the girl I saw have been a ghost? she thinks. But how would she know me?

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Next plan, do Sam and Maggie have a shed or something they can hide the cursed thing away in?

When the deputy next stops by the diner, she asks what happened with Laura's death report (though she's understanding if he can't tell her).

It is possible to hide the painting away in a storage shed, where it sits among half-empty cans of paint, rags, and so forth.

Trying to get on Maggie's good side, the deputy leans close to her over the counter.

"Don't let this get around, but the Arizona folks say that the body was positively identified as that of Laura Collins. Not that there was much to identify. Just ashes, mostly, and a few bits of bone. They had to go by dental records. Now I've got to go up to Collinwood and talk to whoever it is claiming to be Laura Collins. Might be some kind of crazy scam."

A few days go by. The woman claiming to be Laura Collins is cooperative with the Collinsport police, going so far as to agree to have her teeth examined by a dentist and compared with the records. They confirm her identity.

"I just don't get it," the deputy confesses over yet another cup of coffee and doughnut. "Phoenix must have goofed. Even if Laura Collins had a twin sister, like in some corny murder mystery, she wouldn't have the same dental records. And Roger Collins confirms it. 'Do you imagine,'" he goes on, doing a pretty good imitation of Roger's affected mid-Atlantic accent,"'that I do not recognize my own wife?' Made me feel like a real sap."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Victoria reads on with fascination to find out more about Sarah Collins. Could the girl I saw have been a ghost? she thinks. But how would she know me?

The book relates that the death of Sarah Collins at such a tender age was due to an unknown illness, followed closely by the mysterious disappearance of her governess, whose name is lost to history. Family legend has it that the governess escaped Collinsport before she could be accused of sickening the child through witchcraft, but the author of the text dismisses this as fable. Stricken with grief, her brother Barnabas Collins, already disowned by his family for marrying a servant girl, name also unrecorded -- possibly deliberately, given the author's reticence to connect the Collins name with those of lower station -- left Collinsport and sailed to England, never to be heard from again.

[SunlessNick]

"I just don't get it," the deputy confesses over yet another cup of coffee and doughnut. "Phoenix must have goofed. Even if Laura Collins had a twin sister, like in some corny murder mystery, she wouldn't have the same dental records. And Roger Collins confirms it. 'Do you imagine,'" he goes on, doing a pretty good imitation of Roger's affected mid-Atlantic accent,"'that I do not recognize my own wife?' Made me feel like a real sap."

"My fault for bringing it up, I guess," Maggie says. "Not much of an apology I know, but this is on me," she adds, gesturing to the deputy's lunch.

Later, she calls Victoria. "Vix, can me meet up? There are some things I need to tell you, but not over the phone."
Assuming Victoria agrees, she launches into her recent news, "You were right about Laura. I'm not supposed to know, let alone tell you, so don't spread it around, but her body back in Phoenix was mostly burned up - they had to tell who she was by her teeth. But the Laura here, hers match as well. They figure the Phoenix police just got it wrong somehow. And that painting Daddy made. There's something up with it too. He tried to destroy it and it burned him - I tried to cut it up, and it burned me too, right through the knife - here, look at my palm. So... you're right." She tails off, as if unsure of what if anything the two girls should do about this.

[Mr. Handy]

"I found it hard to believe myself," says Victoria, "but I'm more inclined to now that I've seen an actual ghost: a little girl named Sarah Collins who lived in the late 18th century. I looked her up in the Collins family history. Poor girl died of an illness at ten years old. The strange thing is that she seemed to recognize me as her governess, and she knew my name. The history mentions a governess she had, though not by name."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

The confidential talk between the two women is interrupted by a disturbing sight. Looking in the direction of the Rose Cottage, which lies at a moderate distance from the main house, there can seen a pillar of smoke rising. Somewhat closer, in the wooded land between the two structures, is the figure of a man, apparently trying to make his way through the tangled trees.

[SunlessNick]

"Is that a fire?" Maggie exclaims.

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, there's smoke," says Victoria, "and where there's smoke...Look, there's a man in the trees!" She carefully heads outside to take a closer look.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Peering more closely, it can be seen that the man is Burke Devlin. He stumbles into a tree, then collapses on the ground. A bit further into the trees, there is movement, but it is impossible to tell what it is from this distance. The smoke, which had been rising straight up, curves downward, nearly obscuring the Rose Cottage from sight. It seems to glow from within.

[SunlessNick]

"Burke!" Maggie yells. She take off running toward him.

[Mr. Handy]

Victoria runs with her, hoping she can help.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Barely conscious, Burke is able to raise his head slightly, cough several times, then whisper "Laura . . . David . . .inside . . ."

His clothing and face are covered with soot, and he smells strongly of smoke.