Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Episode 57: A Fatal Disease



Tuesday, September 13, 1966

My name is Victoria Winters. The musty corridors of Collinwood are behind me at the moment. Ahead of me are the streets of Collinsport itself and a journey that might take me into the dead world of the past. A journey I hope will start in a small restaurant, on the main street of this very small town.

Burke comes down to the restaurant and tells Maggie he’s been busy with correspondence. Better than stewing about a missing man. It was Bill Malloy who gave him his start, told him not to be afraid to climb to the top of the mast. When he gets back, Burke is going to buy him the best meal he’s ever had in his life.
Maggie tells Burke the coast guard pulled Bill’s body out of the water about an hour ago. He’s dead.

Burke calls the sheriff’s office from the pay phone. 
The sheriff is away and the guy who is there doesn’t know anything or has been told not to say anything. Burke half expected this, but can’t believe it now that it’s happened. Bill was one of the few honest people Burke met in his life. That must be why he’s dead.
“You talk about honesty as if it were a disease.”
Burke says it can be sometimes. Maggie thinks he sounds like he things Bill was murdered. (Does it occur to Burke that his desire for justice was the catalyst for this?)
Maggie says her father took it pretty bad about Bill. They became good friends while Burke was away.
If Bill didn’t drown, what does Burke think did happen to him?
He had a fatal disease: honesty.
Vicki comes to the restaurant for lunch. They discuss Bill. Burke wants to know how Roger took the news. Vicki says he was very upset. He even closed the plant for the rest of the day.
Burke asks if he plans for an elegant marble memorial too. To the death of honesty.

Burke leaves and Maggie gets a call from the sheriff looking for Burke.
Vicki wants to know why Burke is acting like he thinks Roger isn’t sorry that Bill drowned.
Maggie says she’s been scared of Collinwood since she was a kid. Look at what happened to Bill Malloy. He worked for the Collins family too.
Vicki says she isn’t going to leave until she finds out there aren’t any answers to find about her past. She thinks maybe Maggie’s father can help her.

Burke arrives at the sheriff’s office, wanting to know the cause of Bill’s death. George says he doesn’t know yet. They’re doing the autopsy now.
Burke says he has a lot of questions. The sheriff says not to try doing his job for him.
He gets a call about the autopsy report and tells Burke to sit down.
He questions Burke about his movements on the night Bill disappeared. Burke wants to know if the sheriff knows about the meeting Bill called.
The sheriff wants to know why Bill would call a meeting to get Roger in trouble when he works for the Collins family. Burke wants to know if he talked to Sam yet.
Not yet.

Vicki goes into her spiel about the orphanage and the money and the mysterious job offer. Maggie doesn’t see how her father could know anything about any of that, but she invites Vicki to dinner to check it out anyway. Vicki says if she hadn’t been invited, she would have invited herself.

Burke tells George about his movements on the night before.
Why—was he murdered?
The autopsy report says he was drowned, but isn’t very helpful.
There are two people in town who didn’t want Bill to show up at that meeting—Roger and Sam.
Assuming Burke is telling the truth, the sheriff notes.

Burke returns to the restaurant in time to get turned down for coffee and then for dinner. She’s having dinner with Maggie and Sam, but maybe some other time.
Burke gets thoughtful. He tells Maggie that Vicki is a nice girl, but she’s always walking into the lion’s den.
 
        Cast, In Order of Appearance


Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Moltke
Burke Devlin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mitchell Ryan
Maggie Evans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathryn Leigh Scott
Sheriff George Patterson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dana Elcar


Fashion by Ohrbach’s
Directed by Lela Swift
Story created and written by Art Wallace

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