Episode 95: Armchair Detectives

Friday, November 4, 1966

My name is Victoria Winters. For a few short days, I have left the nameless terrors of Collinwood behind me. Now I am about to return to them—without accomplishing the purpose of my mission, without discovering the secret of my identity.

Frank assures Vicki he’ll find out about B. Hanscomb if he has to go through miles of records. Vicki tells him she won’t regret coming to Bangor even if the search is in vain. He would like to take that as a compliment, but she says she needed to get away from Collinwood.

She tells him about seeing the ghost, and about David locking her up.

And she knows she wasn’t dreaming. 

It’s easy to be logical when you’re far away from there, but it’s different there.

Frank suggests she could find another job.

She feels that she belongs at Collinwood, that she might find her answers there.

Frank feels lucky to have met her: “a beautiful girl searching for her identity, a mysterious old house, complete with ghosts in the attic. What armchair detective could ask for anything more?”

Vicki wonders if he’s making fun of her. He says he isn’t.

Burke comes in and tells Vicki when they’re leaving, then goes off to his table with Blair.

Frank says he was hoping to give Vicki a ride home. He questions whether Vicki and Burke are an item and whether she has a boyfriend (no on both counts). 

He tells her he’d like to see her again, and she says yes.

Burke tells Blair he wants more action on the Logansport cannery. They are dragging their feet on accepting Burke’s bid. 

He tells Blair to raise his bid ten percent. Blair says the cannery isn’t worth that much. Burke says it is to him if it means putting the Collins family out of business.

Vicki arrives and Burke leaves for a minute. Blair is surprised that Vicki works at Collinwood.

Vicki notices that his pen is a duplicate to the one she found on the beach.

Blair tells her there are only six of these and four are in South America. Maybe she found Burke’s pen. Vicki asks to look at the pen and tells Blair that it’s nothing like the one she found after all.

Burke comes in and borrows Blair’s pen to sign a paper, as his is missing.

Blair leaves and Vicki says she has to make a phone call. First she tries Frank, but he doesn’t answer. Then she calls Collinwood.

 Roger answers and she asks him to come to get her. 

She’s afraid to go with Burke. She tells Roger about the pen.

He tells her to make an excuse to Burke, and he’ll come. (Has she been there more than one day? Wasn’t she going to stay for a while?)

Vicki tells Burke that she’s decided to stay another night in Bangor.

Roger leaves to pick Vicki up.

 

       Cast, In Order of Appearance

Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Moltke

Frank Garner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Conard Fowkes

Burke Devlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Mitchell Ryan

James Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  John Baragrey

Roger Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Louis Edmonds

Fashion by Ohrbach’s

Directed by John Sedwick

Written by Ron Sproat

Episode 89: Loyalty

Thursday, October 27, 1966

My name is Victoria Winters. For more than one hundred and thirty years, the foreboding mansion of Collinwood has stood on the top of Widow’s Hill like a giant headstone marking the watery graves of fishermen who have perished in the sea below. It is a monument to one man—Jeremiah Collins—and his dreams. But when men dream, spoilers always seem to lurk nearby, ready to destroy their dreams, turning them into nightmares—even in a small, family town like Collinsport.

Burke asks James Blair whether the properties he’s buying are worth the price.

“If you’re asking me are the prices fair, I can answer in one word: yes. On the other hand, if you’re asking is it worth it, only you can answer that question.”

“It’s worth it.”

“Well, then, you’ll be happy to know that your bid is in on the Logansport Fishing Industries.”

“Good. Has anyone else made a bid?”

“Not so far. Tell me, are you dead set on going ahead with this deal?”

“If it kills me.”

Roger tells Liz that Vicki is a dangerous young lady to have in this house. She has delusions and an overactive imagination.

Liz isn’t so sure.

Roger says Vicki threatens David’s safety. She doesn’t like him, and Roger thinks he’s afraid of her sometimes.

Liz scoffs at this. It seems to her it would be the other way around.

Liz receives a call from her lawyer who says that Burke just made a bid for the Logansport Fishing Fleet and Cannery. 

Liz says she’ll top his bid.

Roger says Burke will just raise his bid. She can’t win. 

Burke has endless resources. What does Liz have?

Liz says there was a time she depended on Roger; now, she’s not so sure.

James tells Burke that Liz will put up a mean fight. She’s quite a lady.

Burke says she has nothing to fight with.

Tony says she has the men who work for her. They’re loyal.

Burke says loyalty is for sale. In fact, he’s planned a little meeting.

Burke’s guests arrive—some of the men who work for the cannery.

Burke announces he’s buying the Logansport operation and he needs men.

Amos says that he’ll leave the building of new enterprises to younger men. The Collins family has always treated him right. The men get up to leave, but Burke asks them to stay and hear him out. 

Blair tells them they would have profit sharing. (Come on, Liz, you don’t have profit sharing?)

Liz tells Roger they won’t be alone. “We have people Burke could never have, people he could never buy,” she tells Roger.

“Forget loyalty,” Burke says. “That’s not the issue.” If they don’t take his offer now, they’ll find it very hard to find jobs when the Collins cannery closes.

Roger suggests that Burke will try to steal their men.

Amos arrives to confirm this. He tells them about Burke’s meeting.

After Amos leaves, Roger tells Liz that when money and loyalty are matched in the same ring, there’s always a quick decision.

Blair tells Burke that Amos probably went straight over and told the Collinses all about it. Burke says he hopes so.

He thinks he got at least one of the guys. When the rest see how well he’s doing, they’ll fall in line.

Blair says he’ll go back to Bangor. Burke warns him against any slipups.

Blair says the only slipup could be Amos Fitch. Blair doesn’t think his loyalty can be bought at any price. Burke gives Blair a thousand dollar payment, saying he knows exactly how expensive loyalty is.

After Blair leaves, Burke receives a call from Liz, who tells him she’ll fight him if it takes every penny she has. (That might not be the best thing to say.)

When she hangs up, Roger says they’re committed to a fight for survival.

Liz says, “That’s the way it is, Roger. It’s Burke Devlin—or it’s us.”

         Cast, In Order of Appearance

Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Moltke

Burke Devlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mitchell Ryan

James Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Baragrey

Roger Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Edmonds

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Bennett

Amos Fitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  George Mathews

Fashion by Ohrbach’s

Directed by Lela Swift

Written by Francis Swann