Carolyn tells Julia about a piece of jade she saw next to Angelique's body but refuses to answer any other questions, getting more and more agitated.
It becomes obvious that she must be protecting someone, especially when she ends the conversation by simply running upstairs. Barnabas returns right after that, and Julia asks him, Do you think Carolyn loves her husband? I presume so, he replies. At any rate, I know she wouldn’t want anything to happen to Will. Julia has concluded that Carolyn must be protecting Will, but Barnabas is astonished at this suggestion. Julia tells him about Carolyn’s behavior, so he decides to use his powers to ascertain the truth. He summons Will from the basement (what he was doing there is anyone’s guess) and sends Julia to fetch Carolyn back downstairs. After fielding a number of subtle hints from Barnabas, Will finally asks, Do you think I killed Angelique? Then he supplies the answer: No, because I liked looking at her too much to kill her. Are you sure that’s the truth? Barnabas asks. How could I lie to you? Will asks. Barnabas looks away, ashamed, knowing that it’s true--and why. Carolyn comes down; she and Will exchange a long anguished look, but then Barnabas orders Will out of the house.
Carolyn pleads for Will, but Barn insists he has to ask her some questions. Barnabas doesn’t want to force Carolyn to tell him whom she suspects, but he ends up using his bat powers to make her look at him and tell him. Finally she breaks down in tears. It’s my mother, she sobs. For once Barnabas is completely taken aback. I don’t believe Elizabeth is capable of such a thing! he exclaims (plus he’s fond of her, as he is of her counterpart in our time). His manner changes completely: Very gently and with great sympathy, he guides Carolyn to a chair and invites her to tell him all about it. Carolyn offers the evidence of the hatpin (the top ornament is jade), which she now tells us came from Elizabeth’s collection. Why do you think your mother killed Angelique? Barnabas asks, and Carolyn finally realizes, You don’t believe she did. She tells Barnabas, Angelique always treated my mother like some kind of poor relation--whenever she wanted something done around the house, Angelique took great pleasure in making sure that it didn’t happen. Barnabas tries to reassure Carolyn. I don’t think your mother has a killing temperament, he observes. After all, she had lived in the house for years with Angelique without trying to kill her earlier. It also turns out that before the séance, Carolyn and Will had a huge fight about Angelique. He used to go to Collinwood just to get a chance to see her, Carolyn tells Barnabas. He had even stopped writing. It wasn’t his fault, she says sadly. Angelique just had a way of making any man who looked at her fall in love with her. That night, I went to my mother and told her about the fight and that I planned to leave Will. My mother became very upset. I don’t want to believe that my mother killed Angelique. I don’t want you to believe it either. She’s had such a sad life, Carolyn pleads. Please don’t go to the police with what I’ve told you, she begs him. If anyone is guilty, it’s me. I went to my mother, crying over my marriage. I’ll deny everything if questioned, she vows passionately. I can’t promise you anything, Barnabas says, but I’ll wait till I have more concrete evidence. Remember, the pin was from your mother’s collection.
Very nice scene with JB and JK, one of the few they have together: At Collinwood, Elizabeth plays a desultory game of solitaire while her son-in-law keeps her company. Also being very fond of her, Will asks her what’s troubling her. Being very fond of him, she confides, I don’t want to live at Collinwood at the moment. May I stay with you and Carolyn for a few days? That’s not possible, Will replies quickly and unhappily. Carolyn is very busy with Barnabas (and then some!). Elizabeth turns from him in terror. I’m afraid Quentin is in the house, she admits. You have nothing to worry about here, Will assures her. Haven’t I? she asks.
Barnabas and Julia confer about Carolyn’s revelations. Barnabas mentions that three of the people who were at the séance--Cyrus, Sabrina, and Bruno--are now dead (though he omits to mention that at least two of them didn’t die as a direct result of the séance). He wonders if there’s a connection, but Julia says there can’t be. She tells him about the Apollo Belvedere (she calls it a small clay doll!) that Maggie found in her drawer. Barnabas is sure Angelique planted it there, but Julia tells him that Maggie thinks Quentin is trying to frame her. Barnabas says, I believe [correctly, as we know] that when Quentin went to the cottage in a fury to confront Bruno, Angelique tightened Bruno’s ascot around the statue’s neck to strangle him, so that Bruno died in front of Quentin. How clever she is, he says of his enemy. Perhaps we can get to Angelique by trying to revive the life force just enough to weaken her. It will be especially easy to do because I plan to bring the girl to the basement at Loomis House. This is far from the first time that Julia has seen that particular light in his eyes, and after pointing out that the basement is probably the first place Angelique would look, she flatly refuses to help him in any way. It would be perfect, he insists. Julia thinks he should look for Quentin, but he taps his cane on the floor impatiently as he insists that the girl comes first. He reminds her that he’s already an experienced reanimator: After all he helped bring Adam to life; this should be easy by comparison. And he already has someone lined up to help him move the body, so he doesn’t need her help anyway. He calls to Will and puts on his cape, though he has some trouble unhooking the cane from the hatstand.
We get our first hint of the next plot twist when Barn takes Will to the mausoleum. Guessing correctly that the PT version also has a secret room, he opens the panel. To Will’s surprise, there is a secret room. But they’re both amazed to discover that: (1) someone has been living there, but (2) seems to have left recently and in a hurry. Besides a cot, a table and so forth, Will finds some milk that’s still fresh. The unknown occupant is an artist; they also find a drawing, signed by “Claude North,” of the very girl who is supplying the life force. Will has never heard of a Claude North. The upshot is that Barnabas will have to find another place to put her, so it’ll be the basement at Loomis House after all. This room, Barnabas ruminates, for over a century was my refuge in my own time. Strange that it should serve the same purpose for someone else--someone connected with her.
At Collinwood, Elizabeth is looking over her hatpins when Carolyn comes in. The sight of them brings tears to Carolyn’s eyes, but she hides her reaction as well as she can. Wearily Elizabeth tells Carolyn, I’m planning to sell my hatpin collection. I’m sorry I ever started collecting them. I don’t want them in the house any more because I can’t bear the sight of them. (She keeps them in the same box that in 1897 contained the hand of Count Petofi!) Carolyn tries to hide her anguish and says she wants to talk about the séance. This upsets Elizabeth even more, especially when Carolyn insists, Angelique’s death was murder, and you know who the murderer was. Elizabeth reminds Carolyn that she doesn’t want to talk about it and asks Carolyn to take the pins to Portland. Carolyn promises to do it--not tomorrow but the next day.
Barnabas and Will’s next stop is Stokes’s house, after many reassurances from Will that Stokes is sure to be at the Eagle, where they usually adjourn on Wednesday nights to knock back a few. (I suppose Will bailed out tonight.) Sure enough the house is deserted, and they make plans to take the body out through the back door. But once inside, Will feels that certain chill in the air that denotes a Presence; Barnabas senses nothing, maybe because he already has no body temperature to speak of. But as he moves to open the door to the secret room, they hear a voice intone, I won’t let you do it. It’s Hoffman! Will gasps. She repeats, I won’t let you do it.....
