David sneaks into Vicki's room. He searches for, finds and begins to read the letter she got from the foundling home. Roger bursts in demanding to know what he is doing and what's behind his back, demanding he hand it over. Once in hand he discovers it belongs to Vicki. David runs from a lecture. Roger follows. The lecture continues in David's room. Roger scolds him on the finer points of respect, manners and stealing. David explains he wanted to read the letter because he fears they're trying to send him away. Roger having little patience tells him if he doesn't stop breaking into peoples rooms and reading their mail he may have no choice. He demands David promise he'll never do it again. The little shit asks, "What for? You wouldn't be believe me anyway." A ringing phone ends the lecture. Roger leaves, David seethes.
Liz takes the brief call from the insurance company. Vicki enters asking if she can speak of her concerns regarding David. She attempts to accuse David of the attempted murder against his father but the conversation ends when Roger walks in (holding the letter) asking if it were the Sheriff on the phone. Liz asks about the letter. He explains his ordeal with David, adding that David thinks he wants to send him to jail. This registers acutely with Vicki but she forgoes discussing David and instead jumps at the chance to continue the conversation about the letter. Again, Liz will have none of it. She unceremoniously dismisses Viki practically pushing her out of the room, directing her to continue on with David's lessons. Roger grins at Liz's show of power. But his grin quickly fades when Liz directs her power in his direction.
David is holding his Mechano Magazine as Vicki knocks and enters to resume his daily lessons. David mentions the letter but Vicki doesn't want to talk about it. He continues on anyway. Vicki steers the conversation to his Mechano Magazine mentioning how well it must serve him. She then bluntly asks why he was so afraid of the Sheriff and his obsession with going to jail. David does his classic move of making accusatory statements of victimization. She shoots down his theories and redirects him to his studies. He continues on, as always, incriminating himself even further.
Meanwhile, Liz and Roger discuss the letter and it's implications. Roger asks for the whole true story but Liz insists he follow her lead of deflection and deception (even with him). He wants to use the letter to further incriminate Burke. Liz won't have it and that's that. He'll come up with a story to Liz's specifications to answer and end Vicki's inquires once and for all. Roger continues to plead and badger her but to no avail. He even threatens her with not following her plan but she makes it crystal clear she'll show him the door if he doesn't. She states emphatically that the whole affair is private and will remain so. Roger's been handled quite nicely. We know there's a really big secret but Liz won't budge.
The studies continue. David gets one correct making Vicki happy and David uses it to segue into an apology for taking the letter and his bad behavior toward her. Then he uses the apology as a segue into learning what's in the letter which Vicki declines to elaborate on. As he continues anyway, Roger interrupts asking to borrow Vicki to talk about the letter. She agrees. David subtly panics leading him to ask if Mr. Devlin's been arrested yet. Roger hasn't a definitive answer for him though he states he's as eager as David to see it happen. They leave, David does the same not three steps behind them.
David, back in Vicki's room, finds and opens the letter. In the drawing room Roger tells Vicki his phony story of her hiring. He blames Burke for hiring the detective mentioned in the letter. He dodges every one of Vicki's concerns regarding the holes in his story. Refusing to name the woman he says recommended her pretty much shut's the whole thing down leaving Vicki frustrated. Roger is saved by the bell of the phone ringing. It's Carter, finally. Roger is quite annoyed that Burke has yet to be arrested and tells Vicki so. She suggests that perhaps it is because there is no reason to arrest him. Roger scoffs while readying to visit Carter. Vicki wants to continue their conversation but an utterly disgusted Roger tells her to destroy the letter and forget about it.
Vicki goes to retrieve the letter in her room only to find it missing. "David!", she exclaims, and goes to look for her letter in his room. Instead, she finds the bleeder valve hidden in his dresser drawer!
David's first attempt at looking for the letter gives us a chance to see the finer details of the mantel in Vicki's room. It's quite nice! The clock too is quite elaborate.
Poor Vicki. It appears she's got the smallest fish to fry. She can't get anywhere in her quest to find out who she is and if she's even on the right track. I love any references to Vicki's search and even though technically we're no closer to learning the truth I still find it quite exciting knowing for sure Liz is definitely hiding something big. Her discussion with Roger about it was pretty exciting (and fun!).
Vicki seems to be onto David regarding the accident except when a chance to discuss the letter is involved. But there is no denying it when she finds the valve.
Another decent episode.
