Chapter 18: The Faces of Fear
"My name is Victoria Winters. The emotion of fear can be a powerful and irrational master. To those held in its icy grip, all else -- including intellect and reason -- fall away into a black void, to be overshadowed by sheer terror. One young woman has discovered this truth to be all too real, and unable to handle it, her mind has shut down. Yet upon waking, her fear will still be there, unchanged and unrepentant, waiting to take control again."
SCENE 1
Victoria Winters looked down at the unconscious form of Maggie Evans. Roger and Sheriff Patterson had brought her up to Vicki's room after she fainted, and now she was lying on the bed. Oddly, though Maggie appeared to be sleeping, her face was tensed, as if the black oblivion she had gone to had failed to take away her fear.
Roger had gone downstairs to face his wife, but the sheriff was still here, looking out her window. Vicki came up behind him. "Sheriff Patterson, what's happening here?"
"I don't know, Miss Winters." He turned to her. "I just don't know."
Vicki was silent for a moment, then asked, "Was that Laura Collins?"
"Well, it's been ten years, but it certainly looked like her." He wiped his brow. "How it could be her is another question."
"Did you know Laura Collins before she and Roger moved to England?"
"Not very well," he rubbed his chin. "She and Roger were involved in a case I worked on when I was deputy, but I never dealt with her socially. Of course, she was Laura Murdoch back then. She and Roger didn't get married until just before they left for England."
Vicki wanted to know more, but an outburst from Maggie stopped her short. The two of them went to her as her eyes flew open and she struggled to sit up. "Where am I? What happened?" Maggie asked, her hand rubbing her forehead.
"You are in my bedroom," Vicki answered the first question. Not knowing how to answer the second, she ignored it.
Maggie tried to stand, but George stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Now take it easy, Maggie. You need to rest."
"No," she said sharply. "I don't want to rest." Maggie got to her feet. "I don't want to have that dream again."
George and Vicki exchanged a look. "What dream are you talking about, Maggie?" the sheriff asked.
"I dreamt that Laura Collins came back from the dead, that she was here and --"
Vicki put a hand comfortingly on Maggie's arm. "It wasn't a dream, Maggie. Laura is downstairs right now."
Maggie snapped her head to look at Vicki, fear showing in her eyes. "How is that possible? She's dead!" Her voice started rising into hysteria.
Sheriff Patterson tried to calm her down. "Elizabeth and Roger are downstairs with her right now, trying to get the answer to that question. I'm sure as soon as they know anything they'll come up and let us know."
SCENE 2
"I don't know anything about it," Laura Collins said, holding the letter from Briarcliffe. She was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room as Liz and Roger stood looking at her. Her manner was calm and cool, her movements easy and fluid, like those of a large cat.
"So you don't have any idea why they have you listed as being dead," Liz asked, a note of suspicion in her voice.
"Not at all," she answered easily. "Obviously, someone made a mistake. I mean, aside from the fact that I'm sitting here in front of you, I wasn't even at Briarcliffe when the fire occurred." She opened her handbag and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "See for yourself." Laura handed the papers to Liz.
Elizabeth leafed through them. "These are your release papers from the sanitarium?"
"That's right. As you can see, I was released from Briarcliffe the same day the fire took place. I left that morning, so I couldn't possibly have died in the fire. I wasn't even there."
Mrs. Stoddard handed the papers back to Laura, who put them back in her handbag as she continued. "In the panic of the emergency, perhaps they forgot I had left." She crossed her legs calmly. "Perfectly understandable. I'm only speculating, of course. This is the first I heard of the whole thing. Tomorrow I'll contact the proper authorities and get this all straightened out."
Liz paced across the floor. "After what happened, I'm surprised the sanitarium let you out so soon."
Roger hastened to intervene, trying to avoid a fight between his wife and his sister. "But, Liz, you must admit, Laura seems much more stable now than she did the last time we saw her."
Elizabeth shot Roger a troubled look. "Yes, this is true. I can't deny that." She turned back to Laura. "Still, I want to know what it is you want here. Why did you come back to Collinsport?"
"I want my freedom," Laura answered deliberately. "I want to be free of Roger and the entire Collins family for good." She turned to Roger. "I want a divorce."
The hurt Roger felt was barely able to register in his eyes before Elizabeth broke in. "And just how much is it going to cost the Collins family for your 'freedom?'"
Laura looked shocked at the suggestion. "Why, nothing at all. I don't want any money from Roger." At Liz's skeptical stare, she explained, "I already have a good job lined up as far away from Collinsport as possible. In Phoenix, Arizona. I have plans to start a whole life. I don't have any need for any of the Collins money. In fact, I don't want anything to remind me of my past." She paused. "Except for one thing."
Liz raised her eyebrow at this comment. She knew that Laura had wanted something. "And just what would that be?"
"I don't want anything that isn't mine to begin with. As I said, I want my freedom. The only other thing I want is custody of my own son." Laura spoke directly to Roger. "I want David."
