STRANGE PARADISE- Episode 126

Episode 126: Slideshow

Cort: "After a night of raging storms morning has come to Desmond Hall. Quito has given his life to obtain the secret key to a room beyond this world. He lies buried in the garden. The women in the household return to their daily tasks grieving for the mute man servant who so often shielded them from harm. The men are seeking answers to questions raised by the appearance of the ancient Egyptian relic they call the Key.

Laslo walks down the staircase as Jean Paul walks out of the Drawing Room. "Laslo I want to speak to you." "I have some work to do at the office couldn't we talk when I return?" Laslo says as he turns away from Jean Paul. "I think we should talk right now." Jean Paul tells him as he steps in front of him. "I want the key." "The key?" "The key you took from Quito." "My dear fellow you're talking in riddles." "I know what I'm talking about." "Well perhaps you do but I don't. Excuse me I'm late for an appointment." Laslo says to Jean Paul as he tries to step around him. Again Jean Paul steps in front of him. "That key was not meant for you." "How many times must I tell you I have no key." "I'm sorry but I don't believe you." "Do you want to search me?" Laslo asks as he holds his arms out from his sides. "Quito told me he gave you that key before he died." Laslo looks up at Jean Paul. "When did he tell you that?" "He appeared to me and Raxl last night. We know you have that key." Laslo shakes his head. "Oh my dear Jean Paul a man who couldn't speak in life returns after death and tells you a ridiculous story. Come on were grown men and we don't believe in such nonsense." "I want the key!" Jean Paul says angrily. "If I had the key I would gladly give it to you!" Laslo shouts at him then walks around him. "If only to be rid of you." He grabs his coat. "Laslo you are forcing me to take dangerous means to get it from you!" Laslo turns and stares at Jean Paul. "You're collapsing under the strain of recent events." Laslo says as he puts on his coat and walks around Jean Paul. "Helena leaving you followed by Quito's death has understandably unsettled you." "Laslo don't try to put me off." "I advise rest. Why don't you change your cloths and go for a walk out by the cliffs." "Why don't you stop treating me as if I am an invalid?" Jean Paul shouts. "The only safeguard against being morbid is to be active. The sound of the river in your ears. The breeze against your pale cheeks will soon set you right and you'll forget all this nonsense." Laslo tells him as he turns to leave. Jean Paul looks away angrily. He glances back at the door as Laslo leaves. Turning he walks into the Drawing Room and angrily hits the back of a chair with his hand then looks away in anger.

Cort walks into the room. "Jean Paul have you seen Laslo?" "Yes he's just leaving." "I'll try to catch him. Thank you." Cort turns and walks from the room.

"Just a minute." Jean Paul calls out. Cort stops and walks back to Jean Paul. "I want to talk to Laslo." "And I want to talk to you." "What about?" "Why are you so suddenly in league with your stepfather?" "I'm subject to changing moods, unpredictable." "What do you know about the key?" "What Key?" "Don't pretend with me." "I have no time for guessing games." Cort tells Jean Paul.

"Cort I want your help." "Oh you want my help? After months of neglecting my feelings and then making fun of me. Now you come begging to me for my help."

"Listen, will you listen to me!" "Get your help from those that can help you. From Raxl and the dead Quito!" Cort says angrily. Then walks away. Jean Paul stands staring ahead angrily.

In Irene's cottage Emily sits on the couch staring ahead as Laslo walks in the door. "Well, well good morning. What are you doing sitting here all alone like an orphan?" Laslo asks as he unbuttons his coat. "I was thinking that's all." Emily says to him. "Pleasant thoughts I hope?" "Oh how far away from home I am. How life passes us by as the clock ticks." "Very poetic but I have more practical matters to discuss." He reaches into his pocket and takes out the Egyptian Key. "Do you know what this is?" He asks holding the key in front of Emily. Emily pulls back away from it." "Why are you afraid?" "I don't know." "Have you seen it before?" "No but I have seen a picture of it." "Where?" "In a book." "At Desmond Hall?" "Yes that's right." She says as she glances up. "Which book?"

She shakes her head. "I can't remember." Emily putting her hand to her head. "Think!" "I am thinking. Oh I read so many books about such things. Well there must be something about it in my notes in the Drawing Room." "I don't want the notes. I want the book." "But the notes list the books and the special material in them." "Ah thank you. At least that is a step in the right direction." Laslo says as he puts the key back into his pocket and walks towards the door.

Irene walks out from the back of the cottage. "Laslo I didn't know you were here."

"I had to ask Emily something." He says as he turns towards Irene. "Secrets dear Laslo? Between you two?" "I had to get some information and she has given it to me. And now I must leave." Laslo turns towards the door. "But you just got here. And we have important matters to discuss. Unless you no longer have time for our affairs." Emily starts to stand. "Don't go Emily." Irene tells her.

Emily sits back down. "Quarrels make me nervous." "Were we quarrelling? I never quarrel with Laslo. Do I?" Irene says as she looks at Laslo. "I have what I want. I will return later." Laslo opens the door and leaves. Irene walks around the couch and looks at Emily. "You seem somewhat out of sorts today Emily. Are you alright?"

Jean Paul stands in front of the mirror in his room holding the book The River Caves of Desmondton. "The key is me. It will set me free." He glances up at the mirror. "The key to what? Where? Where did it come from? And why did Quito bring it up? Did he bring it for me? Quito!" Jean Paul touches the mirror. "Oh Quito will you speak to me again? Come again, tell me."

Laslo is standing next to the desk in the Drawing Room looking through the drawers. He pulls out folder and notebooks and starts looking through them.

Jean Paul walks down the staircase and walks towards the Drawing Room. He stops in the doorway and watches Laslo. He walks into the drawing Room coming up behind Laslo. "I thought you said you were going to the office." "My appointment was cancelled." Laslo says as he looks through a folder. "What are you doing?" "Oh just going through some office records I keep here." "These are Miss Blair's notes." "She asked me to find something for her." Laslo says as he holds a couple of pieces of papers. "There I have it." He folds them and walks out of the Drawing Room. Jean Paul walks to the desk. He sits and starts looking through the folder.

Emily and Irene stand in front of the fireplace. Irene stares at Emily. "Don't look at me that way please." Emily says to Irene. "I wonder sometimes if you are really one of us." "Well I'm your friend as I hope you are mine." "There should be no secrets between friends." Irene says as she crosses her arms looking at Emily. "I have no secrets." "Then what was Laslo talking to you about?" "Well he just wanted some information in a book about the Desmond estate." "I see. And did you give him the information that he wanted?" "I told him where he could find it. That's all." Emily says as she glances at Irene. "There are times when I feel you are quite removed from us. I don't like it." "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be." Emily says as she steps away from Irene. "You know you are very important to our plans." Irene says as she steps towards Emily. "To mine and Laslo’s. I hope you understand that." "You both have been very kind to me and I'm very grateful." "I'm not talking about gratitude." Irene says as she grasps Emily's shoulders and turns her around so she faces her. "I'm talking about the service you committed yourself to perform for us." Emily looks away. "I'll do what ever you ask of course."

Carrying a candle Laslo entered Philip's secret room. He walks through the room. "You're gone aren't you Lord of the Serpent. You've been vanquished, driven away." Laslo reaches into his pocket and draws out the Egyptian Key. "And my key did it. As long as it is in my possession I'm safe. You can't reach me. The key set me free and will keep me free from you. Goodbye Serpent God."

Emily is standing just staring ahead. "Our work has just begun." Irene tells her. "We're rid Jean Paul of Helena Raleigh now we..."Emily's eyes close, she blinks and smiles.”Emily you're not listening to me." Irene approaches her and circles around her as Emily just stands and smiles. "You're not listening to me." "Oh yes I am. Do go on." "We must now begin our true mission. You and I with Laslo of course and Cort too if we can persuade him to join us." Emily turns away as someone knocks at the door. Irene walks to the door and opens it. "Ah Cort we were just speaking about you." Cort steps inside. Irene closes the door. "I didn't see you at the wedding ceremony the other day." Cort walks up to her. "I wasn't there." "You missed the event of the season. A wedding without a bride." "Well if I had known that no one could have kept me away." "And how are things at Desmond Hall?" Irene asks. "Well the bridegroom is suffering. The women grieving, Quito died." Emily glances at Cort. "Oh no." "Why do you say that?" Irene asks. "Well he was always very kind to me. He was kind to everyone."

"Well he's no more kind. Laslo found him in the foyer. He was dead. He was buried this morning." "Laslo found him?" Emily asks. "Yes he was the last one to see him of all of us." Emily looks away. "Poor Jean Paul." "Don't waste your sympathy on Jean Paul." Irene says to her. "It's funny isn't it that all women sympathize with Jean Paul. Did you ever notice that?" Cort says to Irene. "Don't speak about him that way. You're his cousin. You live in his house." Emily says to Cort. "Well you certainly have changed your tune since our last conversation." Cort says. "Well I've always been fond of Jean Paul you know that. I want him to be happy! I want him to find peace! Why must we always meddle in other people's lives?" Emily says as she rushes from the room. Cort glances at Irene.

Jean Paul walks down the staircase when he hears a pounding coming from the side of the staircase. He walks across the foyer next to the staircase. Laslo is kneeling next to the panel leading to the secret passage. "What are you doing?" Jean Paul asks. "Someone's been tampering with the wall here." "The walls are old but sturdy. They'll be here a long time after we are gone." Laslo stands. "Well we must be careful of the cracks. Mice and rats could come through. Oh the storm last night did some damage to the roof. I'll have a worker come over and look at it." Laslo says as he walks away. "Why this sudden interest in the house?" Laslo stops. "Well I've always been responsible for the maintenance of the house and the grounds, and the family business." He says looking at Jean Paul. "Yes but your interest has never been quite so evident before." "What are you getting at?" Laslo asks. "Quito died in this foyer didn't he?" "Yes." Jean Paul nods. "I think you are not telling me enough about the way that he died." "Now don't tell me he has appeared to you in another vision of life beyond death?" "Laslo you are not telling the truth about the way he died!" "All right I will tell it again for the last time." Laslo turns away from Jean Paul. "I heard a noise and I came through from the Drawing Room." Laslo points at the doorway of the Drawing Room. "He stumbled past me and died. He was lying there on the steps as he was when I called you to come." Laslo tells him as he points at the staircase. Jean Paul walks around Laslo. "He looked like he was on a long and perilous journey." "Perhaps he had been outside in the storm?" "Then why wasn't he wet?" "I don't know." "Raxl and I searched throughout the house. He was neither inside..." "You know far more about Quito than I do. His life was very remote from the rest of us as you well know." Laslo says to Jean Paul. "And Quito didn't give you anything?" "What could he have given me?" "The key. The Egyptian ornament that's shaped like a cross and rounded at the top." "I thought we settled that question this morning." "Laslo nothing will be settled until you tell the truth." "I have told the truth!" Laslo says angrily. "This key will do you no good. It was not meant for you. It will not help you in fact it may even destroy you." "In that case I'm very glad I do not have it." Laslo says then walks away.

Jean Paul watches him and sighs in exasperation.

Cort and Irene sit on the couch. Irene stands. "I'm sure you didn't come here to discuss Jean Paul and the wedding did you?" She asks as she walks across the room. Cort stands and looks at Irene. "No I didn't." "Then what is it you want from me?" "Well I'd like to talk to you about Laslo." "I'd prefer not to discuss your father with you." "He's not my father." "I'm sorry. Of course he isn't. But he always speaks about you with such fondness. I assumed he's become a father to you." "Don't make assumptions about Laslo and me." There is a knock at the door. Cort glances at it as it opens and Laslo walks in. "Cort what are you doing here?" Laslo asks. "I came to see Miss Blair. But she became upset and left the room." "I didn't know you and Miss Blair were such close friends." "There are a lot of things you don't know about me stepfather. And about my friends." Cort grabs his coat and leaves the cottage. "That young man is up to something." Irene tells Laslo. "Oh don't worry about Cort. He and I made a bargain." "Don't put much faith in any bargains he makes." "Oh he'll keep this one I assure you. But I came to see Emily again." "Why are you and Emily so much involved with each other all of a sudden?" Irene asks as she walks past Laslo. "It's between ourselves." Irene turns and looks at Laslo. "I won't call her until you tell me."

"Well then I'll call her myself." Laslo says as he looks past Irene. "Emily! Emily."

"Yes?" She answers from the other room. "Could you come out here for a minute please?" Irene glances at Laslo angrily. Emily steps into the room and Laslo walks up to her. "I went over the notes as you suggested. I did not find what I wanted." "Oh I'm sorry I use a personal code system to simplify the references." "No wonder they made no sense to me." "I could go with you and explain them if you would like." Laslo looks at her. "You want to go back to Desmond Hall?" Emily nods. "Yes I want to go back to work, I've been idle long enough. And besides I have an obligation to Philip Desmond to finish what I started." "But we have our own work to finish Emily." Irene says to her. Emily glances at Irene. "What work is that?" She says in puzzlement. Irene starts to light the candles at her altar when Laslo walks over to her. He stares at the altar then at Emily. Emily looks at the candles. "Now shall we start?" Irene says. "Tell me what you want me to do." Emily says. "I will make supplication to my God. And you will make yours to your God." "And who is my God?" Emily asks. "The Serpent God. Your Master." "You're trying to frighten me." Laslo looks at Emily as the candles blow out. "I knew it. She's betrayed us." Irene says, "What are you talking about!" Emily asks. She is getting upset. "Those that betray us can not live with our secrets in their hearts. Let's find a way to rid ourselves of her." Irene says to Laslo. Laslo shakes his head. "I don't think so." "What do you mean I betrayed you?" Emily asks. "Yes Irene Emily came here because she was overworked. She needed a rest.” Laslo says. "But I'm all better now."

"Yes she must go back to work. She has had her long rest." "Are you mad?" Irene says. Laslo walks towards Emily. "You go pack your bag Emily. I'll drive you back to Desmond Hall."

Cort enters Philip's secret room carrying a candle for light. He walks to the bookcase and sets the candle down. He starts looking through the books. "Which one is it?" He asks angrily as he pulls out another book. "There has to be one here that tells about the key." He says as he grabs another book. After putting it back he turns away from the bookcase. "There has to be." The candle starts to glide across the shelf and stops in front of an empty spot. Cort watches it. "It's gone. Who took it? Laslo!" he says angrily. Cort turns as writing appears on the wall THE KEY IS ME. IT IS NOT FOR HE. "It won't be for long. I swear it!" Cort walks from the room.

Irene angrily speaks to Laslo. "That girl is part of our coven. She can't be allowed to go back to Desmond Hall." Laslo shakes his head. "She will bring no harm to us." "You would take her back there knowing what she knows about us? You must be more careless than I thought Laslo." "She will be more valuable there than she would be here." "She will join her knowledge to Jean Paul's destiny and make evil for us." Irene says to Laslo. "She has lost the powers of evil forever."

"How?" Laslo reaches into his pocket and takes out the key. "Through this."

"What is it?" "Only Emily can answer that question for us." "Where did you get it?" "Never mind where I got it. I have it and I'm going to keep it." "It may be evil." Irene says to him. "It has destroyed the Serpent God. When the Serpent was vanquished Emily Blair's powers vanished with him." "Are you sure?" "You saw the candles blow out." "That may be a trick." "Leave it to me. I'll take her to Desmond Hall. She will be the one among us free from anger. Free from revenge and pure in spirit." Laslo says as he walks away from Irene as he looks at the key. "She's hardly pure being one of our coven." "The key destroyed the Serpent and the evil he passed on to her. She is no longer a servant of the Serpent God. She is what she was before." "Then she is no use to us." Irene says to him. "Her knowledge is my only assurance of keeping the key that now protects me."

Jean Paul sits at the desk using Emily's notes as he looks at the book of the River Caves of Desmondton. There is a knock at the door. He collects the notes and closes the book hiding it under the desk. "Yes who is it?" He asks as he stands. Laslo opens the Drawing Room door and steps inside. "What do you want?" "I brought you someone who wants to speak to you." Emily follows Laslo into the room. "Jean Paul how lovely to see you again." Jean Paul turns and walks away from her. Stopping in front of the fireplace he looks back at her.

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Summaries written by Debby Graham . The slide presentation is the work of Ron Janick.

~Ron/Bella~
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