Subj: The Letter, Part 12
Date: 8/3/01 12:01:15 AM Central Daylight Time
From: R J Jamison

Roger looked at the telegram from Barnabas. Around him were seated the family all waiting impatiently for him to read. “Stokes and Hallie fine. STOP. Friend of Stokes ill. Stop. In remote Village not near phone. STOP. Will send more information soon. Barnabas.”

“Hallie is all right then.” Maggie smiled and blithely nodded to David. David did not acknowledge the gesture but merely continued to push his eggs about the plate.

“Don’t they have doctors there? It seems peculiar that Eliot would have Julia come all the way from here.” Elizabeth observed.

“Where are they anyway?” Carolyn asked.

“They didn’t say. . .” Roger looked at the paper and the envelope.

“Doesn’t it say on the telegram?” Quentin took the envelop from Roger.

“No.” Roger handed it to them.

“Tell them I want to see them now!” A familiar voice yelled outside the kitchen. Mrs. Johnson scurried into the room. Her eyes were wide with fear.

“Mrs. Stoddard, that man from the other night, the lawyer, he is demanding to see you and Mr. Collins.” She glanced from one sibling to the other looking for directions.

“I’ve never known Llewellyn to be so rude!” Roger threw down his napkin.

“Don’t stand!” Llewellyn stood in the doorway. “Just tell me where they are.”

Elizabeth stood and faced the intruder. “Mr. Llewellyn, your behavior is most atrocious.”

“Mrs. Stoddard, I am sorry but this is urgent!”

“What’s so damn urgent?” Quentin joined the standing members of his family. “A friend needed Julia’s help, she rushed to assist. She’ll be back.”

“You have no idea what is going on here.” Charles Llewellyn withdrew a yellow telegram envelope from his pocket. “Taylor is alive. STOP. Very ill. STOP. Will send more information soon. STOP. In remote Village not near phone. Julia.” Llewellyn looked up into several astonished faces. “Now again, I ask, where are they?”

“We do not know, our telegram does not say either.” Roger handed it over to Llewellyn.

“There must be a quick way to find this out!” He yelled in frustration. “Getting detectives on it may take days. Blaylock wants to see his son!”

“Bangor,” Elizabeth uttered and all eyes turned to her. “Eliot’s previous telegram said the travel agency in Bangor had their reservations.”

“Which travel agency?”

Roger grunted. “There is only one that is suitable.”

After several minutes of heated discussion, Quentin left with Charles Llewellyn to discover Barnabas and Julia’s whereabouts. The balance of the family ate their breakfasts quietly and slowly left the kitchen. The last two at the table were Roger and David.

“If Taylor is still alive, then Julia will get back with him.” David said suddenly.

“What?” Roger left behind his meeting planning for the day.

“I said, if Dr. Hoffman’s husband is still alive and if he gets better, she’ll go back to living with him. She won’t live here anymore.”

Roger reflected upon the reason for David’s observation. “That would be unfortunate. I’m quite used to having her with us. She’s like a sister to me.”

David nodded noncommittally. “I like her too.”

“But David, I don’t think it would be a fait accompli that Julia would reconcile with her husband.”

“Why do you think that?”

“We have a certain cousin who might object, and loudly, to such a reconciliation.” Roger winked at his son. Irregardless what Quentin said about Barnabas and Julia, Roger had observed them long enough to know they could not live without one
another. Barnabas was like sunlight to Julia and she was his moon.

“Does that matter?” David asked.

“To Julia, yes, it matters very much.”

“Brazil?” Douglas Blaylock looked at the travel itinerary Quentin and Charles had secured from Bangor.

“I’ve already had arrangements begun for the company plane to prepare for such a trip.” Charles was busy taking several files from the hotel suite and placing them in his briefcase. “It will be standing by in Boston. I will fly to Brazil and get this all
straightened out. I will call you ---”

“We’ve had investigators scour Brazil and never a trace of him, never.” Douglas continued to be disconcerted by the turn of events. He had accepted his son’s death and now, he was told by one piece of paper that this was wrong. He had given up too soon.

“Mr. Blaylock,” Quentin approached the elderly man. “I have some experience in knowing that when you do not want to be found, it’s very easy to ensure it does not happen.”

“But why hide? Why for so long?” Douglas stood and anger began to overtake him. “Marital difficulties are no reason to hide in the jungle for over ten years!”

“I must leave now if I am to make the connecting flights.” Charles took up his briefcase and moved to the door.

“You!” Douglas turned an enraged countenance to Charles. “I am going after my son Charles! I’ll not allow anyone else undertake this. I let others handle it for too many years.” Douglas moved to begin collecting his own belongings.

“Douglas,” Charles approached Douglas. “let me take care of this for you, be certain that it is Taylor—“

“It is him, I feel it. And I must do this Charles, no on else.”

Quentin assisted Charles in pulling together his belongings and taking them out of the Collinsport Inn. Behind them Charles Llewellyn paced frantically while watching them through the hotel window. He took a last look around the hotel room, shook his head in resignation. “God damn you Julia Hoffman.”

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.