Subj: Out of the Past, 4
Date: 11/11/01 7:54:03 PM Central Standard Time
From: R J Jamison

Barnabas entered his home. Dread did not weigh on his conscious but curiosity. Jeannot Roussin had not struck a fearful tone or note. He had not tried to intimidate or allege. He simply stated something that Barnabas knew was a fact. Barnabas somehow knew this man’s wife. He reclined into a chair by the dead fire and contemplated patiently. Should he seek the Roussins out or wait for them? Barnabas recalled all the fiascos of his existence where he had not exhibited patience. He then thought on the one person who had the greatest store of patience he knew. Julia certainly would suggest waiting and observing. Julia was usually right. Barnabas smiled to himself, all of Julia’s infinite wisdom and patience was to be rewarded as soon as she came home. No, I will not seek them out, he decided. They’ve come here for a purpose. I’ll await them. The telephone ring interrupted his thoughts. Barnabas moved with uncharacteristic haste to the new instrument in his home. “Collins residence.” Barnabas listened to an unfamiliar voice ask in the smallest whisper for someone unknown to him. He then recalled what he had often heard Roger say to intruding callers. “Wrong number.” Barnabas dropped the receiver into the cradle. A frown remained on his face as he reconsidered the new and irritating addition to the house.

“Barnabas.” Willie came up the basement stairs. “Julia called a few hours ago.”

Barnabas reached for the phone receiver again.

“Wait, I gotta tell ya what she said.” Willie anxiously rubbed his jawline. “She’s got some sad news.”

“Whatever is it?”

“Douglas Blaylock, he had a heart attack.”

“Heart attack?” Barnabas pulled the telephone receiver to his ear.

“Barnabas, he died this morning.”

“I shall call Julia and tell her I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Ah, no.” Willie stepped closer to Barnabas and took the receiver from his hands and replaced it on the cradle. “Julia said she would call tonight at 8:00. She doesn’t want you to come just yet. She told me to tell ya to wait.”

“Wait? I most certainly will not wait. She should not be alone –“

“Barnabas, I’m only deliverin’ the message. She asked you to please wait. It was a bad scene, he apparently was arguing with that Charles Llewellyn guy, his lawyer. The guy was embezzlin’ money for years. It’s all a big mess, the district attorney has been called and stuff. Julia has got to contact her. . .” Willie stopped clumsily. “I mean, she’s got to get word to his son.”

Barnabas looked beyond Willie’s shoulder to see the clock. Julia would be calling in forty-five minutes. He had that much patience.

Jeannot Roussin sat in his room at the Collinsport Inn. He reached for the telephone by the bedside. He dialed and waited for a response. “Louisa Roussin, please.” A flew clicks indicated that he was being connected to his wife. Her familiar voice greeted him.

“Louisa, I am in Collinsport again. . . .Yes. I think you should come but be discrete. No one should see you.” Roussin laughed. “I am sure you can manage it. I know some of your parlor tricks have gone away but you are a most skillful woman. . . I’ll tell you what I’ve found once you arrive. . .No, Louisa, be patient.” Jeannot listened to his wife scream angrily at him. She would not be ordered about by him. She demanded that tell her immediately what he knew. Jeannot sighed, his wife was more than a handful but his love for her was without bounds. “I found him, Louisa. He is here. Yes, . . . . Barnabas Collins is here.”

Barnabas hung up the telephone. Julia had calmly and efficiently laid out why she wanted to handle things in Baltimore alone. When finished with the funeral arrangements, she would continue her journey to Lucerne, Switzerland.

“You’re not goin’?” Willie stood in the shadows of the Drawing Room.

“No,” Barnabas picked up the book he had been reading earlier. He opened it in an attempt to ward off Willie’s questions. “She wants to put this part of her life behind her. She does not want to mix that with this any further.”

Willie frowned. “But you two always help one another.”

“Willie, I have rarely respected Julia’s wishes. I am prepared to do as she asks. It is a test.”

“Test?”

Barnabas nodded. “Yes. It is a test to see if I respect her requests, respect her and her past. I need to demonstrate to her that I’m not always operating from my own self-interests.”

“You went to Brazil with her!”

“Yes but that trip became very much about me and my past. It also did involve Julia as we learned but again, my needs became central. Willie,” Barnabas looked back down at his book. “I am not going to risk upsetting Julia, not now, not ever again.”

Willie nodded, Barnabas was becoming a truly charitable man.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.