341 - October 16, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[Dr. Hoffman narrating] - Some merciful cloud

has covered the stars over Collinwood,

concealing the land below,

creating the needed darkness for the deed about to be done

in the town nearby.

Like the layers of overhanging cloud,

new crimes must be committed to conceal the old,

and the distance into dark becomes at last so great

that a journey back to light is no longer possible.

[bat squeaking]

- Until now, I -- I hoped this was a nightmare,

now I know it isn't.

- Think of it as a dream from which you will never awaken.

- Barnabas, let -- let me talk to him.

Maybe, I can convince him to cooperate.

- No, no, never.

- You've got to save yourself.

- That's not my idea of being saved, Julia.

No.

- I don't think we need to discuss it any further.

- Huh, what are you planning to do?

- I plan to do nothing. - What?

- The eminent Dr. Hoffman will take care of everything.

- Julia.

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪

- You don't really know?

- Not really.

- Oh, come now, Doctor.

- Are you going to k*ll me?

You've given us no alternative.

- For a moment, I was afraid I had.

- What do you mean? - Death wasn't my worst fear.

- I asked you what you meant.

- Barnabas, please, please let me try to talk to him.

- He has a question to answer.

- I prefer death to --

- To what?

Say it!

- You know to what!

- Say it! I dare you!

- Barnabas, don't.

- To being something like you are --

something loathsome and evil.

- Tell me more.

- Something inhuman in -- - Go on.

- Human form. - Go on.

- I'd prefer anything rather than becoming the undead.

- Really?

- My only -- my only regret, Barnabas,

is that I won't live to be able to destroy you.

- I see.

So, you read the notes.

Then you realize I have the power to turn you

into something not unlike myself.

- Barnabas, if my experiments are successful,

we can undo all the harm.

- No, please, Julia.

- But that way, maybe, he wouldn't have to k*ll you.

- I don't want to live if it has to be that way.

- Please, don't let him k*ll you.

- Barnabas, if you make me into something like yourself,

I swear I'll find a way to destroy myself,

but first, I'll find a way to let people know what you are.

- You believe that your freewill will remain

after my little treatment?

- Yes. Enough of it will remain.

Enough of yours remains.

If you chose, Barnabas, you could destroy yourself.

You certainly could turn yourself in.

- Never.

- No, of course you won't.

But you could. And I would.

- Witness, Doctor, I tried to save him.

Proceed.

- You don't have to hold me.

I know I can't escape.

- I won't let you try.

We want a minimum of clutter.

I don't want the room strewn with broken objects.

- Barnabas, I'm not going to struggle.

Death is undignified enough without my making it worse.

- Dave, isn't there anything I can say to you?

- Is there anything I can say to you?

- Whatever he says I'll never trust him now.

Proceed.

You did bring the hypodermic with you, didn't you?

- Yes.

- Then, I turn the patient over to you, Doctor.

- Don't call me that.

Not now.

- Doctor Hoffman.

One of the brightest, and -- I thought --

bravest doctors I've ever known.

- Don't.

- So much -- so much good you could have done.

The lives you could have saved, Julia.

- Stop.

- The suffering you could have helped.

- Please.

- You have the means to stop him.

- How am I to die?

- A perfectly natural death

for a healthy man in the prime of life --

a heart attack.

- Julia.

- I'm waiting.

- I can't.

- You no longer have a choice.

- I can't.

- You have to.

- He's -- he's my friend.

- You no longer have friends.

- He's right.

You no longer have any friends, Julia.

- I -- I can't do it.

- Then, I'll do it myself. - No.

- Give it to me. - No. I can't let you.

- I said give it to me!

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,

but a lot of knowledge is even more dangerous.

- Sarah!

- Sarah?

Where?

- Oh no -- oh no, there, there.

- Sarah --

- Stop him!

- Is she here? - No.

- No one is here.

- You dare mention her name to me?

- Ah --

["London Bridges" playing] ♪♪

- Loathsome I am and evil.

You can mock me for that.

But leave my pain alone.

- No.

- Tell me he's dead.

- He's dead.

He's dead.

♪♪

- Death must have been instant.

There doesn't seem to have been any pain

and such a good man, too.

He lived only to serve others.

- Please, don't make fun.

Let's -- let's get out of here.

- Aren't you going to examine the patient?

- What -- what do you mean?

- To make sure that nothing was displayed

but the symptoms of a sudden coronary attack.

- Nothing else will show.

- He looks to you like a man who might have met such a demise? - Yes.

- Even with your practiced doctor's eye? - Yes.

- How can you say that when you haven't so much

as glanced at him?

- I -- I don't have to.

I -- I know the medicine he was given.

- Medicine?

- It was actually a medicine? - Yes.

- A lesser dosage could have been curative.

- Ah, but it was curative.

The good doctor had a fatal curiosity.

Now, he doesn't have it anymore.

- Let's -- let's get out of here.

- Are you ready?

- Yes.

- Then you intend to leave the hypodermic needle

there on the table?

- No.

All right. Let's go.

- Are you sure you're ready?

- Yes.

- Then, what about the notebook?

- Oh.

- It's there in his pockets. - The notebook.

- Leave it, if you like.

Really, Doctor, you're not your thorough professional self.

I would have thought you'd be used to death by now.

- I helped you do it.

- You were a little less efficient than I expected,

but you were fine, considering our entire success.

[phone ringing]

- Come on, Dave.

Answer your phone, will you?

[phone stops ringing]

- Let's hurry.

- Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything?

- Yes, nothing.

- Nothing except your friend, of course.

- Yes.

He was my friend.

[Dr. Woodard] - You no longer have friends, Julia.

- Oh.

- Now, what is it?

- He's not dead.

- What do you mean?

- Dave?

- Who you're talking to?

- Dave, he's not dead, didn't you hear it?

- I heard nothing.

- But he spoke to me, he's not dead.

- I know a dead man when I see one and so do you.

- But I -- I -- I heard him speak.

- You heard nothing. Now, come.

- But I --

- Now, let's get out of here.

- I heard him.

I heard him. I did.

♪♪

[jukebox playing] ♪♪

- Dr. Woodard showed up since I called?

- You're looking for Dave? - Yeah.

Have you seen him?

- Well, yeah. A couple of hours ago.

- Where?

- His office.

- Do you remember exactly how long ago?

- Well, let's see now.

One hour and minutes.

Something up?

- Yeah, I think so,

but I I don't know exactly what.

- You mean it's none of my business.

- No, I mean I really don't know.

Dave called me and said he was coming over to see me and then -

- Then what?

- Nothing. He didn't show.

- Well, he probably had an emergency.

Maybe, he had to go to the hospital.

- No. I called there

and they are looking for him, too.

- You think I should start getting a little worried?

- Not necessarily.

Maybe, he is out on a house call.

- Probably.

- But in that case, why didn't he call the hospital

to tell them where he would be?

He's on call until midnight.

- Well, isn't it possible that --

that you could have passed him

when he was on his way to your office?

- No, I checked there, too.

- Well, I'm sure you will look at the most obvious place of all.

- Where's that?

- His office.

- Well, I phoned there first thing.

He didn't answer.

- Well, are you sure we shouldn't start getting worried?

- But why didn't he call me back if he knew he couldn't make it?

- Well, maybe, he just couldn't.

- Well, it's a little soon to start thinking that.

- Dave was -- he was onto something, wasn't he?

- I don't know.

- With all the trouble we've been having around here

about what's happened to Maggie--

- Well, that's all been solved.

My only regret is that Loomis is too sick

to stand trial for what he did to her.

- He was a little skeptical about Willie's guilt.

- The proof was there.

- All right. Maybe, it wasn't that.

But I know when I went to his office there tonight,

- he was acting -- - Mmm?

- Well, kind of excited.

Like a man who felt that he was about to discover something

he had been searching for, for a long time.

- Did he give any hint as to what it might be?

- No, he just wanted to get me out of there

so he could get on with it.

- Get on with what?

- Your guess is as good as mine.

- Maybe, he had an appointment he had to get to.

- He had an appointment, all right,

with me, and he didn't keep it.

[distant screaming]

- What was that? - What's that?

- It's nothing to get excited about.

Someone got a little scared because she saw a bat.

- A bat?

- You know how women are.

They are afraid they will get caught in their hair.

- Women who are afraid of bats

shouldn't hang around the waterfront.

There are always bats flying around here at night.

But, she didn't have to scream like that.

- Yeah, for a minute I thought I had a m*rder on my hands.

- Don't say that word. - Yeah, I guess you're right.

I wish I knew why Dave didn't keep his appointment.

- I -- I don't know.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little worried.

It isn't like him to lose contact with the hospital

when he is on call.

- What do you want me to do, send out an alarm?

[sighs] - I don't know.

I know what I'm going to do.

- Oh? What's that?

- I'm going to his office.

Now, he was onto something.

He wanted to see you and he didn't turn up.

So, I'm going to go and check his office.

[bat squeaking] I hope we are both being just a little bit edgy,

but I'm going with you.

- Wait, look. - What is it?

- There, outside on the window pane. - What?

- What? - A bat.

- It's gone.

- Let's get going.

- How can they, how can they be so small

and really, really so harmless and still suggest

something so terrifying and monstrous?

- Maybe because we have overworked imaginations.

- Well, I hope you're right.

♪♪

- Dave, it's the sheriff.

- Dave! You in there?

- Dave, Dave!

- I'm for breaking it in.

- I don't think we have any reason for doing that,

- going that far. - Are you sure?

- No, give it a try. - OK.

[grunting]

- No, not -- not Dave.

- Operator, this is the sheriff.

- Get me to hospital. - No, it's too late.

- We are -- we're just too late.

- Never mind.

- Who could have done it?

- Done what? - k*lled him.

- We don't know yet that anyone did.

- We certainly do know someone did it.

Dave was on to something and he was about ready to tell it.

- Look around, Sam.

Any signs of a fight? A scuffle?

- No.

- Well?

- Well, I don't know about you, but I think it was m*rder.

- So do I, but officially,

I have no opinion without further information.

Is this the way the office was when you were here before?

- Yes, yes.

He -- he was sitting there almost just like that.

I'm sure it was m*rder.

- We'll find out soon enough.

- Who are you calling?

- Operator, get me the coroner.

This is the sheriff.

It's an emergency.

- Who could have done it?

Who?

♪♪

- A very good idea.

You should have done it at once.

- Go away.

Leave me alone.

- I'm surprised at you.

I didn't think you would be so emotional.

- I'm not emotional. I -- I feel nothing.

I just want to be left alone.

- You'll get used to it.

- Used to what?

- Yourself.

- What do you mean?

- You'll soon accept yourself in your new identity.

- What -- new -- identity?

- m*rder*r.

- I am not a m*rder*r. I did not k*ll him.

You did.

- Oh?

I seem to recollect that it was somewhat of

a cooperative venture.

- I didn't do it.

You did.

- Well, the distinction is an unnecessary one.

In portioning out the guilt,

I had no difficulty in giving you exactly one-half.

But it's a burden that will lessen with time.

Take my word for it.

- I'll -- give it all up.

All of it.

Oh --

- How thoughtless of you!

Getting this notebook from Woodard

cost the poor man his life.

You wouldn't want him to have died in vain?

- I -- I won't go ahead with the experiment.

I'll -- I'll go away.

- That's impossible.

We need each other now more than ever.

Now that Woodard is gone,

I am really the only friend that you have.

[Dr. Woodard] - You no longer have friends, Julia.

- No.

No.

No.

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪