Episode 157 - 1/31/67

Vicki wakes up in the drawing room speaking of fire, bird and stone. She gets up, smells jasmine, and asks Josette for help. She decides the answers are in the crypt.

Vicki hears a car out front, and answers the door to let Frank in. She says she'll tell him where they're going on the way. Roger finds them, and asks what Frank is doing there, and Vicki says she called him to take her for a drive. Roger explains to Frank what happened to Liz, and tells him that they expect him not to discuss it in town. They leave Roger, and Vicki tells Frank she wants him to take her back to the cemetery, to the crypt.

Frank pounds on the door at the Stockbridge home. Vicki tells Frank she smelled Jasmine and heard Mrs. Stoddard say the words fire, bird and stone. Vicki tries pounding on the door as well, and the caretaker appears behind them. He lets them in, and says they didn't like it; they knocked down all the stones. He also describes how he has all of the burial records for the area. Vicki asks if he has records on any other Murdoch's—possibly Laura Murdoch. He goes back to L. Murdoch Stockbridge, died by fire. He remembers another, but not the last name.

Suddenly, Vicki smells Jasmine. She calls out to Josette, asking for her help, and a book falls from the shelf. Frank picks up the book and reads, "Laura Murdoch Radcliffe," from the page the book fell open to. Vicki notices the date of death is 1867, 100 years after Laura Murdoch Stockbridge. Frank says that Vicki thinks Laura Collins is responsible for what happened to Liz, and something Liz said got her to come back to the cemetery. The caretaker finds a book referencing Laura Murdoch Radcliffe, and there's no ancestry listed. It also lists that she died by fire.

Roger yells at lieutenant Riley for bothering him. He came to inform him that Laura's test results came back confirming she is who she says she is. Vicki and Frank return, and Roger leaves Frank to deal with Riley. Riley tells Frank that if he weren't a sane man, he'd say there were two Laura Collins'. He leaves, and Vicki says there may actually be four Laura Collins'—three of which died by fire.

Our thoughts

John: Vicki almost has two conversations with Josette in this episode. It's clear that Josette is helping her out, but it's still not clear why. Did Josette have a relationship with one of Laura's prior incarnations?

Christine: If you look closely, you can see her moving behind the shelf when she pushes the book off of it.

John: I do like the creepy caretaker. I hope we haven't seen the last of him.

Christine: I suspect we'll encounter him again. He's quite a lovable character.

John: So Vicki has put all the puzzle pieces together, but will she realize that this means Laura is the phoenix of legend? Or will it be written off as a coincidence?

Christine: Vicki says the Laura living now hasn't died by fire, but it seems as though she did in Phoenix. I'm completely confused by that, since Laura keeps saying she's running out of time, which makes it sound like she's coming to the end of a cycle.