Well-meaning governess Vicki has uncovered evidence which has led the sheriff to resume his investigation of the death of beloved local man Bill Malloy. The three suspects in the sheriff’s initial examination of the case were high-born ne’er-do-well Roger Collins, drunken artist Sam Evans, and dashing action hero Burke Devlin. Yesterday the sheriff questioned Roger, and today he questions Sam.
Since it became known Vicki might be a witness in the case, someone has tried to enter her bedroom, and someone has tried to run her down on the road. Roger is the only one of the three suspects who could have tried to get into Vicki’s room, and he has an alibi for the time when the car swerved towards Vicki. Vicki’s potential boyfriend, instantly forgettable young lawyer Frank Garner, suggests that Roger and Sam might both be working to silence her, whether in tandem or separately. Vicki considers Sam a friend, and finds it hard to believe he might want to hurt her.
Vicki’s charge, strange and troubled boy David Collins, is not to be found in the great house on the estate of Collinwood. She goes to look for him at his favorite hangout, the long-abandoned Old House on the same property. As she approaches the front door of the Old House, we see gruff caretaker Matthew Morgan on the roof high above. Matthew is pushing a large, heavy ornamental urn. The urn falls, and lands at Vicki’s feet.
Matthew has been presented as a volatile, dangerous man, and a potential threat to Vicki. He admitted to hiding Bill Malloy’s corpse, and becomes agitated anytime the topic of his death is raised. At the end of a half hour devoted to asking who, if not Roger, Sam, or Burke, might be behind the attacks on Vicki, the shot of Matthew pushing the urn towards her leaves little doubt that he is in fact the villain we’ve been looking for.
Dark Shadows Commentary 