The next day Nicky says she wants to start being independent again, and wonders where Stirbridge is. Jeff says it's not far, and Nicky asks if she can borrow the car, so she can retreat into it if an anxiety attack occurs. Jeff hands her the keys, no problem, Nicky sets off for Stirbridge.
At Taylor's Farm outside Stirbridge village, Nicky drives up to the farm gates, she looks into the farm, there he is, the blonde haired man, calmly standing in the roadway by a table, on it is eggs, dozens of them, he is putting them into punnets ready to be loaded onto his van. Nicky glares at him, determined for revenge.
She drives into the farm, the blonde man looks up, Nicky pushes hard on the accelerator, 60, 70, 80 mph, and smacks straight into him, flinging him into the air, eggs go everywhere, splattering the car windscreen. Nicky calmly switches on the wipers to get the yolk and the guy's blood off of the car, then reverses out.....mission accomplished.
Back home Nicky apologises for the little "accident" she had in the car, Jeff says it's just a minor bump, don't worry about it.
Later that evening the three of them are having dinner when the doorbell rings. Nicky answers it, and is stunned, transfixed in fear, it's the blonde haired man standing there with a walking stick. Nicky can't utter a word , Jeff comes to the door, the guy wonders if he can borrow their phone, his car has broken down.
The blonde haired man is invited in, Nicky's worst nightmare as Jeff and Virna offer him a drink and the guy calls the garage up. Everyone goes on eating, Nicky saying nothing and eating nothing either, just sitting petrified. After 30 minutes the phone rings, the garage man is outside, the blonde haired man says his goodbyes and leaves. Nicky runs upstairs to her room, Virna couldn't help but notice that Nicky looked absolutely petrified of the guy. Understandable says Jeff given what's happened to her, a stranger in the house.
Meanwhile in Insp Charles office, a German private eye , Herr Balsam is telling the inspector why he's here in this English town.
He is trying to trace a German citizen who has gone missing for 6 months now, and investigations have led him to this town. The missing man met previously a girl who was holidaying in Germany, and even though he never knew the girl's full name he did tell people she lived somewhere in this town. The man was in London on business, and that is where Herr Balsam's investigations are concentrated on, but it is possible that while having a bit of spare time he travelled to this town to see if he could find the girl again. Insp Charles gives Balsam permission to sniff around, do some investigating around town and see what crops up. Balsam produces a photo of the missing German,
it's the blonde haired man.
Jeff and Virna are worried because they've been invited for an evening out with friends, Nicky is staying in the house alone, but assures them she'll be fine.
That evening Nicky is dozing on the settee when she wakes with a startled look and sees the blonde haired man standing over her. His walking stick is gone and he's holding a box of chocolates. He says he wants to pay back the kindness Mr and Mrs Holt showed him the other night. Nicky remaining calm says they are in the back garden, the blonde haired man goes out to look for them. Nicky runs to the hallway picks up the ornamental tomahawk from display on the wall. The blonde haired man returns to the living room through the French windows, Nicky is standing to one side as he comes in saying he can't see them in the garden.
She attacks, the axe hits the man several times, blood pouring out, she then runs.
Herr Balsam is at the railway station speaking to the ticket guard on duty at the barrier, the same guy as 6 months previous, showing him a photo of the blonde haired man. The guard remembers him," yes at first I thought he was trying to get passed me without paying."
Balsam says, " then you realised he just didn't speak English."
" how did you know that?"
" my friend, when you add 2 and 2 it invariably makes four."
Jeff and Virna have returned, quietly entering the house not wanting to wake Nicky. Jeff creeps upstairs, suddenly a tomahawk axe swings at him, his shoulder is hit. Virna screams," NICKY IT'S JEFF IT'S JEFF!!"
Nicky drops the axe, a strange look far-away look on her face. The front door is open, Balsam walks in, Virna thinking he is police tries to explain that Nicky is still disturbed from her ordeal. Before explanations get very far, the living room door opens, out staggers blonde haired man, blood covered and collapses dead on the carpet.
Nicky is delighted, " good he's dead at last."
Balsam and Jeff look down at the man, NOT BLONDE but grey haired in his fifties, Jeff says he's the guy whose car broke down the other night who they invited in.
Balsam looks beyond the living room door into the garden and sees a smoker's pipe on the grass. He walks into garden, the earth around the pipe has recently been dug up, and looks hurriedly replaced.
Balsam with his hands digs into the earth, to reveal a hand, then a sleeve, in a brown check jacket. The body of the blonde haired man is here,
where it has been all along.
Insp Charles and Herr Balsam discuss the case in the police office.
Charles says, " two men attacked two dead, and just because she read in a newspaper about a man with blonde hair."
" And then my man came along."
"Your citizen Herr Balsam just happened to fit her fantasies."
Nicky is back at Corby Hall mental institution, sitting in a chair , two male nurses standing on either side of her, a far-away expression on her face. Dr Ward turns to Jeff and Virna, Jeff with his arm in a sling.
" you see after the imagined assault she began seeing this man everywhere, why? Fear, terror of something half forgotten. Something from her childhood perhaps, a traumatic experience buried deep. The human mind can torture itself to destruction, probably we'll never know why"
Virna bends down to face Nicky, " Nicky can you hear me?"
Nicky smiles, then looks at Jeff, she sees blonde haired man. Nicky looks at the nurse to her left....blonde haired man, then to the nurse on her right......blonde haired man. Then at Dr Ward....blonde haired man.
Nicky
" aaaarrrgggghh aaaarrrgggghh ", the nurses restrain her as she tries to grab the doctor , and she is dragged out screaming.
Cast;
Nicky....Pamela Franklin
Virna....Frances White
Jeff.....Donal McCann
The blonde haired man.....Jim Norton
Insp Charles....Derek Smith
Dr Ward......Peter Howell
Balsam.....Wolfe Morris
Wallace.....Carinthia West
