The Case of Charles Dexter Ward Episode 3

## Synopsis

Heawood and Kennedy’s investigation appears to hit a wall.

## Plot

In another of Dr. Jonathan Willett's recordings of a conversation with a 17-year-old Charles Dexter Ward, they discuss Joseph Curwen, whom Charles remains convinced is his real grandfather. Willett advises Charles that Curwen is not a person to idolise, but Charles insists that Curwen is a great man, because Barbara Sayers says so.

In the immediate aftermath of the previous episode, Kennedy Fisher stakes out the remains of Sayers' house and learns that no one was pulled out of the wreckage, indicating Sayers is still alive somewhere. She calls Matthew Heawood to discuss their next move and ultimately decides that she and George Shepley will continue investigating Charles' background, while Matt will find background on Barbara Sayers. Matt calls Sayer's sister Melissa Talbot who tells him that Barbara was tipped to be the family's college star but ran off to join a religious group in Rhode Island led by Curwen. Melissa lost contact with her because Curwen refused to let her write, but she received an English postcard from Barbara in 1985 or 6, after the FBI shut the group down.

Kennedy travels back to London and meets with Matt and Matt tells her that Curwen's group, The Soldiers of Ipqu-Aya, was named after a figure from Mesopotamian folklore. The group had a house in Pawtuxet when in 1980 the FBI and ATF raided it and Curwen was killed. Kennedy comments that Sayers' name was not on the arrest report, meaning if she was there, she escaped, and reveals that she had interviewed the arresting officer, Ezra Weeden, and plays Matt her recording of it. In the recording, Ezra is initially cagey about talking but opens up once Kennedy reveals what she knows. Ezra explains that the siege happened because the Soldiers shot at some police officers who were responding to a noise complaint. ATF officers laid siege to the house, won the following firefight, and entered the house. Curwen barricaded himself upstairs and, officially, was shot and killed. However, Ezra claims that a member of the SWAT team told him that after they shot through the door at Curwen and entered the room they found it empty and covered in dust. Most of the Soldiers escaped down old smuggler's tunnels underneath the house and every ATF officer that was sent down the tunnels after them was subsequently discharged with mental health issues. The tunnels were then sealed up, the house was demolished, and the police unusually stopped doing any further investigation. Those members of the Soldiers they did arrest were mentally broken and didn't seem to be aware of their surroundings at all.

Kennedy explains to Matt that Ezra wants to help with their efforts and expresses frustration with the way the story is developing. Kennedy decides to go back to America to look at Ward's life before his incarceration. Matt explains to the audience that he hasn't been doing much to help the investigation because he's been trying to balance *The Mystery Machine's* struggling finances. Feeling guilty, he decides to investigate the London side of the story and looks up Lucy Hawthorne's family history in Debrett's. He discovers that Lucy's grandmother Caroline Hughes got pregnant around the same time as Lucy's grand-aunt Eliza Tillinghast. Caroline was quickly married to Godfrey Tillinghast, while Eliza moved to America to have her baby, Sarah Tillinghast. Matt learns that Sarah was Charles Dexter Ward's mother, making Charles and Lucy second cousins. Panicked, he hurriedly calls Kennedy at the airport and tells her how Willett killed the last heir to the Tillinghast line.

## Cast, Characters, Crew

* Barnaby Kay as Matthew Heawood
* Jana Carpenter as Kennedy Fisher
* Mark Bazeley as Dr. Jonathan Willett
* Samuel Barnett as Charles Dexter Ward
* Adam Godley as George Shepley
* Penny Downie as Melissa Talbot
* Alun Armstrong as Ezra Weeden

* Writer & Director: Julian Simpson
* Production Coordinator: Sarah Tombling
* Sound Engineer: David Thomas
* Composer: Tim Elsenburg
* Producer: Karen Rose

## Notes and Trivia

* Heawood tracks down Barbara Sayers' sister Melissa, who tells her that Barbara Sayers was part of a cult led by Joseph Curwen.
* Kennedy talks to Ezra Weeden, who was there during the siege at the Curwen house. He says Curwen disappeared - all that was left in the room he'd been in was thick grey dust covering everything.
* In the London Library, Heawood researches the family histories of the Tillinghast and Ward families. He finds out that Sir Godfrey's sister Eliza is the mother of Sara Tillinghast, who married Howard Ward and became Charles Dexter Ward's mother. This means that Lucy Hawthorne and Charles Dexter Ward are second cousins. This means that Willett didn't pick a random victim, but rather deliberately murdered the last person in the Tillinghast bloodline.