(wasn't aired during original run in U.S.) Ring of Fire sound files

After preparing to go to bed, Gail goes over to her window and looks out at the windy night. She clutches her key and immediately has a vision. She sees herself in a hallway and a covered baby carriage is before her, slowly rolling into a room. In the background, the song "Beautiful Dreamer" is playing. She follows the carriage and then lifts the cover to see a small boy inside. The boy tells her to trust her instincts and to "dig deeper." She doesn't understand what he means but when she reaches for him, the carriage emits a puff of fire which makes her jump back. She is back in her room. She shuts the window not before seeing Lucas outside looking up at her.

The next day, Gail is in the town library looking through old newspaper archives, in hopes of finding some sort of evidence pointing to Lucas' involvement with her parents' death. The librarian who is helping her starts talking to her about how she misses the old Guardian that Gail's parents used to run. She then advises her that looking through old newspapers won't help; she should look into her family history instead.

Gail decides instead to search for evidence at Lucas' mansion. She is able to go in through an unlocked backdoor. She starts exploring Lucas' mansion a bit; looking at the many stuffed animals (including a crow), gargoyles, and the like and even finds an book called "Occult Power". When she sees a desk with papers strewn all over it, she goes over and start busily rummaging thru it. So preoccupied was she that she doesn't even notice when Lucas' silhouette is glimpsed passing by in the back thru the reflection of a mirror before her. He sur- prises her suddenly by slamming her against the wall and threatening to hurt her. He also points out her folly in thinking he would keep something incriminating in an unlocked desk, but she only reponds with a vow to get him someday. She wants the truth and she will get it some way. Lucas tells her that if she wants the truth, all she had to do was ask and say please and he would've been glad to tell her. Instead of complying, Gail just leaves.

Gail meets Caleb on the porch of the boarding house, playing with a toy plane. She asks him if he wants to go to Charleston with him. He wants to but can't because of school. She tells him a little about what Charleston has to offer and then hugs him fiercely. She then asks him if he knows why she came here and he replies that she wants to look after him. Of course that was part of the reason, but she tells him also that she came here to look for answers to how her parents died. Caleb already knew that and he also knows that she suspects Lucas is the culprit. Caleb surprises Gail when he says he knows Lucas is probably capable of committing the crime. Gail asks him where he got that and after a moment's thought, he tells her Merly told him.

That night, Gail finally calls Lucas and asks him for the truth. They agree to meet the next night at a public place.

Selena is setting her table at home, getting ready for a date with Lucas. When Ben appears to deliver the message that Lucas can't make it; Selena tells Ben to give Lucas a message from her in return which really flusters Ben. After he leaves, she flings her glass of wine against the wall angrily.

Selena happens upon Gail and Lucas at the restaurant where they are meeting to discuss "the truth." She shows her displeasure by saying some snide remarks and then dropping an hors d'oeuvre into Lucas' wine. After she leaves, Lucas just tells Gail to ignore her and she starts into the questioning. She asks him some questions about how he discovered her parents' bodies and if he discovered them alone. He sees that her questions aren't going in the right direction so he asks her instead if she trusts him. Of course she doesn't, but he makes a deal with her anyway that after he gives her the truth, she has to give him what he wants--hinting that it probably is her mind and body. She doesn't straight out comply, but she pretty much relents. Lucas then holds her hand and tells her to close her eyes and let herself go. After concentrating for a while, Gail has another vision. She sees her mom in their old house hiding something in a music box, which is playing "Beautiful Dreamer". That's when she realizes what the key is for. She is jerked out of her vision when she sees someone strike her mom. Alarmed, she leaves the restaurant, not wanting to see more.

She has a nightmare that night. She is visiting her parent's grave and telling them that she doesn't want to investigate any further since she doesn't think she can deal with what she'll find. Suddenly, she is grabbed by her father's corpse underneath the grave and both he and his mother's rotting body tell her that she must avenge them.

While waiting for Lucas the next morning, Gail is sitting with Matt who tells her to be careful about Lucas. Lucas then arrives and takes her to her old home. Before she goes in, Lucas warns her that she should keep an open mind and that she should prepare herself for any shocking surprises in store. She doesn't pay much heed to his warning and as soon as she's inside, she starts searching frantically for the music box she saw her mother hide. Instead of finding it, she discovers a hospital file behind one of the bookshelves. The file records an instance where her mom had checked in with bruises showing that she had been beaten. Gail immediately assumes that Lucas was the person who beat her and starts pummeling him. He calms her and then tells her that she has to trust him on this.

Gail goes to the hospital to talk to Matt who starts teasing her about Lucas. He stops and apologizes when she becomes really upset by it. She asks Matt to try to find her mom's hospital records and he agrees to. As she is walking around the hospital, Gail hears the music box theme and has a vision. The little boy appears and summons for her to follow him. She is lead to a room where her a nurse has just told her mom that she is pregnant. Instead of being overjoyed, Christine Emory has a troubled look on her face. Matt finally finds the files and tells Gail that based on the records, it appears that her mother was a victim of domestic violence. After some probing, Matt reluctantly tells Gail that Christine was pregnant when she died in the fire. Gail is of course deeply disturbed by this news and she immediately goes to see Lucas.

Ben is asking Lucas about civet cat licenses when Gail comes in, and Lucas tells him to leave them. Gail demands the truth as to who set the fire. Lucas offers to let her know the motive behind it as well even though she doesn't really want to know. He then directs her to her old address since "the past isn't dead." When she arrives at her old home, she is returned to the past and she sees her mom kissing Gage good-bye, which really surprises Gail since she never knew about the two of them having an affair. She then sees her dad return home and bump into a young her at the porch. Her dad asks her why she is so dirty and then burns her with his cigerette to punish her. Gail cringes from the sight and the painful memories come flooding back.

She returns back to the hospital dazed and bumps into Matt outside. She tells him about what she has seen. She thought her childhood was perfect and now she finally remembers that it was far less than that. She begans to cry and calls her dad a bastard. Selena happens to come by and mistakenly assumes that Gail is talking about Lucas instead. She drops her some "friendly" advice about Lucas before leaving.

Gail is loading her car for she has decided to leave Trinity. Lucas arrives in time but she tells him that she no longer wants to know what really happens; she just wants to get out of Trinity and leave the past behind. Lucas tells her that there is no way to escape the truth which finally makes Gail stop and reconsider. While she is napping, she dreams about her mom getting ready to leave the Trinity's Guardian's office when her father appears. He won't let her because he has found out about her and Gage since he found her music box. They struggle and Peter Emory throws Christine against a bookcase which knocks her unconscious. He then sits down and starts drinking while the melody of the "Beautiful Dreamer" continues to play.

Gail wakes up and hears someone whistling the same tune outside. When she looks out the window, she sees that it's Caleb. She asks Caleb where he heard that from, to which he tells her that Gage used to whistle that around the house. Caleb is not very nice to her for he is upset at her. He claims she's been ignoring him in her search for the truth about her "dead relatives." Gail is hurt by this but she just lets him go.

She goes to the ruins of the Trinity Guardian and finally finds the music box. When she unlocks it with her key, she is back in the past, in another vision, and she reads a letter inside which Gage wrote to Christine, talking about a plan to kill Peter in an office fire so that they can elope. After she's done reading it, she sees Gage who is already in the process of preparing to burn down the office. She starts yelling at him to stop because her mother is inside as well, but of course, Gage can't hear her. She watches helplessly as the fire starts and both her father and mother--who has woken up from her faint--pound on the door in vain. Before she comes out of her vision, she sees her brother again. She apologizes to him for not being able to help but he tells her she already has. By finding the truth, she has not only released herself, but him as well.

Later that night, as Gail is about to sleep, Lucas approaches her bedroom door and tries to go in. But Gail tells him she is not ready for him yet though she finally says that she know believes he is innocent and she apologizes for accusing him before. Lucas is relieved to hear this and when Gail says that she thinks Gage set the fire out of jealousy, Lucas corrects her and says it was set out of love.

1. August 2002