(wasn't aired during original run in U.S.) Echo of Your Last Goodbye sound files

While out on a date, Ben receives a call from Floyd on his police radio about people complaining about a foul smell coming from an abandoned house. At first he doesn't want to look into it since he is on a date, but his date convinces him to since she thinks it's exciting. When they arrive at the house, Ben is immediately struck with the awful smell though strangely enough, his date doesn't smell anything. She goes ahead of him to look around the place. Ben sees some apparitions of children as he is about to follow her. When they see a light in a window of the house, the two of them look thru it and Ben sees a replay of Lucas twisting Merlyn's neck. He is taken aback and asks his date if she saw anything. She tells him calmly that she did see a man twisting a girl's neck and then to his horror, she twists her own neck to show him. His date turns into Merlyn with her neck broken who tells him to reveal the truth about her death. Ben screams in horror at the sight.

Ben is trying to get drunk at a bar to forget what had happened when he runs into Billy who is waiting for his date. Billy starts praising the virtues of his new girlfriend and when she turns out to be Selena, Ben is thoroughly surprised. He comments to Selena on how she's cheating on Lucas again to which she replies that Lucas is doing the same to her really, since he has a girlfriend.

Gail is undressing for bed while talking into her tape recorder about love and not trusting men. She goes on saying how one shouldn't believe in love and especially be suspicious and stay away from someone like Lucas. Surprisingly, when she turns off the tape recorder, Lucas is in bed beside her. He tells her to leave the tape recorder on so that she can listen to it later and they began kissing.

Back at the bar, a woman has selected "Echo of Your Last Goodbye" on the jukebox and she approaches Ben to ask for a dance. When Ben looks up, he is shocked to see that it is Merlyn. He receives some more shocks when he finds that the bartender and a woman playing pool have all turned into Merlyn. He rushes out of the bar immediately.

Boone and Caleb are at school when the encounter a bully, a girl by the name of Tina, trying to get a drink from a vending machine. She demands Boone to reach inside the machine to get the drink for him and he complies. He gets the wrong drink the first time so she makes him do it again. Caleb starts telling Boone not to listen to her which angers Tina so as a way of punishing him, she slams a button on the machine and the machine starts working. Boone's hand almost gets broken if not for Caleb unplugging the machine immediately. Boone gets mad at Caleb for agitating Tina and she warns him to watch it as well. When Caleb sees that Selena is standing nearby, he asks her if she saw what happened. Although she did, instead of admonishing Tina, she tells Caleb that he should've minded his own business and let Boone take care of his own battles. She is actually preoccupied with dreamy thoughts about Billy, who has given her a rose that morning. When she is pricked by the rose, she licks the blood off her fingers.

Ben is napping at the station but is woken up by Lucas who simply pinches his nose to block his air. He tells Lucas that he had a rough night and when Floyd arrives, he chews him out a little for sending him to that stinky abandoned house. Confused, Floyd tells him that he never did that and Lucas even backs him up by telling Ben that Floyd wasn't on duty last night. Sensing something awry, Lucas dismisses Floyd and asks Ben what's going on. Ben tells him that he knows Merlyn sent him there and starts talking about Lucas' secrets in terms of the Temple family. Lucas is greatly displeased and he warns Ben to not return to that house again or he'll hurt him. When Ben returns home that day, he finds on his answering machine a message from Merlyn. He tries to stop it by pulling the tape off the machine and even shutting it off, but the message continues to play. Merlyn appears on the television screen then and tells him that buried truth stinks.

Selena drops in on Billy while he is fixing the gurney and they have a little rough and tumble while discussing the concept of pain and pleasure.

After Gail drops Caleb's lunch off to him at school since he forgot it that morning, he tells her about Tina. Gail's advice to him is to stand up for him self. Just then, Lucas happens to appear and he tells Caleb instead that the best way is to get her on his side. To seduce her and then make her respect him. There is a little back and forth between Gail and Lucas about seduction. Caleb decides to take Lucas' advice and heads off back to school. Gail gets into her car and is about to leave but Lucas stops her momentarily to tell her that she mustn't trust the "illusion of free will" she has.

In the town library, Ben is looking thru the newspaper archives. He hears Merlyn's voice telling him that she wasn't the only one killed but he still doesn't know how to uncover the truth. Gail happens to come by so he asks her for help on looking through the stuff. They both go through the records together and find out that that abandoned house was actually owned by Judith Temple when she was alive and she had used it for a half-way home for runaway children. Gail goes with Ben to the house to look around. He still smells the putrid odor, but Gail also doesn't smell anything. They poke around the place a bit and when Gail goes into an drawer in one of the rooms upstairs, she finds a set of photograph that was drawn by Judith. One shows Judith which is titled "the sacred temple," another a drawing of a man's foot stepping on a doll with the words "the temple is violated," and lastly there is a drawing of Lucas with an X across it and the words "the illusion of free will."

Meanwhile, Ben is outside on the grounds when he hears someone screaming. He looks up at a second story window and sees Judith being pushed out the window and then Lucas standing there. Just then, Gail meets up with him to show him the pictures. They deduce that Lucas probably raped Judith and then Ben concludes that she then had Caleb and was pushed out the window by Lucas.

Ben is at the hospital in the room where Judith had gotten killed. He is still debating the motive behind Lucas' killing Judith. Merlyn appears as a nurse and Ben tells her that he doesn't know what more he could do and he won't know what to do with the truth even when he finds out. She lets him know that she wants Ben to stop Lucas from hurting more people. She also wants him to protect Caleb and to make Gail wake up and see Lucas for what he is.

Gail is inLucas' office demanding an explanation about the pictures. She tells him that she knows about his relationship with Caleb and he doesn't deny that he is his son. When she demands to know if he did indeed rape Judith, Lucas still lies and says he didn't.

At school, Tina is again trying to get a drink out of the machine. She starts reaching into the machine to get one out herself when Caleb appears and offers to show her an easier way to get the coke. He demonstrates by reaching in and getting the money from the machine instead. He instructs her how to do it, but when she tries, her hand gets stuck. Alarmed, she calls to Caleb for help but he won't. Ignoring her pleas, Caleb deposits his coins in the machine and presses the button purposefully. Tina's hand is broken when the machine rack turns inside to deliver the soda.

Ben is back at the abandoned house. Merlyn appears to him and he asks again what he should do. She tells him that she just wants him to unbury the truth and also that a lot of children died as a result of Judith's untimely death. Because the shelter was closed down, kids with nowhere to go couldn't find a place to stay and so they ended up dying out in the streets. Ben is completely saddened after hearing that. Just then, Tina happens to go into the house since that is where she usually sleeps. Upon seeing her broken hand, Ben quickly drives her to the hospital.

Lucas has taken Caleb to the hospital to see Tina even though he is commending him about his good work in dealing with her. Caleb tells him that he didn't feel anything when he was hurting Tina, but now he feels bad. Lucas assures him that he shouldn't feel bad because now he has earned the respect of Tina. Lucas meets up with Ben in the hallway and after Caleb has gone in to see Tina, Ben starts asking Lucas about Judith. Lucas is really vexed by the fact that Ben had defied him and returned to the house but Ben continues to demand the truth about Judith. Finally, Lucas admits that he did rape and kill Judith but that if Ben ever defied him again, he would kill him as well. Ben is satisfied in finally hearing the truth from Lucas' own lips. Billy tells Ben about Tina's condition; how if he hadn't brought her to the hospital, she would've probably been dead from the cold since she is hypothermic.

In Tina's room, Caleb is apologizing to her about what he did. Tina tells him that she has learned a lesson in that she has learned to trust Ben and perhaps someday, she will be able to trust Caleb as well.

Billy is a no-show at a date with Selena that night because he had to stay at the hospital. Not knowing this, Selena thinks she has been stood up so she leaves the bar, hurt.

When Ben returns to the bar that night, Merlyn appears as the bartender and commends him on finding out the truth at last. Ben asks her to dance so they slow-dance to "Echo of Your Last Goodbye".

1. August 2002