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The Witness (Queen of Swords)

"The Witness"
Queen of Swords episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 5
Directed by Peter Ellis
Written by Steve Roberts
Produced by Ken Gord
Cinematography by Alwyn Kumst
Production code 107
Original air date November 4, 2000 (2000-11-04)
Running time 44 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

Bo Derek as Mary Rose

Episode chronology
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"Vengeance"
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"Duel with a Stranger"
List of episodes

Bo Derek as Mary Rose

The Witness is the fifth episode of the syndicated television series Queen of Swords airing November 4, 2000

Tessa witnesses a shooting of a peasant girl. Anton the son of retired sea captain Mary Rose, now a rancher, is arrested. Mary Rose is determined that Tessa will not testify, but equally determined are the girl's brothers that she does. Vera holds the key. Tessa kills for the first time.

Cast as listed at the beginning and end of episode.

Evening in Santa Helena, and Tessa Alvarado, in an off-the-shoulder dress, is conspicuously alone amongst the happy couples attending a party, and decides to leave. Captain Grisham offers to be her partner or escort her home, but she dislikes him, and refuses. Walking across the square, she looks up at the hotel window, and sees the shadow of another couple kissing. Then a shot is fired, the window opens, and Carmina, a peasant girl, falls to the ground. A young man, Anton, appears at the window calling Carmina's name, as a curtain is drawn in an adjoining room. Tessa reaches the girl, followed by Captain Grisham, but the girl is dead, and Grisham orders the arrest of the young man. The next morning, Tessa is in the church paying her respects to Carmina, when she is approached by the girl's two brothers asking if she will testify against the young man. She assures them she will, but the elder brother is not convinced, saying Tessa only came to retrieve her shawl she had used to cover the dead girl's eyes. In the square, nine thundering horsemen arrive, and one, turning out to be Mary Rose, a former pirate and the boy's mother, goes to Colonel Montoya's office, and demands Anton's release. Despite pleading her son's innocence - and the threat of her armed men - Montoya maintains the law must take its course as there is a witness, Tessa Alvarado. Mary Rose visits her son in jail, but he is hostile to her, and expects to be hanged, posing an opportunity to the eavesdropping Montoya.

Tessa meets Marta at the blacksmith's and takes their carriage to journey home. On the trail home they are chased all the way back to the Alvarado hacienda by Mary Rose's men who surround the property. Safely inside they discover Mary Rose waiting for them in no mood to allow Tessa to tesify against her son - with the threat of death if she does. Tessa returns to town to speak to Colonel Montoya but he is not available, and a chance meeting with a worried Vera Hidalgo is cut short when Vera sees Mary Rose's foreman. Walking through the town, Tessa is watched by Mary Rose's men, unnerving her. When Carmina's brothers grab her and take her to one side, she confirms she will testify, and they let her go, just as she then receives a note from a small boy. Colonel Montoya and Captain Grisham are at the jail trying to goad Anton into confessing, and after the fractious meeting, orders a second scaffold for his mother. A worried Vera goes to her lover Grisham for help, but realises she can't confide in him, and then rides to the Alvarado hacienda to see Tessa. Vera tries to confide in Tessa about the events of the previous evening. Doubts put in her mind, Tessa returns to town to ask Montoya if she can see Anton but Montoya refuses, gleefully expecting (and hoping) Mary Rose will kill Tessa Alvarado, and then he could hang Mary Rose and confiscate both women's land. Montoya is as pleased as can be. Returning along the trail, Tessa Alvarado is pursued by Mary Rose's foreman, Geraldo, waving a note from Mary Rose. Tessa stops her carriage to read the note but it is blank and with one movement Geraldo lifts Tessa from the carriage and throws her to the ground producing a Navaja fighting knife. Tessa evades the knife thrusts and as Geraldo grabs her throat she hold his arm-wielding knife and manages to trip him causing him to fall upon his knife, dead. Shocked by what she has done she returns home to Marta, who points out some home truths that it is not only the Queen that can kill. Mary Rose can't believe a witless girl could kill her foreman and wants the killer found. Montoya plays a waiting game.


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