| Lance Englund | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Actor Ryan O'Neal depicted Lance in the webseries era | |
|
The Basics
| |
| First Appearance | Chapter Three, Book One |
| Last Appearance | Alive: Chapter One, Book Two; Flashback: Chapter Eight, Book Five |
| Age | 34 (deceased) |
| Cause of Death | Stabbed by Brett Woodward |
| Spouse/Partner | Terri Englund
|
| “ | My wife wants me to give her some sympathy, huh? Well, my wife might have a better shot at my sympathy if she acted more like a wife! When’s the last time you slept with me, huh? When’s the last time you did anything besides shoot up your junk and fuck around with that worthless boyfriend of yours? Huh? Huh, Terri? Yeah, I don’t remember either. | ” |
— Lance Englund, Book One
|
Lance Henry Englund (July 1, 1932 - July 9, 1966) was the owner of The Chair Emporium, a successful furniture store in Haven Park, Terri's husband and the second murder victim.
Early life:
Lance was the only child of Henry and Hazel Englund, both very prominent figures in town. His parents operated Hazel's Diner until they sold it in 1960, though the name remains the same. At age 28. he married the decade younger Terri Woodward, and quickly went about showing her the finer things in life. He bought her an elaborate home, a beautiful car and kept her well stocked in clothes and anything else she could want. Still, Terri began to grow restless, especially given Lance's workaholic nature and the fact that when she suffered three devastating miscarriages, her husband provided little, if any, moral support.
Though Lance was aware that his wife was growing unhappy, he refused to believe the problem was that big, even after she began to have a not-so-discreet affair with Caleb Hennessy and started to abuse drugs in the process. Lance continued to hold out hope that his wife would come to her senses and realize how wonderful the life he provided her was, but it seemed that every single attempt he made to win her back pushed her further away.
Marital problems:
During book one, Lance and Terri did little more than fight. On the night of the 5th, Lance came home irate that dinner was not prepared and when Terri informed him of her best friend Carol's murder, it did little to distract him from his anger. He tore into his wife for being self-centered, for the fresh track marks on her arm and everything in between. A few days later, Terri went to visit her brother, upset by the turn things had taken and wanting to try one last thing to prove to anyone watching that she really did try to save her marriage. That same day, Lance paid a visit to Caleb, letting him know that he knew precisely what was going on between his wife and the drifter. Caleb affirmed that he'd never intended for it to be any type of secret, infuriating Lance. He made more than one threat of violence toward Caleb, but Caleb remained unintimidated and did not back down. Still, Lance vowed to get him out of Terri's life, once and for all.
A few days later, Terri approached the subject of marriage counseling with Lance, and he initially agreed, until she mentioned that it was her brother Brett that would be doing the counseling. Lance erupted, firing off insults in Brett's direction and telling Terri she could forget about it. What Terri said next surprised them both, "Then you can forget about me!" She told Lance that she would pack her things and leave right now if he didn't go along with it and, under great duress, he agreed, though he found the idea ludicrous. He made sure to make her promise, though, not to make a huge spectacle of things, as he would not tolerate that.
During Carol's wake, Lance attempted to sit with his wife, to avoid any further public scrutiny of their marriage, but Terri rebuffed him, asking why he was so concerned with what people thought of him. From there, she stormed out and Lance was right behind her, tearing into her again for the public spectacle she was making, and for a number of other things. They were interrupted by Caleb, who arrived out of nowhere. Lance again tried to tell Caleb to stay away from his wife, and when that did not work, he punched him. Horrified, Terri attempted to intervene, but was not fast enough to stop Caleb from pulling a knife out on Lance. To prevent any further violence, Terri made the difficult decision to leave with Caleb, despite Lance telling her that if she did, she was not to come back home. Lance made a point to tell Shane about this, but it's unclear if anything came of the report.
A few days later, Lance surprised his wife by showing up at the previously scheduled counseling session at First Baptist. Bitter and angry, Lance appeared ready to blow the lid off Terri's secrets, in the presence of her brother, but held back at the last minute. Instead, he turned his fury on Brett, firing off many insults, before storming out. Terri realized that by holding back, Lance must still love her, and began to reconsider the decisions she'd made.
Murder and possible suspects:
See also: Book Two's Score Chart
Desperate to get away, Lance escaped to his office at The Chair Emporium. There, he was visited by Jeff, who asked for a job. Surprised, Lance reminded Jeff of all of the times he'd scammed him out of money in the past, and vowed that he would not allow himself to be fleeced anymore. Jeff insisted that was not what he was trying to do, but Lance wouldn't hear of it, kicking him while he was down. Jeff's desperation turned to fury quickly, and he called Lance a "smug son of a bitch" and stormed out of the office, but not before offering the cryptic promise, "and you can quit worrying about the damn money I owe you. You'll get it, and you'll get a whole lot more too!"
Lance was never seen alive again. The next morning, a cleaning woman discovered his bloody and battered body, having been brutally stabbed to death overnight. Caleb and Terri took off for Casper on the same night, prompting many to speculate that they might've been responsible for the crime.
Evan Blake also appeared to be a viable suspect, with the way that he disappeared on the night of Lance's murder, and wasn't seen again until morning. When his wife Marnie discovered him in the car, he was also battered, and his clothes were smeared with dried blood, but he refused to tell her where he'd been the night before, or what type of trouble he'd run into.
In book five, it was revealed that on the night of his death, Lance was in his office, sawing into the mail with a letter opener that more closely resembled a dagger. Brett found him there, intent on getting to the bottom of his problems with Terri, but Lance rebuffed the offer and tore into him, calling him worthless and crazy, among other things, and told him that if he wanted to help anyone, he needed to start with Terri, because this was her fault, not his. He didn't stop there, revealing that Terri was having an affair with her drug dealer, and sarcastically challenging Brett to help that, throw some scriptures at that, take a baseball bat to that, and so on. With that, he tried to throw Brett out of his office, but Brett refused to leave, which left Lance, who'd been opening the mail when Brett arrived, to come out from behind the desk. The letter opener, a long instrument more closely resembling a dagger, was still in his hand and was downturned in Brett's direction. This perceived threat of violence caused Brett to snap and stab him to death in a psychotic rage, though he later had no memory of doing so.
The Lost Interlude: Another Place and Time:
In part one of the lost Another Place and Time interlude, taking place in the alternate timeline of 1981, Lance is not shown, but he is mentioned as still being married to Terri. Together, they have two sons, Jack and Ben, and are expecting a third child in January of 1982. It is implied that Lance forgave Terri for her affair with Caleb, though no clues are given as to how happy their marriage is.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams (the prequel):
Book 4.5 finds Lance newly married to Terri, and reluctantly employing Brett at his store. He comes home for the day railing to his wife about how difficult good help is to find, then stops himself, resolving that they can fight about it all later. Though puzzled, Terri attempts to distract him with Brett's birthday card (a card he is noticeably reluctant to sign) and reminds him of their plans to have dinner with the family tonight. Lance denies knowing anything about it, then unleashes another tirade about his brother-in-law, revealing that Brett took off (with Louie) an hour and a half early, with one delivery left to make. To make matters even worse, he did so in Lance's truck and a furious Lance first alludes to pressing charges, then vows that he will fire them for this stunt. Horrified, Terri begs him to reconsider, insisting there has to be some sort of logical explanation behind it, because Brett would never steal his truck, which serves to enrage him even more. He viciously rips into his wife for making excuses for her brother, and announces that her father was right about her, Emotionally, Terri tells him that isn't true, and is eventually able to convince him to allow her to get to the bottom of the matter before he makes any rash decisions. She asks if he wishes to accompany her to dinner with the family, and Lance says no, citing that he's been a lot more patient with Brett than he had to be, and acknowledging that he knows she wants them to all be one big, happy family. Terri says that she knows this.
Character conception and representation:
In the original version of the story, Lance was more of a bad guy. He was abusive to his wife, and sleeping around on her with her lover's wife, Kelsey Brady. When he was murdered early in the story, one would be hard pressed to find a single character that actually mourned him.
This version of Lance is well-meaning, but still somewhat controlling. He wanted a perfect marriage, and was not afraid to assert himself in what he wanted out of Terri and others. He had a problem with anger, but was an overall good guy, who was simply married to the wrong person.
During Independence Day's webseries era, actor Ryan O'Neal served as Lance's visual representation.