I missed the explanation of what exactly Deb did with the switchboard as a career when Sarah was a child? Something about taking phone messages I believe, but how was the pediatrician murderer connected to the switchboard?
shareAs I remember it, Deb's job was to connect calls. Back in the 60s, switchboard operates were basically how a person would make a long distance call. You'd call the operator and they'd connect you to the person you were trying to reach. However, since the calls required an operator, many times operators could listen into conversations.
I imagine this is why Deb said that she had a close circle of friends. Being an operator, she probably overheard quite a few secrets now and then from various people in her town.
My guess is, the doctor probably made a call and she connected it and overheard something that alerted her that the Dr. was the bad guy who was killing those young girls. She then eventually tried to stop him, killed him and buried the body.
In the attic, the switch she kept banging on, trying to place the connector cord into was what she had used to connect the doctor's calls in the past.
Again, most of this is a guess. It's also been at least a month now since I've seen it so I'm possibly not remembering all the tiny details.
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a *beep* how crazy they are!"
First of all, what I want to know is this: Who the hell was Desjardins talking to on the phone about his murder plans? "Hi, Mom. Yes, the demonic resurrection plan is going well. I've only got one murder left, and I've already picked out the victim. Her name is Sarah Logan. But don't tell anybody or you'll spoil it!"
Anyway, to answer the original question, Deborah didn't run a switchboard to connect calls. That would have been the function of the local telephone company. This was 1970s Virginia, not 1890s Alaska. Even rural areas were served by a telephone company that provided ALL telephone service. It's clear from the dialog that she didn't take a job with the phone company. She started her own business, which could not have been in competition with Ma Bell. There were no alternatives to the phone company; it was a total monopoly.
What Deb did was run an answering service. That's why she mentions taking calls for doctors, lawyers and other prominent people. Answering services were the only way to have your phone covered when you were out in the days before answering machines, cell phones, voicemail and text messaging. When she talks about covering for philanderers and the like, she means that she would lie about their whereabouts to callers to keep their secrets safe.
I sort of vaguely remember that, at least in movies and TV shows, answering services were depicted as having mini-switchboards like the one in the attic. I don't know if you could listen in on calls on the lines you served, too.
When Sarah was talking to Harris in the hospital he tells her that Deborah killed the doctor because she overheard him on the switchboard saying that Sarah was supposed to be his 5th victim.
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