It All Started...

by David W. Smith

  “You mean that was Daniel?” Kimberly’s hand went to her mouth.

  “Yes. I saw him in the rear-view mirror when he rammed the bumper.”

  Kimberly didn’t say anything. She was willing her heart to stop its wild pounding in her chest.

  “When we first got hit, I thought it must’ve been a drunk…that was until he came after us again.” Lance rubbed his temples as the adrenaline began to wear off and the implications set in. He didn’t need to tell Kimberly that he felt Daniel had been trying to kill them. “I don’t know if he was hurt or not.” The fleeting, horrific image of the final crash was still vivid in his mind. “And, to be perfectly honest, I don’t really care if he was. I just hope no one else was hurt by his stupidity.”

  Kimberly was thoughtful for a moment. “If he had anything to drink… Gosh, knowing Daniel like I do, he probably had at least a few beers to give him the courage to try what he just did.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, too.” Lance reached out to stroke her arm. Before the action could be completed, he found his hands were visibly shaking.

  “If we’re lucky, he’ll be taken in for drunk driving. It looks like there may have been quite a few witnesses.” Kimberly was just hopeful he wouldn’t be able to come after them again.

  “And if we’re unlucky, someone may have gotten our license plate.”

  Kimberly thought about that dreadful possibility for a moment. Then she remembered something and brightened. “Lance, my car doesn’t have plates!” She pointed to the paper taped to the inside of the front windshield. “It’s a temporary license tag they give you until your personalized plates come in.”

  “I didn’t know you ordered plates.” Glad for a diversion, any diversion, he leaned back with a grin. “What did you order? Belle or Princess?”

  “Very funny. I ordered Wishful.”

  “Now that’s appropriate. I like it.”

  The diversion was short-lived. Kimberly’s small smile faded and she became serious again. “Lance? I really want to go home now.”

  “No problem. We’ll head back to the Luxor.”

  “No! I mean home home. Can we please go now?”

  Lance gave her an understanding pat on the arm. “Sure, sweetheart. Of course we can. The cels are already in my briefcase in the trunk. Let’s just go get the rest of our stuff and then we can hit the road.” He could feel her body quiver as her nerves began to take over.

  “No, I want to go now. I…I don’t care about those clothes. I want to be safe in my own home…with you.” Her admission came out shyly as she tried to will her body to keep from shaking.

  Without another word, Lance leaned over to give her a reassuring kiss. Starting the car, he headed for I-15 and home.

  “It turned out to be an unlucky night for Cadillacs tonight in Las Vegas. There were two major accidents that tied up traffic in both directions on the Strip in the popular gambling Mecca. What made the two unrelated accidents bizarre was that they both involved last year’s 2001 black Cadillacs.

  “As we can see in the news feed, officers on the scene in the first two-car wreck had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver. The driver of that Cadillac was then taken by ambulance to the hospital with severe injuries.

  “By the time emergency personnel arrived at the scene of the second accident site, as seen here, the driver of this Cadillac had already fled the scene. Witnesses reported the car had been speeding down Koval Lane; some speculated it had been either racing with or chasing an unidentified green sports car.

  “Veering out of control across two lanes of oncoming traffic, the black Cadillac hit a telephone pole and a fire hydrant before it finally slammed into an empty video store. Lady Luck was on the side of the oncoming cars as all of them were able to avoid the accident.

  “As we can see from this footage, it is amazing the unknown driver was able to walk away from the accident. It will take more than a paint job to fix up this car.

  “Police are still looking for the driver of that second Caddy. If you have any information, please call the number on the screen.

  “Now, in other local news….”

  The television was clicked off. Kimberly stared unbelieving at the black screen. “He got away? How could he have gotten out of that mess? Where is he?”

  Lance could tell she was still in a state of shock from their horrible evening. After sleeping most of the way home, he had hoped she would awaken in a calmer frame of mind. Now that they knew Daniel was still out there somewhere, he could see that this wouldn’t be the case.

  “I’m going to call Kevin to come over for the rest of the night. Until we know where your uncle is, I don’t want you left alone. Okay?” As he reached for the phone to alert the body guard, she just sat on the sofa, staring at the silent television.

  “Yes, that’s fine.” The response was merely automatic, not from actually thinking about what he had asked. “Maybe he can’t get out of Vegas.”

  Lance knew now was not the time to pretend to misunderstand her and ask if she meant Kevin. The call made, he put an arm around her shoulder and drew her next to him. “Kevin will be here in fifteen minutes. He saw the news, too. I’ll stay until the house is safely locked and you’re good. Okay?”

  “Yes, that’s fine.”

  Lance sat and held her until the doorbell rang, which caused Kimberly to jump. “It’s just Kevin,” he assured her. “You stay here. I’ll let him in.”

  “Yes, that’s fine.”

  The two men talked briefly at the door, their voices low. They both now knew they had an injured, desperate, dangerous man on their hands. Kevin would stay at the house until this matter was solved—one way or the other. Lance would be with Kimberly any time she needed to leave the house. They would both make sure she was never alone.

  Finding a prescription for a mild sleeping pill in her father’s bathroom, Lance persuaded her to take half a tablet. First, though, she made him promise he too would stay in the house. At her frightened look, he knew he would promise her anything.

  He also realized it would be a couple of days before they could begin a search of Main Street to see if their discovery was indeed correct. He hoped their next part of the adventure would be a good distraction for her. Perhaps finding the next step in the Hidden Mickey hunt would take her mind off things.

  Once she was finally asleep, at last peaceful, he came to another realization: If he had to, he would forego the entire quest just to make sure she was safe and secure.

  Like two robbers casing the perimeter of a bank, Kimberly and Lance moved down Main Street with purpose in their step. Unlike the thousands of guests excitedly moving toward various destinations within the Park, taking in all that Disneyland offered, these two were focused only on the few addresses that were written above some of the shop doors.

  “I still can’t figure out why a street with so many buildings has so few addresses.”

  Kimberly gave the arm she was holding a squeeze. “My, someone is anxious.”

  “Yes, I am.” A big, contagious grin spread over his face. “You can’t fool me, either, Missy. I know you’re just as excited as I.… Hey, didn’t we go past this number already?”

  “The Blue Ribbon Bakery is number 201—and, no, we don’t have time to get something to eat. We just had lunch a couple of hours ago….”

  “I wasn’t going to….”

  “Yes, you were.”

  “Fine.” Lance gave a dramatic sigh as they turned to retrace their steps to the other address they had just seen. “Let me starve to death. You’ll miss me, you know.” He grinned to himself when she unconsciously gripped his arm tighter. “Here, look. The Crystal Arcade is number 107.”

  “Well, we now know the building we’re looking for is between these two. Since the Bakery’s number starts with a two, our building has to be in the same block as the Arcade. There aren’t that many storefronts. Want to look for the sign in the window instead?”

  Looking up at the win
dows that lined the second stories of the different buildings, Lance let out a ‘hmmph.’ “Didn’t think of that. I guess that’s why you make the big bucks.”

  “Just keep reading, Brentwood.”

  Many windows on Main Street had what looked like an advertisement painted on them. They were actually honors for the person or persons named—a thank you for years of service or dedication to Disneyland or to Walt Disney himself. The windows were presented to the honoree with much ceremony.

  “And there we are. Look.” One of the brick buildings had four identical upper windows and Lance pointed out one of them only moments later. “Wow, you were actually right about why Walt had the word ‘WINDOW’ written in caps—it literally referred to a window. It all makes sense.” Hands on his hips, he nodded his head at the window he had found. “The window, the phrase, the coded address, like all of his clues, had a connected meaning.”

  As Kimberly had anticipated, that part of Walt’s clue, ‘Caring and Giving Come from the Heart’ was printed in bold black letters, made more prominent by the lace curtain that backed the window. Beige and white striped awnings shaded not only the small upper windows, but also the large glass that allowed passers-by to look inside the brick building.

  “That has to be the right shop, but I don’t see any address.” They were in front of the New Century Timepieces store, about halfway down Main Street and just past the Crystal Arcade.

  “Well,” Lance told her in a low voice as they stood on the busy sidewalk, “If Walt is destined to see the results of his labor someday, it’s apropos that he would hide a clue in a watch shop.”

  “But what about the other phrase, ‘Two WEDs are better than one’?” The first part of the clue, she felt, had been figured out, but this last part of the clue Walt had written baffled her.

  “It looks like a play on words to me. Part of Walt’s original instructions was ‘Two heads are better than one’.” Lance used the diversion of their discussion to take Kimberly’s hand. “Since nearly every clue we’ve found had the letters WED pointing to the hidden location, we have to assume that there must be two sets of WED here somewhere. Well, hopefully here,” he indicated the shop with a tilt of his chin.

  Kimberly thought about that for a moment and could only agree with Lance’s reasoning. “Then let’s see if we can find a pair of WEDs. Want to start out here?”

  Lance and Kimberly went up the storefront’s window to carefully examine the edges of the frame, and even the pillars that held up the awnings shading the front door. The store sat on the corner of the small side street halfway down Main Street with two windows that faced Main Street and two that faced the small cul-de-sac. The Carnation Cafe with its outdoor tables shaded in the trademark red and white striped umbrellas was right next to them in the side street. Lance thought about the delicious croissant sandwiches they served and his stomach began to growl. Knowing Kimberly would veto that idea again now that they had just found their destination, he ignored the persistent rumblings.

  Not knowing what they were looking for, the couple made sure they didn’t miss anything. Concentrated on finding the telltale WEDs, they ran their fingers along the window sills and ran their hands up and down the shop’s heavily painted outside walls. Curious, several guests stopped to watch them. It looked like they were either inspectors or two people who had somehow lost a contact lens they somehow expected to find attached to the wall or windows.

  “Whatcha doing, mister?”

  Lance’s head jerked in the direction of the question and looked down at a ten-year old boy. For the first time he had to consider what their actions probably looked like to the child—or anyone else walking by. “Uh, why, we’re Magic Kingdom Inspectors, young man.” Lance turned on his Official Security Guard voice. “We make sure that every inch of the Kingdom is magical for kids.”

  The boy tilted his head with a look that said, ‘Do I look stupid?’ “Yeah, right.” The boy rolled his eyes before moving on with his older sister and parents.

  “Well, Inspector, the kid really bought that line.” Kimberly was trying hard not to laugh.

  “Hey, what can I say? I panicked.” Lance held his hands out to the side. “You know, I think that was the same kid who ratted on us in Marceline.” When he and Adam had followed the first clue, they ended up in Marceline, the town in which Walt grew up. He and Adam became paranoid when a similar young boy made it his business to see why the two men were digging around Walt’s Dreaming Tree. Lance turned back to the building. “Besides, imagine what it must look like we are doing.”

  She glanced around at the few people who were still watching the ‘show’ they presented. “Very true,” she replied, turning red.

  “Did you find anything yet?” Lance ignored the ones who were getting bored by the inaction of the ‘performers.’ Waiting them out, he knew they’d move on soon.

  In reality, neither Lance nor Kimberly expected to find anything out in the open. Anything on the street eventually would have been seen by some of the tens of thousands of guests that passed by each day. Yet, both felt it was important to look over every inch of the store. They knew they had the right place…and they certainly didn’t want to miss Walt’s reference point.

  “I haven’t found anything. I’d bet whatever Walt left behind would be inside and somewhere that’s not easy to find.” Kimberly voiced the same assumption Lance had made.

  “I tend to agree with you.” Lance looked at the interior of the store through the open door. With one last glance at the nearby Carnation Café, he had to try. “Hey, before we go in, how about a snack first?”

  “If we find the clue, I’ll take you to dinner afterward.” Kimberly took his arm and led him through the door.

  “And if we don’t?”

  “Then I guess you’re going to be a lot thinner.”

  “Up until 1970, this building was the Upjohn drug store.” The cast member looked to be in his late fifties and wore a watch-maker’s apron. He stood behind a beautiful glass counter displaying watches of various makes. After a casual glance around the shop, Lance and Kimberly had approached him to see what they could learn about the shop.

  “So, this watch store wasn’t here while Walt was alive?”

  The man took off took off a pair of magnifying glasses he had perched on his balding head. A nametag identified him as Jeffery. Kimberly didn’t think he looked like a Jeffery.

  “Oh, the building was here, but, no, it wasn’t a watch shop. As a matter of fact, my dad worked for Upjohn Pharmacy when Walt signed the company on to be the store’s sponsor.” Jeffery had a warm smile at the memory it evoked. “I was only about, oh, seven or so when my dad came to work at Disneyland. I thought that was the coolest thing in the whole world.”

  “So you were here while Walt was alive?” Lance shot a side glance at Kimberly.

  “Yep. In fact, I met him several times back then…although, to be honest, I don’t remember much about him.” Before he continued, Jeffery looked around the store to see if he was needed. A co-worker was arranging a display near the front entrance. There weren’t many customers browsing; it was early in the day and most guests were busy heading to various rides. The majority of shopping came later in the day or right before they left the Park.

  Satisfied that he had some time, Jeffery continued. “I do have a lot of fond memories hanging out with my pop here, though. I used to sit on a big stool they had for the pharmacist who worked behind the counter over there,” pointing to the opposite wall where two glass counters now ran the length of the room from wall to wall. There was a three-foot gap between the counters so cast members could get through to open the display and withdraw items for guests.

  “I’ll bet that was a kick.” Lance would have bet that a lot of kids who lived in the area dreamed about working at Disneyland.

  “You guys from around here?” Jeffery asked.

  “Actually, we both work here.” Kimberly pointed to herself. “I’m in Entertainment as a Character. L
ance here is in Security.”

  “Hey, that’s why you both look a little familiar.”

  “Probably. Though, I’m usually in a brown wig as Belle.”

  “And, even though it’s been a while, I’ve been on Fox Patrol on Main Street a number of times.”

  Jeffery snapped his fingers. “That’s where I remember you. In fact, wasn’t it you about six months ago who caught a pick-pocket working Main Street? Wasn’t it the same guy who stole one of our expensive pocket watches right from this counter?”

  “Yes. In fact, that was how we knew he was a pick-pocket. He had a dozen wallets on him when we searched him after I saw him lift the watch when you guys had your backs turned.”

  Lance loved working Fox Patrol because he got to dress casually like a tourist. It was a nice change-of-pace from the usual security uniform, hat and hard shoes he normally wore for a regular shift.

  “Hey, want to see some pictures of me with Walt?” Jeffery suddenly changed the subject, his voice light and excited, revealing how much it would mean to him.

  “Wow, you actually have a picture of you with Walt?”

  “A couple, actually. Dad would make a big deal whenever Walt walked into the store.”

  “Those have to be treasured pictures.”

  Lance had a sudden thought about what the man had just said. “Did Walt come in very often?”

  “Actually, yes, he did.” Jeffery nodded as he thought back. “I remember my dad saying that Walt must have really liked the store because he dropped in so often…more than the other shops, I think.”

  “Really?” Lance let that information sink in. “You have that picture here? Of you and Walt?”

  “Sure, I’ve got a copy here and the original at home. I work here full time. Been here for almost twenty-five years,” Jeffery told them proudly before he turned to his co-worker. “Hey, Grant, I’m going in the back for a second.”

  Grant, younger than Jeffery, but with even less hair, nodded. “I got it covered. Kinda slow right now.”