Looking around the room one last time, Lance knew that sometime in his future, he would return to this room. As he glanced over at Kimberly, he could see her blond hair almost glowing in the amber light. Lance came to another realization: he also knew he wanted to spend his life with one woman.
And that woman was Kimberly.
Going out of the door on the porch on Main Street was far easier than going in. Lance had pulled aside a corner of the green shade behind the lace curtain to peek out. The porch was empty as the Park cleared of guests. The tired people he could see moving past the porch looked determined to get out of the Park as quickly as possible. They wouldn’t care if an always-locked door suddenly swung open in front of them.
Lance had one reminder for Kimberly. “I told Adam this when we were coming out of someplace where we shouldn’t have been: Always act like you know what you’re doing. People will tend to believe you. When I open the door, just walk out as if we did it every day. Okay?”
She just nodded, distracted, her mind still wrapped around the vision.
Once on the porch, the door firmly shut behind them, Lance used the key one last time to securely lock the door. Chatting as if he was continuing a conversation, he led her off of the porch and became part of the flow of the people moving toward the exit.
Only when they reached Lance’s car in the Employee lot did Kimberly allow herself to relax. She pulled the small box from her pocket and slowly opened the hinged lid. The gold chain had worked it way under the large red heart-shaped diamond. Now the pendant sat beautifully perched in the box. Illuminated by the overhead light she had just turned on, the diamond again reflected sparkling beams of light.
“Do you think the pendant is why Walt used hearts in all his clues?” The box was tilted back and forth to make the glistening light dance. She was afraid to touch the gemstone with her fingers; afraid of what it seemed to have done to her already. While the images were actually beautiful and comforting, the loss of consciousness—even for the briefest of moments—had disconcerted her.
“I guess.” Intent on driving as he changed lanes and accelerated down Harbor Boulevard, Lance didn’t pay attention to what she was doing. “It sure seems to tie it all together.” Traffic eased the farther they got away from the Park. He then became quiet for a moment. “But I’m not sure what Walt meant when he said the pendant had a value that was something beyond money itself.”
Kimberly thought she knew. But, her thoughts seemed too farfetched to say out loud. Even after experiencing what power she thought the pendant seemed to possess, it all seemed too fantastic and unbelievable to her. Kimberly closed the lid again and carefully set the velvet box onto the dashboard in front of her. “Well, I’m too tired to even think about the ramifications of what Walt did or didn’t mean.” She closed her eyes and shut off the ability to stare at the box.
Lance reached over to stroke her hair. A faint smile appeared on Kimberly’s lips as she drifted off to sleep. It was only a matter of moments before she began to dream normal dreams about weddings, beaches and Lance Brentwood.
The next morning, Lance rose from one of the guest bedrooms and padded barefoot across the hardwood floors of the hallway. He knocked softly on Kimberly’s bedroom door. Not hearing anything, he quietly opened her door. Entering, he found she was still asleep on her bed, only a sheet covering her lower half.
Slowly, Kimberly stirred and turned from her side onto her back as her arms stretched out and her eyes opened. She didn’t seem at all surprised to see Lance standing in her room near the door. With a shy smile, she told him, “Morning. Come here.” She extended a hand in invitation, and Lance came to sit on the edge of her bed.
“You had a smile on your face. Sweet dreams?”
Kimberly thought about her dreams as well as the dream she had had the night before while holding the pendant. “Very sweet. You?”
“Oh, you don’t want to know.”
“Maybe I do,” Kimberly responded to his grin.
“Someday I promise I’ll share.”
“I hope you will.” Kimberly believed his answer sounded like a long term promise.
During breakfast, which Kimberly cooked, Lance brought up something he had thought about up until he had fallen asleep: “I wonder if we should have the pendant evaluated.”
“You mean appraised?”
“Not necessarily appraised,” he replied slowly, looking away. “From what I know about red diamonds—which isn’t much—the largest heart shape on record is a little over one carat in size. This one is huge. I would guess it is well over twenty carats. I’d just like to know a little more about it. I mean, the setting looks very old and, knowing Walt, the stone and the necklace probably have some sort of history attached to them.”
Kimberly considered this while she munched on an English muffin. She knew from her own experience that the stone possessed something far more powerful than anything monetary. However, she felt it would not be advisable to have someone else look at—let alone touch—the pendant. “Perhaps,” she hedged, finishing her muffin. “But, I’m not sure we should. After all, I doubt Walt ever had it appraised. I’m sure there would’ve been some reference to it somewhere if he had. If it did end up having some fantastic history behind it, how would we explain how we got it? I mean, I’d never even heard of a red diamond before, let alone seen one.”
Lance slowly nodded. “Well, let’s put the pendant away for safe keeping and we can think more about it later. I’d like to go over the journal again and see Walt’s ideas on coming back. Maybe we should look through your father’s notes to see what he had planned to do.”
They both sat silently as they finished their breakfast, thinking their own thoughts. Unbeknownst to them, outside the open kitchen window, their conversation was clearly overheard by a smirking man whose face was heavily bandaged and who limped as he quickly moved away from the house.
“You have one last chance to give me the pendant, or I start taking little pieces out of that pretty face of yours.” While he continued to yell at Kimberly, Daniel pushed his scarred face close to hers. He could see her eyes, wide with fear, again return to the open door of the library. He gave a victorious chuckle. “Don’t be expecting any grand rescue from that dumb bodyguard of yours. Kevin is out back investigating a small explosion.”
“Is that what that was? I thought a jet went by overhead. What did you do?” she demanded, leaping out of the chair she had been sitting in, her temper warring against the fear of the knife he held in his damaged hand.
Daniel grabbed her arm when he saw she was about to bolt around him. “No you don’t, Missy.” Her arm was yanked up behind her back, giving him a sadistic satisfaction from the grunt of pain that came from her clenched lips. “You know that ugly little white thing out back you were so fond of? I’m afraid it went boom.”
She pulled against his grasp and was rewarded by another vicious jerk on her arm. “My gazebo? You blew up my gazebo? That…that was a gift to my father from Walt Disney. You knew it was handmade to look like the one in Marceline! How could you?”
“Oh, it was quite easy.” Thinking he had accomplished something impressive, he had a bragging swagger in his voice. “It’s amazing what you can buy over the Internet…. Now quit changing the subject. Where is that diamond?” The knife slid even closer to her face.
She backed away as far as the pain in her arm would allow. “I don’t have it. It isn’t here.”
“Now why don’t I believe you?”
“You know me, Daniel. You know I could never lie convincingly. Father always knew when I was lying, and so did you.”
“Where is it, then?”
“Lance has it.” She had to drop her eyes so he couldn’t tell that she was lying through her teeth.
“You gave a red diamond to Pretty Boy? How stupid are you!?” he yelled at her, waving the knife around in his anger. “Do you have any idea how rare those are?”
“Oh, been doing a little research, ha
ve you, Daniel?” she spat back at him.
“What, do you think I’m an idiot? Of course I did.” He had to refrain himself from slapping the smug look off her face. “Right after I heard you and Brentwood talking about it. Maybe you should have done a little yourself before giving it to that con artist. Do you really think you have a future with that loser? Your dad told me he turned on his own friends.”
Kimberly kept her voice low in an effort to sound contrite. She didn’t need him getting any angrier. “I know his history, Daniel. You don’t need to lecture me. Anyway, you of all people should know that people can change.”
“If you mean they can go from bad to worse, then you’re correct. But I don’t trust this guy. Never did. But, no, you never listen to family. You think you know everything. Well, I want that diamond. And I will get it. One way or the other. Then I’ll deal with your stupid amusement park. And the little secret you have hidden away down there.”
Kimberly gave a gasp. “You wouldn’t dare! Don’t you dare touch Walt. Let go of me!”
He gave her aching arm another yank. “Don’t tell me what to do. You aren’t in charge any more. I am. As I should’ve been all along. I finally got your father out of the picture. You cooperate, or you’re next.” He roughly pulled her over to a window that overlooked the expansive back yard. They could see the bodyguard still poking around through the debris of the gazebo looking for the detonator. Daniel knew Kevin wouldn’t be there much longer. Now it was time to put his secondary plan into action. “I need you to make a call to the Park.”
“I’m not doing anything you say. What do you mean you got my father out of the way?” She struggled against his grip. “What did you do!?”
He waved off the shocked look on her face. “Seems there are certain teas someone with a heart condition shouldn’t drink…. He really should’ve been more careful. And, yes, you are going to do what I say. If you don’t, your dear Mr. Brentwood will have an unfortunate accident in that piece of crap he drives. You know how unreliable Jags are.” Daniel started laughing at his own joke. It was a sick, desperate laugh that chilled Kimberly to the bone. She knew he meant every word. She also knew he was past the point of no return. He was desperate. He was dangerous. He had killed once and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again to get what he wanted.
“What do you want me to do?” Her voice was deceptively calm as she tried to hide the hatred. She didn’t want him doing anything impulsive to her. She now had ‘revenge’ to add to her list of grievances against her uncle.
The pressure on her arm lessened and the knife lowered. He had believed her. “That’s a good girl. You usually did listen to reason once a strong hand was shown.”
I’ll cut your heart out if you blink twice, she silently promised.
Daniel, misunderstanding her sudden smile, assumed she was now compliant and scared of him. “Call the Park and tell them to shut down Tom Sawyer Island and leave one raft operational. And don’t even try and tell me you don’t have that power.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he again pulled on her arm.
“I understand. I need to get over to the phone, Daniel.” As soon as she moved, he had shoved the knife in her face.
“Oh, right. I knew that.”
With the knife still in front of her, Kimberly picked up the direct phone to the Park and pushed number two. When the phone was answered, she knew there was no need for any pleasantries. This was the Direct Order phone line with the voice-altering transmitter. “I need Tom Sawyer Island shut down for the rest of the day. Leave one raft ready to use at the dock. Effective immediately. Thank you.”
As Kimberly replaced the handset, she knew there would be another call being placed immediately within the Park system. In approximately fifteen minutes, the Island would be completely cleared of guests. She also knew there would be no questions and no one would check to see what was either needed or wrong. Sometimes the system worked too well.
“Now what?” she demanded. “And put away that stupid knife. You know you don’t need it.”
He started to push her out of the library and toward the hallway leading to the garage. “You must think I am really stupid. I’m not about to get rid of the knife. I don’t trust you any farther than I can throw you.”
Yes, I do think you are stupid. I’m just waiting….
“You’re going to drive us to Disneyland, park in the regular lot, and enter the main gate just like any other loving family. No employee entrance. No message to any hulking security guard. We’re just going to blend in,” as they entered the garage and he motioned for her to drive her car.
“Yeah, a knife held at my throat really blends in, Daniel.” She started the car, pretending to warm it up in hopes that Kevin would come to look for her.
“Oh, don’t worry about the knife. It’ll be aimed at your spine the whole time we’re walking down that insipid Main Street.... Man, I’ll be glad when the bulldozers finally take care of that eyesore…. One false step, one tiny word to any of your friends, and you get stuck straight into the spine. Then I go after Brentwood. Savvy?” His plan was working so brilliantly, he could barely refrain from laughing out loud. He could tell she was putty in his hands. He figured it would be one hour, two tops, until he would get his hands on that diamond. And then the fun would begin.
When he realized they weren’t moving yet, he became furious. “Quit stalling! Put this jelly bean in gear and get moving.” By now Kevin would have found the cause of the explosion and would be on his way back to the house. Daniel knew he could manhandle Kimberly easily enough. Kevin was another problem. Kevin could break him in two like a matchstick.
With a silent sigh, Kimberly backed out of the garage and started down the hill, her mind spinning. Sooner or later Daniel would relax his vigilance. And she would be ready when he did.
It was a beautiful, sunny summer day in Anaheim. Disneyland was full of smiling faces, all headed in a myriad of directions to go on their next adventure. The Central Hub was newly decorated with bright flowers; the hanging pots of fuchsias a vivid pink against the green of the full trees lined up behind the flowers.
Kimberly had more on her mind than the flowers as she was roughly led by the arm through the crowds of people. Daniel had clamped onto her arm the moment her car stopped in its parking spot in the Mickey and Friends Lot. He didn’t even let go when they went through the Security checkpoint. He wasn’t giving her any chance to either flee on foot or strike out at him with her long fingernails.
Daniel led her under the arched entry of Adventureland and they wound their way through the crowd in front of Indiana Jones. Kimberly gave an upward glance as she passed under the boughs of the Treehouse, a small smile playing over her lips as she remembered the night she shared with Lance. They had gotten so close in such a short period of time. Then there had been that strange, wonderful vision of Lance.… Another yank on her arm brought her attention back to her hated uncle.
“You don’t need to be so rough, Daniel,” she quietly told him. “You’re going to leave bruises if you don’t stop that.”
“I’ll leave more than that if you don’t shut up. I see a raft at the Landing. At least you got that right.”
Kimberly gave a short sigh. Yes, her instructions were always followed to the letter, as her father’s had been. Rats.
Daniel slowed their pace as they approached the Frontierland River. He wanted to see if there was anyone who appeared to be watching the raft. Satisfied after a quick look around, Daniel pushed her through the exit gate of the Raft ride. There didn’t seem to be anyone giving them a second look. The closest people were the ones on the smoking dock, over by the Columbia’s berth. There were no security guards hovering. It looked like they were free and clear. “Get on the raft and get back by engine, away from the entrance.” He unhooked the leather ties that held the wooden raft to the dock. With a quick glance on the location of the Mark Twain and any approaching canoes, he flipped a couple of switches and the small engine roared to lif
e, water shooting out from under the rudder. He let the force of the water agitated by the engine slowly push them free of the dock. The task of getting clear of the dock was usually accomplished by a second cast member who pushed off, balancing from a precarious perch on the outermost pontoon of the raft. Daniel knew better than to ask Kimberly to help.
The raft took a rather awkward trip over to the Island. Daniel had learned how to drive the raft by questioning a friend of his who used to work there. He had never actually steered or docked one. He missed the landing dock by a few feet and had to back the raft into position. It banged heavily against the wooden dock, almost throwing them off their feet—much to the delight of several guests who watched from the other side of the River. They idly wondered why the rafts were open now with only two people on them who were obviously not cast members. Some of them guessed the raft had been ‘borrowed’ by two guests and wished they had thought of it themselves. Once the raft hit the landing, their attention drifted and they moved along. They had wanted to see the raft make the complete trip around the Island. This wasn’t any fun to watch.
After the engine was killed and the raft secured, Daniel motioned for Kimberly to get moving.
“Where are we going?” She was starting to get more worried. The island was empty and no one would come back until they received the call for the Go Ahead. She knew Daniel wouldn’t make the call. Kimberly swallowed nervously when she realized no one knew she was there.
“Head for the Fort.” Daniel referred to Fort Wilderness, a stockade built out of twelve- to fourteen-foot tall logs designed to look like real wooden stakes even to the pointed tips on top. It had been called the ‘Last Outpost of Civilization’ in years gone past, a favorite place for children of all ages to climb through and shoot imaginary rifles through the small slits high in the watchtowers.
It All Started... Page 30
