by David Smith
“No, if you die, then your girlfriend will die too…what did you call her, Missy?” Lynette asked.
Blain flinched at the mention of Malaysia. “She isn’t anyone. I’m the only one that knows where the money is.”
“Good, then when you help us, you won’t have to worry about miss Swissy Missy, Malaysia Hosner.”
Blain was shocked. “How…?”
“It was Evelyn. When I told her about you and the brunette you introduced to me as Missy, she was shocked to see that you were now with a blond by the same name when you came to see her,” Lynette said.
“And I read People Magazine religiously,” Evelyn said. “Her accent, her blond hair—and the fact that I had just read the little article about the ‘up and coming Swiss Pop Star’…” She trailed off shrugging her shoulders. She then added, “Hearing you talk to her earlier here in your apartment confirmed my suspicions.”
“Let’s just say, we have very little to lose by this little plan of ours but we have a great deal to gain with the money that Nathan gave his life to get for all of us,” Lynette said. “We owe it to Nate to keep the money ‘in the family,’ so to speak.”
Blain nodded, understanding. “If I give you the key, will you just go, leave us alone?”
“Can’t do that. First of all, you know way too much. Second, we are not as young as we used to be. We will need help,” Evelyn said.
“Third, we need to get into the Park and onto Tom Sawyer Island, which you can do both of,” Lynette said. Then she added, “And that is right where we are heading this second.”
“What happens to me after you get your money and the pendant? Then what?”
“We are desperate after more than forty years, Mr. Walters. We want the money and the pendant. We don’t want harm to come to you or Ms. Hosner,” Evelyn said. “Once we have what we want, we leave the Park, we drop you off some distance from here, somewhere there are no phones nearby and we part company.”
“We will have the means to disappear,” Lynette added.
“Okay. If I have your word you won’t harm Malaysia, I promise to help you find whatever Nathan left behind,” Blain offered.
“That would be very wise for all our interests,” Evelyn said. She looked at the clock on the wall in Blain’s apartment. “I think we better go now,” Evelyn said to Lynette.
Lynette nodded.
Evelyn then said, “Let’s go, Mr. Walters,” she pointed towards the door. “Oh, and please bring Nathan’s key.”
CHAPTER 40
Road Trip
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
7:00pm
“So how do you propose to get the bags out of the Park, assuming they are where we think they are?” Blain asked, as he sat in the back seat of Lynette’s Buick Park Avenue. The large car had plenty of room in the back where he sat opposite Evelyn.
“We have it figured out. Simple really,” Lynette said looking at Blain through the rear view mirror.
“After you sign us in, we rent a stroller from Main Street. We head over to the Island. We take the last raft over,” Evelyn was now saying, sitting next to Blain with the Colt pistol trained on him. She didn’t think she really needed it, with the threat of harming Malaysia if Blain didn’t do what they asked of him. “There won’t be many people on the island. You are going to open the chest, load the bags into the stroller, throw a baby blanket over the stash, and we simply walk out.”
“You won’t be able to get the gun into the Park,” Blain said.
“We know. It won’t matter. Lynette is going to stay near the front gate where we will meet her. If you and I don’t return or if you try and turn us in, she leaves the Park and heads over to the Honda Center on Friday; I think you can figure out what happens then.”
Blain figured that if this plan fails them, they would indeed be desperate enough to carry out the threat. He certainly didn’t want to take the risk.
“You can’t take the strollers out of the Park,” Blain said. He knew he was giving them information but he also felt like they probably had everything figured out anyway. Obviously, these two women already had plenty of opportunity to talk about this day for some time. With both having worked at the Park, even if it was decades earlier, they understood many things about Disneyland.
“We know that too. That is also why Lynette is going to be waiting for us near the front gate. We have a large stroller in the trunk. On Main Street, there is a family restroom. We transfer the bags from one stroller to the other, leaving the Disneyland stroller behind,” Evelyn said.
“Sounds like you’ve been planning this for a while. When did you figure out where the money was?”
“We actually didn’t know until today when we heard you talking to your girlfriend in your apartment,” Lynette said, looking into the backseat through the rearview mirror. “We knew from the questions you were asking that you must have found his notebook we knew he had hidden. He didn’t anticipate he would die, obviously. At worst, he figured he would end up quitting the Park and clear out his locker…taking the notebook with him. We had no idea there was even a notebook.” Lynette paused, while making a right turn onto Disney Way. She then continued. “You must have found the half page of paper that Nathan had told us would be in his wallet. Unfortunately, when he died, he had lost his wallet.”
“That was where Nathan really miscalculated,” Evelyn said. “Even if the worst thing happened, the last thing he probably would have figured on was losing his wallet.”
Lynette added, “When his belongings were given to Evelyn and her mother, we were told there was no wallet anywhere. Not on him, not in his locker at the landscaping office or in the cast member locker room, not in his rented house,” Lynette said as she turned right on Katella and headed east towards Harbor Boulevard.
“How did you find his wallet after all this time, anyway?” Evelyn asked facing Blain in the back seat.
“Doesn’t matter,” Blain said, thinking back to the events that both led up to the wallet’s discovery as well as the last few days he had spent with Malaysia since. “Let’s just say I stumbled upon it while at work.”
“Well, regardless of how it was found, we honestly didn’t know if there was any hope of finding the money,” Evelyn said. “And when Lynette called me all excited about someone coming around asking questions, we started to figure out what must have happened.”
“Yes, we have you and your singer friend to thank for doing all the hard work,” Lynette said. “If we had more time, we would love to hear just how you came to discover Nathan’s wallet and, ultimately, his notebook. I’m sure you have had yourselves quite an adventure,” Lynette added as she pulled into the short term parking lot.
I think the hard work is yet to come, Blain thought to himself, watching the barrel of the gun and Evelyn’s finger resting on the trigger out of the corner of his eye.
Parking in the short term parking area by the Main Entrance to Disneyland, Lynette told Blain to get the large fold-up stroller out of the trunk. Using a baby doll as a decoy, wrapped in a blanket, all three approached the Main Gate which was not very crowded at that time of day. Blain signed all three into the park and then he and Evelyn left Lynette with the stroller on Main Street next to the Emporium Store entrance. About half way down Main Street was the family restroom where the women said they would meet back up and then make the transfer of bags from one stroller to the other while in the safety of the large restroom designed for families to use.
Blain and Evelyn went back towards the entrance and rented a stroller at the Main Street location. That late in the day, there was no line at all and plenty of returned strollers available. They got a large one with a cover on it. Carrying a big baby blanket, they put the folded blanket in the stroller, puffing it up to look like a baby was under it, and then walked quickly back up Main Street passing Lynette who had moved and was now sitting at the small tables between the Carnation Café and the Coffee House across the street from the restrooms located on the othe
r side. Blain and Evelyn turned left at the end of Main Street and walked through Adventureland. They proceeded through New Orleans Square in front of Pirates of the Caribbean and then down to the right and over to the raft dock.
“Thought you went home, Blain,” Mike Reynolds, the lead on Rafts said as he and Evelyn were getting on board. “I heard from Jim that he sent you and a few other guys home. It’s been a slow day on the river.”
“I did,” Blain answered with little emotion. He was aware Evelyn was listening carefully to what he was saying. “My grandmother and little niece were visiting so I wanted to show her where I work,” Blain lied.
“Oh, very cool. This is the last raft over, Blain,” Mike offered. “You have about twenty minutes of time on the Island.”
“Yeah, I figured. I’m just going to walk her around the area really quick.”
After the raft landed and the few people on the raft stepped out onto the different pathways, Blain and Evelyn walked directly to the entrance to Injun Joe’s Cave pushing the Disneyland issued baby stroller along the packed, dirt trail.
CHAPTER 41
Chest of Mystery
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
8:15pm
Blain looked at the chest that sat in the middle of the quiet cavern, a chest that had been there longer than before he was a little kid. As he looked at it, Blain began remembering all the times he and his friends had passed the box here in the middle of the cavern inside Injun Joe’s Cave. All the times of pretending it was filled with money, Blain and his friends would stake claim to the imaginary treasure, standing on top of the metal chest once in a while, pretending they had just discovered it. Blain realized it had been years since he had set foot in the cave. He couldn’t remember visiting the island during the two summers he had worked at Disneyland and it had to have been a number of years even before working there that he had been on the island.
With the sun nearly set, shadows from trees blocked the little remaining sun from filtering in through the openings in the cavern. The room was dusky, void of color; the impending darkness seemed to extract what little tint the cavern had and left it only in shades of gray.
Now, ironically, Blain stood before the chest with the very opportunity he had when he was younger, staking claim to some hidden treasure inside. Yes, it was someone else’s claim, but a claim nonetheless. He pulled the key from his pocket.
“Wait,” Evelyn said sternly. Two little kids ran through the cave into another entrance being chased by a young dad. The family members paid no heed to Blain and Evelyn as the kids and dad vacated the cavern as quickly as they had entered it. The cavern was quiet once again.
“Okay. Do it,” Evelyn instructed after the room was clear.
As Blain put the key into the lock, Evelyn pulled out a flashlight from her purse. With the circle of light shining on the lock, Blain slid the key in. Immediately he knew it fit. He could feel the way it slid in, firm without wiggling, going all the way through to the back of the lock. Blain looked up at Evelyn. Given the circumstances, Blain was surprised he was not nervous. He was actually excited to see if indeed this were the resting place of the mysterious stolen money taken so very long ago. It was a little like finding the lockers with Malaysia, finding the number 18 that matched the key found in Nathan’s wallet, and later, even finding the letters, WED on locker number one. There was history being revealed and Blain was excited about being part of it…even as he was now basically being blackmailed into helping solve the last of the mystery. In his mind, Blain quickly relived the happenstance of his being in the cave at this point in time, comparing it to the similar unlikely chance of his meeting Malaysia. While he was glad she was not involved in this part of the mystery, he was also disappointed that she could not be there to witness the opening of the chest and whatever discoveries lay within it. Together, he and Malaysia had made so many discoveries: from the wallet to what they had found inside, from locating the lockers to figuring out the well-designed secret compartment locker number 18 concealed; Blain felt he was somehow incomplete in this final discovery without her with him.
Focusing on the old lock and with a little effort, the key turned within keyhole but nothing happened. He turned the key back and forth but still the collar of the antique padlock did not release.
Blain noticed the beam of light was shaking a little, perhaps nerves or maybe Evelyn was just unsteady because of her age. Keeping the key turned in the lock, Blain looked around, seeing that they were still alone in the cave. He glanced up at Evelyn and saw her anticipation, her impatience grow.
“What is the problem?” she hissed, shaking the flashlight at the lock as if the photons within the beam could somehow loosen forty-plus years of corrosion, dirt and oxidation within the brass lock.
“The lock is very old,” Blain said. “I think I can get it to open, though.”
“Okay, then do it. We are running out of time.”
Kneeling down on one knee next to the chest, Blain again looked around the darkening room. Seeing that no one was within earshot, he grasped the lock in his right hand and then slammed the back of the lock against the heavy steel latch making a loud, banging sound. Suddenly the shackle popped open as a good amount of orange powder trickled out of the mechanism.
“That’s a good sign that the key works,” Blain said, looking over at Evelyn. He then looked at her and quietly added, “But Evelyn, what if Nathan didn’t put the money in here? What if he hid it somewhere else, maybe only for himself?”
“Nate wouldn’t have done that. He loved us.”
Blain shrugged. He slipped the shackle of the lock out of the reinforced latch. The lock indeed felt very heavy as Blain set it onto the ground.
“Well, this is your moment of truth,” Blain said as he stood up and slipped his fingers under the front lip of the curved lid of the chest.
Slowly, Blain lifted the top; the hinges made a grinding sound as the top of the chest began to open.
As the lid opened further, Blain watched the beam of light from the hand-held flashlight in Evelyn’s hand began to shake even more.
CHAPTER 42
Running on Empty
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
8:38pm
As the shaking beam of her flashlight was directed towards inside of the chest, Evelyn moved closer and looked in. The beam of light danced more and more as she saw what was inside.
Blain grinned, but was also shaking his head.
Except for dust and dirt that lined the bottom and piled up a little higher in the corners, the chest was completely empty.
“No,” a whispered sound came from Evelyn’s mouth. Her eye brows were pinched close, her mouth half open.
Blain heard her voice again. It was more of a whimper. “No, no, no, Nathan, why did you send us here?”
Evelyn leaned in; shining the flashlight into the corners, the coffer was filled only with dust. She began reaching a hand inside, desperately feeling around as if the chest being empty was a mirage, a magician’s illusion of hiding the money from plain sight. Even as it was obviously empty, Evelyn shined the flashlight around and around the inside of the box, looking for something that was clearly not there.
Blain looked at Evelyn with pity. He could feel her disappointment, forty-plus years of waiting. He was sure she felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her.
Blain was disappointed too, but certainly for other reasons.
Suddenly footsteps were heard coming in from two directions.
Evelyn kept the flashlight on the chest, ignoring or not hearing the new sounds.
“Are you Blain Walters?” a distinguished looking man with a full head of thick, black hair and dark suit asked, shining a bright beam of light from a sturdy yellow flashlight held in his hand. He and two other men had moved into the cavern, all three pulling up short as they encountered Blain and Evelyn standing at the opened chest.
“I am,” Blain said shielding his eyes from the intense light the man was shin
ing on him.
Moving the beam of light to the side, the man looked at the woman standing next to Blain. “And you must be Evelyn Duncan?” the man said as if he were making an educated guess. The other two men were now shining flashlights on Evelyn, making the room considerably brighter as dusk had completely enveloped the island and the interior of the cave.
Evelyn never moved her eyes from the chest. It was as if she couldn’t hear anyone else talking within the confines of the cavern.
“My name is Mani Wolford,” Wolf said looking back at Blain. “Blain, you are the same person who I talked to earlier on the phone?” Wolf seemed to want to confirm who the characters were in this unfolding drama.
Blain nodded and then offered, “Yes, and you are correct; this is Evelyn Duncan. She is the sister of Nathan Duncan. And, as I mentioned to you on the phone, Mr. Wolford, I thought that this might be the place that Nathan had hid the stolen money.”
Wolf shined the light on the chest, seeing the lid open and the empty space inside. Everyone in the cavern followed the beam of light.
Blain turned back to Wolf and calmly said, “Mr. Wolford, on Main Street, near the family restroom about half way down the street,” Blain started, Wolf nodding knowing where the restroom was located. “You will want to send a couple security guards there to take into custody an older woman by the name of Lynette Collins Forester. She will have a dark blue stroller with a fake baby inside,” Blain said. “In addition, you will find a brown Buick Park Avenue in the short term parking lot. In the glove box you should find a gun; the same gun that was used to force me here.”
Wolf pulled off the radio that hung inside his coat on a belt clip. Pushing the talk button, he described the situation to Jerry, the head of Security. After he finished, he clipped the walkie-talkie back to his belt. Without saying a word, Wolf nodded to the other two security guards who walked up behind Evelyn. Wolf came up to the large chest, looking in and shaking his head, looking almost as disappointed as Evelyn. The two security guards, who were on each side of Evelyn, also looked in the chest.
