The Key To the Kingdom (23 page)
Read The Key To the Kingdom Online
Authors: Jeff Dixon
R
ELAXING IN THE SAFETY
of his automobile, Hawk began to breathe easier as Kiran drove past the security exit. She had met him seated snugly in the driver’s seat with the engine running. Immediately after letting Hawk inside, she’d placed the Mustang in gear without saying a word. After clearing security she looked over at him with an inquisitive eye.
He offered, “All in all it was pretty uneventful, except for nearly bumping into another mountain climber.”
“But no one else saw you . . . right?”
“If they did, I didn’t see them.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I guess. I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I just keep finding stuff.” Hawk tilted his head. “I’m hoping that when I put the stuff together it will all make sense.”
He pulled the plastic oval out of his pocket and held it out so the green glow from the dashboard would illuminate it. Kiran glanced at it with a puzzled expression.
“It’s an employee name tag.”
“Apparently,” Hawk responded. “The yeti was protecting it.”
The white plastic badge is worn by all Walt Disney World employees. Emblazoned with the cast member’s name across the center, each badge also reveals the hometown of the wearer. The reason for the mention of the hometown is to encourage conversation from guests who might be curious as to where a cast member hails from or even a common contact point to invite interaction between cast and guests. The tag Hawk had found in the box in the Forbidden Mountain featured his name, Grayson, and his hometown read, Celebration, Florida.
As Kiran drove she reached over and took it out of his hand. Bringing it closer to her she studied it and then passed it back.
“See the Mickey Mouse on the badge?” She turned the car toward the Magic Kingdom. “That’s Sorcerer Mickey.”
There indeed was a red-robed Mickey wearing a blue hat just as he had in the short film,
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
, a segment of the classic 1940 Disney film
Fantasia
. He did not understand why that might be important.
“Sorcerer Mickey is symbolic of Walt Disney Imagineering. The Imagineers see themselves as the devoted and loyal group that helps create the magic. Their inspiration is Walt himself. You have an Imagineers name tag.”
“I see.” Hawk nodded, although he hadn’t had time to think through what he might be doing with this badge next.
“Is that all you found?” Kiran inquired as she pulled his car into the reserved parking area facing the Transportation and Ticket Center of the Magic Kingdom.
“S
O WHAT DID YOU TELL HER?”
Juliette demanded of Hawk later that morning.
Jonathan had done exactly as Hawk had requested. He had gotten in contact with both Juliette and Shep and they were all waiting on the beach at the Grand Floridian Resort when Hawk arrived at eight a.m. The early morning sun glistened off the water like a sheet of gold between the beach and the Magic Kingdom. Hawk’s shoes sank shallowly in the sugar sand as he walked across the beach. He felt his face brighten into a smile in genuine pleasure at the sight of his staff. So much had happened, and he was much more eager than he’d thought to tell them the events of the past few days.
After settling into a tight circle of beach chairs and exchanging quick pleasantries, he began to unpack the saga.
“And that’s all I told her,” Hawk answered Juliette’s question.
“But you found something else, didn’t you?” She leaned forward, nearly falling out of her chair.
“I also found this.” Hawk reached into his pocket and pulled out the flat rectangular discovery he’d found with the name tag below the yeti. He sat with the others and passed it over to Shep, who was sitting across from him in their beachside huddle.
“An employee ID?” Shep said.
“Yes, complete with my name, picture, and the department I work for within the Walt Disney Company.”
Jonathan took the card from Shep. “Hey, you’re an Imagineer!”
All three of them were studying the small card intensely. Juliette reached over and took the card from Jonathan, turning it over in her hand. A look of puzzlement crossed her face.
“You know, I’ve seen some of the cast IDs that folks at church have, but this looks different.”
“Different how?” Hawk wondered.
“There is more to it. It’s heftier, like a credit card.” She continued to examine it. “This magnetic stripe on the back is different than any cast member ID that I’ve ever seen before.”
Jonathan took the card from Juliette and concurred with her summation. Shep then examined the card again and nodded. After a few moments he passed the card back to Hawk. Replacing it in his pocket he exchanged it for the key that Farren had given him. Holding out the gift that had started his wonderfully strange scavenger hunt, he offered it for his friends inspection. They all examined it with the same thoroughness as they had the ID card.
“So what do you think happened to Farren?” Jonathan asked.
“I really don’t know,” Hawk said. “I initially thought he was just ignoring my calls while I tried to solve the mystery of the key. But when I couldn’t find him and he didn’t show up at work, I didn’t know what to think.”
“Do you think the person chasing you at the Gamble House had something to do with his disappearance?” Shep asked the very question that had weighed on Hawk.
“I’ve thought that. As far as I know he hasn’t been seen since that night.”
“Which means you were the last person to see him before he disappeared,” Juliette interjected.
“Right.”
“Now that he’s missing and the sheriff’s department is involved, I would imagine they’d be interested in hearing about your late-night excursion,” Jonathan added.
“Maybe you should go ahead and talk to them,” Shep said.
“I don’t mind, but I was hoping that if I could solve the puzzle or whatever it is, I might be able to figure out what happened to him.”
“Or at least know if the key and the puzzle are connected to his disappearing, right?” Juliette said.
“So maybe you shouldn’t talk to them yet.” Shep raised his shoulders.
“That’s the problem, guys. I don’t know what to do.”
The question-and-answer session was similar to their weekly staff meetings. They occasionally poked fun at one another because each had such a strong personality they rarely bogged down when making a decision. However, in this situation silence settled across the group. Hawk found himself absently watching the early morning movement of a monorail snaking past the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom.
“If you aren’t ready to talk to the sheriff yet, what’s your next move?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t know,” Hawk restated.
“You don’t actually have another clue to chase down,” Shep said. “I suppose you could just wander around and wait for Pal Mickey to talk to you.”
“You
do
have a clue to chase,” Juliette corrected.
“I do?” Hawk asked.
“Sure you do. The
Old Yeller
DVD you found in the Police Telegraph Box at the Carthay Circle Theatre. You had to have it to figure out where to find the map to the plane, but you said the DVD wasn’t factory sealed.”
“But it looked like a regular DVD.”
“Yes, and your Pal Mickey looks like a regular stuffed animal, and you don’t look like a man who’s been sneaking into resort attractions after hours.”
Hawk cringed. “Okay, you made your point.”
Juliette nodded and smiled a satisfied smile.
Jonathan was now plotting their next strategic move. “We need to watch the DVD. But Hawk, we can’t go back to the office or your home, the sheriff’s department might be there to talk with you.”
“So we can go back to one of our houses,” Shep reasoned.
“Eventually they might drop by those if they’re actively working the case,” Jonathan disagreed.
“Especially since we all saw Farren the day he disappeared.” Juliette shook her head. “You can’t go home and you can’t go to the office.”
“Why do we have go anywhere?” Hawk’s eyes flickered with inspiration. “We’re in the greatest tourist destination in the entire world. Let’s get a room here at the resort and watch the DVD.”
“That also gives you a place to stay away from the usual places,” Juliette added. “After all, you did tell us you were going to be out for a few days.”
“I’ll get the room for you,” Jonathan offered. “That way no one will be able to trace your name to it.”
“Let’s go.” Hawk got to his feet.
Shep, Juliette, and Jonathan joined him and shuffled along the sandy shoreline. Reaching the concrete pathway, they knocked the sand off of their shoes. As they headed toward the resort, Hawk thought how oddly they must have looked dressed in casual work attire, sitting on a beach.
“This place is great. By the way, Jonathan, thanks for offering to pay for my vacation.”
“Pay nothing,” Jonathan retorted. “You’re going to pay me back.” They all laughed.
The four entered one of the side entrances to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. The hallway teemed with people enjoying the luxury of the nineteenth-century-themed resort, and Shep got separated from the other three in a surge of people. The Victorian decor was meticulous in detail including the ceiling fans rotating throughout the interior of the massive complex. After glancing at the beautiful detailing, Hawk let his gaze drift to the faces of the people mingling about doing the things that tourists do. Suddenly his eyes ran across a face and then darted back, doing a double take. Locking onto his stare from across the expansive lobby was a round face he had encountered before. The preacher saw the same crooked nose holding up the same pair of dark sunglasses now worn indoors. He didn’t need to see the man’s name tag to remember his name was Reginald. The same official-looking, stern-faced cast member that had seen him at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
Although Hawk couldn’t see through the lenses of the glasses, he was sure that Reginald had not only seen him but was intently watching him.
