It All Started...

by David W. Smith

  “Will you help me draw up the two-week notice? I’d appreciate the correct wordage.”

  “I’d also recommend getting a locksmith out here tonight and changing out all the doors. It is easy enough to change the keypad on the garage. Are you emotionally attached to the Cadillac?”

  That surprised her. “Not exactly. Why?”

  “Throw that in the package. It goes with the exalted image he has of himself. I’d give him cash, not a check. It is too easy to forge checks nowadays.”

  She moved to the phonebook and looked up an all-night locksmith. “When do you think I should give him the notice?” as the phone rang in her ear.

  “Right after the locks are changed and he can’t get into the house. When the two weeks are up, change the locks over the garage.”

  She nodded her understanding and made arrangements with the locksmith.

  His face red with rage, Daniel re-read the notice that he had found pinned to his front door. “She can’t do this to me!” he yelled at the paper. “I’ll knock some sense into that empty head of hers! It’s that idiot Brentwood.” He saw Lance’s signature on the bottom, both as witness of the document and as the quasi lawyer who advised the document.

  He counted out the thousands of dollars that were contained in the thick envelope. Jamming the money into a desk drawer, he knew he would keep it—and the car.

  And he would keep his rightful job. It was his job; he earned it.

  He stormed to the mansion and found, to his dismay, his key no longer worked. Eyes narrowed, he tried to get into the garage. No success there, either. The little idiot had locked him out. When he went back to pound on the door, it was opened by a stranger—a huge stranger.

  “Good evening,” he said pleasantly. “I’m Kevin, Ms. Waldron’s bodyguard. You must be Daniel Crain.” Kevin pointed a huge fist at Daniel, who, he noticed, was an admirable shade of blanched white. “You are requested to leave this premise. You have thirteen days left. I suggest you begin packing. Or I will do it for you. Have a pleasant night.” Kevin closed the door with a quiet click.

  Shaken to his core, Daniel walked back to his rooms over the garage. He looked at the signatures on the bottom of his notice and smiled an evil smirk, his bravado coming back. “Well, Brentwood, you know what Shakespeare said…’the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers’.”

  Switzerland – 1958

  The filming of ThirdMan on the Mountain was going extremely well. Walt had even found a local choir to sing for the meadow shot. Rested and refreshed, he marveled at the beautiful scenery—especially the mountain at the center of the movie—the Matterhorn. Arms folded, he studied the tall, snow-covered peak. I want one. It could cover that ugly center pylon of the Skyway ride. Yes, that would work perfectly!

  Always on the lookout for antiques and artifacts for his showpiece Disneyland, Walt and Lillian seemed to find their way to every small shop in every town they visited. Walt would be delighted to find some small, some not so small, items ‘that would look perfect for the Snow White Ride,’ or ‘that would fit perfectly in the Dry Goods Store in Frontierland.’

  As the idea of a snow-covered mountain in Orange County germinated from a cover-up for one ride into a full-blown attraction of its own, Walt’s mind turned to the set decoration process. It can’t just be a mountain—there has to be some kind of a story around it as well. In honor of the Swiss heritage of the real Matterhorn, there should be decorations depicting the nation of Switzerland. Through his knowledge of history, Walt knew each member state of Switzerland had its own flag and those flags could be placed throughout the attraction’s site as shields like a coat-of-arms. Each ride in Fantasyland had its own shield, so that would do for continuity.

  Walt found souvenirs of the flags he wanted in a quaint store in the town of Zermatt which is located in the canton of Valaise, overlooked by the Matterhorn. Just as they were leaving the shop, Walt spied something back in a darkened corner. It looked like a drawing of a wolf.

  “Just a minute,” he told Lillian, who was used to his attention darting here and there. “You go ahead to the hotel. I want to check something else out.”

  Even before the little bell over the door tinkled that Lillian had exited into the bright Alpine day, Walt had already pulled out his new find. Shaped like a typical coat-of-arms—flat on the top and its rounded sides tapering to a point at the bottom, it was approximately twenty inches wide and twenty-four inches tall. The dark blue background offset the off-white shape of a wolf in the foreground. Above the standing wolf were three off-white stars. Ever since Columbia and the mystery at El Lobo, Walt had been intrigued with wolves. He took his find to the front desk that served as a cashier’s table.

  “What can you tell me about this?” he asked the clerk who had recognized her famous visitor.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Disney, but I really don’t know. It came in with a load of goods from different estate sales around the area.”

  “Any way of tracking down the owner?”

  She shook her head as she looked at the large shield. “No, sorry. It is not that old of a piece, so it could be a reproduction. There’s no way for me to know. Did you see the other shield that came with it? The colors of the other piece make a nice contrast to this one.”

  Walt went back to the corner where he found the wolf. Off to the side was the other shield. It was not as interesting to him with the three birds and crosses that decorated the face. Yet, she was right—it was a complimentary piece to his wolf shield. “I’ll take them both.” He handed her the second piece. “Can you have them shipped to me in the States?”

  “Of course.” With a bright look, she pulled a small camera out of the ancient desk. “May I take a picture of you with the wolf shield for our store? I can tell that it intrigues you.”

  Used to this request from his fans around the world, Walt smiled as she snapped a couple of pictures with her little camera.

  “Say, why don’t you send me a copy of that picture when you send the shields? I’d love to have one.”

  This pleased the clerk. “I’d be happy to, Mister Disney. Can I interest you in a suit of armor?”

  2002

  “Wow. So you really did go to Columbia?” Kimberly looked over the clue and the drawings Lance had found. “Are you sure about how Daniel learned about your trip? Are you sure he broke in here?” She felt she had to ask one last time.

  It was the next day and Lance had driven her to his apartment. Daniel would have tried to hover over them if they stayed at the mansion. Kimberly settled onto his sofa after a cursory glance around his small place. Knowing where he had come from, what he had lost, Lance was prepared to be embarrassed by her assessment of his current situation. He was grateful when she curled up comfortably on his sofa and pulled a silken pillow into her lap.

  “That had me baffled, too.” Lance sat in the matching side chair. “I certainly had no intention of even mentioning it to him. I thought you might have said something, but you had no idea about any of this, right?”

  She slowly shook her head as she thought. “No, I didn’t. Honestly, I was too wrapped up with my father’s death.… No, I’m all right.” Lance made a move to come and sit by her, and she appreciated his concern. “I had to make arrangements and then there were faxes coming in from the Park that I needed to handle. They don’t know the power has shifted to me. As I think you know, everything that is done is done anonymously. The faxes are impersonal. The telephone has a voice diffuser so it is impossible to know who’s talking—even to the point of not knowing if it’s a man or a woman.” She gave a small smile. “And that helps right now with my father gone. I have a feeling my power would disappear if they knew the truth. All they know is that they must follow the last word—and the last word was my father.”

  Lance was getting the bigger picture now. “So you do know the location of the rest of the Hidden Mickeys? Is that what was on the holographic map I saw?”

  “Yes and no. No, I’m not tr
ying to put you off.” The look on his face said he didn’t believe her. “There’s more to those dots you saw than just being answers to clues. Yes, some are answers. But, they are also points of interest to Walt that cannot be moved or changed—points that will be revealed at a later time in the future. So, every change that’s talked about at Disneyland has to be analyzed to see if it does or does not impact those points. Some changes that were going to be made were stopped and shelved with no explanation. That is how much power my father had. And how much power his successor, or successors, will have.”

  She stopped talking to let the information sink in with Lance. He had to know the extent of what he was getting into before he went any further. From all she had to do since her father died, she could see now that she would need help in handling the assignment. That much was clear to her. But, she wanted a willing partner, and one with the same vision of the future as she. She still wondered if Lance would be the one.

  And, she still wondered what she would do if he was not the one. With all Lance knew, Kimberly still had to keep Walt safe. Daniel, she thought, would probably pull the plug and sell out to the highest bidder. What would Lance do with the seemingly endless power and wealth that would be his? Did she really know enough about him yet?

  “You’re studying me.” Lance broke into her thoughts. “And you’re frowning. That can’t be good.”

  She smiled a little and looked down at the paper in her hands. “There’s a lot at stake here.”

  “And not just the clue in your hand, either. Right?”

  Her shoulder-length hair bobbed as she nodded. “You’re right. There’s a lot at stake. I’m in an interesting position, to say the least. I do want to explain one part of it, though. I think you realize my father and I didn’t agree on his assessment of my ability to control everything…that he would need a successor that would not be me….”

  When she broke off, Lance nodded, saying nothing.

  “Well,” she continued, punching the pillow, “I appreciate my father’s concerns about my future and wanting me to have what he considered a normal family life. I want that, too. But,” she stressed, “I have been in this my whole life.” Her gesture took in the clue and the prizes, but it also, Lance realized, included the War Room and the Guardianship. “If I can’t replace my father, then I at least want to be able to work with the person who does succeed him.”

  “If that person turns out to be me, it would mean that we would have to work closely together. Day and night.” Lance stared steadily into her eyes. He allowed himself one small grin. “Do you think you can do that?”

  She kept her voice steady, cool. “Oh, I think I can resist your many charms, Mr. Brentwood.”

  The confidence in his smile faded. “Oh.” That didn’t go so well.

  Kimberly had to turn her eyes away from the full force of his dimples. She dropped them to the pillow in her lap and plucked at a loose thread. This is going to be harder than I thought.

  To lighten the mood, Lance indicated her feet tucked up under her on the sofa. “You said you were in a difficult position. I’d say you are in a very comfortable position, if you ask me.”

  “Well, I could use another pillow.” She had to duck to the right as one was thrown at her from the chair. Kimberly reached out and caught the pillow on the fly. “Yes, that’s much better! Thanks,” as the pillow was placed behind her back.

  “Any time. So, are you going to help me with the clue or are you going to continue ripping my pillows apart? Do I have to invite Daniel over to get some actual work done?”

  Pushing the loose threads into the hole she had made, Kimberly wrinkled her pretty nose at the suggestion of Daniel and let out a sigh. Daniel was another problem that she would need to solve. He too knew a great deal about her father’s work; not enough to know about Walt and the power he had left in her father’s capable hands, but enough to know there was something big going on.

  Lance held up the drawing of the three shields. “So, to get back to work, does this look familiar to you at all?”

  Kimberly lightly bit her lip. “Yes and no.” She gave a little laugh. “I seem to be saying that a lot lately.” Kimberly eyed the shields with a discerning eye, but had that faraway look of someone trying to draw from a long-ago memory that was just beyond their mental grasp. She refocused on the three shields. “But, yes, they do look familiar. I just don’t know why or where I’ve seen them.”

  “From my previous experience with figuring out the clues, I think we can eliminate the first shield of France on the left. Walt specifically wrote that we don’t have to go to France, so I vote to ignore that one. It might be included just because, wherever this is located, there are the three shields together. The clue also isolates and identifies the wolf in the one on the right. I think that needs to be our focus.”

  “Is there some royalty in times past who was known as a wolf? You know, like Richard the Lion-hearted of England.”

  Lance looked at the large map of Disneyland that he had tacked up on the wall—just like Adam had done in their first search. “Well, I would have thought the research librarian would have found something obvious like that. It would have been in the history books.”

  “You’re probably right.” She followed his glance to the map. “Maybe it is just something Walt came up with and we’re supposed to recognize it. It might be hidden in plain sight, like your treasure room on Pirates,” Kimberly offered, referring to the popular treasure cave inside the ride at Disneyland.

  Lance nodded in agreement. “That’s the genius of the man—he could come up with something like that and make it work.” Deep in thought, he looked out the window of his living room, not seeing the large jacaranda tree in full bloom just outside. He looked over at the map again. “And, of course, the problem lies in the fact that we are not geniuses like Walt.” Lance raised his eyes back to Kimberly, and then amended, “Well, at least I’m not…which makes the hunt—and the decipherment—of each clue probably more difficult.” Lance sat back down in his leather recliner across from the couch with a sigh.

  “Decipherment?” Kimberly repeated, with a grin. “Who said you’re not a genius?”

  “Ha ha, very funny. I do know a few words that have more than one syllable.”

  “I’m just kidding you, Lance.” Kimberly had a soft smile that made him want to be kidded a lot more by her. She tossed the pillow back at him. “Actually, I think you are incredibly smart.”

  “Well,” Lance gave a sigh, wrapping his arms around the pillow. “At least someone thinks so. Certainly my former friends and family members wouldn’t agree with your sentiments.”

  Her light mood dissipated with his words. She realized he said it in a half-joking way, but also realized it was something that affected him quite deeply. Her voice gentle, Kimberly told him, “Someday, I hope you’ll tell me about your parents…and your life. I know so little about you, other than what my father saw, and shared with me, when you and Adam first discovered the diary.”

  “Well, when I do tell you, I hope you won’t disown me.” Like they all did.

  “I doubt it, Lance.” Kimberly ended that discussion and went back to the paper of the three shields that Lance handed her earlier. “You think we need to go back to Disneyland and look around for this wolf shield?”

  “I know there’s a coat-of-arms over at Toad Hall.” Lance thought about the popular Fantasyland ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and the hectic coat-of-arms over the entryway. “We could start there.”

  Kimberly glanced at her watch. “How about if we get an early start tomorrow morning? I have some things I need to finish up today.”

  Lance agreed. “Are you working tomorrow? I’ve been gone so long I don’t know if I still have a job.”

  Kimberly gave a secret smile. “Oh, you do. It’s been taken care of. Amazing what a little phone call can do. You are on ‘executive leave’ for an ‘indeterminate’ amount of time. You see? I know some big words, too.”

  That
earned a big grin from Lance. “Why, Miss Waldron, you little dickens. I think I like knowing someone on the inside like that.”

  “Don’t let it go to your pretty little head.” She tossed him an evil smile. “I can also get you fired, you know.”

  Lance threw back his head and gave a hearty laugh. “Let me drive you home before you change your pretty little mind.”

  “Before we get going, I need to turn in a report to Administration.” Kimberly and Lance had entered the Park through the employee entrance. The pair turned left after they emerged from the underpass that went under the train trestle and followed a sidewalk that ran along the Disney University building. This was where the new cast member training took place, as well as much of the overall administration of Disney management, as it applied to Disneyland’s operations.

  “Follow me.” Kimberly held open a glass double-door entrance in the middle of the building. “You probably haven’t been in this part of the building.” They followed a long and fairly wide, door-less hallway.

  “Actually, I remember seeing this part when I was hired. It wasn’t that long ago.” Lance had hired into the park right after he and Adam discovered Walt Disney’s lost diary. He had believed having access to the park would serve them well—and he needed a source of income, since his father had cut off his trust fund receipts.

  “Ah, yes. You’re right. They do take new employees through here on their first day of orientation.”

  As they continued down the hallway, there were framed, acrylic displays spaced about three feet apart. Each contained a collage of pictures depicting rides, shows, and other memorable events that occurred each year since Disneyland opened. There were more than forty-five such displays; Lance and Kimberly could see the degree of sophistication the displays took on as they moved from the more historic depictions to the more current. If they had had more leisurely time, Lance would have liked to have lingered and looked at what all hung there.