by David Smith
Upon touching the pendant’s brilliant red diamond, the Blond-Haired Man watched as Walt Disney’s face took on a complacent, relaxed appearance. Whatever Mr. Disney saw in the stone—and in his mind—brought a smile to his thin, gray lips. The Blond-Haired Man saw that Walt looked now to be falling asleep; he watched Walt’s eyes flutter closed, the gaunt face of his boss now slacken and inert.
Gathering up the papers he had spread across the wheeled table-top, one that would normally be positioned over the hospital bed for the patient, the Blond-Haired Man heard a sound escape the lips of the man laying in the bed.
“Thank you,” Walt whispered his voice thin and airy. “You’re a good friend.”
The Blond-Haired man smiled; however it was a smile of sadness, of knowing he was losing a friend.
“Thank Wolf for me too,” Walt added his eyes now open. He suddenly seemed to gather himself, willing some hidden strength to permeate his vocal cords. “You know where to put it now?” he asked, indicating with his eyes the velvet box the Blond-Haired Man had set on top of a small black book on the portable table.
Nodding, the Blond-Haired Man reached over to the box. Picking it up so Walt could see it once more he slipped it deep into his coat pocket. “Of course. It will be waiting for you.”
Again, a smile formed on the lips of Walt Disney.
The Blond-Haired Man picked up the small black book and held it up. “You’re sure about this?”
Thinking back to what he had seen when he touched the gemstone, Walt’s eyes twinkled, the laugh-lines around each eye deepened. Walt then gave a firm, final, “Yes!”
Back in Walt Disney’s apartment an hour later, the Blond-Haired man opened the small felt box and lifted the pendant out by the gold, braided chain. He was standing in front of the antique gramophone, its secret door was ajar and the small drawer pulled half way out. Carefully, he led the pendant into a small black bag with open draw-strings threaded around the top. Once the pendant was completely in the bag, he pulled the strings apart and watched the bag’s opening squeeze closed. He then lowered the bag into the small drawer and then slid the drawer back into the gramophone’s hidden compartment. He then pressed the secret door on the side of the device closed, hearing an audible click.
Nodding his head, satisfied the pendant was again safely hidden, the Blond-Haired Man looked around the empty apartment room once more, knowing that the room would now likely become a modest, preserved monument to Walt Disney.
The Blond-Haired Man now had work to do. A secret room was being readied for the pendant as well as things that Walt Disney requested to be stored within. The pendant would be safe for now, the man thought, confident that this was indeed the very best place for the valuable object. With the added safety precautions installed too, the Blond-Haired Man could now rest easy.
He thought back to all that the pendant had been through just two weeks earlier. No one but him, his associate Wolf, and Walt, knew all that had happened. However, the Blond-Haired man wanted to make absolute certain that the pendant would be safe until he could move it to its final resting place.
He couldn’t afford to have the pendant lost again.
10:12am
Suddenly finding motivation, Nathan finished working in the rose garden along the Administration Building as fast as possible. He loaded the cut flowers onto a canvas tarp, tied the corners together and put the bagged load on the back of his landscaping cart. After raking the planter quickly, he picked up his tools, tossed them on the back of the cart, and headed to the landscaping office.
Willie Riggio, the landscaping foreman, stepped out of his office hearing Nathan enter. Quietly he asked Nathan as he walked in, “Did you hear?”
Nathan nodded. “I heard.”
Nathan liked Willie. Willie Riggio wasn’t much older than Nathan but always treated him as an equal instead of him acting like Nathan’s superior. Willie stood just outside his open office door; that was something else that Nathan liked about Willie: you never had to knock on his door. You just walked in, his door was always open, and he never seemed too busy if you had a question about something.
Riggio was wringing his hands; his eyes were red and moist. “We need to do our jobs,” he said quickly, looking away from Nathan. “Finish your list and then clock out and get on home.” Willie turned without another word and walked into his office. Nathan then saw Willie doing something that he had never seen him do: Willie closed his office door.
Nathan knew that Willie would not be on top of things this morning. In fact, Nathan figured few supervisors, managers, leads, and most of the employees would be out of sorts this morning as they heard—and then adjusted—to the news. He thought about that, realizing this was the opportunity that he was waiting for. How ironic that he had chosen this day to take the pendant.
What Nathan wanted to do now was pilfer the cherry picker and get into Walt’s apartment like he did the first time. If it were before the Park operating hours, Nathan could have gotten the cherry picker and drove it around to the back of Walt’s apartment. But, at nearly 10:30am, regardless of the circumstance that one of the most influential people in the entertainment industry—and owner of Disneyland—had died, the Park was still in full operation. And as such, it was forbidden to have the large lift operating during open hours for fear it would diminish the illusion for the guests who might see the machine working on something in the Park or even back stage. Walt Disney always wanted the Park looking magical…that meant the meticulous trees, gardens and shrubs had to look like they were maintained by magic, not human toil.
Even in the wake of Walt Disney’s death, the show, as they say, must go on.
Instead of using the cherry picker, Nathan went outside and got in his landscaping cart. He backed the flatbed up to the dumpsters that were lined up beyond the landscape office and pulled the canvas bag of clippings out and untied the four corners, dumping the contents out into the square, metal dumpster. Next, he drove back over to the office, turned the corner so he was now behind the office and parked. Against the landscape office under a covered awning, a row of different sized ladders were hung neatly under the slanted, aluminum canopy. Each ladder had heavy, black, hand-written letters along each side: “Property of D.L. Landscaping.”
Nathan grabbed the tall extension ladder and laid it onto the back of his flat bed cart. The length of the ladder stretched over the passenger side seat, the end of the ladder sticking a half dozen feet past the backrest, pointing upward towards the front of the cart. The bottom half of the ladder was lying up against the bottom of the small lip that ran along the back of the flat-bed.
Holding the ladder with one hand, Nathan drove from the landscaping office along the service road that ran along the back part of the Park, past the back side of the Indian Village located on the north bend of the River around Tom Sawyer’s Island. He rounded the back side of the construction zone of where the new attractions, “Haunted Mansion” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” were being built in the new theme area, ‘New Orleans Square.’ He continued on past the back side of Jungle Cruise and then turned left following the service road as it curved along the southwest side of the Main Street, where the Fire Station and, of course, Walt Disney’s apartment were located.
Nathan parked along the building, keeping the cart out of the service road. If he continued on the road another forty feet to the right, it opened up right into Main Street between the Fire Station and the Emporium Gift Shop…right into the view of thousands of guests.
Thankful that the building itself provided cover; Nathan looked around for anyone that might be on the service road. Because the road was the longest path to the other parts of the park from the lockers or from the administration offices or even from the Cast Activities office, few cast members took the path. It was far quicker, if walking, to simply walk through the Park to get to just about anywhere. The service road was used early, before operating hours, for deliveries, and during the day, it was a construction
access road to the new area. Occasionally the Jungle Cruise guides and other Adventureland workers would use the road as a shortcut from the back of their attractions if they wanted to get to the Bank of America annex that was located across the hub on Main Street. Today, being a Thursday, and considering just an hour before, Walt Disney had died, the service road itself was equally dead.
Nathan also knew that obviously Walt Disney himself would not be coming to the apartment. In fact, any Park Managers who were not at the hospital were most likely in the administration building figuring out how to run Walt’s company. Roy, Walt’s older—and only—brother, would most likely be at the hospital with the family.
Nathan knew he probably didn’t have much time. Someone, soon, would likely be coming to Walt’s apartment to get important documents that Walt, Nathan was sure, must keep there. Obviously, the pendant was there, unless Walt had taken it to the hospital with him, which he doubted. Nathan thought of something else: what else could Walt have hidden in the small apartment?
Lifting the ladder from the cart, Nathan extended it up so the top rung was resting against the far side of the patio deck. He was right in front of his flat bed golf cart, the ladder positioned with its bottom rungs braced against the cart’s bumper.
Nathan hitched up his leather tool belt, cinching the belt buckle tight, using it as cover if someone asked him what he was doing. “I’m trimming the plants on Mr. Disney’s patio,” Nathan thought of as an excuse if seen climbing the ladder outside Walt Disney’s apartment. The belt of tools would add authenticity to that excuse.
Nathan tested the ladder, making sure it didn’t wobble. He then looked around one last time. Seeing no one in the vicinity, he quickly climbed the rungs. Reaching the top, he hooked a leg over the patio railing, pausing for a moment, making sure no one was indeed inside Walt’s apartment. Not wanting to stay in the precarious position very long, he glanced in the French doors and the side window. No visible movements told Nathan it was safe to go on. Straddling the rail, Nathan didn’t see that his wallet was slipping out of the back pocket of his pants.
Vaulting over the rail, Nathan dropped quietly onto the patio floor. Just as he landed, his wallet slipped out and landed next to his foot. A short wave of panic went through Nathan as he wondered what would have happened if he had lost his wallet in the apartment without knowing it. Nathan bent down and picked up his brown, leather wallet and slipped it back into his pocket. His pants had a button over the wallet pocket and Nathan quickly buttoned it so he wouldn’t lose the wallet again.
Nathan went directly to the French doors and tried turning the handle. Only this time, the doors were locked. Nathan didn’t have the Cherry Picker to move over to the window on outside the patio. So that left him one option: break in right here, right now.
Of the tools Nathan brought just in case was a thin, two-inch putty knife. Slipping the knife from his tool belt, Nathan slid the flat end into the slit between the one sliding door and the door frame. With minimal effort, the thin blade found the edge of the spring-loaded latch. Nathan worked within the small gap, pushing the latch to the right, little by little, keeping pressure on it so it wouldn’t spring back. Finally, the blade pushed the latch completely in and Nathan pulled on the handle on the door at the same time. Silently, the door slid open. Nathan let out a breath as he realized he had been holding it the whole time he was working the latch.
Nathan stepped inside the room, sliding the French door closed, leaving it just an inch open so it wouldn’t possibly lock behind him, which could make leaving more difficult if a speedy exit was suddenly necessary. Looking quickly around then focusing in on the gramophone on the counter to his right, Nathan went directly to the machine.
He wasted no time in finding the secret button, pushing it, and popping out the secret door on the side of the machine. He saw the bag with the pendant.
Quickly, he took the small black bag out and held it upside down over his other hand. The red diamond slipped half way out. Nathan was careful to keep the gem on the bag and not let it touch his hand. Even though he desperately wanted to see more of his future, he also knew time was of the essence. He tilted the diamond back into its bag, quickly closed the drawer and the door and then carefully put the bag in his front pants pocket, making sure the bag was deep inside.
Nathan looked around the room again. He saw several little treasures that he thought would be fun to have: small pink antique cups sitting on a counter; a picture frame; an oriental fan; and a strange looking lamp with a small, funny looking glass bulb that shined a dim, red glow through a round glass cover that was pointed in the direction of where he was standing. He thought Lynie would really love having something, but then thought better of it. What could possibly be more valuable, or more treasured than Walt Disney’s own magic gem? Nathan thought that maybe the diamond was the inspiration for the famous Magic Mirror in the movie Snow White. Was this gem, now in his pocket, able to show Walt Disney—and now Nathan—the future, just like the mirror on the wall in Snow White bestowed the evil queen? The prospect was as exciting as it was outrageous. If Nathan hadn’t touched the stone for himself, if he hadn’t seen the vision, especially the exact preciseness he had seen of the bags of money he had hidden, he would never have believed the gem’s potential. Nathan felt the power in the weight of the pendant within the small black bag now held safely inside his possession.
As Nathan opened the French door to the patio again, he took a rag from his tool belt and wiped both the inside and outside door knobs that he had touched. “You never know about fingerprints,” he said to himself as he used the rag to slide the door closed after he stepped outside. Testing the door, making sure it was locked Nathan turned and walked over to his ladder. Getting out the hand sheers in his tool belt, he pretended to be trimming the potted plant hanging from the corner of the patio cover. Looking over the ledge, he casually glanced to see if anyone was around the ladder or looking up at the back of Disney’s apartment. Again, he saw no one was around.
Quickly, he put the sheers back and carefully stepped over the rail onto the ladder and then stepped down each rung until he was on the ground in front of his landscaping cart. In one move, he released the extension latch on the sides of the ladder and let the inside half of the ladder slide down. As soon as it reached the bottom, Nathan returned the ladder to the back of the cart and hopped in. He turned the key and the electric motor quietly accelerated. Nathan made a U-turn, turning the cart around in the middle of the service road and headed back the way he had come.
Once again, Nathan felt the rush of the caper. Only this rush was exponentially more thrilling than anything before it. He patted his pocket, feeling the outline of the pendant, smiling at the thought of what the diamond could bring him. He couldn’t wait to show it to Lynie.
He couldn’t wait to use it.
Inside Walt’s apartment, the moment Nathan had first pried open the locked French door, the newly installed silent alarm system that was connected to a special room in the Disneyland Security Office, went off for the very first time. The funny little lamp that Nathan noticed inside the apartment, sitting on the end table facing the gramophone, the one that had a strange bulb, was activated the moment the silent alarm went off. The bulb emitted a reddish glow, a glow that was called an “Infra-red frequency illuminator”. It was something that could be used in conjunction with a new technology called ‘closed-circuit’ television.
CHAPTER 15
I See You
December 15th 1966
11:45am
Mani Wolford, or Wolf, as was engraved on his nametag attached to his Disneyland Security Guard uniform, was on his phone as he had been most of the morning. Walt Disney’s death set several dozen things into motion, most of which would have to be dealt with in total secrecy, as per Mr. Disney’s explicit instructions when this day came.
At the moment, he was talking to the Blond-Haired man whom he had worked with for many years. Mysteriously, the Blond-Hai
red man’s name was never mentioned only addressed to as ‘Sir’ by Wolf.
“I didn’t expect this to happen this soon, Sir. He seemed to be improving,” Wolf said into the receiver with reserved emotions.
“I know,” Wolf heard the other man say somberly into the phone. “I was with him yesterday, at the hospital,” he paused and Wolf could hear a catch in the man’s voice. “He seemed stronger. But today when I saw him…” The man trailed off.
The office that Wolf worked in was disguised as a “Conference Room,” as the name plate on the outside of the solid mahogany door stated. Of course, there was never a general ‘conference’ held behind the always closed door. The room, located on the second floor of the administration office and set at the end of a seldom used hallway, was always locked even when Wolf was inside. The office was small but far from empty; a dozen television screens were recently built into one entire wall to the right of a desk that sat near the rear of the room. The television monitors showed nondescript locations, all of which would most likely be unfamiliar to anyone but Wolf, Walt Disney, and the Blond-Haired man, the only three people that were ever allowed inside the secret office. Only recently did new technology allow for closed-circuit monitors to be available for the type of use required by Wolf.