Treasure Hunt
On a bright, sunny day in King Harbor, the Riptide detectives found themselves not on the beach but shopping with Cayce McKenna.
The young woman had flown into King Harbor to conduct some business at Colony Studios in Los Angeles proper and was on a hunt for something for Craig Malone - the studio executive they had helped a little over a year ago when his western was being sabotaged. Malone had come to count on Cayce as a consultant whenever he had a movie, or a TV series, going that involved History, horses or the Old West in particular. She helped him out and earned a little extra money for the ranch in the process. It helped her keep ahead of repairs and/or improvements to the buildings and any emergencies that came up. Besides that she liked Craig Malone and his wife and family very much.
"Hi guys! Ready to go on the treasure hunt with me?"
Cody laughed when he heard that. "More like a scavenger hunt," the blond remarked.
"So what? You're getting paid to work on this scavenger hunt," Cayce retorted.
"Here's the list of stores I thought would be the most helpful," Murray said handing her a computer printout.
The young woman promptly sat down with the printout and a pen and began marking the most likely prospects she could see. When she was through only half of the list remained unmarked or scratched out.
"We'll start with these that I have stars next to," she said. "I know these shops. If they don't have what I'm looking for the owners, or managers, might be able to make some suggestions."
The quartet exited the salon and left the Riptide. Up on the quay they climbed into the Chevy van Cayce had rented for the day. It was an eight passenger van but she'd had the rental agency remove the third seat so they'd have room to pack whatever she picked up during the "treasure hunt" as she called it
Cody took the keys from Cayce. She didn't protest as much as she could have because it made the men feel good - or maybe important - to drive her around the city. Plus she didn't know the city that well and they did.
Cody pulled the van into a parking space in front of a shop called Trinkets and Treasures. It was the first one on the list and Cayce was sure she could find some hats or jewelry that Malone needed for props in it.
"Hey, look at this!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Malone doesn't have many authentic looking signs. This will be a bonus for some of his westerns and such."
What she was holding was an antique sign - well it looked antique anyway - proclaiming the cost of a haircut to be a quarter.
"Twenty-five cents for a haircut?" Nick laughed. "I wonder if they're still in business?"
"Very funny, Nicholas," Cayce said as she elbowed him in the ribs. "If you want a cheap haircut I can always bring my shears and use one of Cody's mixing bowls as a guide. I'll even do it for free."
"No thank you!" the Italian said as he poked her in the ribs causing her to squeal.
Before they could get out of hand Cody stepped in between them.
"Knock it off you two," he said. "I don't feel like refereeing your battles all day.
"Spoil sport," Cayce said.
"You two act like a couple of kids. I thought you were adults."
"We are," Cayce informed him, "but even adults can have some harmless fun. I think it would be fun to cut Nick's hair with a bowl on his head for a guide."
Murray gave one of his trademark giggles at the thought while Nick tried to resist the urge to stick his tongue out at her and Cody rolled his eyes.
"A quarter was a fair amount of money in those days," Murray said. "And barbers were often 'surgeons' as well - at least as far as oral surgery went. Isn't that right, Cayce?"
"Yes, it is Murray. You've been doing your homework." She rubbed her bandanna over the back of the sign looking at it intently.
"What are you doing?" Cody asked.
"Checking to see if I can tell how old the paint is, if there's a mark where there used to be a sticker declaring this to have been made in another country - like China or Japan. I'm not paying out big bucks from Mr. Malone's budget for a sign that's not genuinely an antique."
Finding nothing to indicate that the sign was a fake she handed it to Nick to hold while she looked through a trunk of old clothing. After a couple of minutes she steered them to the counter to find out how much the store owner wanted for it.
"That there sign? That's two hundred dollars."
"I don't think so," Cayce told him and started to put the sign down and walk away.
"It's worth every bit of that, young lady!" the man declared.
"Not to me it's not," the rancher told him. "I'll give you a hundred. It's a small sign and it's not in perfect condition."
"Two hundred and not a penny less."
"Nope. One hundred and a quarter, maybe, but not two hundred." Cayce had been well coached in antiques by her cousin Sarah, who was an expert appraiser and by her grandmother Knox who was a collector. Plus she had business sense. Running the ranch she'd learned to bargain wherever possible. It was the Scottish side of her heritage that made her thrifty and the Irish side, she claimed, made her generous to her friends, family and charity.
"One eighty."
"Too much." Cayce indicated to her companions that they should head for the door.
"One fifty and not a penny less!" The shopkeeper was desperate to keep from losing the sale.
"One twenty-five." Cayce was firm.
"All right. One twenty-five."
Grinning, Cayce turned back and paid the man, making sure she got a receipt to give to Mr. Malone for his bookkeepers.
Once outside, and in the van again, Nick marveled at her success.
"I thought that guy was never going to give in. Where'd you learn about antiques?"
"From Sarah and from Grandmother Knox. Sarah's an expert - she works for an auction house and appraises the antiques. Grandmother's a collector. Both of them taught me when I was in my teens."
"I'm impressed," the Italian said. "I thought you were better at spending money than saving it."
"Nicholas! I'll have you know that the Scottish side of my heritage has made me a very good business woman and a shrewd bargainer."
The group bantered back and forth as they headed for their next destination. In Grandma's Attic they found a lot of old jeans, overalls, hats and such that the costume department could use. Cayce found a couple of denim jackets and one fringed leather jacket, some gowns from the twenties and thirties as well as some dresses that looked like what nineteenth century pioneer and farm women would wear. In the aisles with all kinds of miscellaneous stuff she found some patterns for such dresses as well as for sun bonnets and what she called mob caps - the kind of cap that a colonial woman of the eighteenth century would wear around home while doing housework and such.
Around noon, after a profitable morning of shopping, they stopped for lunch at a small restaurant Cayce had spotted a few doors away from the music shop that was their next destination.
It didn't take long for them to polish off large burgers with fries and soft drinks. Cayce insisted on having a large hot fudge sundae as well.
"Shopping makes me hungry," she told the men who laughed.
It was a short walk to the music shop, The Musicians' Friend. It was basically, as Cayce put it, a hole in the wall but they packed a lot of instruments and sheet music and recordings into it. Most of them used. They also offered music lessons.
"Mr. Malone asked me to try and get him some sheet music and recordings for westerns. It seems his musical staff isn't much into anything that isn't fairly modern," Cayce told them as she looked through some old music books and sheet music. "And most of them are too lazy to look if it's not easily found. The ones who aren't just don't know where to go to find the right kind of music. This store is usually a pretty good source."
The men looked through old records and cassettes, occasionally finding something that reminded them of their teen years. For Cody there were a lot of Beach Boys and Jan and Dean records but he already had most of them. That is, unless, his mom had thrown them out when she moved to Connecticut.
"I've got to ask her about that," he said to himself.
"Ask who about what?" Nick asked.
"Oh, nothing," Cody answered. "I'm just talking to myself."
"Cool!" Cayce's voice sounded excited about something.
"What's 'cool'?" Nick asked.
"I just found an album for Uncle Brian for his birthday next month," she told him.
"I thought we were shopping for Mr. Malone," Cody said.
"We are, but I can't resist getting this album. It's the sound track to Star Wars."
"Colonel McKenna likes sci-fi?" Murray was surprised. He didn't have the impression that Cayce's uncle was into such things.
"Sometimes. We saw Star Wars together ten times when it came out back in seventy-seven."
"Why not buy him the movie?" Nick asked.
"Because it hasn't been released on video yet," she told him. "If it comes out soon I'll get it for him for Christmas."
She took the album to the counter and paid for it out of her personal funds. The men went back to browsing through the records.
"Hey, Nick, Boz, take a look at this," Cody whispered as he pulled a forty-five RPM single from a rack.
"What have you got?" Nick asked, "And why are we whispering?"
"It's a song called 'Hoofbeats' by some guy named Rex Trailer. It sounds like something Cayce would like. How about we buy it for her just for the fun of it?"
"I think it's a boss idea," Murray said. "She does so much for others and spends very little on herself."
"How much is it?" Nick asked.
"Five dollars," Cody replied. "Must considered some sort of classic or something."
"Forty-fives have gotten kind of expensive," Murray said. "I've seen them in the stores and they don't go for much less than that any more. In fact a fellow at that conference I went to last month said that forty-fives are getting hard to find."
"Distract Cayce so I can pay for it," Cody told his partners. "We can settle up when we get back to the Riptide."
"So Cayce," the Italian said as he sauntered over to where she was browsing through the sheet music again, "how many more shops do we have to visit?"
"It depends on what I find here," she replied. "I want to go to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop on the next block. Mr. Malone needs a lot of jeans of different sizes and some more jackets and such. The props department needs little knick knacks and stuffed animals and toys that aren't new but not too beat up. I told him I was willing to bet that they would have jewelry that nobody wants. Some of it might pass for antique - you know - 18th and 19th century. He hasn't gotten into movies that are set any further back in history. Not yet anyway. He's partial to westerns."
"I've noticed that," Nick said as he saw Cody purchase the record. "He seems to consult you a lot on those things."
"That's true," the young woman said, "but he speaks highly of you guys and was more than happy to pay you to help me with this project."
She put the sheet music back in the rack. "I don't think there's anything else here he can use. The studio musicians have more than enough instruments and only the actors would need anything they're not familiar with. It's important that the instrument and the musician using it be suited to each other."
The group departed the music store and hopped into the van to go to the thrift shop. Now that stop, Cayce declared, was a treasure hunt. While she went through the racks grabbing jeans, jackets and found a couple of pairs of boots on the shelves in the shoe department, Murray had a ball looking through the toys and books while Nick and Cody went through the furniture department and found a couple of tables and some chairs that could be used. By the time they were through the Salvation Army was several hundred dollars richer, the store was half empty - or so it seemed to Cayce - and the Lazy M's van was about as full as it was going to get. It was time to head for Colony Studios to deliver everything.
"Hi Miss McKenna!" the guard on the gate said. "Here to see Mr. Malone or are you headed for the stable?"
"Hi Ed," Cayce replied. "We have to go to the props department warehouse. I've got a van load of furniture, toys and books for them. Then we're going to the boss' office with the sheet music and recordings we picked up."
The guard waved them through. Cayce and her van were well known. She made a habit of going to any yard sales, estate sales and flea markets she could spare the time for. Always she had a load of stuff for a fellow businessman who was struggling to keep his projects in, or below budget for she knew what it was like to try and keep expenses down. Running a ranch required good business sense. She never sacrificed quality for a good bargain but she didn't spend more than was absolutely necessary for anything.
"Hey Miss McKenna," Kenny Granderson, the props master greeted her. "What bargains did you pick up for us this time?"
"We've got a couple of boxes of toys and books," Cayce told the man as she climbed out of the van. "Plus Nick and Cody found some furniture for you."
"Great! I'll get the guys to come help you unload."
A few minutes later, the props department employees had unloaded ten boxes of toys, books and puzzles and a couple of tables, chairs and lamps. The lamps were replicas of the old fashioned kerosene lamps that wealthy people used to use to light their homes but that was the whole point. Malone didn't want the real thing - he just wanted, and needed, items that looked like they were from the time period he was filming. Replicas were almost as hot an item as the real thing. They'd done well to get some at a fairly good price.
The head of the department made up a list of what Cayce and the men had delivered and then, after making a copy for himself, gave it to Cayce to turn over to Malone who would see that the accounting department logged the purchases in the ledgers. The props men would see to it that the items were cataloged in their computer as to what they were and where they were stored.
Climbing into the brown Chevrolet van again, the detectives and the rancher headed for Craig Malone's office to hand over the recordings and music knowing that he wanted to look at them before sending them off to the music department. He was looking for a song, something western or country or sounding like it was country or western, to use for one of the movies he was filming. Little did anyone know of the treasure Cody had found at the music store.
"Miss McKenna, how nice to see you," Malone's secretary said with a smile. "It's nice to see you gentlemen again as well."
"Thanks," Cayce said. "Is he in? I've got a bunch of recordings and sheet music for him. We left the furniture and clothes and all down at the props warehouse."
"Yes, he is. Go right in. He'll be happy to see you."
Cayce gave a quick knock on the door and then entered. Craig Malone, forty-five, with dark hair and blue eyes, greeted his equine expert and her companions with a big smile.
"Cayce! What a pleasant surprise. And the Riptide Detective Agency as well. Come on in. Make yourselves comfortable."
"We're not going to stay that long, Mr. Malone," Cayce told him. "We went shopping today and picked up a bunch of stuff for props and the music department." She reached into the pocket of her teal colored shirt and pulled out the receipt from the props warehouse and the other receipts from the purchases they'd made for Colony during the course of the day. "We got some furniture, a couple of signs and a bunch of clothes. We dropped all that stuff off at the warehouse. Kenny wrote up this list for you and says not to worry - he'll get it into the computer and properly cataloged and stored before anybody goes home today."
"I'm sure he will," the movie executive said. "He's very conscientious about that."
While Cayce and Malone were talking the other three men started opening the boxes they had carried in so that their temporary employer could see for himself what they had managed to find. They laid the sheet music out on one side of his large conference table and placed video cassettes, audio cassettes and such around the other side and on the ends.
Malone came over to look things over. He was quite pleased with the selection of music Cayce and the men had found. There was everything from folk songs to cowboy songs to modern country music with a little country and western - from the 1930s and 40s - thrown in for good measure.
"I still can't find anything I like for your latest project," Cayce told Malone. "I know a song that would be perfect but I've never been able to find a copy of it."
"What song is that Cayce?" Malone asked her. In private it was Cayce. In business meetings it was Miss McKenna.
"It's from an old children's television show I used to watch faithfully, every weekend, when Uncle Brian first adopted me. He was stationed at Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. There was a show called Boomtown on every Saturday and Sunday for several hours. The man who hosted it came to Boston when his contract with another station still had thirteen weeks left on it but the network shut down. He had a choice between Boston and Cleveland, I think it was. He chose Boston and he became such a big hit that the show was on the air for eighteen years - from nineteen fifty-six to nineteen seventy-four. I can still see him with his guitar and his lasso. Big white Stetson. Sergeant Billy O'Brien or Cactus Jack on the banjo. The Sheriff of the day and his deputy trying to find the person on the wanted poster." Her green eyes had a far away look in them as she relived those days of her childhood. "He rode a Palomino horse named Goldrush. The theme song was Boomtown but it wouldn't do for your movie. It was the song that got everybody into the mood for the show. It's the song they used to transition between the bunkhouse and Boomtown that I'm thinking of." She shook off her reverie.
"It sounds like it would be good choice. It's too bad," Malone agreed, "that you've never found a copy of it. Is there no sheet music for it?"
"Not that I've ever heard," was her reply.
"What was the man's name - this cowboy that hosted the show?" Murray asked.
"Rex Trailer."
The three detectives stared at each other in disbelief. Totally by accident they seemed to have found the very song that Cayce was thinking of. It was Cody who found his voice first.
"Would the song be called 'Hoofbeats' by any chance?" the blond asked.
"That sounds right," Cayce answered him.
"Nick, go out to the van and get that little item we bought for her."
The Italian wasted no time. He was dying to find out if they had, albeit unknowingly, found the very song that would solve Malone's dilemma. He was back in five minutes handing Cody the bag with the record they had bought at The Musicians' Friend.
"We found this at the music shop," the blond detective explained. "We thought it sounded like something you'd like so we bought it for you because you're always doing things for others."
"Or donating to some charity or other," Murray added.
"Open it," Nick said getting impatient with all the talk.
Cayce opened the bag and took the record out. Her green eyes went wide with wonder and she gasped at the magnitude of the importance of this small gift from her brothers.
"Oh, Cody!" she squealed as she threw her arms around him. "You're a positive genius! I've been looking for this for years!"
"I think she likes it," Nick said drily as Cayce flung herself at him next.
"I don't think there's any question about that," Murray said as he got his hug which nearly knocked him off his feet.
"Mr. Malone, this is the answer to the problem of music for that program. This is absolutely perfect! You have to hear this song!"
"I have to hear the song that has you so excited," Malone said. "Put it on the stereo and let's have a listen."
Cayce, hands shaking, placed it on the turntable of the stereo on the shelf behind the conference table. There was a moment of silence and then the sound of hoof beats, drumsticks tapping on wood and brass instruments. A few seconds later a man's voice was heard singing:
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Thunder across the prairie wide
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Ride, cowboy, ride
Covered wagons were a rolling out along the trail
on the way to the golden west
The Injuns were a raidin' them until they heard
the hoofbeats of the cavalry's best
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Thunder across the prairie wide
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Ride, cowboy, ride
Cayce's face was rapt as she listened to her first cowboy hero singing. Malone listened intently, getting drawn into the rhythm and the visuals that the song brought to mind.
The hoofbeats of a herd of wild mustangs
On a big stampede
The hoofbeats of a famous outlaw band
Returning from their lawless deed
The hoofbeats of the sheriff's horse
And the posse in close pursuit
Thunder out across the plains
When the sheriff orders "Shoot!"
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Thunder across the prairie wide
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Ride, cowboy, ride
There was a brief instrumental part and then the singer was heard again, repeating the previous verses.
The hoofbeats of a herd of wild mustangs
On a big stampede
The hoofbeats of a famous outlaw band
Returning from their lawless deed
The hoofbeats of the sheriff's horse
And the posse in close pursuit
Thunder out across the plains
When the sheriff orders "Shoot!"
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Thunder across the prairie wide
Hoofbeats, hoofbeats, hoofbeats
Ride, cowboy, ride
There was absolute silence for a moment then Malone looked at his young friend and said, "Congratulations, Cayce, you're absolutely right. This song is perfect for that program."
"I knew it!" she exclaimed.
"I'll have someone copy this to a cassette and send it to the music department. My legal department can look into the copyright issue and get us permission to use this. It shouldn't take long."
"Thank you, gentlemen," Malone said with a big grin. "You have unknowingly solved the dilemma of what to use for a theme for my latest project."
"What's it about?" Nick asked.
"It's a documentary about the history of horses in the United States from the 18th century through today."
"Sounds interesting," Murray said. "What's it going to be called?"
"Didn't we tell you?" Cayce asked.
"No."
"It's called 'Hoofbeats'."
Author's Note: Rex Trailer was a real person. He was born in Texas and spent a lot of time on his grandfather's ranch learning cowboy skills. A rodeo cowboy advised him to go into the entertainment business because it meant making money and not spending time in the hospital as so many of them did. Rex listened and started performing. Gabby Hayes, best known for playing Roy Rogers' sidekick in the movies during the 1940s, heard Rex and hired him to entertain the children at his dude ranch.
In 1947 he went to work for the DuMont Television Network. In 1949, after answering an ad for cowboys who could do stunts, he got the job of hosting the Oky Dokey Ranch - a kid's show with a puppet reminiscent of Howdy Doody. From 1950 to 1956 he went to Philadelphia to host another western themed kid's show that went by various names. With thirteen weeks left on his contract the Philadelphia show came to an end when the station was sold. Offered the choice of Cleveland or Boston, for his new location, Rex chose Boston. His thirteen week contract, as Cayce states in the story, lasted for eighteen years. Rex Trailer died, at the age of 84, on January 9, 2013. He is missed by millions of baby boomers in the Boston area.
Here's a link to a recording of "Hoofbeats" complete with some pictures of Rex over the years.
watch?v=aJ6LstnPuFA&list=PLA33F2AC8E9DE6D1A