Chapter 07
Shaggy and Velma had barely been asleep for an hour when Shaggy's A-Eye raised a holographic placard which stated 'Incoming Call – Caller Unknown'. Since the caller was not on priority, the A-Eye did not make a sound other than a soft ding. That and the light from the hologram were enough to rouse Shaggy and he stuck his head out from under the wonderfully warm blankets and into the frozen tundra that was the rest of their hotel room. He saw the placard and frowned. The advent of the A-Eye had ended the era of burner phones and, Shaggy thought, had ended the possibility of 'Caller Unknown'. But apparently, he was wrong. His fear and his curiosity were simultaneously sparked.
"Answer." His A-Eye automatically detected Shaggy's body temperature and pulse rate, assumed he had just been awakened and automatically set the call to audio only.
"Hello." He grumbled.
"Good morning, sunshine. Did you have a good night's sleep last night?"
At first, Shaggy didn't recognized the male voice on the other end of the line. But then, he put it together. It was Bill Pepper from Sealine Airways. It was one thing to talk about how they had nothing to worry about from Sealine Airways but something else entirely to actually be talking with them. He hoped the gulp he took was more silent than it felt.
Shaggy focused on the persona of the hard-bitten private eye and buried himself into the role, "I've slept better, but my evening was productive. How about yours?"
Velma heard Shaggy's voice go slightly lower and knew that he was in deception mode. She sat up and tilted her head to indicate a question.
Shaggy mouthed the name 'Bill Pepper' to her and she nodded.
Pepper continued, "My night was pretty humdrum but this morning was much more exciting. It appears that someone was able to break into our office last night. It was a pretty impressive job, too. They totally got around the electronic security system. We would never have checked the video if I wasn't kind of a traditionalist and had some old-fashioned tell-tales. Guess what I found when I checked the video?"
"I'm on the edge of my seat."
"It was all erased. Like I said, real pros. You wouldn't happen to have any ideas about any of this, would you?"
"Not a clue."
"That's good. Because many of our clients value their privacy. They value their privacy a great deal. And they might be inconvenienced if any of their travel arrangements were to fall into the wrong hands. They do not take being inconvenienced lightly."
"I have no personal knowledge of this, of course, but if someone broke into your offices last night – as you say – then I would imagine that they would be very focused on one piece of information that has nothing to do with any of your present clients. I would also imagine that they would have neither the time nor the interest to go snooping around for anything other than that one piece of information. If I were you, I would rest easy that no information about your present clients was compromised in any way."
Pepper paused for a moment before responding, "Thank you, Mr. Rogers. As you are a private investigator, I appreciate your opinion on my situation. I imagine that we will not have an opportunity to speak again."
"No. Mr. Pepper. I don't imagine we will."
Pepper rung off and Shaggy turned back toward Velma and shuddered, "If I wasn't about to take a shower, I'd take one anyway."
Velma scooted over and put her hands on his shoulders. His breath wasn't great but that's the price of love, "You think that he'll leave us alone?"
"I think so. He seemed more worried about how much trouble he might be in. But I might feel a little better if we get the first possible flight out of here. I guess this is where I ought to say it… Zoinks."
Velma flopped back down to the bed, "I guess we're never quite as smart as we think we are."
"I never thought I was that smart in the first place." He got up and headed into the bathroom. Once the door was shut, he stood and shivered for a full minute to get all of the scared out of his system.
Through his shower, Shaggy's mind conjured up horrible scenarios for his and Velma's sudden an untimely demise based on every gangland movie dating back to 'The Godfather'. By the time that he had completely dried and put on the hotel bathrobe to exit the bathroom, he was hoping that Velma had found a quick flight out of Vancouver.
He stepped out of the bathroom in front of a soft puff of steam while scrubbing the water from his hair with the soft hotel towel. "Any luck on flights?"
"Yes. And we have to hurry. There are two economy seats leaving in three hours for a flight to Honolulu and then we have a three-hour layover for the flight to Hilo. We need to get to the airport in two hours. So, I need to get into the bathroom now."
The adrenaline was working to the point that neither of them was remembering that they had only had one hour of sleep. Shaggy got dressed and checked through all of his travel identification. Since the Republic of the Hawaiian Islands (RHI) had left the United States along with Puerto Rico, Guam, and The US Virgin Islands, traveling there required all passport information on his A-Eye to be up-to-date and properly renewed. It wasn't like it was a big deal, the RHI had immediately joined NAFTA upon leaving the Union which included free travel for all citizens of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. He and Velma had already checked all of this before coming to Canada, but it didn't hurt to check. Everything was in order.
As usual, Velma got them packed and they rushed down to the P-Car and made it to the airport and onto the plane with no problems. Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief as they left Canada without finding a moose's head in their bed or whatever the Canadian mob did to people.
As soon as he relaxed, his body became very aware of his lack of sleep. He leaned against the bulkhead and was snoring lightly within minutes. Meanwhile, Velma was in her mystery-solving zone. The flight lasted about five hours and Shaggy slept as soundly as one could sleep on a plane until the landing announcements were broadcast through everyone's A-Eye.
When they were done, he looked at Velma still working on her holographic keyboard and screen, "Did you get any sleep?"
"I probably should have but I didn't get around to it."
"We'll go straight to the hotel in Hilo and put you to bed."
Velma wanted to keep working the mystery. She had identified some threads to pull and every fiber of her being wanted to keep going until they had been properly pulled. But she and Shaggy had had this fight many times through the years and she always lost. She had to lose because logic was on his side. And she hated that so she didn't fight, "Okay. When we land in Hilo, we sleep. But tomorrow morning, I have some leads to run down."
"What kind of leads?"
"Well, if Scooby took an Uber or a Lyft, we're basically out of luck. I looked through their computer files and found nothing under any of the aliases. But Scooby always preferred taxis. 35 years ago, there were five main taxi companies on Hilo, all family-owned. Two of them are still operational for tour charters and still owned by the same families. The third no longer exists but the family that owned it still lives on the island. The last two are gone and I could not find any family members. I looked for computer files and found almost nothing. Which means that their records are either paper or someone might remember an odd fare like Scooby Doo at 2:00 in the morning."
Hawaii was less the vacation wonderland than it once had been. The oppressive humidity hit them in the face as soon as they stepped out of the international terminal and start walking down the sidewalk in front of the Honolulu Airport to get down to the smaller gates of the domestic island flights. The 4°F increase in average temperature over the last few decades had made Hawaii muggy and uncomfortable. There shirts were sticking to their backs by the time they wrestled their suitcases up to the small airline counter and checked them in. They made it to their gate an hour before their flight and Velma promptly fell asleep on Shaggy's shoulder. This was not the first time that she had laid her head on his shoulder and slept (it was probably not the hundredth) but it never ceased being special. He leaned his cheek against the top of her head - which tickled his nose - and closed his eyes. He had a good life.
There was no Mysterno Hotel in Hilo so they made reservations at a small local motel which they were pleased to find was clean, well-maintained, and had modern, functional air conditioning. Shaggy stayed awake until he was sure that his wife was soundly asleep and then he laid down himself just to rest his eyes for a few minutes. They both woke up ten hours later and raced for the bathroom. Velma won which left Shaggy pacing about the room trying to think of anything other than his bladder for five minutes. When the door opened, he was gentlemanly enough not to physically knock her down on his way in.
Their first bickering of the day was regarding what to do first: go to the first interview or hit the breakfast buffet. Shaggy no longer wreaked destruction on buffets as he and Scooby had in their youth but getting back into mystery-solving was rekindling old feelings and he drew the line at postponing breakfast. He knew that if they missed the buffet, Velma would find some health food establishment famous for tiny portions. He dug in his heels. Since Velma was also pretty hungry, she allowed him the victory.
They called RD Tours and asked for an island tour for after breakfast. It was a gamble since guided tours were frequently P-Cars with tourist information programmed into the AI but they hoped that the island may choose to provide the human touch. The vehicle was a mini-van sized P-vehicle but did include a human guide. She stepped out of the van and greeted them, "Ms. Dinkley, Mr. Rogers, My name is Brandi and I'll be your tour guide today. Your tour request said that you wanted a custom tour. What were you hoping to see?"
Velma pulled out a fake smile, "Hi Brandi, I'm Velma. We are most interested in some history."
That triggered an immediate rote response, "Certainly. There are many fascinating historic attractions on the island. The island has been populated since the year 1100 and there is an excellent exhibit about that at the Cultural Center. King Kamehameha the Great came to the island in 1796 to create the canoe fleet which he used to conquer all of what is presently the RHI. There are many points of interest regarding that visit. There are also many places I can show you which pertain to the sandalwood trade which King Kamehameha the Great and King Kamehameha II utilized to establish Hawaii as a trading partner with Europe, China, and the United States. If you are interested in more recent history, then we have the Palace Theater, The Lyman Museum, and many other places. We have a two-hour, four-hour, and an all day package…"
Velma allowed the spiel to run its course before breaking in, "Our interest in in some very specific history. We're interested in the history of the RD Taxi Company."
This one stopped the tour guide in her tracks, "I'm sorry?"
"We are interested in possibly speaking to someone in your company who was driving a taxi around 35 years ago."
"35 years ago? Why would you want to speak with someone like that?"
Velma pulled out her identification and Shaggy followed suit, "We're private investigators and we're working on a missing person case."
"From 35 years ago?"
"The people who love them still miss them."
This touch of humanity made Brandi relax somewhat but the look on her face remained wary, "And you think that our cab picked them up?"
Velma shook her head, "We have no idea. It could have been any cab on the island or it could have been an Uber or a Lyft. We just know they landed in Hilo 35 years ago and we're trying to figure out where they went next."
"Expecting someone to remember a single fare from 35 years ago is impossible."
"There are things about this fare that might have been memorable."
"Such as?"
"I would prefer not to divulge that until I am speaking to the correct person."
Brandi looked back and forth between Velma and Shaggy and seemed to make up her mind, "That would be my grandfather and he is at the cultural center right now. He volunteers there. But you're best bet is to go to the Bent Hook Bar at around 5:00 this afternoon. All my grandfather's old buddies get together there every day and talk. Several of them are old taxi drivers. If you purchase the full day tour, then I will be able to meet you there and make introductions."
This was Shaggy's cue, "Full day tour, it is!"
xXx
A night of rest had helped Barty Blake but not enough to overcome being 97 years old and away from home. He was not exhausted but still tired as he returned to the lobby of Reynolds, Jenkins, and McNabb with Bert walking immediately behind him in case he should stumble. The human receptionist jumped to her feet and walked out to meet him in the center of the lobby.
"Welcome back, Mr. Blake. Please follow me to the conference room."
She led Barty into the same conference room as before but, this time, no one was there. He was going to be made to wait. More power plays. He could deal with that. As long as they let him sit down.
"Can I get you something to drink? Some water, perhaps?"
Barty nodded, "Some water would be very nice." He turned to his nurse, "Bert?"
The nurse shook his head, "I'm good. Thanks."
Bert then assisted Barty in negotiating his way from the walker into a chair at the table. Barty deliberately took none of the four power positions at the table. He wasn't feeling very powerful and was taking long, deep breaths after he sat.
As soon as the receptionist left the room, Bert pulled out his A-Eye and read Barty's vital statistics. "Mr. Blake, how close do you think you are to being done with all of this?"
"Hopefully this meeting will be the last one."
"The sooner you get back home and in the care of your normal medical staff the better. Your heartrate arrhythmia is back again, and your blood pressure has dropped. Are you experiencing shortness of breath?"
"Only for the last ten years or so."
"No joking. Are you experiencing shortness of breath?"
"Nothing unusual."
"Weakness?"
"Seriously?"
"Okay. I'll give you a pass on that one. Dizziness?"
"No."
"Lightheadedness?"
"A little. But its better now that I got off my feet."
"Chest pain or discomfort?"
"No."
"I'm not liking the drop in blood pressure. When you're done here, I think we should go to the hospital."
Barty nodded, "Fair enough. But you know that I'm not going to give this up until I get what I need to find Daphne."
"Yes sir. All I ask is that you let me do my job the best I can."
"I'll work with you on that."
The receptionist came in with two glasses and placed them on the table in front of Barty. Ice cubes were a thing of the past and each glass had been blast-cooled which left a thin frost on the side. The water was ice cold. Barty took a couple of sips, put his glass down on the table, and looked up at the receptionist, "Thank you. For an old man like me, it is very comforting to see someone doing your job and doing it well. I get tired of AIs and robots."
"Thank you." She turned and exited, passing Sheila McDaniel who was entering the room.
Sheila closed the door behind her and walked around to the far side of the table. She deliberately stood with her back to the window, so the late afternoon sun shone directly into Barty's eyes, "I'm not fond of being strong-armed, Mr. Blake."
"I'm indifferent to your fondness for it, Ms. McDaniel. What I care about is whether it is working."
She stared at Barty who returned her stare. One of the advantages of cataracts was that he could match her stare even with the light from the sun billowing around her like an aura. Her second power play of the meeting ran out of steam and she tried to strike a nonchalant pose.
"I have explained the situation to my partners and they are discussing whether to cave-in and give you what you want or to go to the mattresses."
Her phrasing told Barty where she stood on the issue. The fact that she had used an antiquated gangster movie idiom meant that he would probably like this woman in another context. He waited to see if more information was forthcoming before speaking, "That would have been easy to have told me through the A-Eye. Why bring me down here?"
She didn't flinch, "I hoped maybe the exertion would make your heart explode and then I would have this annoyance behind me."
Barty couldn't help but smile. He would definitely have liked this woman. "Sorry to disappoint. When can I expect a response?"
"Tomorrow. This is not a decision that we will make lightly."
"I will expect your call tomorrow. And, Ms. McDaniel, I will reiterate what I told you at our previous meeting. This is not about business. This is about family. If going to the mattresses is your decision, rest assured that we will go to war. If you believe what I am telling you, then it would be in everyone's best interests if you told your partners."
Sheila didn't blink, "Good day, Mr. Blake." And she left.
xXx
The Bent Hook Bar had a human bartender and there were no automated trolleys. Given that the RHI still had paper money, they probably accepted cash. The bar would have been at home in any era of the last one hundred years. It wasn't much to look at. As a matter of fact, there wasn't much to it at all – not even walls. To be fair, there was one wall behind the bar itself which created a storage room for the alcohol. Otherwise, it was just a flat carport-style roof over a mismatched grouping of cheap exterior chairs and tables illuminated by strings of lights hanging under the roof. The floor was unfinished concrete and hadn't been swept since the last good windstorm swept through.
None of that stopped the patrons from having a good time. The average age in the place was probably five to ten years older than Shaggy and Velma and the average decibal levels were in the 80 to 90 range. The old folks were gathered around tables and yelling oft-told and retold anecdotes at each other over the blasting music.
Things settled down when Shaggy and Velma wandered in behind their tour guide from the morning whose name turned out to be Maria. It didn't go silent like in an old western movie, but there was a definite change in the focus of attention. This was a regulars' bar. Velma and Shaggy had the age about right, but the faces were new.
Maria led them to two round plastic tables (one of which had a broken leg which had been repaired with an old broomstick handle and duct tape) which had been pushed together under the corner of the roof. There were nine elderly men squeezed around it. They quieted as one when Maria spoke, "Papa Lewis, these two people are private investigators, and they are looking for a friend of theirs that came through here a long time ago. They were wondering if they could ask all of you some questions."
The music volume suddenly dropped as the bartender turned it down so she could listen in. This was obviously a close-knit group.
Papa Lewis looked up somberly, "I don't know Maria. I am an old man, and it is sometimes hard to speak. Especially when my throat is dry."
The men around then table erupted in laughter. One added, "And it is hard for us to listen when our throats are dry!" More laughter.
Shaggy joined in, "I guess then the next round is on us."
Another member of the group pulled himself up to his feet, patted Shaggy on the back and dragged over three more chairs as the rest squeezed around to make room at the already crowded tables.
Maria gestured that she didn't need a chair, "I have two children waiting for me at home and it wouldn't do for them to smell alcohol on my breath. They start interrogating me like mother hens. I'll see you on Friday, Papa Lewis."
The old man nodded, "As always, My Little Maria." And she left.
The bartender, having overheard the conversation, loaded up another round of drinks and brought them over. She started distributing them while looking over at Shaggy and Velma, "What can I get for you?"
Shaggy spoke first, "What beers do you have on draught?"
"Just the one."
"That's what I'll have."
Velma added, "Same for me." She wasn't going to ask for a prissy glass of red wine at a table full of blue collar working men.
Once the drinks were settled in, Papa Lewis started asking questions, "Are you two Americans or Canadians?"
Shaggy always handled the small talk parts, "Americans."
Another of the men grumbled, "We should be, too."
A third man rolled his eyes, "Here we go."
Shaggy and Velma stayed quiet and listened as the obviously well-fought battle raged again.
"What's any better now than it was before?"
"Our taxes don't disappear to the Mainland."
"But are they any lower? No. They're higher! And prices are higher!"
"But no one tells us what to do. We can protect the environment of our islands the way we see fit."
"How's that been going? The plantations immediately paid off all the politicians and the environmental protections went away."
"That didn't happen. That's just internet rubbish."
"No. My cousin, Kaleo, works for Cole Pineapple. He says that they cleared 50 acres of jungle after the separation. It had been protected by the EPA for 90 years."
"Kaleo drinks."
"We all drink! That doesn't make us wrong." The table erupted in laughter again.
Papa Lewis took over the conversation and directed it back to Shaggy and Velma, "What is it you want to ask us about."
It had been previously agreed that Shaggy would make the opening statement and take the hit and then Velma would supply the details. Shaggy took one for the team, "This person came through here 35 years ago…"
"And you expect us to remember them?!" More laughter.
That was Velma's cue, "It was a talking dog." As anticipated, the sudden interjection of a female voice quieted everything down.
One of the voices broke the silence, "You mean Scooby Doo?"
"Yes. We're hunting for Scooby Doo. I'm Velma Dinkley and this is Shaggy Rogers." They were still on script.
The same man squinted at them, "I thought I recognized you two."
Another man took a long swig from his bottle and said, "You did not. You didn't recognize them. You get confused by yourself in the mirror."
"My reflection in the mirror isn't as pretty as Velma Dinkley!" They all raised their bottles toward Velma and laughed again.
Velma appreciated the word 'pretty'. She had heard worse. "Do any of you remember picking up Scooby Doo at the airport 35 years ago?"
There was a long silence. Everyone looked at each other except for the man who had first said Scooby Doo's name and called Velma 'pretty'. He was looking directly at his bottle which he spun in his hands.
Shaggy focused in on him, "What's your name?"
"Kai." One word answer and he never looked up. Everyone at the table now knew that he knew something.
Shaggy knew what was going on, "It was a long time ago. You've never told anyone in 35 years. You've earned whatever he paid you to keep quiet.
Kai still didn't look up, "It's not about the money. I gave my word." All of the men around the table nodded somberly.
Shaggy continued, "We're his friends. Also, it's not just him. Fred and Daphne went after him. They've been missing since the same time. We just want to find out that our friends are okay." Shaggy and Velma had an unspoken rule that they would never vocalize that Scooby, Fred, and Daphne might be dead.
Kai made a decision, "He came in in the middle of the night. It was my night to take the midnight to 8:00 AM shift and I was sleeping in the cab at the airport in case a late charter came in. He came out and knocked on my window. The fare was a short one, just over to Pier 1 where the charter boats are docked. The charge wasn't much… maybe ten bucks. He asked me if I could keep a secret. I said 'sure'. He asked me to never tell anyone that I had picked him up. Then he gave me $100.
"I had nothing better to do, so I sat there and watched him go into the charter building and then come out the pier side door. He walked down to the end of the pier; someone came down a gangplank of one of the boats to meet him. He then got on the boat, and they immediately pulled away from the dock."
Velma was leaning forward intently, "Did you see the name of the boat?"
"No. It was a long way away, it was nightime, and I was looking through a chain link fence."
"How big was the boat? Big enough to make an ocean crossing?"
Kai nodded, "Yeah sure. It wasn't a huge yacht or anything but was easily big enough to go anywhere. Smaller boats than that one arrive from the Mainland all the time."
Shaggy bought one more round and he and Velma left with jokes getting worse and the laughs getting louder with each successive round. They returned to their hotel after their normal bedtime and Shaggy was running down on energy. Velma wanted to get to work trying to track down what boat had left Hilo Pier 1 between 3:00 and 4:00 AM on that date but he put his foot down. If she started working at 11:00 PM, he would find her still working when the sun rose. She acquiesced.
They were fast asleep at 5:00 AM when the A-Eye broadcast a holographic display which said 'Incoming Call From Barty Blake'. Shaggy had programmed it that Barty Blake calls were 'wake-up' priority, so it spoke aloud. "Incoming call from Barty Blake. Do you wish to answer?"
Velma spoke across the bed, "Yes! Answer."
Nothing happened. It being Shaggy's A-Eye, he had to be the one to give the command, "Yes."
The holographic placard changed to 'Line open with Barty Blake'.
Shaggy called out, "Mr. Blake?"
Barty's voice sounded old and tired, "Yes Shaggy. It's me. I've found out what Scooby was doing with the lawyers in Los Angeles."
