Chapter 12: The Fortune Teller
Minutes later, the Chan Clan arrived at the Pleasure Hotel, with their van converted back to its normal state and Henry and Stanley out of their costumes.
After exiting the Chan Van, they all entered the building. "So now what?" Stanley asked.
"We start asking questions about Pop, what else?" Flip encouraged.
"Yeah, what else?" Scooter agreed. The youngest Chan child quickly spotted a handicapped man. "I'll start by asking that old guy in the wheelchair."
"Scooter Chan," Mimi rebuked, "I've told you before you're much too young to be talking to strangers. I'll do it."
"You better quit bossing me all the time," her little brother bickered.
An elderly voice interrupted the argument between the two youngest Chans, "You will not find what you seek here."
The Clan turned to their right and found an old gypsy woman wearing a robe and a round, golden emerald dragon necklace around her neck, sitting in one of the hotel lobby's chairs with a crystal ball in her lap. "You children are in search of someone, but you will not find that person here," she said.
"And how do you know?" Flip questioned.
"I am Madam Lava," she told the young boy. "I see all and know all. You children are in search of someone. Your father. He's a detective. His name is Charlie Chan."
"Wow! She's right!" Scooter marveled.
Anne stared at Madam Lava's necklace and thought to herself, "Boy, that necklace sure looks familiar."
The young tomboy shrugged off her curiosity and stepped over to the front desk as the old fortune-telling gypsy continued, "You are Charlie Chan's children, Henry, Stanley, Suzie, Alan, Anne, Tom, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, and Scooter."
"Wow!" Nancy exclaimed. "She really does know everything!"
An impatient Flip, however, was less than impressed. "Yeah, yeah," he said, "so the lady told us our names. That's something we already knew. What we don't know is where Pop is."
"Hey," Stanley suggested, "maybe Miss Lava here can tell us. Why don't we ask her?"
"As it kills me to admit it, Stanley, that's actually a good idea." Henry walked closer to the elderly woman. "Uh, Madam Lava, can you tell us where exactly our pop is?"
"I can try." Madame Lava stared into her crystal ball. "He's…He's…He's inside of the Marigold Mountain Inn, located within Mount Williamson."
"Oh, my," Tom said, looking at his map, "that's at least a good twenty minute drive from here."
"Oh, come on!" Flip dismissed. "Are we really gonna go for this?"
"Well, it's the only clue we have," Suzie reasoned. "We might as well check it out."
"Well, the fortune teller's right about one thing, Pop's not here," Anne notified her siblings as she returned to them. "I spoke to the front desk. The good news is that Pop was here. The bad news is he's not now. As we all know, he disappeared four days ago."
"At least we know we're on the right track," said Henry. "Let's check out this Marigold Inn place."
"Right!" his siblings again nodded in agreement and the Chan Clan left for the Chan Van.
Before leaving the hotel, Anne stopped and once again gazed upon Madam Lava's necklace. "Where have I seen that necklace before?" she again asked herself before continuing to the van.