Hawkeye knew that he had two short days to search for clues and little, precious time to make the phone calls back home to Korea to pass on information to the others concerned about Margaret. That was all Colonel Potter could give him, considering that the conferences were winding down in that amount of time and his excuses to keep Hawkeye out of camp were running slim fast.
The captain also had the feeling that he was going to be followed soon enough. If somebody was after Margaret and blaming her for some murder, then whoever was responsible would try and follow him and the others as well. They were pretty close, truth be told, and anybody who was anybody would realize that. Even her friends might be blamed.
Anybody close to her was going to be blamed. Anybody who's following this case is going to be trailed everywhere footsteps are taken.
As the weak dawn sunshine crept on the duo as soon as they landed in Japan, Hawkeye wasted no time in getting to work on the case. Despite having Klinger complain about waking up and not going to the hotel to sleep (the night flight to Tokyo being the only one they could take without appearing to be escaping the tyranny running the camp), the captain was ready and willing to try to find something, anything, that will clear the charges from Margaret's records. He couldn't spend the time resting and neither could Klinger. They couldn't afford it.
"So, where do we start?" Klinger sleepily asked as soon as they left the airport, watching as Hawkeye tried to hail a driver with little luck. "I hope we'll find some paradise someplace soon." He was resigned, knowing that a bed was far away, even if his last comment was wishful thinking.
"Try and find a ride to Tokyo General," Hawkeye replied, getting a person to stop its wheeled vehicle being pulled by a bicycle. "We've got somebody to talk to."
"Oy, you know this is my first trip to Tokyo, right?" Klinger asked, making his wistful intentions clearer. "I'm tired, Captain. I understand your dedication, but my skirt's riding up my legs. My umbrella is frayed at the edges. My panty hose are running. Can't we take a break someplace? This lady's pretty tired and she needs to change soon. Where's our hotel?"
Motioning that Klinger join him in the one person manned vehicle as he climbed in, Hawkeye wrapped his arm around Klinger's shoulders, taking his umbrella in his hands. "Klinger, Klinger, Klinger…your dedication to rest inspires me. But remember, we have work before play. A cool, cozy hotel room in Tokyo shall await us when we finish our business today, at sunset."
"Are you sure, Sir?"
Hawkeye laughed as the hairy man groaned. "Have I ever been wrong, Klinger?"
As the wind licked his hair as Hawkeye told their driver to head for Tokyo General, Klinger turned around to avoid the gusts removing his sunny yellow hat, but swiveled right around, seeing two MP's climb into a vehicle and follow behind them carefully. He knew that the two officers were after them by the way they looked at the duo. One of them had pointed at Hawkeye and pressed extra money in the driver's hands, just to keep up.
"Umm, Captain Pierce –" the Corporal began, becoming nervous as the MP's climbed in and came up to them, closer and closer.
"Klinger, unless you have a blonde nurse under that skirt of yours, then don't bother me. I shall relish this Pearl of the Orient for as much time as I can before we reach our lovely destination." Hawkeye noted his dream nurse on the sidewalk as they turned a corner, whistling at her and seeming, to Klinger, momentarily forgetting that he had another woman to save.
"Sir, we have some –"
"Driver, take a left over there," Hawkeye instructed the man directing their vehicle. The driver himself obeyed the order instantly, giving his passengers a ride through a narrow alleyway and knocking over a stand of tourist's knick-knacks and some US soldiers wanting some souvenirs. The MP's behind them also followed, but ran into the stand's owner, crushing dolls, personnel and umbrellas alike.
Hawkeye laughed again, watching Klinger's eyes widen with amazement.
"And that, my dear Klinger, is how you get rid of trespassers," he said, whistling happily and glancing over his own shoulder as they exited the narrow passageway, knowing that the chaos would last for a few moments. They had little time, but the delay was enough for now.
~00~
Knowing that they barely escaped the MP's with their lives, Hawkeye had to think fast as they approached the large, looming building known as Tokyo General. Tipping their wonderful driver generously as he dropped them off (and bringing their belongings to the hotel), he and Klinger entwined their arms together and they walked to the front entrance together. The captain was even kind enough to take the corporal's lacy sunshade, eying the doors' handles and knowing what to do next.
"Ah, my kind and dear Klinger, here we are," Hawkeye commented as he untangled his arm from Klinger's and pulled open the door. Noticing that the indoor doorknobs were the same as the outside, Hawkeye entered the building and closed the door quietly, putting Klinger's bright accessory in-between the handles, as if locking it.
There! Nobody could enter or exit the building through the front. That should stall those MP's for a while…I hope.
If Klinger noticed that he had lost his bright sunshader or objected to it being used in such a manner, he made no mention. His eyes were more focused on the nurse at the front desk, a redhead in a typical white nurses' outfit (short skirt, panty hose and white shoes, hair short), a Red Cross logo on her breast pocket. She herself was also attached to a clipboard of paperwork, reading through it carefully and checking off random lines.
Hawkeye followed Klinger's glance, walking quicker as his heart started pounding his chest. Surrounded by the business of running an efficient hospital, he maneuvered around patients in wheelchairs, orderlies, doctors and other nurses, intent on talking with that particular nurse. Maybe she had more information on the whereabouts of Winifred Curtis' next of kin, who also worked at Tokyo General? Maybe she could point them in a direction other than the front door, which was about to be surrounded by MP's?
Hawkeye wrinkled his forehead in frustration. I am hoping that she can aide us. Surely a fellow nurse will have sympathy for another innocent nurse? Nurses stick together, last I knew. Unless they were jealous…and then, we had a good night.
"Excuse me, Nurse," Hawkeye began as he and Klinger reached her wooden desk. "Perhaps you can come help a poor doctor like me in –"
"If I can help you, Doctor, but, I'm sure that you'll receive more at the conference down the road," she replied, not looking up from her clipboard.
"Ma'am, we're here on some urgent business," Klinger protested.
"And I'm here, seriously working on supplies and what our wounded need. Now, if you two would kindly leave, then order will be preserved at this hospital and life will go on."
Hawkeye didn't like the pert replies from the nurse. "Now, listen, Nurse…?"
"Curtis," the nurse answered, finally seeing Hawkeye and Klinger as she looked away from her lists. "My name is Gale Curtis. Captain, if you need some information in getting to those conferences, I'm sure that an orderly can assist you in getting there. Now, can you leave?"
Klinger only had to look behind him to see the MP's from earlier. They both were trying to open the door, shaking it violently because pulling it was impossible by force. One of them was trying to break open the glass, his hand succeeding and then searching for the obstacles blocking him and his companion from reaching their goal.
Hawkeye followed Klinger and became frantic, finally down to begging. "Ma'am, please help us. We're trying to find out more about Nurse Winifred Curtis, who was stationed with us at the 4077th M*A*S*H. We're hoping that, since your last name seems to be the same as hers, that you'd…you know…rescue us from those MP's that keep on following us. They're been on our butts since we arrived here in Tokyo. And we think you know more than you're showing."
"If that's an offer for dinner tonight, then I pass," Nurse Curtis said. "But since those two have been harassing our patients about my sister for the past few days, then I'll help." She put down her clipboard. "Quite honestly, I'm not sorry that she's gone, but to know that patients who she interacted with in Korea are being bothered by MP's eats at my core. To see a doctor and some cross-dressing orderly be chased by them merits some aide. Now, come behind this desk. There's a door under my feet. Follow it down and hook a right at the first intersection. Go to the end and go up the ladder. You should be one of the exam rooms. It's always empty, so you'll be safe. I'm the only one with a key, if you're that worried."
"I can't thank you enough," Hawkeye replied gratefully (despite his hatred of tightly closed space), gulping as he followed the nurse's orders as she stepped aside quickly, Klinger behind him.
"Neither can I," Klinger added, holding the door in the floor open as Hawkeye jumped in.
"I'll meet you in a few minutes," Nurse Curtis whispered behind them, the door closing next to her and the front revealing the MP's. "And I am hoping that you find what you're looking for."