Act 2: A Saboteur Sought
"Hey, Guererro." Fillmore said turning to Oscar. "Maybe you can give us some answers."
"Is there any way to determine who built this piece?" Ingrid asked. She was pointing toward the part of the train set with the rigged train track.
"Yes, of course." Oscar said. "Each member of the train club builds a different section of the layout. It's all supposed to come together without a hitch, but there was a hitch today. A horrible, horrible hitch."
Oscar grabbed the section and lifted it up slightly, but open enough to look at its underside. When everyone looked, they found the letters "RE" written on it.
"RE?" Ed asked. "Initials, I suspect."
"Yeah." Oscar said sadly. "This is Ralph Eddie. It's people like him who are putting my father's train store out of business. They want to change the way things are done. Always buying premade trees, getting their pedestrians out of cereal boxes. The model train industry is dying. That's the reason we have to move."
"As far as you know, does Ralph have anything against the rest of the train club?" Ingrid asked.
"Ralph's got a good heart," Oscar said, "But he's not exactly known for his track-lighting skills. Poor sap probably missed part of the whole thing by mistake."
"That's some crazy mistake." Ed said.
"Listen, I have an appointment with Mr. Strange in his office. This whole ordeal is pretty traumatizing." Oscar said. "After that, I need to help around the store. The sooner these people, the quicker the wounds will heal."
"One more thing." Fillmore said holding up the yellow controller. "Can you tell us anything about this?"
"It's not one of ours. Never seen it before." Oscar answered before walking away.
"This was no mistake." Fillmore said scanning the crime scene.
"You're right." Ed said before looking behind Fillmore. "Hey, Fillmore, riddle me this… What do you call a naturally wealthy swimmer?"
"Huh?" Fillmore asked before hearing O'Farrell's voice calling out to him.
"Hey, Fillmore, I got you a new fish. That's where I went. I went to get you a new fish, not 'cause I was sick or anything. I'm a seventh-grader that went to get you a fish."
Fillmore turned to the photographer and sighed when he saw the bag in his hand which was full of water and a fish. "A goldfish. O'Farrell…"
"I've even taken the liberty of prenaming it." O'Farrell continued. "I call him Chow Yun."
"Look, man, I appreciate it," Fillmore said, "But Thelonius can't be replaced. You take it, O'Farrell."
"No, I couldn't." O'Farrell said before giving it a bit of thought. "Well… I could."
"Hey, shutterbug, how about doing your job and taking pictures of the crime scene?" Ed asked. O'Farrell was about to do it too, but he fell ill and ran off leaving his camera behind with Vallejo. "I should've known better."
"We need to find out where this train controller came from." Ingrid asked examining the yellow controller.
"Here's a hint: it's not a train controller at all." proclaimed Way Wade Washington, who approached the Safety Patrol with his own input. "That baby's got way too much power to waste on trains."
"Uh, why don't you do us a favor and cut to the cream cheese?" Fillmore asked.
Washington shrugged. "It's a remote control car controller. You know, for RC cars, not trains."
"Do you know anyone in the RC club who has it out for the train club?" Ingrid asked.
"I would assume everyone does." Ed said. "They did say that they and the model trainers have been rivals for a while."
"Exactly." Washington said. "Face it. The trainers are stuck in the past. All that 'Norman Rockwell, under the Christmas tree, papa got me a shiny red caboose' junk… Please. It's a new millennium."
"Sounds like we got a couple of control freaks to question." Ed said before thinking to himself. "And hopefully, this will lead to whoever took my survey."
The team of Fillmore, Ingrid, and Ed headed outside to where the RC club set up their remote-controlled car track. They looked over it keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious.
"So how exactly do we spot a saboteur?" Ingrid asked.
"With our eyes naturally." Ed replied.
"All right. Don't be a wise guy." Ingrid said slightly amused.
"Look around." Fillmore said stepping onto the track. "Maybe something till hit us."
Just as he said that, an RC car drove by at top speed at Fillmore's feet. The boy was knocked over and fell to the ground and saw the red car continuing to drive on knocking all the other cars off the track. While he did that, Ed and Ingrid looked around for whoever was controlling it.
"This is what happens when you stand on the road." Ed said. "Where's the driver?"
"I'm picking up a signal on my walkie." Ingrid said holding up her radio. She and Fillmore followed it.
Finally, once the red car reached the Old Faithful Geyser set, it crashed and fell to its side. Fillmore picked it up and looked underneath it finding the letters "RE" written on the underside.
"Ingrid, Ed, the car belongs to an 'RE'." Fillmore informed.
"And from what Guererro told us earlier, those initials fit one key suspect." Ed said as he and Ingrid found a boy hiding in the bushes. It was the same orange-haired boy with glasses and a flannel shirt they met earlier. "Ralph Eddie, I presume."
Ralph gasped as he turned and saw the Safety Patrol cornering him. He had a controller in his hand, but he let it go allowing it to break once it hit the ground.
"You got something to tell us?" Fillmore asked Ralph who was sitting across his desk from him. Ingrid and Ed sat beside him also awaiting his answer.
"I'll say whatever you want." Ralph said almost apologetically. "Just don't tell anyone you saw me at the RC track. Please! I was just trying to distract you so I could get away. I knew you three were on the train case, and I couldn't risk you getting back to the train club. They hate anything new, anything different. They wouldn't understand."
"Understand what?" Ingrid asked.
"That I'm… I'm…"
"An RCer." Ed surmised. "It's your secret passion, isn't it?"
"Yes. I admit it." Ralph said ashamed. "Can I go now?"
"Actually, we need to talk about this." Ingrid pulled out the broken RC controller which was placed in an Evidence bag. She held it close to Ralph so he would get a good look at it.
"It's the guts to a Speedy Mite 2000 and its controller." Ralph said. "What animal would mutilate a Speedy Mite?! It's the smoothest ride on the road! You know, besides trains on a good track of course."
Fillmore turned to Ingrid and made a call gesture with his hands. She got out of her chair and headed to a phone. While they waited, Ralph looked over at the fishbowl next to Fillmore with the late Thelonius drifting on the surface.
"So… what's with the dead fish?" Ralph asked.
"I'm born of loss carrying heavy pain. Going through the stages helps me wane. What am I?" Ed asked.
"What?" Ralph asked confused.
Fillmore sighed. "Grief. The answer's grief. And I'm fine, Ed."
"If you say so." Ed said with a shrug.
"I called RC World." Ingrid said after her phone call ended. "No record of Ralph purchasing a Speedy Mite 2000, and they're the only dealers around. They only sold one this year and it wasn't to a regular. Walked in, paid cash, walked out."
"Looks like Ralph's in the clear." Fillmore said.
"Just one more question." Ed said. "Before the incident at the convention, I hid an envelope underneath the space track table. It was taken though. You wouldn't happen to know if anyone took it, do you?"
"I don't think so. It doesn't sound familiar." Ralph said. "So, uh, it's all cool, right? You know, where I wasn't today?"
Ed sighed. "I won't tell. I don't care."
"Great. Thanks." Ralph said before leaving.
"Why didn't you ask the space track kids about the envelope?" Ingrid asked Ed.
"I did, before we headed out to the RC Club. They said they don't know anything about the envelope or the survey. They didn't even know their table was being used for anything other than what they were using it for."
"One mystery at a time." Fillmore said. "Let's start with Ralph. Looks like someone was setting him up."
"Someone who knew about his dirty little secret?" Ingrid asked.
"Could be." Fillmore said. "Hey, Tehama, a request. I need minutes from all the train club meetings from last year. Can you make it happen?"
"I think I can. I think I can." Tehama answered on her way to the records room.
"Hey, Fillmore." Anza called out from behind the trio, "I was over at Pet Papa, and they suddenly had a sale on goldfish, so…" Instead of finishing his sentence, he pulled out a water-filled baggie with a goldfish swimming inside it.
"So get yourself one." Fillmore said.
"Lay it on me!" O'Farrell said taking the baggie and the fish inside.
"Fillmore…" Ingrid started to say.
"I'm fine." Fillmore said. "I just don't want a new fish."
"You know, they say denial is one of the stages of grief." Ed informed. "As hard as it is, you're gonna need to move on."
"Nuh, uh." Fillmore replied. "I need to figure out who caused this train wreck before Folsom puts us on permanent convention watch."
"Hey, Fillmore." Montoya said coming up to them with a stack of papers. "Tehama told me to bring these records to you. Nothing unusual, but Tara Octavia—the girl with the red bandana—filed paperwork to have Ralph Eddie kicked out of the model train club six times. I just saw you questioning Ralph, so I assume that's relevant?"
"It's a good start." Fillmore said. He, Ingrid, and Ed started to leave, but they were stopped by Vallejo.
"Hey, Fillmore, I got you a little something."
"Don't tell me. A goldfish?" Fillmore asked dryly.
"Actually, two goldfish." Vallejo said holding up his baggie along with a snack. "And a brownie." Fillmore only took the brownie while Danny took the fish.
"So, I hear there's a carnival over at Strickmeyer Elementary." Ingrid said just as she, Ed, and Fillmore had reached Tara Octavia's house. "I bet they got a couple of goldfish waiting for someone to land a ping pong ball and take them home."
"Anything's better than letting Thelonius' body drift on your desk." Ed said ringing the doorbell. "He's starting to stink up the place."
"Ingrid, Ed, you don't get it." Fillmore said. "Thelonius saw me through some real tough times. I mean real tough. You didn't know him before. And no one was in a rush to be friends with a guy with a rap sheet the size of the Rio Grande. Thelonius was all I had. And I'm sorry, but you can't replace a friend like that with a well-tossed ping pong ball."
Before another word could be said, the door opened up, and Tara Octavia answered.
"Yeah?"
"We have to ask you a couple of questions about Ralph Eddie." Ingrid said.
"What do you want to know about?" Tara asked. "The time he put Steelhead salmon in an Everglades layout? Salmon are indigenous to rivers and oceans, not swamps. Or what about the time he used chewing gum to secure his tracks? I didn't like Ralph. It's no secret. But I didn't sabotage his layout."
Ed raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. Who said anything about his layout?"
Tara fell silent. She then grabbed a nearby wreath and slammed it around Fillmore, Ingrid, and Ed's heads before running past them. They broke out easily.
"Again with the running." Ed said annoyed.