Disney Fan Fiction: "Tourist" Chapter 1

So while my wife was out tonight at our daughter's swim meet, I was cleaning out the closet (aren't I a good husband???😁). I decided to go through my Disney buckets (yes, plural) to reminisce a little about the goodies and junk I've collected over the years.

I came across a jewel case with two CDs in it.

The first CD was titled "WDW '04." I popped it into my MacBook and opened the file to find a few hundred page traveler's guide to Walt Disney World I wrote back in 2004 when I was a sophomore in high school. I chuckled as I read through it, noticing all of my inaccurate facts (like the fact that the flowers outside Magic Kingdom are all fake), as well as the attractions that have since become extinct.

The second CD was titled "Tourist, Dmbk1." I knew what this was...

When I was in high school, my family took a trip to Walt Disney World and stayed at Coronado Springs Resort. This was the trip that really caused my Disney obsession to flare up. Upon arriving home, I immediately began writing a fan fiction about a murder that happened on Walt Disney World property that was solved by two teenage boys (don't judge me...I was really into the Hardy Boys at the time, okay?).

I thought it would be fun to post it on my blog in installments, both for my pleasure and yours (I hope).

I give to you, Chapter One of my fan fiction, Tourist!

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Prologue

Barry Engler and his wife were sitting on their private patio at their hotel in Tampa Bay, Florida.

"What a beautiful evening," said Margaretta Engler.

"I'm going to pour myself some more wine. Would you like some, Margie?" asked Barry, standing up.

"Sure." Margaretta handed Barry her wine glass as he stood up to walk into the hotel room. A few moments later, Barry returned with full wine glasses. He handed Margaretta her wine and raised his to take a drink. Margie looked up and smiled at Barry. There was a steady stream of wine flowing out of a hole in Barry's wineglass.

"Barry, you've got a hole in your wineglass," Margie told him. Suddenly, Barry's wineglass fell to the ground and shattered. Margaretta noticed a bullet hole in Barry's neck. She gasped as the man blinked twice, stumbled to the railing, and braced himself. She watched in horror as his eyes rolled back in his head and his whole body went rigid. Time seemed to slow down as she rushed up to her husband's aid. She was too late. She watched as her husband's body tumbled over the railing and dropped seven stories onto the ground below.

"Barry!" she screamed. She saw some movement on the roof of the building across the courtyard. There was a man dressed from head to toe in black carrying a long gun. "What have you done!?" Margaretta screamed at the man. She saw him lift the gun to his shoulder, find her in his mounted scope, and take aim. She turned and ran into the room to call the police, but never made it; she was hit by a bullet in the back. The last thing she saw was the man lower the gun in the mirror across from the bed.

      

"Good evening, boys. How are you this evening?" asked private detective Merle "Cap" Mitchell.

"Fine, Uncle Cap," Donny Michaels and his best friend, Sean Mitchell said in unison. Uncle Cap was Sean's uncle but Donny called Merle "Uncle Cap" because Cap was Donny's dad's partner. He had been close to Cap since he was a small boy. Merle Mitchell is about five-nine with square rimmed glasses, brown hair with a small bald spot on the crown of his head, and close to fifty-one years old.

Dean Michaels was also a private detective until an ex-convict Dean had arrested, stabbed him. At that time, Donny was fourteen years old. When his dad died, Donny took his father's place. Together, the boys had solved a few cases with Merle and numerous on their own.  Now, just a few years later, Donny is seventeen and Sean is fifteen. Donny stood about six-three with blond hair and blue eyes. His best friend, Sean Mitchell was about six feet tall, with light brown hair, green eyes, and glasses. The boys lived in a small town called Grand Rapids in Michigan. The two boys had lived right next to each other their whole lives. After solving a case in Wisconsin concerning a rich widow's stolen money, the boys decided to treat themselves to a vacation. They had invited Merle because he had solved the case of an assassination attempt on a religious leader in the state of Texas. Merle was a close friend to the Tampa police chief, Carl Kerkstram. When he learned of the incident at the hotel, Kerkstram had notified the three detectives right away.

As the three approached the hotel room, the found two police officers standing in front of the door.

“Good evening, officers,” greeted Donny.

"Who are you?" an officer named Joshua Burlmath asked.

"My name is Merle Mitchell. I am a private detective. Your police chief is a friend of mine. He called me to investigate this case," answered the elder detective.

"And who are these boys? Joe and Frank Hardy?" asked the other officer. Both of the officers snickered at the joke.

"This is my nephew Sean Mitchell and his friend Donny Michaels. They help me on most of my cases. And if you are disrespectful anymore, I will personally make sure you lose your badge," warned the elder detective. At this, both officers straightened up.

Burlmath cleared his throat.

“Umm, Chief Kerkstram is inside waiting for you,” the officer informed the three.

“Thank you. You made a wise decision,” Cap applauded. The veteran detective and his two predecessors ducked under the caution tape and opened the door to reveal a full-fledged crime scene complete with forensic specialists and finger printers. Once they shut the door, the three detectives burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” boomed a voice from behind the group.

“Carl, how are you?” Merle asked while he turned to shake the police chief’s hand.

“Very good, thank you. Very good but very puzzled. This is almost the perfect crime. The only clues are the bullet hole in the first victim’s wineglass and the two bullets in both victims,” responded Kerkstram.

“Well, that should be easy. Look for a motive, suspects, figure out the kind of gun the bullets came from, and look for gun registration for any of the suspects,” explained Sean.

“We though about that. The only problem is that the bullets in both victims are different. Also, Barry was hit twice. Both bullets in him are also different. Which means that the perpetrator used two different guns,” said one of the forensic specialists. “We think that he used a gun that shoots more than one kind of bullets.”

“We do have one suspect, but it will require the two of you to go undercover,” the chief told the younger detectives. Donny and Sean exchanged glances. Donny looked at his watch. It was 12:30 in the morning.

“We’ll take the case. What do we have to do?”

                                                               1

"I can't believe we're finally here!" yawned Donny Michaels to himself as he pulled into the parking lot of the Coronado Springs Resort hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. He looked groggily at the glowing clock to find that it was 1:45 in the morning. He found a parking spot near valet parking area and pulled in. He turned off the car, put his seat back, and closed his eyes. It seemed like he had just closed his eyes when he heard a knocking on his window. He groggily opened his eyes to see an African American man in Disney uniform, standing outside his window motioning for him to roll his window down. Donny looked over at Sean. Sean was awake; he smiled and pulled off his headphones after turning off his portable CD player. Donny looked back out the window and rolled it down.

"Good morning, sir," said the Disney employee. "If you aren't going to stay in this hotel as a guest, we will have to ask you to leave."

"Actually, we arrived late last night and are planning to check in today," answered Donny truthfully.

"Alright. Check-in is at three PM but if you need something to do until check-in time, might I suggest you visit our swimming pool? There are bathrooms you can use to change your clothes in the vicinity," informed the man.

"Okay, thank you," Donny graciously said. The man walked back to his position under the valet parking awning as Donny rolled his window up. "Well Sean, let's go see if our room is ready. If it isn't, we could go swimming. How's that sound?"

"Fine by me," Sean answered. The two boys got out of the car, locked the doors, and headed for the hotel lobby.

"Good to see you boys are taking my advice," the African-American cast member said as the friends passed him on the way to the lobby. They walked through the big doors to see that the lobby was a large, beautiful complete with a fountain, a gift shop called Panchito's, and beautiful artwork on the ceiling. Sean noticed a sign hanging from the ceiling that said "Check-in/ Check-out/ Front Desk" with an arrow underneath that pointed to the left. The boys went into the room to find that it looked kind of like a big fancy bank. A long desk stretched from one end of the room to the other on both sides. The long desk on one wall was titled "Guest Information" and the desk on the other wall was titled "Check-in/ Check-out". Behind the desk was about five people that were talking to Disney World guests. The boys went up to the desk where they found a girl happily waiting to serve them.

"Good morning, sir," the girl politely addressed Donny. Donny looked her up and down. She was about half a year older than him with dark brown hair, bright green eyes, and standing approximately five feet, nine inches. Her name was Candy. "How may I help you?"

"Umm, we just arrived this morning and wondered if our room was ready," answered Donny.

"Name, please?" Candy asked sweetly as she typed on the computer.

"Robert Markes," Donny answered as he pulled out his fake ID. The police in his hometown addressed the two boys with fake IDs so their families weren't put in danger.

"Let me check," Candy replied. She curled her hair behind her left ear as she looked down at the computer screen. "Yes, your room is ready, which is a rare occasion because usually rooms aren't ready until after three PM. Alright, Robert. Her are your keys, one for each of you. Your room is located in the Cabanas; the room number is 9503." She pulled out a map of the resort property. "If you drove here, there is a parking lot outside your building. Here is your building. Your room is in Cabanas building 9B. Here's the lobby. Cross this bridge and you will be at your building," she explained while circling things and drawing lines on the map to show the boys the property. "This is where you can get on the bus if you choose to take that method of transportation to the parks. It's right outside El Centro also known as the lobby. Here are your park tickets and here is your parking pass."

"What if we don't want to go to the parks?" asked Donny teasingly.

Candy blushed. "That's your decision. Have a magical day."

"Yeah, see you around!" said Donny. Sean had to push him out of the lobby because he seemed transfixed on the lobby girl.

"Let's get our luggage, Lover Boy," Sean teased.

"Be quiet!" Donny punched Sean hard on the arm. "Don't tell me you've never liked a girl."

"At least I don’t make it evident," Sean explained.

"What about Carla Makyo?" asked Donny.

"That was different," Sean said. Both boys laughed. They walked out to the car to get their luggage. Donny popped the trunk while Sean put the parking pass in the windshield. Donny pulled out the two suitcases and gave one to Sean. They made their way to their hotel room and found it on their first try. They opened the door and found a quaint little room with two beds, a television, and a nice, little bathroom. The whole room was based on a Mexican/ Southwest American theme. The wallpaper featured cacti, jackrabbits, and tumbleweeds. The bedspreads were decorated with pictures of Indians and Indian artifacts, and a picture on the wall showed a Mexican pueblo. As Sean started emptying the suitcases into the dresser, Donny sat down on one of the beds and picked up the phone. He dialed a number then put it on speaker phone.

"Hello? This is the Tampa Bay police department. This is Chief Carl Kerkstram speaking."

"Hi, Chief this is Donny Michaels and Sean Mitchell," Donny said.

"Oh, hello boys!" the Chief said cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Very good, thank you. Let's get to the point, Chief. We'd like to get started on the case as soon as possible," said Donny sharply.

"Right, of course. We have one suspect. His name is Louis McGrogen," informed Carl.

"Why do you think that?" asked Sean.

"A report has come in that McGrogen kidnaped his sixteen year old daughter, Rebecca McGrogen and a woman named Carmen Leotta. There is no connection between McGrogen and Leotta," accused the Chief.

"I still don't understand why he is a suspect," said Sean.

"We accessed McGrogen's credit card account over the Internet. We found he purchased three fake IDs and three tickets to the Walt Disney World parks. We also found that he is going by the name Lucas Winkler while Carmen is going as Mrs. Lyndi Winkler. It seems that Louis forced Carmen to pose as his wife. Rebecca is posing as their daughter, Kara Winkler. We also found that the ‘Winklers’ are staying at your hotel, the Coronado Springs Resort," explained Carl. "Their room is the one directly next door to you, room 9502."

"Alright, Chief. We'll start on the case as soon as we are done unpacking. By the way, where is Merle?" asked Donny.

"I put him in charge of investigating the crime scene here in Tampa," Carl answered.

"Thanks, Chief," said Sean and Donny at the same time. The two parties hung up and the boys finished packing. Donny sat on the bed and turned on the television.
            "What are you doing?" asked Sean.

"I've never been to Disney World before so I decided to learn a little by watching the special Disney World channel Stanley told me about," answered Donny. Stanley Werdna was the boys' friend back in Michigan. He knew everything there was to know about Disney World. Not only had he been there ten times but he had a relative who worked there.
            "I have a plan on how to get to know our friends the ‘Winklers’ a little better," said Sean. "I'll be right back." Sean picked up a pair of pool goggles off the table and walked out into the hotel's hallway. He walked next door to room 9502 and knocked on it. When it opened, Sean saw the most beautiful girl he ever met in his life. She was approximately five foot, six inches with light brown hair down to her shoulders, green eyes, and the most dazzling smile he had ever seen. As she opened the door, everything seemed to move in slow motion and he found it for the first time in his life hard to talk to a girl.

"H-h-hi. Um, I found these pool goggles outside your door here. Are they yours? I was just walking bye and I, uh, found them lying in front of your door," stuttered Sean.

"No, they aren't mine. Maybe try the room next door and see if the goggles belong to the people there," suggested the girl.

"Good idea," complimented Sean. "Kyle Markes," Sean introduced himself using his fake name for safety reasons.

"Kara Winkler, I'm from New Jersey. Where are you from?" asked the pretty young girl.

"I'm from Michigan. You're from New Jersey? You don't have the accent," noticed Sean.

"A lot of people tell me that," stated Kara.

"I was just wondering," Sean said as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm not doing anything tonight. I read the park schedules and found that tonight is an E-ride night at the Magic Kingdom. Would you like to go with me?"

"What is the E-ride Night?" asked Kara curiously.

"It's when guests can pay extra to stay in the park after hours to ride nine of the most popular rides in the park. Tonight, E-ride Night starts at ten and goes until one in the morning," Sean explained.

"Um, let me check a second," Kara said as she shut the door. Approximately two minutes later, the door opened and Kara said, "What time do you want to pick me up?"

"How about nine o' clock? E-ride Night doesn't start until ten so we can catch some of the good rides before they park closes," Sean suggested.

"Sounds good," answered Kara.

"Alright, see you around nine, right here. What room number is this?" asked Sean although he already knew.

"Room 9502. Here's our room's phone number," Kara explained as she scribbled numbers on a unique piece of paper that had a laser pointer on it.

"This is a cool business card," Sean said as he read it. On the top was the name Professional Disguises and Technologies, Inc. with the name Louis McGrogen underneath it. “Who is Louis McGrogen?”

"Um,” Kara began. “He is my dad's friend. He owns the company," Kara explained.

"Kara, who's at the door?" came a gruff voice from inside the room. A man in a sleeveless tee shirt, Speedo running shorts, and a towel around his neck came to the door.

"Hi, you must be the young man taking my Becky out on a date tonight," the man said as he put his shoulder blade long hair in a ponytail. He had bags under his eyes, stood about an inch taller than Sean, looked like he hadn't shaven in weeks, and had cold blue eyes that looked like they could penetrate the thickest of brick walls.

"Becky? I thought her name was Kara," said Sean.
            "Oh, I'm sorry. I just heard the name Becky on the television and had the name on the mind," the man explained. "I am so impolite. Where are my manners? Lucas Winkler," the gruff man introduced himself as he stuck out his hand in sheer politeness.

"Kyle Markes," Sean returned Luke's handshake.
            "Pardon me, it’s time for my afternoon jog. If I don't see you before you leave, Kara, have fun tonight. I want you back by two in the morning. Okay?" asked Luke.

"Yes, daddy," Kara answered. Luke exited the room and started his jog down the hall.

"Nine o' clock, right here," reminded Sean.

"Alright," Kara laughed. Sean walked next door to his room and knocked on the door. Donny opened the door and Sean flashed him a look that said, 'Play along'.

"Hello, sir. I found these goggles and wanted to know if they are yours," Sean asked.

"I've been looking all over for these! Come on in and let me reward you by writing you a check," Donny offered.

"Sir, that really isn't necessary," Sean said.

"Well, I have some pocket change inside. Let me at least give you that," asked Donny. Sean flashed Kara a smile that said 'Give me a break!' then entered the room. As soon as Sean closed the door behind him, Kara went into her room and closed the door.

    

            "What took you so long?" asked Donny as soon as he closed the door.
            “I just met the most beautiful girl in the world,” said Sean.

“Disney World or the planet Earth?” asked Donny, jokingly.

“What do you think? The whole world as in planet Earth,” said Sean.

“So, back to my question. What took you so long?” repeated Donny.

“The goggles aren’t hers,” Sean told Donny.

“I know they aren’t! They’re mine!” Donny yelled, stealing the eyewear from Sean’s hands.

“Oh, yeah,” Sean laughed. “Hey, you’re going to have to find something to do on your own tonight.”

“Why?” asked the elder detective.

“I’ve got a date with Rebecca McGrogen,” explained Sean.

“YOU WHAT???” yelled Donny.

“Uncle Cap always said that in order to get to know someone close to the suspect, you have to make them think you are emotionally attached to them,” Sean quoted. Suddenly, the phone on the nightstand rang. Sean beat Donny to it, answering the ringing contraption. “Hello?” Sean answered. “Room 9503.”

“Sean, this is Carl,” a voice said over the phone.

“Hey, Carl. What’s up?” the younger detective greeted.

“We have a composite sketch of the suspect from a hotel employee that saw the suspect as he climbed the hotel building. He is a few inches taller than six feet, has sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and is well built,” the cop explained.

“Way ahead of you, Chief. I have a date with his daughter, tonight. We are going to the Magic Kingdom. It is an E-ride night,” explained Sean.

“Alright, just be careful,” the man warned.

“I will. Thanks for the information. We’ll call tomorrow. Okay, bye.” Sean hung up the phone. The radio clock read 11:39.

“I’m hungry,” said Donny. “What do you say to some lunch? After that we can check out the hotel, swim, and be back by seven so you can clean up for tonight.”

Sean agreed. “Sounds good to me.” The two boys on their sunglasses, swim suits, sun tan lotion, and got their towels. “Ready?” asked Sean.

“Let’s go,” said Donny. Sean took a step out the door only to be bowled over by someone moving too fast. His sunglasses went flying.