PROLOGUE

Plummeting through time like a runaway express train, Sam felt a sudden lurch as he stopped off at the next stop on his one-way ticket along the infinite corridors of time.

        “Really, old boy if you that my advice, I think that Lord Tennyson said it best:

  Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.”

In front of Sam was a shorter man with a small-distinguished mustache of breeding in a tan jumpsuit who continued quoting Tennyson oblivious of Sam’s presence.

“Cannon to right of them,
    Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;”

Sam scratched his head, “Did I miss something?”

The man stopped and looked up. “That is not the response I was expecting!” he said looking a bit annoyed.

        “Uh, bravo?” asked Sam sheepishly as he often sounded at the beginning of a leap.

        “Cut!” someone yelled behind them. Sam looked around into the face of a television camera and the accompanying production crew. One man Sam assumed to be the director waked over to him looking both dismayed and worried.

        “You okay, Tom? YOU haven’t forgotten your lines, have you? You’re always prepared and ready. An inspiration to the whole crew, Tom!” the director said trying to cheer Sam up.

        Sam turned away from his director and thought, ‘MY lines? As in acting? I’m an actor! Oh, boy!’

PART ONE

One would think of all the people and professions I had had been over my multitude of leaps that becoming an actor would be the most natural of jobs for a role-leaping adventurer. Unfortunately turning on my emotions like a light switch was not been one of my strong points especially in front of a group of strangers that were hanging on my every word for their bread and butter.

Honolulu, Hawaii

December 11, 1981

“Five minutes, boys. Here Tom, glance at the script for a minute. You’re supposed to KNOW your lines! I need to take a pill,” the director said pushing a script into Sam’s hand and walking off massaging the back of his neck.

Sam turned the blue bound script over. Looking at the front cover it read “Magnum, P.I, One More Summer, 11 February 1982.” Opening to the page that had been marked by the director Sam perused the script as a familiar vertical sounding noise announced the arrival the project observer, Admiral Albert “Don Ho” Calavicci dressed in the wildest fluorescent colored Hawaiian shirt that had ever blinded a hula dancer.

“Morning Sam. Aloha or as we used to say on the Hornet, ‘mani-muku-wanna-tuka-sunna-bola-gina-wanna’ which roughly translates from Hawaiian to Navy-ese: ‘I’ll take the redhead with the large casaba melons.’ God, it feels good to be in the Pacific. New Mexico is too dry and everywhere else is too cold. This is where a Navy man really belongs. In port, in Honolulu where the duty hours are short and the liberty is oh so good!” Al said sighing heavily.

A panicked Sam motioned Al over to behind the bushes away from the prying eyes of the score plus television crewmembers.  ”Al. These people are with some kind of a television show. What’s going on here?” asked a very frustrated Sam. He looked once more to the script and then tossed it on the ground not at all sure he could do the job he had randomly leaped into.

Al went back to his cigar, pulled out his trusty little information machine and started pinging at it loudly.

”Take it easy Sam. Acting is easy, comedy is hard. O.K. Today is December 11^th, 1981. You are in Honolulu on the estate of William Albertson. The name of your host is the noted actor Thomas Selleck, who is currently starring in Magnum, P.I a show about a playboy private investigator. Your co-star there is John Hillerman portraying Sergeant Major Jonathan Quayle Higgins the III.  Hmm. Nothing seems to befall him or anyone in the cast or crew in the next few days that would provide us with a reason for you dropping into this Hawaiian paradise. But then Ziggy is data crunching those predictions as we speak,” said Al as he took another puff and pocketed his handlink.

        “That’s it?” asked Sam.

        “Sam, Ziggy’s only had a few minutes to start her computations. Sammy Jo was just finishing up Ziggy’s 100 quadrillion-calculation checkups when you leaped into here. Hey, it’s no so bad. Lot’s of skimpily clad girls and …” said Al a bit lecherously as he was suddenly interrupted.

        “Mr. Selleck. Mr. Selleck!” said some assistant to the assistant to the assistant to the chief studio go-fer. “Mr. Slomeck is ready for you,” he said evoking the name of the director.

        Sam smiled and waved. “Just a sec. Al, I need a little help here. I can’t be this guy without doing his job! What happens next?”

        “No problemo. Always have a solution. MOST of the time,” Al said as Sam very slowly walked toward his original spot as all two-dozen sets of eyes followed him.

        “Blink! Blank! Blunk!” rang out the handlink, as ‘poof’ in front of Sam appeared in two-inch high purple letters the scene Sam had jumped so abruptly into. “Presto. And no one will be the wiser. Just don’t read it too much. I’ll help you out. I always thought I’d might have been on the stage if it weren’t for Sally Bandit. She owned this little Chevy Bel Air the you could.. Wait you’d better listen to your director. Ziggy says that you start right here,” said Al pointing to his lines in the floating playlet.

        Sam just smiled as he tried to give a good performance to the credit of this make-believe private dick.

Late at night when many television shows’ production days normally wrapped-up, Sam crawled into the company limousine and headed toward his temporary home. Exhausted Sam fell fast asleep.

        “Ring!” went an incredibly obnoxious sounding phone bell.

        “Who? What? How?” cried out Sam as he was pulled from a wonderful dream being back home. Unfortunately even though he knew that it was home, nothing looked even vaguely familiar as his Swiss cheese memory problem even invaded the deepest recesses of his dreams.

        “Ring!” the phone again sounded.

        “Sam. Pick it up! You know talk into it,” said Al looking a bit melancholy in his even relentless quest assisting his time-traveling friend.

Sam shook the tiredness from his eyes and pounced on the phone to prevent another obnoxious ring.

”Ah, hello?” asked Sam feeling like this leap had began all over again not knowing what to expect.

        “Hey there, Tommy baby. Saw the rough cut of last week’s episode. Numero uno work.  Spoke with Grainer at the network. LOVED YOUR RUSHES. You’re certain for being picked up for another season. Love it. Love it! I love you. We all love you, Tommy baby!” cried out the young voice with the forced west coast accent.

        Sam thought that he must be the most irritating of human beings, the theatrical agent.

        Sam lifted one side of his mouth in an obviously annoyed expression. “Thanks!”

        “Tommy baby? What’s wrong? You don’t sound happy. That’s not like you,” the agent said leaning into the phone.

        “I get that a lot,” replied Sam. “Um, what’s new?’

        “Well. Great news, Warner Brothers is boffo for your new movie. It’ll be the greatest thing since Ford cracked his first whip. Real old fashioned high adventure. High excitement. High Road to China is the title. Isn’t that a gasser?” he boffo’d to Sam.

        “Larry Weinstein, Tom Selleck’s major pitch man,” whispered Al as Sam responded.

        “Wild. Really cool, MAN!” replied Sam hoping not having to make that movie, too.

        “That’s what I said to Warner himself, my little star. Don’t forget the hand pumping session at the Hilton,” the agent said lowering his voice.

        Sam shook his head. “What?”
        “For the Special Olympics Fund Celebrity Sign-In. It will only take an hour, Tommy baby. YOU insisted you should do it!” Larry Weinstein reminded Sam.

        “Yea, right. Whatever. I’m on my way,” said Sam.

        “Great, Tommy baby. When you get back to Tinsel Town next Friday we’ll have lunch. Chow!” Weinstein said hanging up with a long-distance click.

        Sam knocked on the glass. “We have an appointment at the Hilton,” said a tired Sam.

        “Heading there now, Mr. Selleck,” the driver replied nodding as Sam slumped back into his seat.

PART TWO

Forty minutes into meeting “his” fans, Sam found himself signing everything from photographs to belly buttons and answering the same questions over and over again. With the help of the real Thomas back in the Waiting Room through his own fog of Swiss cheesery, Sam was given appropriate responses as he kept counting the minutes.

        “Thanks, Mr. Selleck. I will treasure this always,” said a high school age girl in a Magnum T-shirt. “Oh, my God!” she said turning and leaving. “My friends are going to DIE when they see it!”

        “Not bad for fourteen. Give her another couple of years and that will be one numero uno high-class looker. Hm. She goes on to become a rep for Avon and then marries a schoolteacher,” said Al looking into his handlink. “Two small children and a large mortgage in Corona, California!”

        Sam scribbled another “Best Regards, Tom Selleck,” as Al looked on.

“Another fifteen minutes, kiddo. Though you should be happy with all these young pieces of feminine pulchritude swooning over you. If it were I, we’d all head for the bar and have a party. You should see what’s happening back at the project. As soon as the staff heard that Tom Selleck was in the Waiting Room every woman over forty was down there in a flash. And our “guest star” loves it. Tina has already swooned twice. Beth was never taken into any of those phony television stars, but who would have thought the Verbena would have been his greatest fan. Why she can stop talking and analyzing his...”

        “MR. MAGNUM! MR. MAGNUM!” cried out a desperate voice. “YOU HAVE GOT TO HELP ME!”

        Sam looked up as a small girl dodged through the crowd, around the bouncers and made it clear up to Sam’s table. Very disheveled and dressed in adult cast-offs the girl looked and acted much younger than the teen she obviously was. Blond and blue-eyed, she would be stunning if she took better care of herself.

        “Here, now little Missy,” said the hotel security guard. “Let’s get back in line!”

        “Mr. Magnum! I need your help!” she desperately cried out waving her arms at Sam.

        “Sam, you better listened to her,” Al said quietly while reading off his handlink.

        “It’s all right,” said Sam. “Let her go!”

            “Thank you, Mr. Magnum. I knew you were kind!” she said. “I am in so much trouble! YOU are only one who can help me! Please! No one else will listen to me.”

        “And you can call me Tom. What’s the problem?” asked Sam smiling to her while handing out another autographed picture.

        “But everyone calls you Magnum?” she asked looking rather confused cocking her head to one side.

        “That’s just the character I play,” smiled Sam giving her his full attention.

        Then she whispered. “I got you, Mr. Magnum. You’re undercover! I won’t blow it for you. I’m Amy Mason,” she said throwing her hand at Sam.

        “Hi, Amy!” said Sam smiling and shaking her hand. Her small hand shivered a bit in Sam’s light grip.

        “I really need a detective. A good one! My mother disappeared last week and the police don’t know where she is,” Amy said nearly in tears.

        “Sam this could be it. Amy’s mother did vanish. That is not an illusion or some teleplay. No trace was ever found of her. Amy is not retarded, just a little slow. No other living relatives. She gets shuttled from foster home to foster home and then goes into a young adult house getting worse each year. Finally in 1992 in an adult care home she dies when she gets strangled in a clothesline while no one was watching her. Ziggy gives you a 84% probability that she is your or rather Tom Selleck’s ‘client’ this leap,” said Al quietly reading off the poor girl’s fate. “Listen to her carefully.”

        “UM, look Amy. I have to finish this here. You sit down over there and then we can talk in just a few minutes,” Sam said quietly pointing to the bench next to the wall.

        For a moment she looked disappointed and then a light went off in her head. “You got it, ‘TOM’,” she said winking at him.

        Sam’s hand ached after finishing the hundred millionth signature as he wandered over to see young Amy Mason. “Amy, tell me more about your mother. When was the last time you remember seeing her?” asked Magnum cum Sam.

        Amy fidgeted for a moment and then leaned toward Sam very eagerly to tell her story to someone who was ready to listen. “Friday. I got back from school and my Mom wasn’t there. She is always there when I get home. She is never away. I always find her there. It makes me so scared when she isn’t there. She is always there to take off my coat and give me a snack. And then there’s my HOMEWORK. God that can be so hard! But she always knows how to get me through it. She always knows what to say or what to do. She can really get the answer out of me. She is so amazing. I love her so and I feel so lost. I just don’t know what to do. My mom would know what to do. She is so smart. I’m kinda dumb, though my Mother is always telling me that I’m not. It just takes me a lot longer to figure things out. You know like you pull up to the traffic light and sit and sit and sit. It only feels long just cause you want it so much to change. That’s what my Momma says. It only seems like it takes me so long. That why it feels like my Mother has been gone for so very long. I just wish that she was here and…”

        “Whoa, just a moment,” said Sam trying to slow her down. He raised his hands like trying to stop a brakeless locomotive. A smile came to his lips.

        “Sorry. I just say whatever I’m thinking about. My Mother usually pulls my reins in. Whenever I get started I can’t…” she said apologizing over and over.

        Sam put up one finger, “Let me get in for a second.”

        “Sorry again,” she said looking up through the tops of her bangs while her nose pointed toward her shoes.

        “That’s better. You express yourself quite well. Just need to redirect your thoughts,” said Sam still smiling. “Now did you go to the police?”

        “Yes, sir!” she replied trying to be as brief as possible.

        “And what did they tell you?” asked Sam.

        “That she must have run away with some guy!” Amy said sounding thoroughly disgusted. “They found nothing that showed them that something bad had happened to my mother.”

        “Ziggy says that her mother, Shirley Mason, was something of a flaked-out hippie in the late sixties and seventies. Nothing major on her rap sheet, but she had the worst reputation with social services.  Never held a job for very long. Recently it appears that she was getting her life together! Thirty-two years old. Born here on the island. No post-high school education. No record on whom Amy’s father is. Just a product of that summer of love. 1967,” interjected the Admiral.

        Sam asked, “What about her work and her friends?”

        “Oh, my Mom’s boss fired her the first morning she didn’t show up to work. She was looking for another job. She doesn’t have a whole lot of friends, except for Stanley and Lila. They haven’t heard a thing,” said Amy sadly wiping away a tear.

        “Um, did she have a serious relationship with anyone? Did your Mother have a boyfriend?” asked Sam cautiously not wanting to upset Amy any further.

        “Nooo! Stanley was not really a BOY-friend. They just hung out sometimes. He liked to drink a lot and Mom didn’t like to do that kina thing anymore. I haven’t seen him in weeks, “ she said sniffing a bit.

        “Hey, Mr. Selleck. Your car is waiting for you,” exclaimed the promoter of the event.

        ”Just a second,” Sam called out turning back to Amy. “Maybe you better get back to your home. You’re safer there. I’ll give you my phone number and look into things first thing tomorrow,” said Sam quite confidently while reaching for a pen and paper.

        “Really Mr. Magnum! You’ll take my case?” she asked gleefully through tear-swollen eyes.

        “No promises though I will look into it. OK?” asked Sam cocking up one eyebrow.

”Gee that’s great! Thanks! You are a lifesaver,” she said jumping up and giving Sam a big hug.

        “Sometimes I am. Though sometimes I can sink, too. You get on back home. Take care,” said Sam as he waved and Amy ran off with youthful enthusiasm way beyond her years.

        Al looked up from his handlink. “One happy kid. Trudy had a positive personality like that. Despite her problems she was always upbeat. As to her Mother, not much to go on. Just one quick police report filed three days ago. And as to the male companion. Stanley Goodnight, no current address, no regular jobs. Her best friend is Lila Francis Washington, who lives two doors down from Shirley and Amy’s apartment.”

        “Have Ziggy run a broadband search. Check all the way back to Shirley’s birth. She can’t have given up on her daughter. Amy needs her so much,” lamented Sam.

        “Roger that. Now go get in your limo while I drive myself back home Later, Sam,” said Al as he smiled, gave him a half-wave and promptly exited.

        “Goodnight, Al!” Sam called out to his friend and project observer vanished through the bright white Imaging Chamber door.

        “Gregory. My name is Gregory, Mr. Selleck,” the driver said with a slight bow.

        “Fine, Gregory,” said Sam smiling and looking up to the sky. Finding places to talk to Al when his host was so well known was going to be a hassle.

PART THREE

Knocking on door of apartment 3B of the Aloha Terrace Apartments at nine o’clock the next morning a woman looking like a young Victoria Principal opened up the door wearing a striped leotard and wiping her forehead with a towel while Jane Fonda was leading her on in back kicks from the television in the next room. Al dropped not only his cigar, but his handlink as well.

        “Yeah, what do you…? Oh my God, you’re that actor. Tom Salad, no Selleck. You can’t be him. Are you him?” she said going from slightly annoyed to positively giddy.

        “Yes ma’am,” said Sam with all his false modesty.

        “Here at my house? My own personnel appearance? OH my God? This is unbelievable. Ahh!” she screamed dropping her towel and hopping up and down. “Did I win something?”

”Um.. no ma’am. Are you Lila Francis Washington?” asked Sam.

        “Why yes!” she exclaimed smilingly broadly.

        “I am just looking for Shirley Mason,” he said quietly looking at his feet.

        Pure shock appeared on her face. “Do you know, my friend Moonstone?”

        “Ah, who?” asked Sam.

        Al piped in. “Her hippie name from way back, Sam.”

        “No, I guess you don’t. She hated being named after Shirley Temple. That’s why she never uses it. Moonstone was a name that turned her on. Though you could really turn me on, Mr. Selleck,” she said winking at Sam.

        Sam looked down at his shoes embarrassed while Al’s blood pressure shot up ten points. “I know her daughter.”

        “Amy? Little Amy?” she said looking shocked. “How? Where? When?”

        “Well, I ran into her. She asked me to help find her mother,” explained Sam shrugging his shoulders.

        “Um? Not that I don’t want her to find help, but isn’t that out of your line, Mr. Selleck?” she asked looking intrigued. “You’re an actor!”

        “Well, she had this thing that I was really a detective,” sighed Sam looking down.

        “MAGNUM, P.I.! Of course. The poor dear. She does have this reality problem. Why just last month she was so upset because that on General Hospital, there was this …Anyway, I don’t know what I can tell you. HPD was here a few of days ago asking about her,” explained Lila wiping the sweat from her brow.

        “Any chance you might know where she is?” Sam asked desperately hoping for a lead.

        “I’m clueless. Moonstone has no family. Most of her time is spent hanging around the apartments here. Hard to say about her work acquaintances.  She was between jobs and had bounced around with several of them over the last few years,” said Lila. “What I do know about her is that she dearly loves Amy and would not abandon her.  That I truly believe.”

        “Amy mentioned a guy named Stanley,” asked Sam.

        “Stanley Goodnight? Haven’t seen him around here in months! He seemed harmless enough, though he can’t even hold a job as long as Moonstone. The two of them were just a little this side shy of friends,” she said shaking her head. “Nothing serious between the two of them.”

        “Any idea where I can find him?” asked Sam.

        Shaking her head yes, “Last time I heard he was hanging out in the Morehead trailer park on the Southside. Though knowing him he could be back on the Mainland by now!”

        “Bingo Sam! 423 West Hilo,” Al said after a successful set of “pings” and “pongs!”

        “Thanks you, Miss Washington,” said Sam. “I’ll let you get back to your exercise.”

        “Um, Mr. Selleck. Could I bother you with a …?” she said looking down a little embarrassed.

        “An autograph?” replied Sam reaching for his pen.

        Looking up through her tussled hair she smiled sheepishly. “Actually I was hoping for a kiss.”
        “GO for it Sam!” said Al rubbing his hands together. “Make it a good one!”

        “Sure,” Sam said looking up. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek, which resulted in a quiet sigh followed by several heavy breaths.

        “AH, Sam! Can’t you fulfill at least one of my fantasies?” said Al shaking his head.

        “Thanks,” she said giggling just a bit. “I’ll have something to remember you by. So long, Mr. Selleck,” she giggled again closing the door quickly and leaning against it once back inside her apartment. She had something major to tell the girls at the office on Monday morning.

        “Whoa! My afterburners are still going after thinking about her and Jane Fonda doing the aerobic tango together. She could exercise my buns anytime,” said Al as they drove to the other side of town.

        “Easy Al. She seemed like a nice woman. What do you have on this other guy? Stanley is it?” asked Sam as he turned the corner.

        “Well, let’s see,” said Al as he pinged away. “Hmm. Lives at the trailer park for another four months. Bounces around Oahu for the next three years. Eventually ends up in L.A. working in a grocery store where he still is. No family. No trouble with the law. Like Lila Fonda said he seems harmless,” replied Al.

        Sam punched the steering wheel, “That’s not enough! There has to be a logical explanation! But he’s the only lead we have,” said Sam cooling off a bit.

        Pulling up into the parking lot of an ancient trailer park that was depressing by most everyone standards, Sam stopped the car as the tires screeched on the gravel.

        “Not even as good as the housing we had at Great Lakes. Beth hated it there,” sighed Al as they walked up to a well-worn trailer with the remains of a picket fence surrounding it. Sam knocked on the front door.

        “Yea?” asked an average-looking guy in his late twenties sporting a mustache and needing a shave.

        “Hi,” said Sam. “Mr. Goodnight?”

        “Maybe?” he replied looking suspiciously up and down at Sam Beckett.

        Sam looked over at Al with a twisted expression and continued. “My name is Thomas Selleck and I’m trying to find um.. Miss Shirley Mason.”

        “Moonie? Haven’t seen the bitch! Can’t help you, buddy!” he said starting to close the door.

        “Hold it Sam!” said Al as Sam jammed his arm into the path of the screen door.

        “Please, I need to know what you know,” said Sam. "This is very important!”

        “Like I said, I haven’t seen the bitch in weeks. What’s it to you anyway, pretty boy?” he sneered.

        Sam leaned into the screen door. “She’s disappeared and Amy was worried.”

        “That little retard? How’d she con you into helping her? Not interested! Moonie dropped me like yesterday’s newspapers. We were getting along just fine and then nothing!” he said showing Sam a big zero with two fingers. “Zippo!”

        “Watch it, Sam. Methinks he felt there was more between them. And that could be trouble,” said Al cautiously.

        “That dumb bitch didn’t want the likes of me! Well good riddance to her. Hope she never comes back!” he yelled disappearing into the trailer.

        “There’s a lot of pent up frustration there,” said Sam quietly. “I hope he didn’t do anything to her.”  The worn screen door swung open again.

        “And take her junk back to her.” he yelled throwing out an old cardboard box filled with several small items that became scattered across the ground. “Now get out of here, pretty boy, before I do call the cops!” he yelled slamming the door.

        Sam reached for the box and picked up the items that had fallen out. Something caught his eye. Knick-knacks. Mementoes. An old photograph. A photograph of Moonstone and another guy standing in front of a cabin smiling. The picture was several years old since Shirley Mason looked to be in her early twenties.

        “Looks like she has at least one other friend, Al,” said Sam starring at the photo.

        “Nice cozy little retreat, too. Could be used for a little romantic rendezvous. In fact those two look more than cozy to me, Sam,” said Al thinking about a place in the mountains he used to visit quite regularly.

        “Have Ziggy run this place through her data base and correlate it with local aerial maps. It can’t be far from here. Doesn’t sound like she’s ever left the islands,” postulated Sam.

        “Consider it done, Sam,” said Al as Sam picked up Moonie’s belongings and headed to the car.

PART FOUR

Late in the afternoon, Sam walked from a small commuter plane on the island of Kaloolawe. Sam shook his head as he could still hear the constant whirring noise out of the prop engine in his ears. He preferred the constant leaping about the cosmos to a three-hour inter-island propeller-driven plane ride. The sun brutally beat down on him mercilessly while standing on the hot macadam airstrip. 

        Sam looked over toward Al. “Not a whole lot of people around here, Al?”

        “Yea well, this island hasn’t been developed too much yet. Lots of local regulations keeping down the condos. You can rent a car in the terminal. The cabin in question is in Baaloona State Park on the north end of the island,” said Al getting the latest update from his trusty multi-purpose calculator.

        “But when was she..” asked Sam as someone bumped him from behind.

        “Excuse, me?” said Sam smiling down at a wide-brim floppy hat and a young girl wearing dark sunglasses hiding behind a magazine and purposely looking away from Sam.

        “Ah, sure,” she said quite embarrassed and started to run away from Sam.

“Amy!” cried out Sam reaching out for her.

”Darn. You spotted me!” she said snapping her fingers putting down the magazine.

        Sam picked off the big hat as she removed her sunglasses looking up sheepishly.

        “Sam, she’s tailing you!” said Al as her strange actions became clear to him.

        “You weren’t supposed to see me. I’m traveling incognito! Hush-hush, you know, “ she said sadly looking at her feet.

        “Amy, I told you to go home. I’m looking into this for you. It could be dangerous!” Sam said leaning down and looking directly into her eyes.

        “I just wanted to help. You know, look after your back!” she said now looking up and smiling with youthful enthusiasm.

        “Excuse me, but his back is quite well watched, Amy my dear,” exclaimed Al with a twinkle in his eye.

        Amy looked up at Sam. “I mean this is real important to me. And I don’t want anything to happen to you. Like the time those bad guys jumped you in Little Saigon or when the spy caught you from behind. Not that I’m smarter than you, but you don’t have eyes in the back of your head. Of course you don’t. No one does. Unless you’re physic. I’m not physic, but that guy Keskin is physic. He sees things and moves things with his mind and…”

        Sam waved Amy off and then looked down fatherly at the child. “Hold it, Amy!”

        “Sorry, Mr. Magnum. Darn, I just did it again,” she said sounding very disappointed in herself.

        Sam took her chin. “Amy. I don’t know what to do with you. You’re here now. We might as well check out our hunch. Your mother used to use a cabin around here. We’ll look into it. And then we’re taking you home!”

        Amy pouted. “Come on, Mr. Magnum. I can be your sidekick. You know like Hutch.”

        “That’s Starsky and Hutch, Sam. She never seems to get far from her television fantasy life,” said Al looking over his handlink.

”OK, you can be my sidekick. But only this once,” Sam said putting his arm around her moving her along.

        “Neato!” she exclaimed with a grin that approached that of Sam Beckett himself.

At Baaloona State Park the “Q” team talked to the park ranger in charge of renting cabins. An old timer in a Smokey-The–Bear hat looked closely at the picture while scratching his chin.

            “Yep, that’s one of ours. Number seventeen over on the lake. Must have been taken back in seventy-one or seventy-two. See? It’s got the old siding on it. Seem to remember a couple like that. Young people. Kept to themselves. One of those young radical types. Long hair, wild clothes, beads,” he said handing the picture back to Sam.

        “She’s my Mom! Have seen her?” asked Amy anxiously almost hopping up on the counter.

        “Easy Amy,” cautioned Sam. “Have you seen either of them very recently?”

        “Oh, no. They were here regularly for a couple of years. Must have been ten years ago. Back during the Nixon administration, I reckon,” he replied.

        Al quickly interjected, “Ask them for a..”

        “Do you have a name for the man? “ asked Sam interrupting his friend.

        “I was going to say get an address for our mystery man,” said Al faintly. “But what do you need me for?”

        “Yep and by Jiminy. Always have information on them in case there’s trouble. You never know what people think they can get away with. No, sir. Let me see here. 1971. Here she is. Cabin seventeen. They were here real often. Borden. Harold and Grace Borden. Sounds married, but you never knew with those damn hippies!” he sighed shaking his head. “Fourteen Twenty-three Cook Street, Hilo. Does that help you out, young fellow?”

        “Sure, thanks,” exclaimed Sam writing down the address.

        “Thanks, Mister. You’re a life-saver!” cried out Amy jumping up and down again.

        “Sam, not his current address, but we can trace his whereabouts. Ziggy, double-time on this one!” Al called out to the PQL hybrid computer.

        “Affirmative, Admiral Patton!” cried back Ziggy. “I will never get my finish my check-up out at this rate!”

        Looking more determined that ever, Sam announced, “ Now we head back to the big island!”

“And to find my mother!” smiled Amy joyfully.
”Still no report of her ever turning up!” said Al sadly watching his friends headed back to the car.

Picking up Tom Selleck’s car at Honolulu Airport Al had some good news for Sam and Amy.

        “OK, Sam. Harold Borden. He was using his real name and did live at that address though not with Amy’s mother. Some small misdemeanors when he was young. No other major problems ever with the law. In fact, no reports on him at all after 1993. He just disappears. Grew up in Alameda, California. Few small jobs. No great genius. Current address in an old industrial area near here,” explained Al.

        “Amy, we have one quick stop before we take you home, sweetheart,” said Sam.

        “All right, Mr. Magnum. I wanta be a detective like you,” she said kicking at he dirt. “You’re so good at it.”

”Guess I’ve had quite a bit of practice,” said Sam thinking about the times he was a detective or all the detective-like work he had to do through his many leaps. He had to be part Sam Spade and part Perry Mason to make it through his leaps.

        “Now where to?” she asked excitedly.

        “4156 Airport Drive,” Sam said starting up his car.

        “And how do you know this?” inquired Amy to her actor-turned-partner.

        “I guess just a little instinct and a prayer to an angel named Albert,” said Sam smiling a bit while Al winced at the allusion.

Pulling up in front of 4156 Airport Drive, Sam saw a sixty-year-old warehouse with broken windows and no observable locks on the doors. The bricks were worn and there was no sign of human habitation.

        “Creepy if you ask me. Though it’s listed as his address, the city really owns this old tax-delinquent building. Used to be an old pineapple shipping company,” read Al from his handlink. “Doesn’t look good, Sam!”

        Sam told Amy to stay in the car, but she still followed him into the old dark building.

        “It’s creepy in here, Mr. Magnum. Must be lots of ghosts. Or bad guys,” she said staying close to Sam.

Inside the building it looked even worse due to the damage from the elements. The odor of moss and mold was everywhere. And the late afternoon sun barely showed through the dark dirty windows keeping the interior of the building in a smoky colored twilight.

        “Something is not right here. No one lives in a dump like this. Not any of my acquaintances. God, what is that?” asked Al turning toward a unknown sound.

        “Ahhh!” screamed Amy, as she looked down at something that was once alive.

        “Don’t look. Just an animal that came in here to die. I don’t think…” Sam started to say as something hit him from behind. The last thing Sam heard was Amy screaming.

PART FIVE

Damp and musty was Sam’s first thought as he found his nose shoved into the concrete floor. His next thought was the pounding in his head. His hands and feet that were securely tied with the same type of rag that was stuffed in his mouth. Sam pulled at his bonds, but he was very securely tied.

        “Sam? You awake?” asked Al standing over him wishing there was something he could do for his old friend other than offer advice.

        Several muffled words could be barely heard behind Sam’s moldy tasting gag.

        Al took out his cigar and said a bit too flippantly. “I’ll take that for a yes. Things have gone really ca-ca during your little nap. You’ve been out for quite awhile, but the biggest news is that you succeeded. Look over there. See? Amy is in the arms of her mother! Well, at least they’re lying next to each other bound and gagged. Cheesh! And now according to Ziggy all three of you disappear! How? Where? She doesn’t know. Ziggy is so frustrated that she is sulking! Verbena is going to have a talk with her. Can you imagine a computer with her own shrink? All that time that we..”

        Sam made several muffled annoyed noises from beneath his gag.

        Al looked up startled. “Sorry Sam. You’re in a bit more trouble than we are back here. All right. That creep Borden snuck up behind you and clobbered you. He dragged Amy in here kicking and screaming until she saw her mother. She calmed down as Borden tied her up. Shirley seems to be fine for the moment. Amy has been very quiet. You don’t look so good yourself. I’ll try and keep watch on all three of you.”

        Hours later after starring at the ceiling counting the cracks in it, Sam saw the bolted metal door open. A rusty metal hinge creaked as all three captives turned toward the sound. In walked a thirtyish but much older looking man with thinning brown air and dressed in Army fatigues. His lip turned up as he shook his head. First looking at Amy who crawled up against her mother and then toward Sam. He looked very pleased at himself, then came over to Sam and gave him a good swift kick. Sam rolled over in pain.

        “Damn you! If I was there you wouldn’t be standing you cowardly NOZZLE!” screamed Al as he took a holographic swing at him passing through his head.

         “Now ain’t this a pretty picture. He-he-he-he,” he chuckled a bit too eerily for Al. “How in name of Abby Hoffman did you find me? Nobody knows about this place. No one!”

        Sam just looked up at him squinting with contempt in his face.

        “He-he-he-he! Just who are you? And who knows about me? Huh?” he asked Sam kicking him once again. Then he ripped off the gag slapping Sam once. “You can’t be who you look like? He-he-he-he!” he asked twirling his bushy eyebrow. Looking down Sam saw the same face that was in the photograph.

        “Give me a chance,” moaned Sam from a painful doubled-over position.

        “He-he-he-he. All right. Talk, whoever you are,” he chuckled scowling at Sam.

        “I am just someone who was helping this little girl try to find her Mother,” explained Sam followed by a coughing fit.

        “He-he-he-he. You were helping that little dummy? Then how come you look like somebody I’ve seen somewhere?” he asked.

        “He is Thomas Magnum, the world’s greatest detective!” yelled out Amy still cowering next to her mother. Moonstone looked shocked at the daughter. 

”Amy? What have you done, sweetie?” she asked. “That can’t really be… Can it?”

        “This is a detective? He-he-he-he! Oh, he did real great. Caught by the same guy that rescued my little Moonstone!” he chuckled. “He must be trying to cash in on looking like that TV cop. You a celebrity look-alike? Right? Who are you, you little sheep-dip?” he asked kicking Sam again.

        “OOF! No, I’m the genuine article. Tom Selleck,” Sam said wincing from what was probably a broken rib. 

”He really is Magnum. HE told me so. He’s just working undercover!” insisted Amy.

        “What is it with the little dummy?” cracked Borden. “Dummy, this guy doesn’t exist. He couldn’t detective his way from Hilo to Diamondhead with a road map. He-he-he-he!”

        “Harold! Stop talking to her like that!” screamed Moonstone.

        Harold Borden threw his hands up. “Flash! My name is Flash. Don’t forget that Moonstone?” Borden said as he walked back toward her raising his hand.

        “Sam! Do something!” yelled Al. “You guys still have no future. Whatever he’s going to do to you!”

        “What are you going to do to us?” asked Sam calling hoarsely across the old storage room.

        “Do? He-he-he-he! Do? The city has a job for each of you. You’re all going to end up part of a municipal breakwater project near the Hilton. He-he-he-he!” he chuckled.
        “Which explains why no one ever found Moonstone or any of you guys,” said Al. “That breakwater isn’t going to be overhauled for at least another twenty-five years.”

        “But why did you kidnap Miss Mason in the first place?” asked Sam as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

        “Because he wanted me back in his life. Seems this piece of goose dung thought I wanted to take three steps backwards to what I used to be after all these years. When I was a lot more stupid I used to pal around with him. Of course then I was drugged up a lot of the time. Hereon, cocaine. So when I wouldn’t submit to his advances I got kidnapped,” Moonstone said looking thoroughly disgusted. “I only wish my baby Amy would not be a part of this!”

        “Oh, Mommy!” Amy said cuddling next to her. “I’m so sorry about EVERYTHING!!”

        Sam turned to Harold Borden and asked as calmly as possible, “So why not let us go?”

        “He-he-he-he! You think I’m stupid? My little operation here is taking off. I’m going to be a big man someday!  He-he-he-he!” he said trying to sound important.

        “That’s what he thinks. Though there are enough drugs in the next room to start a chain of pharmacies. And he never seems to be caught before he disappears in 1993. Probably at someone else’s hands. Peter Lore here doesn’t have the smarts to keep it up!” sneered Al.

        “You’re going to have yours. Crime never pays, you mean old man!” screamed Amy.

        “Oh, my poor one-sided baby,” she said leaning against her. “Can’t you let her go? I’ll even go with you, Flash,” she pleaded. “We could still be together.”

        “You had your chance, Moonstone. Everyone is going to end up as fish food in the big pond. As soon as I work out the details. I will be back soon, Moonstone,” he cried going out and locking the door.

        “Miss Mason, no one knew where you were. Not the police. Not your friends,” said Sam. “And Amy loves you so. That’s why I thought I could help.”

        “That’s the problem with my life. No real direction. I knew that Amy needed help and that is why I was going to go back to school. Why just last week…” explained Moonstone. 

        “I can take care of myself, Mommy!” cried out Amy.

        Moonstone looked over at Amy with love. “I know you think you can, darling. You need just a wee bit of help. I just don’t think that Mr. Selleck, was the right person to help you out.”     Amy looked hurt at her. “I mean Mr. Magnum! Amy, you needed some special schooling to help bring out your talents.”

        “The show is still canceled at by end of the season, since you disappear completely,” said Al checking on Tom Selleck’s uncertain future.

        “I haven’t seen this nutcase in a long time. He must have had an obsession with me. How in the world did you find me?“ asked Moonstone.

        “Through an old photograph and the cabin you used to rent in Baaloona State Park,” explained Sam.

        “You are a pretty good detective. Pretty good. I thank you for the rescue attempt!” she said graciously. “I just regret that we may all have the same fate together. You are a good man, Mr. Thomas Selleck!”

PART SIX

Day went to night and night went to the next day while Al was still watching over Sam and the other kidnapped victims.

        The door creaked open. In walked the Harold Borden again looking quite pleased with himself.

        “He-he-he-he! Sorry for the delay. Just transacting a bit of business. Now for my pleasure! He-he-he-he! Time to go, sheep dips. I’ve got to depose of my few loose ends. Can’t have the best supplier on the island with too many witnesses that could rat on him. OK, you first bitches,” he said sneering at them.

        Borden untied them, held a gun on them and had them move to the far corner of the storage room. Then he began to untie a struggling Sam.

        “Easy does it or you get it here and now, Mr. Big TV Star,” said Borden roughly as he reached over to untie Sam feet.

        Sam’s eyes opened wide.

        “Crack” went the skull of their kidnapper as he fell to the hard concrete floor. Above him stood John Hillerman with a large piece of metal pipe in one hand.

        “Really Thomas. How did you get into these situations? Playing the part a bit too deeply I’m afraid,” he said with some reassurance. He leaned over and finished untying Sam.

        “Boy, are we glad to see you,” exclaimed Sam.

        Amy jumped up and down. “It’s Higgins to the rescue!”

        “I beg your pardon. What is the child talking about?” he asked looking strangely at Sam.

        “Hey guys. I heard someone coming,” exclaimed Robert Moseley who played T.C. in the series. “We better vacant these premises pronto!”

        “Right! Ladies, let’s exit directly,” John Hillerman said pointing to the door. “Thomas, do you need any help?”

        “Nope? Let’s roll!” cried out Sam limping a bit toward the open door.

        “There’s something vaguely familiar in all of this, Sam!” exclaimed a puzzled Al.

        All five of the “good guys” made their way toward the awaiting car. The bright sun hurt Sam’s eyes as they left the moldy old warehouse. A large black car swung around the corner with wheels screeching. Two men jumped out with guns pointing directly at Sam and company.

        “STOP!” yelled the first man.

        “Freeze! McGarrett FIVE-OH!” the second man yelled at the top of his voice.

        Sam just stopped, put his hands in the air and wondered where he would end up next. San Quentin?

Rotating red lights blanketed the surrounding area as Sam and company waited around for HPD and Five-Oh to finish their investigation. Several fans crowded around Sam asking Sam questions and requesting the same souvenirs as earlier.

        “Thank you,” cried one young girl. 

        An older gentleman agreed, “Yes, thank you.”

        “You’re very kind. Thank you! You’re welcome. Thanks for asking,” Sam said to his happy fans before he rejoined his rescuers and fellow former kidnapped friends. 

        “Man, I wish I had that kind of attention,” exclaimed Robert E. Mosley.

        “It’s not its all cracked up to be. I got tired of it after the first day,” said Sam quite honestly.  “And how did you find us, John?”

        John Hillerman replied, “It is not hard to track down a well-known television personality. And I am not without my contacts here in the islands.”

        “Thank heavens for that!” exclaimed Shirley Mason.

        “Ah, Mr. Magnum could have freed us in no time!” piped in little Amy.

        “And you got into this mess just trying to help out this little girl?” asked John Hillerman with a tone of disbelief.

        “Yep. That is how it got started!” said Sam nodding in the affirmative.

        John Hillerman cocked his head to one side. “Extraordinary. You have taken a star’s duty to his fans to new heights here, Thomas old boy!”

        “Just doing my job,” said Sam quite humbly.

        “That’s my boy!” replied Al. “By the way. Amy and her mother turn out fine. Moonstone.. Oh boy!.. finishes going back to school and ends up helping other mentally challenged people at a home in Honolulu. Amy does OK. She ends up using her imagination and actually begins writing for a television series in the nineties. Good work! And she still lives with her mother here in Hawaii.”

        “Oh, Mr. Magnum. Thank you so much. You found her! I really do need my mother,” exclaimed Amy holding Sam tight enough to cut off his circulation.

        “My pleasure. Just grow up and be happy,” said Sam smiling down at her.

        “Yes, who would have thought that someone of your stature would help a little girl? My opinion of those in rather stellar circles has improved greatly thanks to you!” said Shirley Mason. “You will always have my thanks and admiration.”

        The noise and commotion from the warehouse caught the attention of the merry band of adventurers as Harold Borden was dragged out kicking and screaming from the warehouse by HPD.

        “You jerks! You two-timers! I’ve been framed. It’s not my doing! You are all just making a BIG mistake! I’m going to have your badges! Moonie, help me out please! We mean too much to each other!  HELP!!!” he yelled to Amy’s mother. Amy cowered next to her. Moonstone just looked on in disgust hoping it was all over now as Borden was shoved into a waiting black and white patrol car.

        “Nope! FLASH, there made the mistake. And he’s still serving a life sentence for kidnapping and other miscellaneous drug charges,” said Al looking over his handlink. “You know, you actually SAVED his life? Straight into prison, that is! One less nozzle on the old garden hose to make trouble for us!”

        “Well, Mr. Selleck!” exclaimed Steve McGarrett who came over to the merry band. “We are glad that you’re safe. Just remember in the future to not take things in your own hands, Mr. Hillerman. That is the job of HPD!”

        “Quite right. I will remember that in the future,” he said winking to Sam. “But how did you manage to find this awful place?”

        “One of HFD’s officers saw Mr. Borden snooping around the Hilton breakwater project. He is on our long list of drug dealers. What we really were looking for was to find his supplier,” replied Mr. McGarrett.

        “Ah, Sam. Try Frank Garcia on the west end of the island. He was arrested in 1994 and had contacts with ‘Flash’ here,” said Al pointing rather suspiciously at him.

        Sam chuckled. “You might want to try a guy named Garcia, Frank Garcia. He had mentioned him earlier while we were listening to him rant.”

        “Thanks, we’ll look into it shortly,” replied Steve Caret as Don Bellasario stepped up behind him.

        “Hey, Thomas. We wondered where you had been. You’re never late for rehearsal. Sixty-three people are dependent upon you buddy–boy,” exclaimed Don. “And you decide to take your character a bit too seriously. Though I’m glad to find you in good health, do you know what could happen to our insurance rates if you do that again?”

        “Don Bellasario. Head of your production company,” whispered Al though not needing to use a whisper. “Your biggest of all big bosses.”

        “Hey, I was a bit… tied up. I think this will be my last time trying the detective game for real,” said Sam a bit embarrassed.

        “I’d say so. And all three of you are involved here in something that we really don’t want the publicity on,” Don Bellasario said shaking his head.

        “I think the Hawaiian Film Board would also appreciate it if you stayed out of our official reports. You have done quite a bit of service to the state of Hawaii, Mr. Selleck. And the filming of a series here in my native Hawaii is good business,” said Steve McGarrett. “And it’s good for the tourism. We can work something out. Keep up the good work!” Steve McGarrett said patting Sam on the side.

        “And it never does show up in any of the official reports,” marveled Al. “This guy really does get things done!”

        “Thank you so much,” replied Don Bellarisco. “If we can ever do anything for you, just call. You are one lucky son-of-a-bitch, Thomas!”

        Steve McGarrett turned back to the merry adventurers. “And thanks to good honest citizens like you. OK Five-oh, let’s wrap this up and get him in the lockup. Three counts of kidnapping. Book’em Danno!”

        And with that Sam turned into hundred ka-jillion bits of blue electric stardust and headed to his next assignment somewhere along the space-time continuum.

EPILOGUE

“Pablo!”

Sam looked around and saw only tall grass, the trunks of tree, bushes and dirt.  He was belly down on the ground crawling, the weight of a forty-plus pound pack pressing against his back and a rifle in his hands in front of him.  Sam didn’t recognize the make of the rifle, but it was an older model and not in the best of shape.

“Pablo!”  The disembodied voice yelled again.

Sam looked around him in vain; he couldn’t see much past the tall grass, just more grass and trees. He saw no one in the direction the yell had come from.  He didn’t want to stand up or even get on his knees; Sam had learned long ago that it was always best, in that first minute after leaping, to play along cautiously.

Stretching his head off the ground as far as he could, Sam looked around him. He clearly was in some sparse forest, and to his left he saw a hand shoot up from behind a bush about twenty yards away from him. The hand rapidly pointed forward but at a different angle than the angle Sam was currently crawling.  Sam adjusted his crawl appropriately.

Suddenly from behind him came the crashing, stomping sound of boots crushing bushes.  Sam felt himself yanked up on his feet by some strong force pulling on his pack, so unexpected it was that Sam dropped his rifle to the ground. Spinning around Sam came face to face with two men that looked Mexican or Latin American and whom pointed at his chest and head respectively two weapons Sam did recognize:  Uzi submachine guns.

“Oh Boy,”  Sam uttered nervously.