"I though you said she was in the bathroom." "She was..." "No, she's not in there!" "It's a kidnapping." "I never should have let them come here!" "We'll find her." "You couldn't knock me out of the air, so is that when you decided to kidnap my little girl?" "People take children for all kinds of reasons." "Not all of them are money." "We're losing the signal." "They're trying to draw you away." "Then we're gonna go in your dad's helicopter and fly you all over..." "Hi." "Fly you all over, and then we're gonna go have a luau." "What is a luau?" "Oh, it's a picnic at night, and they roast a pig." "It's great." "Ooh, those little pigs with curly tails?" "Lt'll be great." "You'll love it." "You'll see the Hawaiian dancers..." "Oops!" "Excuse us." "Not big enough?" "You can read it from a mile away!" "Hey, they're gonna love it." "You know, there's no place for a banner like this at my place." "I mean, this is a much better place to have a party." "There's more room for the kids to play." "Come on." "Where's my dad?" "He'll be here soon." "You know, our plane was a little early." "Oh." "I have to use the bathroom!" "Oh." "Okay, here." "Why don't you go on in there?" "Bryant, you stay with her, and I'll get the luggage, okay?" "Okay." "The barbecue alone would take up half my balcony." "Wait until they see the tidal pool." "They are going to love it!" "Robin's Nest is the perfect place for kids." "I mean, it was like it was built for 'em." "Well, maybe not on the inside, but out here on the grounds where nothing can get broken?" "I mean, it's just absolutely perfect!" "You don't have to convince me." "I always thought it was a good idea to have the party here." "Oh." "I guess I was just practicing my speech for Higgins." "Come on, Rick!" "What's going on?" "They got me on hold." "That's what you said five minutes ago." "Yes!" "Flight 460!" "Relax." "Look, their plane's not due for another hour." "It's already on the ground?" "What?" "Tail wind." "Leis..." "Leis..." "Where are the leis?" "Front seat, where you put 'em." "Can't believe I'm gonna be late." "They're with your friend Donna!" "They'll be fine!" "Bryant, where's Melody?" "She's still in the bathroom." "She's still in the bath..." "Hold this." "Let me go get her." "Melody?" "Melody?" "Your attention, please." "For those destined to downtown Honolulu and Waikiki, the Wiki-Wiki bus will depart from the South Terminal exit in ten minutes." "I don't know what happened." "I went to get the luggage while she waited." "I came back, and she wasn't there." "We have a little lost girl." "Black, 10 years old, approximately 47 inches tall, wearing a gray dress and a yellow ribbon in her hair." "I could have let the luggage wait." "Did you happen to notice anyone on the plane or in the terminal who seemed overly interested in Melody?" "No, I didn't notice anybody like that." "It got busy, and I..." "I couldn't keep an eye on them." "I mean, I had to..." "I had to serve the in-flight meal." "I was working." "Nobody bothered us." "Well, I'll put out the report." "If you happen to remember anything else, however insignificant..." "I'll have a car take you home." "I can't just sit at home and wait." "Call the airline." "Tell them you'll make the turnaround." "No, I can't!" "Yes, you can." "It'll take your mind off of all this." "Keep busy." "We'll find her." "I promise." "I'm calling you the minute I get to LAX." "John, bring the car around to take Miss Phillips to the airport." "Yes, sir." "Thank you." "Would you like a soda pop or something?" "There's a machine in the lunchroom." "No, thanks." "Bryant, I think Agent Estin wants you to..." "I want to stay here." "She's my kid sister." "You already have men out looking for her, right?" "There are people on the case." "Well, what can we do that we're not doing?" "To be perfectly honest with you, the best thing we can do right now is wait." "Oh, no." "That's not good enough." "The best thing that can happen right now is a ransom note." "I don't want to alarm you, but I think you should be prepared for the realities." "People take children for all kinds of reasons." "Not all of them are money." "There is one other possibility we have to consider." "Problems at home." "Maybe Melody'd been misbehaving lately, and was punished." "No, no, no, no." "You're trying to say that she ran away from home, and that's not it." "So the best thing you can do is sit at home and wait for the call." "Here's my number, in case you hear anything." "I'll be in touch with you if anything turns up." "Oh." "I just thought I'd seen you somewhere before." "I have that kind of face." "I remind everybody of someone they once knew." "We'll do everything we can." "When I was six years old," "I was convinced that monsters lived under my bed, just waiting for nighttime to come out and grab me." "I laid awake all night for weeks, on guard against my own fear, until my dad told me to call the monsters out and see if they came." "They never did." "Unfortunately, my dad never had a solution for the real monsters, the ones that reach out and grab you in broad daylight, and neither did I." "Hi," "Son." "Bryant?" "Bryant, what happened was not your fault." "I mean, no one's to blame." "Not you, not Donna." "When are you gonna call Mom?" "Well, I tried." "There was no answer." "You did hear me?" "I heard you." "Look, I never said it was your fault, okay?" "And besides, you weren't even there." "But I would've been, if your plane just hadn't beat the clock!" "Look, I know how hard it is to stop worrying about your sister, even for a minute, but I just thought maybe we could shake hands." "Say, "Hi, Son," "Hi, Dad." Something like that." "We'll find her." "It's a small island." "You can skip the pep talk." "I'm not a little kid anymore." "Characterizing you as a child would be too charitable." "Even the most undisciplined street urchin has some sense of respect for the rights and property of others." "Higgins..." "But you've gone beyond the bounds even of personal irresponsibility in extending your reprehensible behavior to your friends." "There's nothing irresponsible or reprehensible about it." "It isn't enough that you use my every absence to launch another bacchanal at the estate..." "It was an aloha party for T.C.'s kids." "That doesn't excuse the fact..." "We never had the party, because his daughter was abducted." "...now receives junk mail and flyers here..." "Oh, my God." "Rick and I have been at the airport all day, looking for anybody who might have seen her." "What junk mail and flyers?" "There was a letter in this afternoon's post addressed to Theodore Calvin at Robin's Nest." "There was no postmark and no return address." "Like a ransom note." "That's gotta be the ransom note." "What did you do with it?" "You threw it away?" "You threw it away!" "There's no need to keep repeating that question." "I was quite angry at the mess you created." "You threw it away!" "It's a kidnapping." "Well, at least that gives us something to work with." "He finally go to sleep?" "Looks that way." "Boy, I'd forgotten how hard it is to explain things to kids." "He doesn't understand why I won't call Estin about the ransom note." "Well, I'm not sure I do, either." "We can go through all your papers and try and find out who the kidnappers are ourselves, but T. C., Estin's a professional." "He might see something we're missing." "Look, I know." "There's just something about that guy." "Something I just can't quite..." "Okay." "Uh, I sorted it out into strong possibilities, possibilities, and long shots." "I guess we should start with the strong possibilities." "Here it is." "I knew I had seen this guy somewhere." "Estin was the agent in charge." "The kid was only seven." "Why in the world would you keep this?" "Oh..." "It was my first full-page ad..." "Look, I don't need Estin's kind of help." "I will find her myself, and I'll get her back, alive." "Okay." "You're the boss." "What keeps bothering me is why." "Why would anybody kidnap Melody?" "Come on!" "They told us why." "$300,000 in twenties." "But you don't have that kind of cash." "Well, not here." "But I can get my hands on it." "If I sold everything." "Maybe got a bank loan." "But who would know that?" "And who would know to contact you at Robin's?" "Hello." "T.C.?" "Yeah." "I'm afraid you'd better come to the estate." "Right away." "Hi, Mom." "Bryant." "Uh, I tried calling you at home, Tina, but there was no answer." "That's because Agent Estin didn't wait as long as you did to call us." "Hello, Thomas." "Tina." "Thomas Magnum." "Tina and I are..." "I know, I know." "Hello, son." "Hi." "Perhaps you'd like to talk in the study." "I think you'll find it more comfortable in there." "Do you work for T. C?" "Hmm?" "Oh, no." "Um..." "Higgins doesn't work for me." "He doesn't own this place, Mom." "He doesn't even have an estate at all." "Or a guest house, or a private beach, or tennis courts, or anything like that." "He doesn't even have a Ferrari." "Just a house." "Look, I never said I actually owned any of those things." "Forget it, T.C. I don't want to hear it." "Excuse us." "Listen, can we keep this in the family?" "David can hear anything else you have to say to me." "We're taking Bryant with us." "No..." "T. C., my cousin Evelyn is letting us stay with her." "Please, let him stay with me, like we agreed." "Why don't we let Bryant decide?" "Well, I would like to stay with him." "We have to find Melody." "But honey, that's what the police are doing right now." "And Agent Estin..." "They're working very hard..." "You said let him decide." "He decided." "No more debate." "The subject's closed." "Well, I hope you keep a better eye on Bryant." "I think you better go." "Now." "You call me, you hear?" "Okay." "Look, I don't have a lot of money." "We've had business expenses..." "Look, don't worry about it." "I'll get the ransom money somehow." "You're welcome to stay." "There's plenty of room." "Thank you." "We..." "We've made other arrangements." "Very well." "Look, all that stuff about me owning the estate..." "T. C., an explanation is completely unnecessary." "I'm sorry." "I..." "It's perfectly understandable that one might find oneself in a situation where, well, the truth becomes a trifle embellished." "Like the time your old buddies from Sandhurst came here, and you..." "There's no need to go into details." "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone." "I shall telephone Switzerland as soon as banking hours open there." "I believe we should be able to withdraw $300,000 from Robin's account." "Wouldn't Robin have to authorize something like that personally?" "He's inaccessible at present." "He's with three Swedish models at the Annapurna Sanctuary in the Himalayas, photographing a layout for his new book." "In any event, I have complete power of attorney." "And I'd like to do anything I can to help." "We all would." "Thanks." "I'd like to get my son home." "It's been a long day." "No, sir, I will not be put on hold again." "I have been on bloody hold since before bloody sunrise!" "I do not know what sort of banking practices you are accustomed to, but you cannot just snap your fingers and expect us to hand over $300,000 American." "I did not snap my fingers!" "I gave you the proper security codes, and I expect you to honor them!" "Hold, please." "Ice Pick?" "I'd have liked to think I'd been clever in figuring out why T.C. Assumed the role of lord of Robin's Nest, but I think the reason was clear to anyone who knew him." "He wanted to see his kids, and he wanted Tina to feel okay about sending them." "Tina had also assumed a role:" "The strong and stoic ex-wife." "Which was pretty understandable, under the circumstances." "And even though Bryant's role as the guy who doesn't need anybody because he had to be the man of the family was pretty convincing," "I knew his love for his dad was genuine." "Any progress?" "No, nothing yet." "Thomas?" "Hi." "Can I talk to you a minute?" "Of course." "Excuse me." "Where are you going?" "I've got some phone calls to make." "He's a little uncomfortable around T.C.'s friends." "My old friends." "Come in." "Sit down." "Tina, I have lunch ready..." "Evelyn, Thomas Magnum." "Thomas, my cousin, Evelyn Perry." "Hello." "Hi." "I can bring the sandwiches in here." "Not for me, thanks." "I'm not hungry." "You really must eat something, Tina." "I will, later." "What a lousy reason to see each other again after all these years." "I wish I'd kept in touch." "I meant to." "I didn't know what to say to you, either." "Oh, Thomas, I am so scared." "We'll find her." "When I woke up this morning, just for a second, I thought it was '75 again." "T.C. Had just come home, and all the bad stuff hadn't started yet." "The nightmares, and the moods..." "Why am I talking about this?" "I mean, I thought I had it all under control!" "I thought I had it behind me." "I never should have let them come here!" "Tina, you couldn't have known." "I should have!" "I should have done something!" "You are not the bad guy here." "And neither is T.C." "Oh, I know." "I've known that for a long time." "I just don't know how to tell him that." "I know you ain't paying a social visit." "And you damn sure ain't here to throw some business my way." "Three hundred thousand dollars." "That's almost the exact same amount that the courts made you pay me when you tried to force me into the ocean last year." "I don't want to talk to you, and I don't want you anywhere around me." "Until you give me instructions on where to bring the ransom money, right?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "Man, how far would you go to take my business away from me?" "I mean, you couldn't knock me out of the air, so is that when you decided to kidnap my little girl?" "Hey!" "You want to fling around accusations like that, go ahead." "I'll take you on." "Don't you think I won't!" "We can wail on each other all you want to, but it ain't gonna change the truth." "I didn't kidnap your little girl." "I'd never do something like that." "I had to find out." "Tell you what, T. C., you find yourself having to sell to raise that ransom money," "I'd be more than wiling to oblige." "Cash on the barrelhead." "I know I can't pay you what it's worth, but I can get the money pretty fast." "Cash?" "I am simply stating that a computer malfunction does not prohibit checking my authorization codes manually." "Nor does it interfere with a telex wire." "But the computer is the very reason we no longer have enough staff for manual coding." "Then check the bloody numbers yourself!" "There is no need to shout." "There is every need to shout, Mr. Eberhardt!" "I seem to have no other way to convince you of the urgency of the situation." "A little girl's life may be lost because of feeble excuses about computer malfunctions!" "Are you quite finished?" "No!" "But your relationship with Robin Masters' investment firm will be if you cannot find a way to devote your immediate and undivided attention to this matter!" "I'll do my best." "I sincerely hope it's enough!" "He's not?" "Do you know where he can be reached?" "No, just tell him Bryant Calvin called." "They said Agent Estin won't be back till tonight." "Hey, T. C., we got a lead." "I talked to Ice Pick, and Thomas here talked..." "What's going on?" "I'm selling the business." "Higgins is getting nothing but a bunch of red tape." "The bank say a loan would take 90 days." "Well, I ain't got 90 days." "So I'm selling the business to Big Jim Stotter." "Can I, uh, talk to you a minute?" "You may not need the ransom." "I think we may know who the kidnapper is." "Tina's boyfriend, David Crawford." "You guys can stop whispering." "Melody and I don't like the guy anyway." "What makes you think David Crawford's the kidnapper?" "Motive and opportunity." "He borrowed about a half a million dollars to get his business started, and he's overdue on a big chunk of it." "Which he must have thought that you were good for, because everything that you told Tina, she believed to be true." "You talked to Tina?" "No." "I did." "Whoever took Melody knew how much you were worth, or at least thought he did." "So I got to wondering how much Tina told David." "A lot." "She sort of brags about you to everybody." "About your business and everything." "I also got to wondering why he was overdue on the note, and I had a friend of mine at the phone company to make a list of all the long-distance calls from the Perry house in the last 24 hours." "This number here?" "That's a Los Angeles bookie." "He only handles high rollers." "I'm going over there." "Not till we have solid proof." "Where you gonna get that?" "Ice Pick." "Well, not Ice Pick himself." "A bookie that he told me about." "Who's Ice Pick?" "Who's Ice Pick?" "Ice Pick's a friend of mine." "He's from Chicago." "But his real name's not Ice Pick." "Uh, Rick?" "Bernie Cochran." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." "Bernie the Bookie." "Apparently he's making a pickup for this Mainland guy." "And I know that he's collecting from Crawford." "We can't wait until then!" "We won't have to." "Rick's gonna get Bernie to show him his books." "And how are you gonna do that?" "Trust me." "Okay." "Well, let me know." "Yep!" "We should call Mr. Estin." "He'll get us proof." "No, we are not calling Estin." "We're going on with our plan for you to take your first and last" "Island Hopper ride when I deliver the chopper to Big Jim Stotter." "No, thanks." "I don't think I want to go on any helicopter ride." "Look, if you don't want to give an inch, that's your decision." "That's fine." "But I'm your father, and I think a son should want to spend some time with his father." "That way, you decide whether you're gonna be my friend or my enemy, at least you'll know the reason why." "Yeah, well, while we're out there spending time together," "Melody's out there by herself." "Hey!" "You think it's easy for me to sit around waiting for the next set of instructions?" "I don't want to go for any helicopter ride either, but what I want is not important." "What is important is to make sure that Melody does not get hurt." "You got that?" "Oh, hey, bet you guys are here for the baseball equipment." "I got it all packed up in the van." "We've been everywhere." "We've looked through every street." "What are you talking about?" "Me and the guys." "We've been looking for Melody." "We covered Chinatown, Little Saigon, Waikiki." "We've been combing the beaches all morning." "I don't know where else to look." "I'm sorry." "We really let you down." "Oh, no." "Hey, man, thanks." "Sorry, Coach." "Look, I got some other things to do." "You guys go on and get the equipment and, uh, play your game." "But Coach..." "Please." "That's the best you can do for me right now." "We'll call you." "After." "T. C!" "Dad?" "Sometimes I get, I don't know, worried about stuff, and I guess I kind of act like a real jerk." "No, you don't." "You just act like someone who's trying to do everything for himself." "You don't have to do that anymore." "I think I'd like that helicopter ride." "Hey, all right!" "I've never been in a helicopter before." "Sure you have." "You probably don't remember." "I took you and your Momma when you were just a baby." "Scared her to death, but you, you just laughed..." "I did?" "Yeah!" "Speaking of laughing, come here." "All right." "Let me ask you something." "Are you still ticklish on your stomach?" "Come on, Dad!" "Hey, let me ask you." "Have you ever thought about calling me sometime?" "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "Well, then I don't have much time, Higgins." "Big Jim's waiting with the cash." "You no longer need Big Jim's cash." "And Mr. Masters' donation does not require the sale of your helicopter." "You got it?" "It's locked in the estate vault at this very moment." "All right!" "Addendum to role-playing." "Sometimes it can help you solve cases." "For instance, I always knew Rick was capable of playing a variety of roles." "But sometimes it seemed like he'd watched too many old movies." "Ice Pick never told me he had a new pencil jockey." "Chrysler tell Detroit every time they make a change?" "He's never interfered with my business before." "And he's not going to now." "All he needs is that $300,000 name." "That's strictly against my procedures, my man." "I'll give Ice Pick the message." "Wait." "Don't get in a hoo-hoo, bro." "If you can't bend a few rules between friends..." "I can't believe that anybody would think that they could get into a bookie for $300,000 and just walk away." "These guys play for keeps!" "I guess amateurs don't know that." "Yeah, well, I'm gonna cover the back." "Oh, you just want to avoid Tina." "You blame me?" "She hates my guts, and she always has." "She doesn't hate you." "She just thinks you were a bad influence on her husband." "So were you." "Hi, Tina." "Is it Melody?" "Did you find her?" "No." "That's why I'm here." "What do you mean, "That's why I'm here"?" "I figure Melody's kidnapper can tell us where she is." "Are you..." "Are you accusing David..." "Where's Evelyn?" "Where is she, Evelyn?" "Where's Melody?" "I don't have her anymore!" "They do." "I gambled it all away, Mr. Estin." "Everything Lloyd and I had." "Everything." "I started borrowing to get more." "And more." "Until finally I owed $300,000." "When they showed up to collect," "I didn't have it." "I didn't know what to do." "Lloyd was going to be back soon from Guam." "He didn't even know." "I had to do something, anything, to get that money." "After I took Melody, they came and took her from me." "They said they didn't need a middleman." "Now that you know who they are, maybe you can find her." "It's unlikely that the kidnappers will let the little girl go free." "Even if they do get their money, they still can't risk being identified." "I think that's all for now." "What about the ransom note?" "Did he say anything about that?" "I didn't tell him about that." "You didn't tell him?" "There's a good reason for that." "There couldn't be a good enough reason!" "You haven't changed at all." "You still have to run the world your own way!" "Tina!" "Tina!" "I don't want to hear it!" "Yes, I do." "Don't go, T.C." "Please." "What's with us?" "Is there some sort of unwritten rule that says we have to argue every time we get together?" "Even at a time like this?" "I am tired of arguing." "I am tired of living in the past." "I am tired of blaming each other for what went wrong." "Not everybody gets to run away from their past." "Escape to a tropical island and start all over again." "Come on, you act as though I had a choice." "I did what I had to do." "For all of us." "I..." "I can't go through this alone." "You're not alone." "But if you want someone to help you, you're gonna have to trust them." "A little." "I can do that." "Trust me?" "A little." "No more arguing?" "No more blaming each other." "No more living in the past." "Whew!" "I guess we've just negotiated a cease-fire." "T. C!" "Phone!" "Kapiolani Park at noon." "They said to send somebody to the Sea Palms Hotel." "Room 401." "These guys know what they're doing, and it's gonna take all of us to beat their setup." "I wish we could use your chopper, but I'm afraid they'll recognize it." "Not if it's not my chopper." "Big Jim, do you read me?" "I read you, T.C. Loud and clear." "Just let me know when they make a move." "How about you, Thomas?" "You at the Sea Palms Hotel yet?" "I'll call you back when I'm in the room." "$300,000, in twenties." "Thanks, Higgins." "It won't be out of sight for long." "This little baby's gonna get Robin's 300 G's back safe and sound." "I can see her, T.C. She looks okay." "Thank God." "And I can see today's paper, just like they said." "Can you tell where she is?" "She could be anywhere." "They're still promising to give us her location." "All right, I'm on my way." "Good luck." "Contact." "I'm reading him." "He doesn't have the bag." "Let's go." "We're leaving the park area." "We're staying close to the attaché case." "I'm sticking with you." "Still no word on Melody's location." "I've got him in sight." "Hang back a little." "Don't spook him." "Which car do we follow?" "It's dealer's choice." "Take the car on the left." "We should stick with the Continental." "Guys, we're losing the signal." "We're following the wrong car!" "Yeah?" "17501 Aliikoa, Waikiki." "Aliikoa, Waikiki." "17501 Aliikoa." "The other car was moving in that direction." "Go on to Waikiki, T.C. I'll stay with the money car." "Wait a minute, T.C. Turn around and come back." "They're trying to draw you away." "She's not in Waikiki." "How do you know?" "There's a reflection in a picture." "I can see this hotel." "She's right across the street!" "We're on our way." "T.C., I'm gonna try and cut 'em off." "Go for it, Big Jim." "We'll back you up." "It's high time we did business our way." "Yeah!" "T. C!" "Hi, Daddy." "You all right?" "You all right?" "Yes." "Yes." "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Thanks, Jim." "About the car, Higgins," "I'm sure Robin will understand when you explain it to him." "It's early, but I'm going home to have a drink." "The sun has got to be setting somewhere in the world." "Can I ask you a question, Thomas?" "Sure." "Where did you guys get all that spy stuff?" "Those radios, and that radar thing?" "Well, Robin Masters is a man of many tastes, and even more toys." "Look, uh," "I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusions about David." "You don't have to say another word." "David and I, well..." "He's gone home." "Said he'd be all moved out by the time I got back." "I think I always knew we weren't going to be permanent." "Just like the ceasefire T.C. And I agreed to." "Well, maybe that'll evolve into a truce." "Maybe." "I don't think the kids would mind!"