Madness at the Movies, Part 2

[If you missed Part 1 last week, you might want to go back and read that first.  Enjoy!]

That evening, Jack and his friends returned to the theater, armed with some special supplies.  As they were on their way back, they went over their plan of action for the evening.

“That way, we won’t attract any attention,” said Jack.

“It sounds good,” said Robbie.  “What theaters are we assigned to again?”

“Theaters 4 and 5, both of which are showing Phil 2,” responded Jack.

“Great!” said Kurt.  “We don’t even have to pay to get in!”  As the boys were helping out with the mystery, Grissom had given them free passes.

“What’s Phil 2 about?” asked Emma, who was on her way back.

“You’ll see,” said Jack.  “Since we’re covering two theaters, we’ll have to split up.  Two of us will take 4, and two of us will take 5.”

“Why don’t you and Emma take 4?” said Kurt.

“Alright,” said Jack.  On the one hand, he would have preferred Kurt or Robbie.  On the other hand, it was his job to make sure Emma was alright.

“Well, here we are,” said Jack.  “Does everyone have everything?”

Everyone did, and the entered the theater.  Quickly, they split up, with Jack and Emma getting in line for Theater 4.

“Remember,” said Jack, “not a word about this unless I bring it up.”

“About what?” asked Emma, smiling up at her brother.  Jack started to reply, then stopped as he realized Emma was only pretending to forget about their mission.  He smiled at her.

“Hey, is this the line for Squid Man?” someone behind Jack asked.

Jack turned around.  “No, Squid Man is in Theater 2.  This is 4.”

“Oh, okay.”  The speaker, a long-haired man clad in a squid shirt, turned and left.  “He must really be into that movie,” Jack thought to himself.  Then it was his turn in line, and he showed the person at the door his ticket.

“Emma, do you have yours?”

“It’s somewhere,” said Emma, rummaging through her purse.  Jack wasn’t sure why, at seven years old, Emma already had a purse, but she did.  Already, she was an expert at losing things in it.  But she finally found the ticket, and they went in.

The theater was dark, just as Jack had expected it to be.  Ads for new movies were playing, but they didn’t do much to light up the room.  Everyone was staring at the front, anyway.  Thus, no one really noticed when Jack and Emma slipped onto the back row.  They made their way to the center of the theater until they were just under the projector.

“Well, here goes!” Jack thought to himself, turning to face the hole that led to the projector room.  It was then that he discovered a problem.  He had planned to slip into the theater and climb through the window along with Emma so that they could spy on anyone who came in.  Unfortunately, the window was too high off the ground.  There was no way Jack could climb into it.

“Phooey!” thought Jack, staring up at the window just out of his reach.  He thought about what to do.  Then—

“Emma!” he whispered.  “We won’t be able to climb through that window, so I’m going to boost you through.”

“Oh, boy!” whispered Emma back.

“Once you’re in there, though, be careful.  Hide, and if anyone comes in, DON’T let them see you.  Just signal the rest of us, the way I told you.  Got it?”

Emma nodded, a big grin on her face.  Jack wished he could rely on her to stay out of trouble.  At the moment, though, she was the only one of them who could get into the room.  Emma wasn’t strong enough to hoist Jack up.

Looking around to make sure he wasn’t attracting attention, Jack picked up his sister, who stood on his shoulders and grabbed the side of the window.  Then, she pulled herself up.  One leg, then both, went over, and she was in.  She gave Jack a thumbs up and disappeared from view.

Jack sat down and prayed that she would be alright.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“You’ve failed at your assignment, disgraced the reputation of this business, and caused more problems than we’ll ever be able to solve.  No one, I repeat, no one, in the history of the world has done this job as badly as you just did!  I’ve never seen a sorrier excuse for a human being than you.  What have you got to say for yourself?”

“Does Tom own a John Deere or Husqvarna lawnmower?’

Everyone in the theater laughed, including Jack and Emma.  The film was nearing its halfway point, and it was just as good as advertised.  Phil, the main character, was doing what he did best: getting into trouble.  In the scene in question, he was about to be fired from his third job.

So far, there had been no issues with the projector.  Emma sat in the projector room, waiting.  There was only one drawback with her hiding place.  It was right under the projector, between the large machine and the wall, and Emma couldn’t see the movie from where she was.  Every now and then, there were scenes where not much was said, but the audience kept laughing.  Fortunately, the movie was fairly dialogue-heavy.

“OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT!” shouted Phil’s angry ex-boss, pitching the star character out of his office.  Just then, someone came in.  Not into the office on the screen, but into the projector room.  Emma stiffened.

Peering around the machine, she vaguely made out a silhouette before whoever had entered closed the door.  Footsteps sounded as he neared the machine.  Suddenly—

“Don’t touch that!”

“Why, what’s wrong with it?”

“It’s a priceless decanter dating back to fifteenth-century England.”

“Oh, well then it must be invulnerable—CRASH—I stand corrected.”

Screams erupted from the screen as Phil got himself in trouble once again, but Emma was focused on the person in the room.  She saw him start to fiddle with the machine.  Quickly, she pulled out a walkie-talkie and squeezed it.  She didn’t say anything, but that device would make Jack’s, Kurt’s, and Robbie’s all beep.

The screen now showed Phil at dinner at a fancy restaurant with his girlfriend, Margie.  (The assumption was that Phil and Margie would get married by the end of the movie.)  They sat in silence, gazing at each other until Phil broke the spell.

“Sometimes, I imagine this giant gorilla creature, rising up out of nowhere to devour us all.”

At that moment, the focus went out!  Angry shouts erupted from below.  Emma couldn’t see what had happened, but she guessed it alright.  She smiled, knowing that the trickster would soon be apprehended.  She heard footsteps again and assumed the mysterious intruder must be leaving when she realized the footsteps were approaching her hiding place!

Then, a shadowy figure appeared around the side!  It stopped when it saw her!

The darkness was too thick for Emma to make out who it was, but she screamed and sprung to her feet.  Immediately, mass chaos erupted below!  Screams, shouts, and hollers resonated throughout the room as people stampeded out of the theater.

Just then, the room was bathed in light.  “Alright, we’ve got you cornered!  Come out, wherever you are!”

It was Kurt, Robbie, Mr. Grissom, and three workers.  Emma quickly ran out from behind the machine.  “He’s back there!” she said.

“We’ll get him!” yelled Mr. Grissom, leading the charge.  The party at the door ran to the front of the room—

Only to find no suspect!

“Where is he—”

“Got him!” called Jack from below.  “He tried to jump down and make his escape through the theater, but I tackled him.  I think he’s unconscious.”

“Good work!” said Mr. Grissom, before rushing down to see who had been caught.

The lights were soon turned on in Theater 3.  No one minded, as the whole audience had left, except for Jack and the prankster, who was—

“Marv Willis!” exclaimed Grissom.  “He owns TTKN Theaters!  I never suspected him of doing anything like this!  Why did you do it, Marv?”

Marv had come to but was holding his head and didn’t look like he felt like going anywhere.  “I had to,” he muttered.  “My theater’s not doing well.  All my regulars keep going to yours.”

“Marv, my theater’s not doing well!” said Mr. Grissom.  “I didn’t try to sabotage you or Garman, though.  If your theater wasn’t doing well, you should have realized how I would feel if mine started struggling.”

“I knew Mr. Grissom was too trusting,” thought Jack.

“Hey, isn’t the movie still going on?” asked Kurt.  “Where is everybody?”

At that, Jack started laughing, and took him a few seconds before he could explain what had happened.  “Did you catch the line about the gorilla?” he asked between chuckles.

Kurt and Robbie shook their heads.  Jack repeated the line and continued, “Right after that, Emma screamed.  Then, when she stood up, she was in front of the projector, and a giant head was silhouetted on the screen.”

Everyone burst out laughing.  “So that’s what it was!” said Grissom.  “I was wondering where everyone went.  Don’t worry, Miss Barnes.  For catching the suspect, you’re forgiven.”

“And you’ll never drink lemonade again,” came a voice from the still-playing movie.

 

Madness at the Movies, Part 1

One day, Kurt Morris and Robbie Ransom were over at Jack Barnes’s house when the phone rang.  Mr. and Mrs. Barnes weren’t home, leaving Jack in charge of the phone.  “Hello, this is Jack Barnes,” he said, not realizing right away that the call would be for him.

“Hello!” said the caller.  “You’re in charge of the Tacoma Detective Club, right?”

“Yes, I am!” Jack excitedly replied.  “Do you have a case?”

“I do,” said the man on the other end.  “My name’s Scott Grissom.  I’m in run the Movieplex, here in Tacoma.”

“The Movieplex?” asked Jack.  “I go there all the time!”

“Yes, that’s the one I own,” said Grissom.  “It’s been doing really well, but lately, we keep having problems.”

“What sort of problems?”

“Well, for one thing, the picture keeps going out of focus during showings,” said Grissom.  “Also, we’ve had vandalism issues.  I’m convinced that someone’s trying to sabotage my business.”

“We’ll be right over!” said Jack.  Hanging up, he told Kurt and Robbie about the call.

“Nice!” said Kurt.  “Another person wanting our help.  This is just what we wanted!”

“It’s at the Movieplex, you say?” said Robbie.

“Yes,” said Jack.  “It’s not too far away.  We should be able to walk there.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Kurt.  “Let’s—uh-oh.”

He had good reason for saying “Uh-oh.”  The sound of swift footsteps was coming from the stairs.  As there was only one other person in the house, that meant they must belong to—

Emma, Jack’s younger sister by five years, entered the room.  “When are you going to the movie theater?” she asked.

“Emma, were you eavesdropping on the phone again?” asked Jack.

“I was NOT eavesdropping,” said Emma.  “I had to make sure the phone got answered.  You didn’t pick it up right away.”

“Well, you should have hung up when you found out it was for me.”

“Sorry,” said Emma.  “Can I go?”

“No!” declared Jack.  “The guy at the movie theater called me, Kurt, and Robbie.  Not you.  You’ll have to—”

“Wait a minute!” said Robbie.  “Your parents aren’t home, right?  Emma’s not old enough to stay by herself.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Jack.  “My mom will probably be home in an hour—”

“That’s too long!” said Kurt.  “We won’t look too good if we’re that late.  Besides, Emma’s not that bad a detective herself.  It won’t hurt too much to bring her along.”

Jack didn’t really want to bring Emma along.  He loved his little sister, but she could be annoying sometimes.  However, he had to agree with Kurt.  “Alright,” he said, “but don’t count on us taking you all the time, Emma.  Understand?”

“Yay!” said Emma.  Jack wasn’t sure how much of his comment she’d heard.

Anyway, that was why twenty minutes later, there were four youths entering the Metroplex.  “Mmm, I can already smell the popcorn,” commented Robbie.

“Hey, look!” said Kurt.  “That new comedy’s in!  Phil 2!  We’ve got to make sure we go see that!”

“You’re right!” said Jack.  “If it’s anywhere near as funny as the first one, it’ll be a hit.”

The theater wasn’t that crowded, as it was a weekday afternoon and nothing was opening that day, but there were a few people around.  Showing a movie didn’t cost very much, meaning the theater could afford to air films even when there was an afternoon crowd of four.  As long as evening attendance was higher, the cinema would stay in business.

A tall, huskily built man with a bald head but a long brown-gray beard headed over to the group.

“Are you all the Detective Club?” he asked.

“Yes, we are!” said Jack.  “I’m Jack Barnes, that’s Kurt Morris, and that’s Robbie Ransom.”

“I’m Emma,” chimed in a voice.

“You must be Mr. Grissom,” said Kurt.

“That’s right,” said Mr. Grissom.  He spoke in a booming voice and looked like he normally had a very cheerful personality.  Right now, however, he looked worried.  “I’m glad you all have come.  Let me show you around.”

“Yes, please!” said Jack.  Mr. Grissom took them up and down the hallways of the building, showing them where the different theaters were.  Jack and his friends had been several times, so this wasn’t new to them.  Then, however, Mr. Grissom took them up to the projector room of an empty theater.  As he did so, he explained a little about what had been going on.

“About three weeks ago,” he said, “in the middle of The Time Traveler’s Mistake, several people came to my office to complain that the projector wasn’t working in Theater 7.  I checked and found the focus way off.  You couldn’t even make out what the objects were supposed to be on the screen.

“I fixed the projector, refunded the money, and thought that would be the end of it.  The next day, though, the same thing happened again.  Only that time, it occurred in Theater 4.

“Since then, things have been getting worse every day.  This week, I can count on at least two projectors to suddenly lose focus during a movie.  In addition, there’s been some vandalism in the afternoons.  An abnormal amount of toilets backed up two weeks ago, someone slashed all the chairs in Theater 3 last week, and someone put graffiti all over the side of the building two days ago.”

“That’s awful!” said Kurt.

“Wait, they put graffiti?” said Jack.  “I’ve heard that you can tell by looking at it which gang is responsible for it.  Often, those gangs have their own symbols.”

“Yes,” said Grissom, “but it’s not a gang.  The police came and checked; they said it didn’t match any of the gangs around here.  It’s just a bunch of meaningless splotches.  All this trouble is really hurting my business, though.  Attendance is half of what it was last month.  I’ve been meaning to make some renovations, but if this stuff keeps up, I won’t be able to.”

“Do you think someone from another theater is trying to put you out of business?” asked Jack.

“It’s certainly possible,” said Grissom.  “I have a lot of competition in Tacoma.  Garman’s Palace and TTKN Theaters are the closest ones, but I have a hard time believing their owners would be unethical enough to do that.”

“Is there anyone else who might have it in for you?” asked Robbie.

“Not that I can think of,” said Grissom.

“Who’s in charge of the projectors?” asked Kurt.

“Good question,” said Grissom.  “Each theater has a projector, and David Nielsen is in charge of running them.  We’ve got a few other employees working on them too.  However, the projectors are automated, which means we don’t have a man in each booth all the time.”

“Oh, so someone could be sneaking in and tampering with it,” said Jack, “or it could be someone who works here.”

“It could be an employee,” admitted Grissom, “but I trust all my workers.”

“Should you, though?” thought Jack, but he kept it to himself.  Instead, he asked, “Have the projectors experienced any problems yet today?”

“No, they haven’t,” said Grissom.

“So whoever’s doing this is likely waiting to strike,” said Jack.

“Hey, this person must come to the theater a lot!” said Kurt.  “Maybe you could watch for someone who comes here frequently.”

“I have a lot of frequent customers, though,” said Grissom.  “Some people even come see the same movie three different times.  There are just too many like that for the idea to work.”

“How many theaters are there?  Eight?” asked Jack.

“Correct,” said Grissom.

“Hmm,” said Jack.  “A good way to catch this person would be to stake out the theater that gets hit, but there are only four of us.”

“Say, wait a minute!” said Robbie.  “Mr. Grissom, how many people do you have working for you?”

“Six, why?”

“That’s it!” said Robbie.  “Tell your workers to each guard a projection room.  That’ll cover six.  In the meantime, the rest of us will guard the other two, unknown to your workers.  Make sure they’re rather conspicuous, so anyone trying to cause mischief will notice them.  Meanwhile, don’t tell anyone we’re guarding the other theaters.”

“Good idea, Robbie!” said Jack.  “And that way, if someone strikes in one of the guarded theaters, we’ll know this is an inside job.”

“That does sound good!” said Grissom.  “Why don’t you try that this evening?  There are always a lot of people then, so you’ll just blend in with the crowd.”

“Sounds good!” agreed Jack.  Little did he know that before the night was up, something horrifying would happen!

[Catch part 2 next week!]

Do Not Push

The bell jingled on the door to Cooper’s Fire World as two young customers walked in: Jack Barnes and his little sister Emma.  They were here to look at fireplaces.  Neither of them would actually be purchasing one, but Jack’s mother had sent the two to get information on one of them for her.

“This is the place,” said Jack.  “Now, I’m not exactly sure which of these is the one Mom wrote down.”  He held up the piece of paper his mom had given them. “I’m going to ask that sales clerk for help.  Remember, I’ll do the talking, and don’t get into any trouble while we’re here.”

Emma nodded.  Let Jack do the talking and stay out of trouble? Piece of cake.

For five minutes, anyway.  The salespeople at Cooper’s Fire World were very knowledgeable about their products, and the salesman Jack had found was busy schooling him on the trade.  By the time he finished his speech, Jack would not only be able to sell the fireplace, but he would also be able to introduce it at conferences around the United States, if he remembered what he had heard and was given the opportunity.

Bored, Emma began wandering around the store.  She went to the front of the building and glanced out the large display window.  She stood in it and waved to a couple people that passed by, but they didn’t notice.  Then, Emma glanced over at the wall.  Right by the window, the wall was bare, except for a button with a large sign over it.

DO NOT PUSH the sign proclaimed.  It was handwritten on a piece of paper, taped over a more permanent sign above the large button.  Emma wondered what the sign underneath said.  She reached up to move the piece of paper.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite tall enough to reach the piece of paper.

But she was tall enough to reach the button.

Bwowww-bwowww-bwowww!  Oh, so that was how you set off the fire alarm!  The signal worked like a charm.  In seconds, prospective customers were running out the door, fleeing for their very lives.  Emma spied the salesman Jack had been talking to run by.  Jack followed, looking wildly around.

“Emma!” he said, spying her.  “Quick, we’ve got to get out of here.  That’s the fire alarm.”

“Uh, Jack?” said Emma.  She smiled up at him.  “I have some good news. There is no fire!”

Jack looked down at Emma.  He recognized that smile.  It always meant trouble.  More specifically, it meant Emma had caused—

“Did you set that alarm off?”

“It was an accident!” said Emma.  “The button didn’t say it would set off the fire alarm!”

Jack looked at the wall.  “Emma, it says do not push!  We’re going to go tell the manager exactly what you did.  Mom and Dad are not going to be happy with you, I guarantee that.  Is there anyone still in this buil—”

Uh-oh.  More trouble.  There was someone still in the building, besides the Barnes’, but he wasn’t an employee.  However, he was rifling through the cash register behind the counter, stuffing his pockets with its contents.  He glanced up, and his eyes met Jack’s.

Instantly, he slammed the (now empty) cash register drawer.  Glaring at the two youngsters through his ski mask, he raised his hand, revealing a gun.

“Don’t move,” he said.

“Why?” asked Emma.

“Shh!” hissed Jack.

“Now, if you two will just stand there,” continued the robber, striding out from behind the counter, “nothing’s going to happen to you two.  I’m going to wander out this door, see, and I don’t want either of you to follow.  You got that?  If you so much as peep out of that door while I’m on the block, I’ll—”

Crash!  The noise distracted the man, and he whirled around, just as—

Whoosh!

A powerful gust of water from a fire hose swept in and knocked the crook off his feet!  He lost the gun; Jack dashed forward and picked it up, ducking to avoid the blast.

“Hah!  We’ve got him,” he said. “I wonder why the firemen broke the window, though?  There’s not really a fire.  You’d think they would have looked more care—oh!”

Never set off a fake fire alarm in a store with natural gas fireplaces on display.