Ace Wonder: Message from a Dead Man

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(THUNDER ROLLING)

James Morton will not be

forgotten. He will forever be remembered...

as a friend, a father and a

faithful follower of his Lord.

May he rest in peace.

How are you, Jim?

Me? Fine.

And the rest of the family?

Well, they're good. Derek's

the only one taking it hard.

He spent his summer

with Dad a few years ago...

and he wanted to come back,

it just didn't work out.

It's probably for the best.

Your father

was a troubled man, Jim.

I was one of his closest

friends, and more and more he pulled away.

Just wasn't his old self.

Yeah.

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

( PHONE RINGING)

There's a lot of rooms

in this house.

Wandered around today

looking at them.

I kind of like living

out in the country.

It's nice. Way better

than all those honking cars.

(THUNDER CRASHING)

You didn't answer my calls.

Service is terrible out there.

Where were you?

The tree house.

You know, you've probably

ruined your clothes.

Why were you at the tree house?

I was looking for something.

Looking? For what?

I'm not sure.

I found this at the funeral.

In Grandpa's casket.

(THUNDER ROLLING)

It's nothing. Probably a prank.

What?

I said, it's probably a prank,

forget about it.

What if Grandpa's trying

to tell me something?

He's not.

May I be excused?

Yes.

Look, I know this week's

been hard on all of us...

but in a few days, we can put

this completely behind us.

I'm gonna be meeting with Marcus

tomorrow about the house and I'd like you to come along.

(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)

(THUNDER CRASHING)

GATOR MOORE (V.O.):

Still raining, still a thousand unanswered questions...

and now a cloaked figure

haunted the night.

A perfect recipe for mystery

and danger.

But it was still missing

one key ingredient: a world class investigator.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

(SIGHS)

Log... this latest format

isn't working out, either.

This makes my fourth attempt

with no satisfactory results.

Road trips are a blast,

I'll admit...

but it's not conducive

to detective work.

No gun fire, no car chases,

not even your run-of-the-mill homicide.

Dad, I need some help.

Okay, what's up?

It's my graphic novel.

Graphic novel?

A glorified comic book.

Ace Wonder isn't really

a crime fighter.

He solves mysteries,

sort of like Sherlock Holmes.

Okay, so where are you stuck?

At the beginning... I can't

seem to come up with a truly brilliant mystery.

Everything is either boring

or over-the-top.

Well, you keep on thinking,

you'll come up with something.

That's what you said

800 miles ago.

Yeah, and it's still

good advice.

Um, hey, guys, none of this

looks familiar to me.

Um, where are we?

JEFF (O.S.):

GPS says we're on course...

but we need to stop and

get some fuel soon.

Jim, are you sure you

want to sell the place?

Marcus, Denver's 1,000 miles

away from here; my business eats up every minute of my time.

I suppose.

Look, I'll have a realtor

take a look at it for you.

It's a gorgeous piece

of property. I'm sure it'll sell.

In this economy?

I don't know who'd buy it.

Bed and breakfast

in the middle of nowhere?

Jim, how about selling

the place to me?

You serious?

We'd keep the place

exactly the way it is.

You could come back whenever

you're ready and go through your father's things.

I don't know.

What do you mean,

you don't know?

You could stay there

any time you want.

It'd be ideal.

And for me,

it'd be an investment.

Oh, hey, you want us

to order something for you?

Yeah, yeah, why don't you

get me a cheeseburger.

Cheeseburger, okay.

Uh-huh.

And uh, get me an order of those

curly fries, if they have them.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'll think it over.

Thanks.

I think your dad would have

liked it this way.

Howdy, folks. Get y'all

something to drink before you order?

Mr. DeWitt, how well

did you know Grandpa?

I guess I knew him about

as well as anybody could.

Why?

Maybe you can help me.

On the day of the funeral,

I found this.

Grandpa used to set up treasure

hunts all the time.

Well, this is the kind

of thing he would do.

He always thought

of himself as mysterious.

Derek, your granddad

was a good man.

He was, but he wasn't

always stable.

I don't believe that.

I don't know what was

meant by that note...

but I think it's just as

well it was written in code.

Keep in touch, Jim.

And let me know what you decide.

Look, if that note wasn't

important, Grandpa wouldn't have wanted me to have it.

Derek, drop it.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

Wait a second,

what do you want to eat?

Oh, um, ooh, do they have

those little curly fries?

No, they don't.

Oh, uh, whatever Jack's

having will be fine.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

( ENGINE TURNING OVER)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

Sir? Sir, I was wondering,

my friend may have come--

Buzz off.

Certainly, I was just wondering,

I'm looking for my friend, and if he came this way--

Hey! I said leave me alone.

Okay.

Log:
Note that sleeping

strangers don't prove to be very helpful.

Hey, kid, that's a nice toy

you got there.

How about you give it to me

and I'll tell you where your friend ran off to?

That's okay,

I think I'll find him.

I don't think you understand.

You see, this is my home.

You walk here, you pay rent.

Come here.

BUM (O.S.):

All right, come here.

Let me see.

Looks nice.

I need that for my work.

Very fancy.

I order you in the name

of justice. Give it back!

All right, that's enough.

Give it back.

Give what back?

I said, give it back!

Make me.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC FADES UP)

There you go.

Well, thanks.

Look out!

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

Dad, come here, quick!

(MUSIC CHANGES)

(SNICKERS)

Missed.

Are you all right?

What happened?

I-- I saw the whole thing

and man, it was something.

Eddie-- Eddie's been needing

someone to do that...

to him for a long time.

What?

Well, Eddie got to picking

on your boy, and could have messed him up.

Then this guy shows up

and bam, bam, bam!

Just like that,

it was all over.

Look, y'all eat up,

meals are on me today.

That's very generous,

thank you.

No, it's nothing, really.

If there's anything I can do

for you guys, just let me know.

Well, you wouldn't happen to

know a good mechanic, would you?

Hm.

Bobby John Dolan, the best

and only mechanic in town.

You work on big rigs?

I do today.

Yeah, that could be bad.

I've seen this before but,

only in a book...

and it was a short book.

Hmm...

This big red thing in here

I believe is the engine...

Thank you...

for helping me out.

No problem.

When you were in the restaurant,

I overheard you talking about your grandfather...

and the clues he'd left you.

I'd like to interview you

and get some of the details of the story.

We don't have a lot of time, so,

if you'd open it up right away, that'd be really helpful.

We'll be leaving

in just a little bit...

so I wouldn't worry about it

too much, if I were you.

Why not?

Because you'd only

have half the story.

How frustrating would that be?

Mm, it's very considerate

of you.

Okay.

It's gonna take me all day

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