Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988): Season 6, Episode 11 - I Never Wanted to Go to France, Anyway - full transcript
Higgins' friend brings his carnival to Hawaii and Magnum is asked to find the murderer of one of the trapeze performers.
I'm telling you, he was there.
The boy from Atlantis.
T.C.: Smiling and waving
at old Uncle Thomas.
Until you showed up,
I'd almost gotten used to not
seeing Keli'i.
Keli'i Parker led you
to this Corsair
so you could find whoever
is responsible for his murder?
Thomas! Jeez. You could've
gotten us killed.
He found you.
Don't let him down.
MAGNUM: There's something very
soothing, almost mystical,
about the world under the sea.
I've always felt drawn to it.
And even though T. C. and I
had learned to identify
all kinds of sea life over
the years we'd been
diving together,
each time had
its own surprises.
HlGGlNS: You're drifting,
Magnum.
Okay!
Slightly higher.
The holes must be
properly aligned.
Honestly, Magnum, if you can't
see the markings, perhaps
you'd better let T.C. do it.
I can see the markings.
Oh, yeah, there's nothing
wrong with his vision.
T.C.
Unless you want to count
seeing things
that aren't there.
(CHUCKLlNG)
I'm telling you he was there.
Who was where?
Nobody.
The boy from Atlantis.
Oh, him.
Look, T.C., I'm not so sure
Rick and Higgins
are real interested
in hearing about this.
Swimming 100 feet down,
no scuba,
no air, just smiling
and waving at
old Uncle Thomas.
He wasn't waving.
He was gesturing.
T.C.: He wasn't there.
I'm afraid I must agree
with T.C. At 16 fathoms,
it would be impossible.
I know it seems impossible.
You merely experienced an
episode of nitrogen narcosis,
more commonly referred
to as "the rapture."
Please don't talk to me about
diving, Higgins. I've done it
all my adult life.
I know what the rapture is,
but I also know what I saw.
That's precisely what
Lieutenant Crossley said
when we pulled him from
the Gulf of Martaban.
We removed his diving helmet,
he immediately started
babbling on about
the beautiful women he'd seen
living beneath the sea.
I believe "Sirens" was
the term he used.
No kidding.
Where is this
Gulf of Martaban?
I'm not talking about
a mermaid.
HlGGlNS: Neither was he.
Lieutenant Crossley claimed
he saw an entire city
of them,
including a caravan
of elephants.
No elephants, Higgins.
No cities and no mermaids.
Yeah, just one little kid.
Yeah. One little kid,
and he was real.
Yes, of course he was.
Delicately. Delicately.
You don't want to splinter
the wood.
All right, Higgins.
Storeroom cleaned out, books
brought upstairs from the den,
moose head mounted...
It's a keg buffalo.
Any more urgent chores?
No, no. I think that will
take care of it.
Good.
Later, Higgie.
Higgins, where's the
Gulf of Martaban?
(TRUCK HORN BLARlNG)
RlCK: Thomas! Thomas!
Jeez. Where the hell are you
at, man? You could've
gotten us killed.
I'm sorry, Rick.
I didn't see him.
Hey, look. You want to
daydream, let me drive.
No, I'm fine. Really.
You know, I used to date this
girl that used to read dreams.
She kind of interpreted them.
She told me that daydreaming
was really something special
because it was
close to the conscious mind.
I wasn't daydreaming, Rick.
(LAUGHS)
No? Then, what would
you call it?
I mean, you see this kid
on the freeway, you see him
underwater.
Look, maybe there's
something weird stuck
in your subconscious mind.
Maybe, just maybe, she could
help you figure out what this
fantasy kid represents.
Look, Rick. The kid is real.
I don't need help
with my subconscious.
What I need is help finding
out who he is
and why he needs me.
Okay, okay.
I thought that's
why we were going to see
this friend of yours.
It is. Look,
I know Wesley can help us.
He's been with the newspaper
for 12 years. He knows
every family on the lsland.
He's an investigative
reporter, right?
Yeah. Something like that.
WESLEY: I just wrote
my 20,000th obituary.
You write obituaries?
And that breaks the
Press Telegram's old record
set in '58 by Max Mitchell.
RlCK: That's great!
Isn't that great, Thomas?
Yeah. It's terrific.
Hey, did you win a trophy
or something?
I'm not in it
for the trophies.
Okay, I got one for you.
Born August 12th, 1923.
Died April 4th, 1978.
No runs, no hits, no errors.
(STAMMERlNG) Um, uh...
Johnny Matthews,
the shortstop.
Okay, okay.
Born December 3rd, 1948.
Died May 1st, 1980.
Stepped on the gas
instead of the brake.
RlCK:
Stepped on the gas
and not the brakes.
Wayne Makini,
the racecar driver.
You're good.
You ever consider getting
into this line of work?
Makini. I should've had
that one.
You know, it's amazing
the stories you run into
doing the kind of writing
I do.
Take your request,
for example.
I cross-indexed every
known death at the
Kahuku Lagoon,
computer gave me
22 different items.
That's 22 different stories.
I categorized them for you.
Natural causes, accidental
and unexplained.
What exactly does
unexplained cover?
Probably what you've been
seeing in your dreams.
Unexplained means that
the current got the corpse
before the coroner did.
You know, the ocean has
its little secrets.
I got one for you.
"One if by land,
two if by Big C."
Admiral Gus Delmore.
That's an old one.
Oh.
Any luck?
Thomas?
That's him.
That's the boy
in Kahuku Lagoon.
MAGNUM: For me, the morning
paper has always been an hour
with the sports section
or maybe the comics over
a nice, hot cup of coffee.
I never could figure people
who started the day
with the obituary page.
But talking to Rick's friend,
Wesley, made me consider
that obituaries
were as much about life
as death.
A condensed version of dreams,
achievements and loved ones.
And maybe in this case,
a starting point to find out
why a life had ended before
the dreams and achievements
could be fulfilled.
I didn't know how or why
Keli'i Parker's death had
crossed over into my life.
But I knew he was going to be
with me day and night
until I found out why.
Mrs. Parker?
Yes?
Uh, could I talk to you
for a minute?
Your child's having a problem
with playground etiquette?
No, uh...
I'd like to talk to you
about your son, Keli'i.
Who are you?
My name is Thomas Magnum.
I'm a private investigator.
Look, we settled with the
insurance company
a long time ago.
Why don't you people
just go away
and leave us alone?
Mrs. Parker, please.
I'm not going to talk
to you.
I've seen your son.
(SlGHS)
At least, I think I have.
This morning, at Kahuku
Lagoon, I was diving...
I know this sounds crazy.
But even though I know
he couldn't have been there...
He gestured to you,
to come closer.
I used to see him every night.
In my dreams.
He was underwater.
Swimming. Happy.
He wanted to show
me something.
Just out of sight.
At first, I'd wake up scared.
Then I started sleeping
all the time,
so that I could be with him.
I even went diving once
to see if I could find him.
Working here, gradually,
I started to wake up.
Finally,
he quit coming to me.
Ilima?
Stephen.
You ready to go home?
Mr. Magnum, this is my
husband, Stephen.
Honey, he's an investigator.
We don't need any more
questions, Mr. Magnum.
We've put the past behind us.
Well, I can understand
how you feel...
No. I don't think you can.
I'd appreciate it if you'd
stay away from my wife.
Shirley, what about the C-46?
Well, Willy says if he stays
up the whole night
and they put a few
extra mechanics on the job,
it ought to pass muster
by tomorrow noon.
Think we can put off the
inspection for just
one more day?
Hi, uh...
Hi, F.A.A.?
What?
You're the examiner
from the F.A.A.?
Right.
Great. Harry Granger.
Why don't we just get
right into the paperwork?
You know, safety records,
maintenance reports, uh,
get all that out of the way
before we get
into the aircraft.
Sure.
Well, uh... Great. Follow me.
I think you're going to find
everything you're going to
need right in here.
Here we go.
Quite an operation here.
Yeah, well, we work at it.
You know, uh, I remember
when this place
used to be Moku Charters.
You really expanded, huh?
I'll say. You know, we've got
records going back here
five years.
That's when we took
over this operation.
By the way, how far back do
you want to go?
Well, how about
right at the top?
You know, I never figured
that old guy,
Kalihi, to be
the type to retire.
Now that should do you
for starters.
Damn.
Problem?
My calculator.
Oh, we can get you
anything you need.
I'll be right back.
Hello, may I help you?
Vince Harris, F.A.A.
I couldn't stay away,
either.
This was my father's favorite
place. His hideaway.
Whenever he needed
a place to think,
disappear.
Is that why you came here?
I thought that maybe since
Keli'i had shown
himself to you...
But he wasn't there.
Maybe I was trying too hard.
I'm not sure trying has
anything to do with it.
Yesterday, how did you know
where to find me?
Your address was listed
in an old obituary.
And a neighbor told me
you were at the school.
After you left, I thought,
"You have to leave this alone.
You have to stop thinking
about Keli'i."
But I went to Moku Charters,
instead.
What do you expect
to find there?
Something that would help me
put this feeling to rest,
but instead I found
Granger Sea and Air and...
(SlGHS)
I came here.
You've been here all night?
Well, I can't sleep, anyway.
I keep dreaming about him.
It's always the same.
He keeps gesturing me
to follow him down,
and I keep following him.
He keeps getting farther away.
Magnum, do you think maybe
we're both crazy?
No.
You're the first person to say
Keli'i's name out loud in
so, so long.
I'd forgotten the sound of it.
Stephen can't bear
to talk about him.
It hurts even worse for him
because he feels so guilty.
Why?
Stephen thinks he should have
been able to protect his son
against anything.
Even against me.
The day of the accident,
Stephen wanted Keli'i
to stay home
and help with
the household chores.
Character building, he said.
But it was such
a beautiful day,
and Keli'i wanted so much
to go with his grandfather.
I'm afraid my own character
is a bit more lax than
my husband's.
I couldn't see
what harm could come.
You couldn't have known.
No. I suppose not.
After...
Afterwards, I did something
very foolish and...
Stephen was afraid
to leave me alone.
My weakness made
Stephen vulnerable.
Granger Sea and Air wanted
that location and they paid
$100,000 for Moku Charters.
Was it worth that?
To my father,
there was no price.
But after he
and Keli'i died...
Harry Granger did very well
for himself, I think.
And I have a feeling
he sleeps at night.
Until you showed up yesterday,
I'd almost gotten used to not
seeing Keli'i.
I envy you your dream.
(PLANE ENGlNE WHlRRlNG)
MAGNUM: Even before I was
in training as a Navy Seal,
I'd heard my share
of stories about
rapture of the deep.
And I was pretty sure that
at least some of them
were true.
But I was also sure that you
couldn't get rapture when
you had both feet
firmly planted on the ground.
It wasn't lack of oxygen that
caused me to see that plane
coming out of the sun at me.
That plane
had physical dimension.
And I knew that if
I could identify it
and locate it,
I had a good chance of
getting some
questions answered.
Oh, my God!
What have you done?
Higgins!
I thought you were out.
You thought I was out!
Oh. That got a little wrinkled
there. Here, let...
Don't touch it. Haven't you
done enough damage already?
I was just trying
to find some information.
I might have expected some
feeble excuse like that
from you
after the flower
has been despoiled.
Oh, please, Higgins.
Don't you think you're
overreacting just a
little bit?
I mean, they're just books.
Just books?
Just books?
Proust, Somerset Maugham,
Balzac. You can refer to them
as "just books"?
Oh, come on, Higgins.
I'm afraid your blatant
disregard for the world's
finest literature
Ieaves me no choice but to
make this room off-limits to
you from this moment forward.
Oh, now wait a minute.
If you used the Dewey Decimal
System like most reasonable...
The Dewey Decimal System
is antiquated. Please leave.
No!
Not till I find
what I'm looking for.
It's important.
What is it?
I can't tell you.
Out.
No, really, Higgins, l...
If you're going to tell me
another wild-eyed story
about children calling to you
from underwater...
Of course not.
It's nothing like that.
A World War ll plane
just tried to run me
off the road.
It came right at me,
out of the sun.
The oldest fighter pilot trick
in the book.
Now, Higgins, I'm not sure how
or why, but somehow, see,
I think the airplane incident
is related
to the boy underwater,
and l...
What are you doing?
I'm calling the crisis clinic.
Believe me, it's for
your own good.
I saw it.
And if I can find a picture
of it, I will show you exactly
what plane it was.
How do you do that?
How do you know exactly
where every book is?
How can you possibly
keep track?
It's a very simple system
known only to me and a
charming, rather zaftig
army clerk I met while
stationed in Burma.
As a matter of fact,
she and I authored the
system, as it were.
I'll never forget that night.
It was a balmy evening,
after hours.
We were thrown together
by chance in the stacks
of the base library.
Naturally, conversation turned
to matters literary
and before we knew it,
we were swept away
by creative passion.
One thing led to another and
the rest might have been
library history
had it not been
for the fact...
But that's another story.
Your plane?
Oh. Right. Yeah.
There.
That's it.
A Navy JRB. That is the plane
that tried to run me
off the road.
That's impossible.
Oh, how can you know that?
The annual report of the
Anglo-Hawaiian Aeronautical
Enthusiast Society.
You can see for yourself.
There's not a single World War
ll vintage plane in Hawaii.
MAGNUM: Harry Granger!
What?
The President of the
Enthusiast Society
is Harry Granger?
Yes. Delightful chap. He was
a pilot with the American
Volunteer Group in China.
The Flying Tigers.
The same.
He now owns
a charter company
here in Hawaii.
Granger Sea and Air. Formerly
Moku Charters. I know.
Thanks, Higgins.
T.C. ON RADIO : Granger Sea
and Air, this is
niner-five alpha.
This is niner-five alpha.
Do you read me?
MAN:
Go ahead, nine-five alpha.
I have an emergency GSA
and I need clearance to land
and repair, over.
MAN: That's a roger.
T. C. : Do you know what could
happen to me if anyone found
out I was faking an emergency?
My license, my business.
It's the only way I could
figure to get close
to the hangar.
A little more
to your right, T. C.
Oh, great. Company.
Hi.
Are you the pilot?
No. No. You got
a parts department open?
I need some shock mountings
for an engine
I'm working on.
You mean LORD mounts?
Uh, right.
Ask Steve.
He's in the far hangar.
Thanks.
What seems to be the trouble?
Oh, I don't know.
You know much
about helicopters?
I'm afraid not. We don't get
any choppers out here.
Mostly twin engine props.
Yeah?
To be honest with you,
I've never looked
inside one of these before.
No kidding.
(LAUGHS)
What do you think
the problem is?
Oh, uh, hydraulics.
We've got to, uh, disconnect
the relays,
recalibrate the valves,
check the points. You know,
all kind of heavy stuff.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, well, that should do it.
And I want to thank you
for all of your help.
Anytime!
Was it there?
Thomas?
Was the plane there?
Have you ever stopped
to think this may be the work
of an overtired, overactive,
imagination?
Yeah.
Then there was the time
I knew I'd seen Michelle,
and you thought it was
the work of an overtired,
overactive, imagination.
Then there was the time I was
sure I'd seen Mac,
and you thought...
Okay, okay, okay.
But this time you keep
running into a dead end.
Maybe this time is different.
Maybe.
Okay, where to now?
MAGNUM: My cousin Mike took me
diving for the first time when
I was in high school,
and a whole new world
opened up to me.
A world with its own set
of rules, perspective,
and reality.
It was a lesson
I never forgot.
Now, I knew that Keli'i hadn't
come to me in your everyday,
ordinary kind of reality.
But that didn't mean
I hadn't seen him.
What it did mean was that
I couldn't stop
asking questions
until I found
out why I'd seen him.
I should've known
you'd show up.
Here to see your handiwork?
I stopped at the school.
Yeah, yeah. They called me.
Told me that llima
had shown up drunk.
They tried to get her to
go home. Only, of course,
she had a different idea.
Look, Mr. Parker...
No, you look.
You take a good look at
exactly what you're doing.
Are you proud of yourself,
Mr. Magnum?
You know, before you came into
our lives, llima and l, we
were holding it together.
We had gotten past the years
of drinking,
the nervous breakdown,
the attempted suicide.
Or didn't she
tell you about that?
She told me she'd rather be
dead with Keli'i
than go on living alone.
As if she were alone.
I found her in time that day.
I don't know if I will
the next time.
Will you?
Aren't you going
to take her home?
She won't go.
Ilima?
That's funny.
Everywhere I go,
I run into you.
Stephen was here.
He's mad.
I've been trying to figure out
all afternoon
how it is that some people
lose everyone
who's close to them.
What causes that?
(SlGHS)
I don't think there
is a reason, llima.
No, there must be something.
I almost lost Stephen.
During the war.
I couldn't sleep
for three weeks
waiting to hear.
When the phone rang, I knew.
I knew he was okay
before I ever answered.
I keep thinking
that phone
is going to ring again.
Ilima,
I am going to stop.
I can't believe Keli'i
would want me
to keep searching
if he knew it was
hurting you like this.
You can't stop.
I stopped,
and Keli'i went away.
He found you. Please.
Don't let him down.
MAGNUM: I kept telling myself
this was the last dive.
The last chance
to find Keli'i.
I told myself that
after this dive,
I'd quit looking.
That's what I told myself.
But even though Keli'i stayed
elusive, I couldn't surface.
Even though I knew that,
as tired as I was,
I was putting
myself in real danger,
I couldn't quit looking.
And even though I knew that
beyond 200 feet,
my own chances of survival
were getting slimmer
and slimmer,
I couldn't force myself
to go up.
Something or someone
kept drawing me down.
And as I kept going deeper
and deeper, I told myself
I had to take the chance
to find Keli'i.
And at last, I saw it.
Not the boy.
But something maybe
even more important.
I knew I'd found what Keli'i
had been trying to show me.
I found it, Keli'i,
I found it!
HlGGlNS: I still don't
understand the reason
for such jubilation.
Don't you see, Higgins?
The plane I found in Kahuku
Lagoon was a Corsair.
A World War ll vintage plane.
I'm aware of that.
Nevertheless...
So was the Navy JRB that tried
to run me off the road.
I know, but what possible
connection could there be
between a plane which has
been submerged at the bottom
of the ocean for 40 years
and the Navy JRB which
tried to run you off the road?
Maybe Stephen Parker.
I have studied Aristotle,
Socrates, Wilhelm Freidrich
Hegel, Bertrand Russell.
I have toured college campuses
debating the virtues of
dialectic
versus symbolic syllogism.
I have written scholarly
articles on the need for
a new, more dynamic logic.
But nothing in my life has
prepared me for the workings
of the Thomas Magnum mind.
I was right.
Lt. Stephen Parker,
Marine Corps pilot.
He flew A-6 lntruders
in Vietnam.
There were thousands of
Marine pilots in Vietnam.
What makes you think
that Parker was the man
in the Navy JRB?
Don't you see, Higgins?
It's symbolic.
His son is killed
in a boating accident.
Except maybe it's not
an accident.
Maybe someone who's still
around has something to do
with it.
And that someone is the only
person in the entire lslands
who owns a vintage
World War ll airplane.
So Keli'i points me
in the direction
of the only clue that he can,
a World War ll plane,
hoping that I could
take the leap,
find the connection.
So you're saying that Keli'i
Parker led you to this Corsair
so you could find whoever
is responsible for his murder?
I think, Higgins, if you will
look at this thing
a little off-center,
a little sideways,
you will see that whoever
owned the plane that tried to
run me off the road
probably killed
Keli'i and his grandfather.
Now, it is up to me to find
out if Stephen Parker
is that man.
And I think I know
someone who can help me out.
Astonishing.
GRANGER:
It just isn't possible!
No, no.
It was an accident.
An accident that paved the way
for you to buy Moku Charters.
Look,
I really wanted
this location.
I knew that it would double,
even triple, my business.
Now, I offered Parker's
father-in-law twice
the fair market value.
He wouldn't sell.
He was a stubborn old man,
and I was furious.
But I would never, never
condone murder. Never.
I'm not saying you did,
but maybe Stephen Parker
thought for $100,000
it was worth it.
100,000?
I wish I got off so easy.
I paid $500,000 to Parker.
No. No,
I just can't believe it.
All right,
Iook, maybe you're right.
Maybe Parker didn't plant
explosives on that boat.
But just...
What if you're wrong?
Don't you think it's time
somebody found out for sure?
Well, if he does
have that plane,
there's a small airfield,
couple of hangars,
out past Mokuleia.
Thank you.
I don't want to go, Stephen!
Just leave me alone.
I don't care
what you want anymore.
MAGNUM: Parker.
What are you doing here?
I came to talk to Stephen.
Do you know something,
Stephen? Everywhere I go,
I see him.
Get in the plane.
Why is that, do you suppose?
Get in the plane.
We're leaving.
There's nowhere left to go,
Parker.
I told you to leave us alone.
You just wouldn't go away.
You're hurting me, Stephen.
Why don't you just let her go?
STEPHEN: Why didn't you stop?
You had to keep
asking questions.
Somebody would've found out,
someday. If it wasn't me, it
would've been somebody else.
What are you talking about?
Shut up.
What were you going to do?
Kill everybody that started
to suspect?
Oh, you got
all the answers.
You just let her go and then
we'll talk about it.
Talk about what?
The whole thing was her fault
anyway.
Stephen?
I told her not to let Keli'i
out on that boat.
He had to stay home
and take care of chores.
I told her that.
No, Stephen, no.
Ilima, I want you
to come over to me.
She's not going anywhere.
Somebody is gonna have to pay.
Not llima.
All right.
I put the explosives on
the boat, but what else
was I gonna do?
I had tried talking
with her father.
He wouldn't sell.
He wouldn't listen to reason.
I only wanted a future.
I only wanted to take care
of my wife and son.
Stephen, tell me you didn't
kill our baby!
I didn't! You did!
No.
You let Keli'i
out on the boat.
No, no!
Stay right there.
Where you gonna go, Parker?
No matter where you land,
you'll take this with you.
MAGNUM: Illusion and reality.
Anyone not watching Stephen
Parker carefully
might have thought he was
running away from his destiny.
In reality, he ran
headlong into it.
Stephen Parker's plane
was lost at sea.
He'd tried to live too long
with an act he'd committed
that had robbed him
of his humanity.
He wasn't trying to run away.
There was nothing for him to
do but join the two people
he'd sent to a watery grave.
I know what you're thinking.
I said I wasn't going
to dive anymore,
at least not to find Keli'i.
But I wasn't looking
for the boy.
In fact, I knew he wasn't
going to make an appearance.
I had the feeling
he didn't need anything
from me anymore.
As for Ilima, knowing the
truth about her son's death,
had helped her stop blaming
herself and start living
her own life again.
A little emptiness would
always be there,
but at least her nightmares
were over.
The boy from Atlantis.
T.C.: Smiling and waving
at old Uncle Thomas.
Until you showed up,
I'd almost gotten used to not
seeing Keli'i.
Keli'i Parker led you
to this Corsair
so you could find whoever
is responsible for his murder?
Thomas! Jeez. You could've
gotten us killed.
He found you.
Don't let him down.
MAGNUM: There's something very
soothing, almost mystical,
about the world under the sea.
I've always felt drawn to it.
And even though T. C. and I
had learned to identify
all kinds of sea life over
the years we'd been
diving together,
each time had
its own surprises.
HlGGlNS: You're drifting,
Magnum.
Okay!
Slightly higher.
The holes must be
properly aligned.
Honestly, Magnum, if you can't
see the markings, perhaps
you'd better let T.C. do it.
I can see the markings.
Oh, yeah, there's nothing
wrong with his vision.
T.C.
Unless you want to count
seeing things
that aren't there.
(CHUCKLlNG)
I'm telling you he was there.
Who was where?
Nobody.
The boy from Atlantis.
Oh, him.
Look, T.C., I'm not so sure
Rick and Higgins
are real interested
in hearing about this.
Swimming 100 feet down,
no scuba,
no air, just smiling
and waving at
old Uncle Thomas.
He wasn't waving.
He was gesturing.
T.C.: He wasn't there.
I'm afraid I must agree
with T.C. At 16 fathoms,
it would be impossible.
I know it seems impossible.
You merely experienced an
episode of nitrogen narcosis,
more commonly referred
to as "the rapture."
Please don't talk to me about
diving, Higgins. I've done it
all my adult life.
I know what the rapture is,
but I also know what I saw.
That's precisely what
Lieutenant Crossley said
when we pulled him from
the Gulf of Martaban.
We removed his diving helmet,
he immediately started
babbling on about
the beautiful women he'd seen
living beneath the sea.
I believe "Sirens" was
the term he used.
No kidding.
Where is this
Gulf of Martaban?
I'm not talking about
a mermaid.
HlGGlNS: Neither was he.
Lieutenant Crossley claimed
he saw an entire city
of them,
including a caravan
of elephants.
No elephants, Higgins.
No cities and no mermaids.
Yeah, just one little kid.
Yeah. One little kid,
and he was real.
Yes, of course he was.
Delicately. Delicately.
You don't want to splinter
the wood.
All right, Higgins.
Storeroom cleaned out, books
brought upstairs from the den,
moose head mounted...
It's a keg buffalo.
Any more urgent chores?
No, no. I think that will
take care of it.
Good.
Later, Higgie.
Higgins, where's the
Gulf of Martaban?
(TRUCK HORN BLARlNG)
RlCK: Thomas! Thomas!
Jeez. Where the hell are you
at, man? You could've
gotten us killed.
I'm sorry, Rick.
I didn't see him.
Hey, look. You want to
daydream, let me drive.
No, I'm fine. Really.
You know, I used to date this
girl that used to read dreams.
She kind of interpreted them.
She told me that daydreaming
was really something special
because it was
close to the conscious mind.
I wasn't daydreaming, Rick.
(LAUGHS)
No? Then, what would
you call it?
I mean, you see this kid
on the freeway, you see him
underwater.
Look, maybe there's
something weird stuck
in your subconscious mind.
Maybe, just maybe, she could
help you figure out what this
fantasy kid represents.
Look, Rick. The kid is real.
I don't need help
with my subconscious.
What I need is help finding
out who he is
and why he needs me.
Okay, okay.
I thought that's
why we were going to see
this friend of yours.
It is. Look,
I know Wesley can help us.
He's been with the newspaper
for 12 years. He knows
every family on the lsland.
He's an investigative
reporter, right?
Yeah. Something like that.
WESLEY: I just wrote
my 20,000th obituary.
You write obituaries?
And that breaks the
Press Telegram's old record
set in '58 by Max Mitchell.
RlCK: That's great!
Isn't that great, Thomas?
Yeah. It's terrific.
Hey, did you win a trophy
or something?
I'm not in it
for the trophies.
Okay, I got one for you.
Born August 12th, 1923.
Died April 4th, 1978.
No runs, no hits, no errors.
(STAMMERlNG) Um, uh...
Johnny Matthews,
the shortstop.
Okay, okay.
Born December 3rd, 1948.
Died May 1st, 1980.
Stepped on the gas
instead of the brake.
RlCK:
Stepped on the gas
and not the brakes.
Wayne Makini,
the racecar driver.
You're good.
You ever consider getting
into this line of work?
Makini. I should've had
that one.
You know, it's amazing
the stories you run into
doing the kind of writing
I do.
Take your request,
for example.
I cross-indexed every
known death at the
Kahuku Lagoon,
computer gave me
22 different items.
That's 22 different stories.
I categorized them for you.
Natural causes, accidental
and unexplained.
What exactly does
unexplained cover?
Probably what you've been
seeing in your dreams.
Unexplained means that
the current got the corpse
before the coroner did.
You know, the ocean has
its little secrets.
I got one for you.
"One if by land,
two if by Big C."
Admiral Gus Delmore.
That's an old one.
Oh.
Any luck?
Thomas?
That's him.
That's the boy
in Kahuku Lagoon.
MAGNUM: For me, the morning
paper has always been an hour
with the sports section
or maybe the comics over
a nice, hot cup of coffee.
I never could figure people
who started the day
with the obituary page.
But talking to Rick's friend,
Wesley, made me consider
that obituaries
were as much about life
as death.
A condensed version of dreams,
achievements and loved ones.
And maybe in this case,
a starting point to find out
why a life had ended before
the dreams and achievements
could be fulfilled.
I didn't know how or why
Keli'i Parker's death had
crossed over into my life.
But I knew he was going to be
with me day and night
until I found out why.
Mrs. Parker?
Yes?
Uh, could I talk to you
for a minute?
Your child's having a problem
with playground etiquette?
No, uh...
I'd like to talk to you
about your son, Keli'i.
Who are you?
My name is Thomas Magnum.
I'm a private investigator.
Look, we settled with the
insurance company
a long time ago.
Why don't you people
just go away
and leave us alone?
Mrs. Parker, please.
I'm not going to talk
to you.
I've seen your son.
(SlGHS)
At least, I think I have.
This morning, at Kahuku
Lagoon, I was diving...
I know this sounds crazy.
But even though I know
he couldn't have been there...
He gestured to you,
to come closer.
I used to see him every night.
In my dreams.
He was underwater.
Swimming. Happy.
He wanted to show
me something.
Just out of sight.
At first, I'd wake up scared.
Then I started sleeping
all the time,
so that I could be with him.
I even went diving once
to see if I could find him.
Working here, gradually,
I started to wake up.
Finally,
he quit coming to me.
Ilima?
Stephen.
You ready to go home?
Mr. Magnum, this is my
husband, Stephen.
Honey, he's an investigator.
We don't need any more
questions, Mr. Magnum.
We've put the past behind us.
Well, I can understand
how you feel...
No. I don't think you can.
I'd appreciate it if you'd
stay away from my wife.
Shirley, what about the C-46?
Well, Willy says if he stays
up the whole night
and they put a few
extra mechanics on the job,
it ought to pass muster
by tomorrow noon.
Think we can put off the
inspection for just
one more day?
Hi, uh...
Hi, F.A.A.?
What?
You're the examiner
from the F.A.A.?
Right.
Great. Harry Granger.
Why don't we just get
right into the paperwork?
You know, safety records,
maintenance reports, uh,
get all that out of the way
before we get
into the aircraft.
Sure.
Well, uh... Great. Follow me.
I think you're going to find
everything you're going to
need right in here.
Here we go.
Quite an operation here.
Yeah, well, we work at it.
You know, uh, I remember
when this place
used to be Moku Charters.
You really expanded, huh?
I'll say. You know, we've got
records going back here
five years.
That's when we took
over this operation.
By the way, how far back do
you want to go?
Well, how about
right at the top?
You know, I never figured
that old guy,
Kalihi, to be
the type to retire.
Now that should do you
for starters.
Damn.
Problem?
My calculator.
Oh, we can get you
anything you need.
I'll be right back.
Hello, may I help you?
Vince Harris, F.A.A.
I couldn't stay away,
either.
This was my father's favorite
place. His hideaway.
Whenever he needed
a place to think,
disappear.
Is that why you came here?
I thought that maybe since
Keli'i had shown
himself to you...
But he wasn't there.
Maybe I was trying too hard.
I'm not sure trying has
anything to do with it.
Yesterday, how did you know
where to find me?
Your address was listed
in an old obituary.
And a neighbor told me
you were at the school.
After you left, I thought,
"You have to leave this alone.
You have to stop thinking
about Keli'i."
But I went to Moku Charters,
instead.
What do you expect
to find there?
Something that would help me
put this feeling to rest,
but instead I found
Granger Sea and Air and...
(SlGHS)
I came here.
You've been here all night?
Well, I can't sleep, anyway.
I keep dreaming about him.
It's always the same.
He keeps gesturing me
to follow him down,
and I keep following him.
He keeps getting farther away.
Magnum, do you think maybe
we're both crazy?
No.
You're the first person to say
Keli'i's name out loud in
so, so long.
I'd forgotten the sound of it.
Stephen can't bear
to talk about him.
It hurts even worse for him
because he feels so guilty.
Why?
Stephen thinks he should have
been able to protect his son
against anything.
Even against me.
The day of the accident,
Stephen wanted Keli'i
to stay home
and help with
the household chores.
Character building, he said.
But it was such
a beautiful day,
and Keli'i wanted so much
to go with his grandfather.
I'm afraid my own character
is a bit more lax than
my husband's.
I couldn't see
what harm could come.
You couldn't have known.
No. I suppose not.
After...
Afterwards, I did something
very foolish and...
Stephen was afraid
to leave me alone.
My weakness made
Stephen vulnerable.
Granger Sea and Air wanted
that location and they paid
$100,000 for Moku Charters.
Was it worth that?
To my father,
there was no price.
But after he
and Keli'i died...
Harry Granger did very well
for himself, I think.
And I have a feeling
he sleeps at night.
Until you showed up yesterday,
I'd almost gotten used to not
seeing Keli'i.
I envy you your dream.
(PLANE ENGlNE WHlRRlNG)
MAGNUM: Even before I was
in training as a Navy Seal,
I'd heard my share
of stories about
rapture of the deep.
And I was pretty sure that
at least some of them
were true.
But I was also sure that you
couldn't get rapture when
you had both feet
firmly planted on the ground.
It wasn't lack of oxygen that
caused me to see that plane
coming out of the sun at me.
That plane
had physical dimension.
And I knew that if
I could identify it
and locate it,
I had a good chance of
getting some
questions answered.
Oh, my God!
What have you done?
Higgins!
I thought you were out.
You thought I was out!
Oh. That got a little wrinkled
there. Here, let...
Don't touch it. Haven't you
done enough damage already?
I was just trying
to find some information.
I might have expected some
feeble excuse like that
from you
after the flower
has been despoiled.
Oh, please, Higgins.
Don't you think you're
overreacting just a
little bit?
I mean, they're just books.
Just books?
Just books?
Proust, Somerset Maugham,
Balzac. You can refer to them
as "just books"?
Oh, come on, Higgins.
I'm afraid your blatant
disregard for the world's
finest literature
Ieaves me no choice but to
make this room off-limits to
you from this moment forward.
Oh, now wait a minute.
If you used the Dewey Decimal
System like most reasonable...
The Dewey Decimal System
is antiquated. Please leave.
No!
Not till I find
what I'm looking for.
It's important.
What is it?
I can't tell you.
Out.
No, really, Higgins, l...
If you're going to tell me
another wild-eyed story
about children calling to you
from underwater...
Of course not.
It's nothing like that.
A World War ll plane
just tried to run me
off the road.
It came right at me,
out of the sun.
The oldest fighter pilot trick
in the book.
Now, Higgins, I'm not sure how
or why, but somehow, see,
I think the airplane incident
is related
to the boy underwater,
and l...
What are you doing?
I'm calling the crisis clinic.
Believe me, it's for
your own good.
I saw it.
And if I can find a picture
of it, I will show you exactly
what plane it was.
How do you do that?
How do you know exactly
where every book is?
How can you possibly
keep track?
It's a very simple system
known only to me and a
charming, rather zaftig
army clerk I met while
stationed in Burma.
As a matter of fact,
she and I authored the
system, as it were.
I'll never forget that night.
It was a balmy evening,
after hours.
We were thrown together
by chance in the stacks
of the base library.
Naturally, conversation turned
to matters literary
and before we knew it,
we were swept away
by creative passion.
One thing led to another and
the rest might have been
library history
had it not been
for the fact...
But that's another story.
Your plane?
Oh. Right. Yeah.
There.
That's it.
A Navy JRB. That is the plane
that tried to run me
off the road.
That's impossible.
Oh, how can you know that?
The annual report of the
Anglo-Hawaiian Aeronautical
Enthusiast Society.
You can see for yourself.
There's not a single World War
ll vintage plane in Hawaii.
MAGNUM: Harry Granger!
What?
The President of the
Enthusiast Society
is Harry Granger?
Yes. Delightful chap. He was
a pilot with the American
Volunteer Group in China.
The Flying Tigers.
The same.
He now owns
a charter company
here in Hawaii.
Granger Sea and Air. Formerly
Moku Charters. I know.
Thanks, Higgins.
T.C. ON RADIO : Granger Sea
and Air, this is
niner-five alpha.
This is niner-five alpha.
Do you read me?
MAN:
Go ahead, nine-five alpha.
I have an emergency GSA
and I need clearance to land
and repair, over.
MAN: That's a roger.
T. C. : Do you know what could
happen to me if anyone found
out I was faking an emergency?
My license, my business.
It's the only way I could
figure to get close
to the hangar.
A little more
to your right, T. C.
Oh, great. Company.
Hi.
Are you the pilot?
No. No. You got
a parts department open?
I need some shock mountings
for an engine
I'm working on.
You mean LORD mounts?
Uh, right.
Ask Steve.
He's in the far hangar.
Thanks.
What seems to be the trouble?
Oh, I don't know.
You know much
about helicopters?
I'm afraid not. We don't get
any choppers out here.
Mostly twin engine props.
Yeah?
To be honest with you,
I've never looked
inside one of these before.
No kidding.
(LAUGHS)
What do you think
the problem is?
Oh, uh, hydraulics.
We've got to, uh, disconnect
the relays,
recalibrate the valves,
check the points. You know,
all kind of heavy stuff.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, well, that should do it.
And I want to thank you
for all of your help.
Anytime!
Was it there?
Thomas?
Was the plane there?
Have you ever stopped
to think this may be the work
of an overtired, overactive,
imagination?
Yeah.
Then there was the time
I knew I'd seen Michelle,
and you thought it was
the work of an overtired,
overactive, imagination.
Then there was the time I was
sure I'd seen Mac,
and you thought...
Okay, okay, okay.
But this time you keep
running into a dead end.
Maybe this time is different.
Maybe.
Okay, where to now?
MAGNUM: My cousin Mike took me
diving for the first time when
I was in high school,
and a whole new world
opened up to me.
A world with its own set
of rules, perspective,
and reality.
It was a lesson
I never forgot.
Now, I knew that Keli'i hadn't
come to me in your everyday,
ordinary kind of reality.
But that didn't mean
I hadn't seen him.
What it did mean was that
I couldn't stop
asking questions
until I found
out why I'd seen him.
I should've known
you'd show up.
Here to see your handiwork?
I stopped at the school.
Yeah, yeah. They called me.
Told me that llima
had shown up drunk.
They tried to get her to
go home. Only, of course,
she had a different idea.
Look, Mr. Parker...
No, you look.
You take a good look at
exactly what you're doing.
Are you proud of yourself,
Mr. Magnum?
You know, before you came into
our lives, llima and l, we
were holding it together.
We had gotten past the years
of drinking,
the nervous breakdown,
the attempted suicide.
Or didn't she
tell you about that?
She told me she'd rather be
dead with Keli'i
than go on living alone.
As if she were alone.
I found her in time that day.
I don't know if I will
the next time.
Will you?
Aren't you going
to take her home?
She won't go.
Ilima?
That's funny.
Everywhere I go,
I run into you.
Stephen was here.
He's mad.
I've been trying to figure out
all afternoon
how it is that some people
lose everyone
who's close to them.
What causes that?
(SlGHS)
I don't think there
is a reason, llima.
No, there must be something.
I almost lost Stephen.
During the war.
I couldn't sleep
for three weeks
waiting to hear.
When the phone rang, I knew.
I knew he was okay
before I ever answered.
I keep thinking
that phone
is going to ring again.
Ilima,
I am going to stop.
I can't believe Keli'i
would want me
to keep searching
if he knew it was
hurting you like this.
You can't stop.
I stopped,
and Keli'i went away.
He found you. Please.
Don't let him down.
MAGNUM: I kept telling myself
this was the last dive.
The last chance
to find Keli'i.
I told myself that
after this dive,
I'd quit looking.
That's what I told myself.
But even though Keli'i stayed
elusive, I couldn't surface.
Even though I knew that,
as tired as I was,
I was putting
myself in real danger,
I couldn't quit looking.
And even though I knew that
beyond 200 feet,
my own chances of survival
were getting slimmer
and slimmer,
I couldn't force myself
to go up.
Something or someone
kept drawing me down.
And as I kept going deeper
and deeper, I told myself
I had to take the chance
to find Keli'i.
And at last, I saw it.
Not the boy.
But something maybe
even more important.
I knew I'd found what Keli'i
had been trying to show me.
I found it, Keli'i,
I found it!
HlGGlNS: I still don't
understand the reason
for such jubilation.
Don't you see, Higgins?
The plane I found in Kahuku
Lagoon was a Corsair.
A World War ll vintage plane.
I'm aware of that.
Nevertheless...
So was the Navy JRB that tried
to run me off the road.
I know, but what possible
connection could there be
between a plane which has
been submerged at the bottom
of the ocean for 40 years
and the Navy JRB which
tried to run you off the road?
Maybe Stephen Parker.
I have studied Aristotle,
Socrates, Wilhelm Freidrich
Hegel, Bertrand Russell.
I have toured college campuses
debating the virtues of
dialectic
versus symbolic syllogism.
I have written scholarly
articles on the need for
a new, more dynamic logic.
But nothing in my life has
prepared me for the workings
of the Thomas Magnum mind.
I was right.
Lt. Stephen Parker,
Marine Corps pilot.
He flew A-6 lntruders
in Vietnam.
There were thousands of
Marine pilots in Vietnam.
What makes you think
that Parker was the man
in the Navy JRB?
Don't you see, Higgins?
It's symbolic.
His son is killed
in a boating accident.
Except maybe it's not
an accident.
Maybe someone who's still
around has something to do
with it.
And that someone is the only
person in the entire lslands
who owns a vintage
World War ll airplane.
So Keli'i points me
in the direction
of the only clue that he can,
a World War ll plane,
hoping that I could
take the leap,
find the connection.
So you're saying that Keli'i
Parker led you to this Corsair
so you could find whoever
is responsible for his murder?
I think, Higgins, if you will
look at this thing
a little off-center,
a little sideways,
you will see that whoever
owned the plane that tried to
run me off the road
probably killed
Keli'i and his grandfather.
Now, it is up to me to find
out if Stephen Parker
is that man.
And I think I know
someone who can help me out.
Astonishing.
GRANGER:
It just isn't possible!
No, no.
It was an accident.
An accident that paved the way
for you to buy Moku Charters.
Look,
I really wanted
this location.
I knew that it would double,
even triple, my business.
Now, I offered Parker's
father-in-law twice
the fair market value.
He wouldn't sell.
He was a stubborn old man,
and I was furious.
But I would never, never
condone murder. Never.
I'm not saying you did,
but maybe Stephen Parker
thought for $100,000
it was worth it.
100,000?
I wish I got off so easy.
I paid $500,000 to Parker.
No. No,
I just can't believe it.
All right,
Iook, maybe you're right.
Maybe Parker didn't plant
explosives on that boat.
But just...
What if you're wrong?
Don't you think it's time
somebody found out for sure?
Well, if he does
have that plane,
there's a small airfield,
couple of hangars,
out past Mokuleia.
Thank you.
I don't want to go, Stephen!
Just leave me alone.
I don't care
what you want anymore.
MAGNUM: Parker.
What are you doing here?
I came to talk to Stephen.
Do you know something,
Stephen? Everywhere I go,
I see him.
Get in the plane.
Why is that, do you suppose?
Get in the plane.
We're leaving.
There's nowhere left to go,
Parker.
I told you to leave us alone.
You just wouldn't go away.
You're hurting me, Stephen.
Why don't you just let her go?
STEPHEN: Why didn't you stop?
You had to keep
asking questions.
Somebody would've found out,
someday. If it wasn't me, it
would've been somebody else.
What are you talking about?
Shut up.
What were you going to do?
Kill everybody that started
to suspect?
Oh, you got
all the answers.
You just let her go and then
we'll talk about it.
Talk about what?
The whole thing was her fault
anyway.
Stephen?
I told her not to let Keli'i
out on that boat.
He had to stay home
and take care of chores.
I told her that.
No, Stephen, no.
Ilima, I want you
to come over to me.
She's not going anywhere.
Somebody is gonna have to pay.
Not llima.
All right.
I put the explosives on
the boat, but what else
was I gonna do?
I had tried talking
with her father.
He wouldn't sell.
He wouldn't listen to reason.
I only wanted a future.
I only wanted to take care
of my wife and son.
Stephen, tell me you didn't
kill our baby!
I didn't! You did!
No.
You let Keli'i
out on the boat.
No, no!
Stay right there.
Where you gonna go, Parker?
No matter where you land,
you'll take this with you.
MAGNUM: Illusion and reality.
Anyone not watching Stephen
Parker carefully
might have thought he was
running away from his destiny.
In reality, he ran
headlong into it.
Stephen Parker's plane
was lost at sea.
He'd tried to live too long
with an act he'd committed
that had robbed him
of his humanity.
He wasn't trying to run away.
There was nothing for him to
do but join the two people
he'd sent to a watery grave.
I know what you're thinking.
I said I wasn't going
to dive anymore,
at least not to find Keli'i.
But I wasn't looking
for the boy.
In fact, I knew he wasn't
going to make an appearance.
I had the feeling
he didn't need anything
from me anymore.
As for Ilima, knowing the
truth about her son's death,
had helped her stop blaming
herself and start living
her own life again.
A little emptiness would
always be there,
but at least her nightmares
were over.