Two days later, Gary was at the University of Hawaii in the History Department with the Department Head, Dr. Carl Mager, about his duties while he was at the University.  “Professor Shipp, Welcome back.”

“Thank you, Dr. Mager.  I’m glad to be here helping on this project, and getting a chance to teach here in Hawaii once again.”

They discussed the classes and duties in the department, then Mager told Gary, “There is a meeting tomorrow morning around ten at the Iolani Palace to discuss the exhibit that you will be putting the finishing touches on.  You will be having a meeting with Steve McGarrett, the head of Hawaii Five-O, our State Police Unit.  Dan Williams, the second-in-command of the unit, will also be present.  I would suggest that you call and confirm that appointment is still be on for tomorrow,” Mager said as he hands Gary Dan Williams’ business card.  “It would be a good idea to check both today and tomorrow morning before heading over there.  Both McGarrett and Williams have a tendency of making appointments and not keeping them seventy-five percent of the time, due to various police emergencies and problems that they have to attend to.”

“All right Dr. Mager, I’ll check with them as soon I settle into my office.”  Gary replied in the hope that this meeting, which had lasted over an hour already, would soon end and that Mager understood that he wanted to get settled into his office.

Then a half an hour later Gary in his new office, which had a window this time, he looked out the window and could see the beautiful mountains of Hawaii.  ‘Making a major find does get you a few extra perks,’ he thought to himself as he looked out at the balmy eighty-degree weather full of bright and inviting sunshine.  With an appreciate sigh, he began to set up his office and go over the books that he would use this semester.  As he started, he saw the business card that sat next to his phone and then decided to call.

“Hawaii Five-O, can I help you,” said a sweet voice on the end of the phone.  It was the same voice he had spoken to over the past couple of months from North Carolina.

“Hello, I’m Gary Shipp, from North Carolina.  I was informed by Dr. Mager, from the University of Hawaii, to check with Mr. Williams to confirm that my appointment was still on for tomorrow morning at ten.”  Gary told her.

“One moment please, let me check.”  The phone was put on hold for a few moments before that sweet voice came back on, “At this time, Professor Shipp, your meeting with Mr. Williams is confirmed.  I would suggest that you check in the morning again.  Things can change rather quickly around here, some appointments can be changed at the last minute.”

“Thank you.  Should I ask for you in the morning or will anyone be able to tell me what is going?”  Gary asked for he wanted to know the name that went with this voice on the end of the phone.

“Anyone of the ladies here can give you that information, but my name is Betty.”  she said with her own form of interest about the voice on the other end as well.  She liked the deep sexy voice, and he spoke very pleasantly.

“All right, Betty, I’ll check with you in the morning.  Bye.”  Gary replied as he waited to hear Betty say good-bye before he hung up.  He looked at the phone for a few moments and wondered what Betty looked like, then found himself looking forward to tomorrow.  

Four days later Gary was in McGarrett’s office as he tried to explain the historical importance of the exhibit.  He was interrupted again when the phone rang.

“McGarrett!” Steve said as he picked up his pen and jotted a note down.  “Thank you.”  The call was to inform him of when he was to meet with the Governor to brief him about the exhibit.  “Please continue Professor Shipp,” he said after he hung up the phone.

“As I was saying,” Gary attempted the explanation when he became frustrated as he was stopped once again by a knock on the door this time.  A woman entered with an envelope.  She was beautiful with her wavy blonde hair pulled back away from her blue eyes.

“McGarrett,” the woman said as she walked by the detectives and the Professor on her way to his desk.  “This just came for you from Sgt. Caterina.  It’s marked urgent.  Eyes Only.”

McGarrett took the note and noticed it was in a sealed Palace envelope.  Then he opened it and read the note.

“Steve, just came into the Palace and noticed three different vans parked around your office area of the building.  Each one has some surveillance equipment in them that I observed as a passed by them.  The only conclusion I can come up with is your office may be bugged for the meeting.  I have requested Che to come over with the proper detection equipment to sweep it.  I’m also having the license plates run to see who the vans belong too.  I’m in Dan’s office making the necessary phone calls.

Caterina”

Steve paused only briefly before he headed for the door, “Professor, I’m sorry, can you wait just one more moment.  There is a small matter that I need to take care of.”  Steve informed the Professor as he passed the note over to Danno.

Danno glanced at the note and was immediately on Steve’s heals, which left Duke, Chin, Kono and Betty in the office with the Professor.

After they had left, Gary turned to Kono and discreetly asked where the men’s room was.

Kono decided to escort Shipp because he could use the same himself.

“Tell me Kono, who is that beautiful blonde that came into the office with the note that made Mr. McGarrett and Mr. Williams leave so quickly?” Gary asked the seemingly amiable Kono about Betty.

“That’s Betty, our new detective assistant in the office.  She’s an all around helper in the office.”  Kono told him and wondered why he wanted to know.

“Really!!!!  Is she single? Or involved with anyone?”  Gary replied with a keen interest and had several other questions on his mind.

“Yeah, she is.  As far as I know she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”  Kono answered him back with a smile when he saw the expression of delight on the Gary’s face.  “You interested in meeting Betty?” Kono asked for he was always eager to play matchmaker.  His question would go unanswered for the moment, as they had reached their destination.

 The three vans mentioned in Caterina’s memo were parked right around McGarrett’s office which offered one of vans a perfect view to see into McGarrett’s office.

Brenn and Tina were inside the first van, but they were only interested in the security details of exhibit being displayed in the Throne Room of the Palace, so they could plan their business enterprise accordingly.

The second van belonged to Billy Swan who wanted to know the security details to plan his execution accordingly.

Remington Steele who had requested to be part of this meeting with Professor Shipp had rented the third and final van.  When he was flatly refused by Dan Williams, he knew that it was based on a past encounters between him and his lady.  He had tried to convince Williams that there was nothing but friendship between them but Williams wouldn’t buy it or just had a major distrust of him.

Steve and Dan stepped out of Steve’s office when they could hear and see Caterina on the phone, “Thanks Sandy.  Now can you go check out those rental places and find out who rented them and when?” she said as she spoke into the receiver.

“Sure Sarg, I’ll do that without delay.  Where do you want me to get in contact with you when I find out?”  Sandy Wells asked as she reached for her handbag and police jacket so she could head out the door as soon as she hung up.

“Don’t call me with the information, call Deputy Chief Williams and let him know what you find.  And Sandy, please don’t wait until you get all three, call in with each one.  Thanks again.”  Caterina hung up Dan’s phone and looked up to see them in the doorway of Dan’s cubical.  “The three vans outside your windows are all rentals.  Wells is going to check out the three rental agents, then let Dan know who the renters are,” she told them before either of them could speak as she handed Steve the list of the three rental companies for the vans and their plate numbers.

Steve still couldn’t fully figure out why Caterina, with the cop instincts ‘only wanted to be a training officer instead of detective.’  “I know this exhibit was a hot item but to bug us is a little far fetch,” Steve said as he paced the small office area considering this new development.  He snapped his fingers a few times as he thought about the vans but nothing was came to him.

Both Caterina and Danny stayed where they were because they both knew that their boss needed his pacing space.

Caterina hated watching this silent show, so she asked the question.  “Has Professor Shipp given us any background on the exhibit historical significance?”  She looked from the head boss to her immediate boss and back again,  “I know I’m late but was I that late?”

They both looked at her and replied together, “No,” only Steve continued, “He was about to when I got your note.”

“Then maybe we should ask him to finish telling us about this exhibit opening in next couple of weeks.”  Dan suggested.

The conversation was interrupted when Che came into the office suite with his bug detector ready to go to work.  Steve informed him what they were up against.  Only Che and Steve entered the office quietly and started the process of sweeping the room.

While everyone was in the outer office of the Five-O suite, Kono and Shipp returned laughing at something funny.  “Hey bruddah, what going on?”  Kono asked.

“Steve and Che are sweeping the office for listening devices.” Duke said as he and Chin came out of Steve’s office and closed the door behind them.

“Why?” was the only thing Shipp asked and then he noticed Betty as she worked on something at her desk.

“Because there are people who want to know what is going on with that exhibit of yours, Professor,” came Caterina’s reply.

“I know it is important, but why bug the office to find out about it?  It’s known all over the world that it’s opening up in less then a month.”  Gary’s curiosity was up.

“For one thing it is worth a small fortune, and secondly, it is something to steal.” Dan replied as he headed back into office when the phone started to ring.  “Williams!”

While Danny was on the phone, everyone else returned to their own desk to wait out the sweep that was in progress in Steve’s office.

Shipp found himself unable to take his eyes off Caterina as he wondered who this beautiful blonde lady was “Hello, I’m Gary Shipp.”  He held out his hand to take hers and thought to himself, ‘two such beautiful blondes in one office and both have blue eyes.’

“I’m Sargent Caterina, of the Honolulu State Police Academy.”  Caterina replied as she took his offered hand to shake it and was surprised that he raised it to lips to kiss it instead.  Immediately, she heard a noise from Williams’ office and knew he didn’t like the idea that someone else was kissing his lady’s hand.  “I should tell you Professor Shipp, that I’m a pre-engaged person and my man is a little on the possessive side about who gets a little to friendly.  If you know what I mean?”

Gary heard the same sound from Williams and released her hand.  He asked, “I’m not being to nosy, if I ask, is he” Gary points with his finger towards Williams, “your…”

“Yes Professor, he is.”  Caterina smiled at him.

“I meant no offense,” Gary told her concerned that he had offended her.

“None taken,” Caterina said with a smile.

Not wanting to intrude where he was not welcome, Gary walked over towards the other lovely blonde lady in the office that caught his eye a few minutes earlier and sat down next to her desk.  “Hello Betty.”

“Hello Gary.”  They had conversed several times over the phone for the past several days as they tried to set up a meeting with the Five-O staff about the exhibit.  The Five-O schedule continually forced them to change the day of the meeting or its time.  And now, finally she got to meet this man she had spent so many conversations with.  “So how is your teaching going?”

“Pretty good.  The students here are basically the same as they were in North Carolina.  The only difference is the beautiful weather outside.”  Gary had asked this lady on several occasions out for dinner but was turned down for one reason or another.  Now he was going to try again.  She was as attractive as the voice he had heard.  “Now that we have formally met, how about that dinner date this evening?”  He smiled at her.

She handed him a small piece a paper, then picked up the phone as it rang for the second time, “Hawaii Five-O, can I help you? . . . One moment and I connect you.”  Betty looked up to make sure that Chin was still in his office, “Chin phone.”

“Thanks,” Chin replied as he picked up the phone.

Gary looked at the piece of paper as Steve office door opened, it said, ‘pick me up downstairs at seven.’  Gary smiled at the answer to his question.  “No problem, I’ll be there.”  As he got up he put the note in his pocket and then went back over to where the detectives had started to gather once again.

Steve told them about the four listening devices found in the office.  They should begin the meeting with the Professor as he explained about the exhibit.  All the security details would have to wait for another time when Steve’s office had been cleaned of the garbage that had been collected.

After they entered the office, they saw the four listening devices that were on the table near the area where Shipp would have begun his informative lecture on the history of the coins.  

Professor Shipp began to speak when he had their full attention at last.  “The S.S. Katerina was used as a pre-war transport freighter in 1941.  It came up from the Philippines with the rare collection gold, silver, iron, copper, platinum and various types of stone coins from all over the world.  This ship was docked on the edge of Rainbow Harbor next to Pearl Harbor on December 5, 1941, less then two days before the bombing.  The coins, in the 1941, were to be displayed first here in Honolulu and then move on to San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco in California.  Then the collection would then go to the next state, which I can’t remember at the moment.”  Gary was just a little nervous at this lecture, it wasn’t the same as when he taught the university and college students who had to take history class for credit, but these officers needed to know what they were involved with.

“As a result of the bombing, the S.S. Katerina was forgotten about with the declaration of war as the country turned its attention to winning of the Second World War.  After the bombing and the beginning of the war, everyone basically forgot about the S.S. Katerina, until six years ago.  That was when I began doing research for my thesis on the bombing of Pearl Harbor and all the ships that were in the port at the time and were around the island of Oahu.  There were a number of non-military transport ships being used at the time and they were dock in the harbor areas around Pearl because of needed space just for the military vessels.

“Being a child of a military officer and military historian, I had a friend who was stationed here at Pearl Harbor who got me a copy of the available logbooks from the ships in the port areas at the time of the bombing.  That’s when I found in one of the logbooks that stated that the S.S. Katerina had been docked at Rainbow Harbor but there was never any record found of her departure.  The lack of its departure entry could have been caused by the destruction that day.

“My friend at the time had been assigned to take new photos of the ships at the bottom of Pearl and around the edges of the Pearl Harbor to determine the decay factor of each of the military and other vessels at that point in time.  With these newest photos of the floor of the harbor areas, he informed me that they discovered one more ship destroyed on December 7 than they had a record of.  From there, I began the process which lead me to the discover of the S.S. Katerina and the planned voyage she was suppose to have taken and found she did make it to Honolulu from the Philippines.

“After that, I applied and got the grant for the excavation because the Navy was curious about the mystery ship, but due to limited resources they did not want to invest the time to find out about her because she was not an official part of our Navy.  In addition, there is the fact that she was technical in a private harbor and not a military harbor.  Then eighteen months ago I was granted the rights and funding to do the excavation which brings us to this point in time.”

Everyone listened to his lecture in regards the S.S. Katerina.  Kono was the first to ask, “Was the S.S. Katerina a non-military transport?”

“Yes she was.  She was used for the transportation of military families back to the mainland and this shipment of rare coins which was worth a half a million dollars in 1941.  The coins were to be transported under the best security measures at the time.

“The docking area that was assigned to the S.S. Katerina was on the edge of Rainbow and Pearl Harbors because it was the only truly secure area in 1941 for a cargo worth half million dollars.

“The ship arrived very late on Friday, December 5^th, she was reported docked in her harbor at 11:58 p.m., which naturally meant that the coins weren't able to be transported to a bank vault as original planned and agreed upon.  Due to this fact, the ship was put under military guard to prevent any possible heist.  The collection was stored in the vault of the ship for the voyage and was still under the original seal placed on it in 1941.

“The coins were individual packaged in newly developed plastic covers that were screwed together.  These coins were then placed in watertight cases to help protect them.  Mikhail had a specially constructed portable vault constructed that was guaranteed to be ninety-percent waterproof.

“The United States Navy sealed this vault with a Navy Seal at that time to help get it through US customs.  In addition, due to the fact, that it was being placed on a non-military transport ship bound for Hawaii.

“When the vault was brought up from the ship six months ago, the seal was still in place.  Washington, DC was then contacted to verify the Navy Seal tag number to insure that it had not been tampered with from the time of its originally shipping date.

“Upon confirmation and approval from Washington, DC, the seal was broken and the contents verified against the manifest that Washington, DC had sent via special military escort.”

Shipp had been speaking for sometime when he reached for a glass of water to wet his throat.  He noticed that his nerves had settled down once he started his lecture on the coins.  He also realized his level of confidence had been growing with each word he spoke.  After finishing his drink, he noticed everyone was waiting for him to continue without a word being spoken by anyone.  He also had noticed during the discussion it was being recorded and others were taking careful notes.  He smiled to himself at this moment of true pride in being a recognized Historian, as he continued his lecture for these officers.

“Due to the fact, the manifest stated that Vigilance Insurance was the insurer of the cargo, so they were contacted about the find.  The Vigilance Insurance Company was in business back in 1941 and they insured the collection for half of million dollars while it was in the United States.  I believe, Vigilance is once again insuring the collection because of the contract that was written with Mikhail in 1942.  They attempted to pay off on the claim to Mikhail but he would not have it.

“A legal document was drawn up that stated if the collection was ever to come to light they were to be responsible for it once again and that the insurance claim money due Mikhail was to be properly invested to cover the expenses of the collection at some future date.  In addition, Vigilance would have to increase the worth of the collection to the current values when the collection was re-discovered.”

“These coins belonged to a Russian named Ivin Mikhail of Moscow.  Mikhail left Moscow about 1912, when he saw a change coming over the royal family, because of Rasputin and feared for the future of his country.  Due to the fact, he was a wealthly man, he moved to Tahiti in the South Pacific and swore never to return to his Mother Russia after Tsar Nicholas II and his family was executed in 1917.”

Shipp moved over to the couch to sit down to continue his discussion since it was the only empty seat in the office.  “The funniest thing about this discovery is, when the Russian authorities found out that I had found the cargo of coins they requested their immediate return.  Although, they had no real claim to Mikhail estate that I knew of at the time.  Several days later, I received a letter from a lawyer with a copy of the last will and testament of Mr. Mikhail.  That letter stated,” Shipp pulled a copy of the letter out of his briefcase to read it.

‘The coins belong to a museum in Russia to be put on permanent display only after the coins finish their original itinerary of touring the United States and Europe’.

“Now these coins will continue their world tour.  Mikhail never stopped loving his Country even thought he didn’t like the political changes that occurred under Vladimir Ilych Lenin.  He left his most prized possessions of international coins to the museum The Armoury in Moscow if and when the coins were ever found again.  The Armoury is the oldest museum in Moscow and is located in the territory know as Moscow Kremlin.  The Armoury is also known as the ‘Oruzheinaya Palata’ or Armoury Chamber.  The Armoury was founded about 500 years ago.  In the 15th century it was called ‘Kazennaya Palata,’ where the Tsar treasures had been stored.^P

The meeting continued for another half-hour before Professor Shipp left to return to the University.  The rest of the meeting broke up shortly after that with the listening devices being taken over to Che’s lab for clues on tracking the owners of them.

P {Information obtained from http://www.moscow-guide.ru/Culture/Museums.htm#Kremlin }  

Original content © 2001

Betty's Book-Me Danno
Last modified: April 27, 2002