“Yes. There were two new messages from Liam Griffith saying it was urgent that we contact him.”
“Urgent for who? Not us. Did you say we were shopping for moose heads in Lake Placid?”
“I told Jim at the front desk to tell anyone who calls that we are expected back at The Point for dinner.”
“Good. That might keep Griffith cooled off until he shows up at The Point and discovers he got snookered.” I asked, “Did Walsh call?”
“No.”
“See? Our boss cut us loose. Nice guy.”
“I think we cut him loose, John, and now he’s returning the favor.”
“Whatever. Screw him. Who else called?”
“Major Schaeffer called The Point, as per your suggestion. His message to you was, ‘Your car has been returned to The Point. Keys with front desk.’”
“That’s nice. He forgot to leave the stakeout team in place, but he didn’t forget to cover his butt with the FBI.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you were cynical?”
“Sweetheart, I was an NYPD cop for twenty years. I’m a realist.” I reminded her, “I think we’ve been through this before. Okay, what else?”
She dropped her favorite subject and continued, “A man named Carl-sounds familiar-called and left a message that said, ‘Dinner is on.’ Jim asked for the details, but Carl said that Mr. Corey already had the details and please bring Ms. Mayfield, as discussed.” She added, “So, Madox wasn’t leaving his name, or anything that could connect our disappearance to him or his lodge.”
“
“
“Why are you so suspicious of people?”
“John, fuck off.” She continued, “We also had three voice-mail messages in our room.”
“Griffith and who else?”
Kate referred to her notes. “Liam Griffith, at three forty-nine, said, cheerily, ‘Hi, guys. Thought I’d see you earlier. Give me a call when you get this. Hope all is well.’”
I laughed and said, “What an asshole. How stupid does he think we are?” I quickly added, “Sorry. That sounded cynical-”
“Second voice mail asking if we’d like to schedule a massage-”
“Yes.”
“Last voice mail from Henri, who sounds cute, asking what type of mustard you’d like with your… pigs-in-the- blanket.”
“See? You didn’t believe me.”
“John, we have more pressing matters to deal with than-”
“Did you call him back?”
“I did, to keep up the pretext that we were returning to The Point.”
“What did you tell Henry? Deli mustard, right?”
“I did. He’s very charming.”
“He wanted to show me his woodcock.”
She ignored that. “I also made a massage appointment for both of us tomorrow morning.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to that.”
“We’re not going to be there.”
“This is true. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint Henry after all the trouble he went to, but I’m not sorry to miss cocktails with Liam Griffith.”
Kate looked a little fatigued, or maybe worried, and I needed to give her a pep talk, so I said, “You did a great job. You’re the best partner I’ve ever had.”
“I’m your boss.”
“Right. Best boss I’ve ever had. Okay, so, the FAA-”
The phone rang, and I said to Kate, “You expecting a call?”
“No.”
“Maybe it’s Wilma. Your husband is on the way.”
She hesitated, then answered the phone. “Hello?” She listened, then said, “Thank you. Yes… I’ll tell him. Thanks.”
She hung up. “It
We both laughed, but clearly we were on edge. I went to the window, checked out the terrain, then opened the door and retrieved a big roll of duct tape.
I sat at the kitchen table and began wrapping the makeshift evidence bags, as per rules and regulations. I said to her, “Tell me about the FAA.”
She didn’t reply and instead asked me, “Why don’t we just get the Hyundai back from Rudy, take those evidence bags, and drive to New York?”
“Do you have a pen? I need to sign this tape.”
“We could be at 26 Fed at about…” She looked at her watch and said, “About three or four in the morning.”
“You can go. I’m staying here. This is where it’s happening, and this is where I need to be. Pen, please.”
She handed me a pen from her bag. “
“I don’t know, but when it happens, I’ll be here.” I signed the tape and said, “Actually, we
She sat on the chair beside me, took my hand, and said, “Let me finish telling you what I’ve learned, then we’ll decide what to do.”
This sounded like she had an ace up her sleeve, which was probably the bad news. Whatever it was, it was pressing on her mind.
I said, “The FAA. Bad news?”
“The good news is that I was able to get some information. The bad news is the information.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The FAA,” Kate began. “As you predicted, this was a challenge. But, finally, someone at the FAA clued me in to call the regional Flight Service Station-the FSS-in Kansas City, where these two GOCO aircraft arrived Sunday afternoon from Adirondack Regional Airport.”
“Good. What did the FSS in KC say?”
“Well, they said these two aircraft landed, refueled, and filed continuing flight plans, then departed.” She glanced at her notes. “One Cessna Citation, piloted by Captain Tim Black, with tail number N2730G, flew to Los Angeles. The other, piloted by Captain Elwood Bellman, with tail number N2731G, flew to San Francisco.”
“Really?” That sort of surprised me. I was sure that one or both of Madox’s jets would fly back here to Adirondack Regional Airport, where Madox could hop aboard and go wherever he needed to go in a hurry. “And those were their final destinations?”
“As of about an hour ago. I called the FSS in LA and San Francisco, and no new flight plans have been filed.”
“Okay… but why did they fly to Los Angeles and San Francisco?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
“Right. We also should find out where the pilots are staying in these cities so we can talk to them.”
“I had the same thought, and I discovered that private aircraft use what’s called Fixed Base Operations-FBOs- to take care of arriving and departing aircraft. At LAX, I discovered that GOCO aircraft use Garrett Aviation Service as their FBO, and at SFO, GOCO aircraft use a company called Signature Flight Support. So, I called these FBOs and
