"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 was Wilma. Duct tape is outside our door. She says my friend should move his van."

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. "What is happening?"

"I don't know, but when it happens, I'll be here." I signed the tape and said, "Actually, we should split up in case ... Okay, you drive Rudy's van to Massena, rent another car, and drive to New York."

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 asked if they knew where the GOCO pilots and co-pilots might be. I was told that sometimes a pilot leaves a local number, usually a hotel, where they can be contacted if needed, or their cell-phone numbers. But not this time. The only contact information that these FBOs had on the pilots was the GOCO flight department at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York, where GOCO has its base operations, maintenance hangar, and dispatch office."

"And? You called these people?"

"Yes, I called the GOCO dispatch office at Stewart, but, for obvious reasons, I did not identify myself as FBI, and no one would give me any information on the two crews."

"Did you tell them you were a doctor and that both pilots and co-pilots are legally blind?"

"No, but I'll let you call and see what you can find out."

"Maybe later." I asked, "What are the names of the co-pilots?"

"Oddly, the flight plans don't ask for the name of the co-pilot."

I could see that the Federal Aviation Administration hadn't tightened up its act regarding private aviation since 9/11. But I already knew that.

Kate said, "The flight plan does show the number of persons on board, and both aircraft had two. Pilot and co-pilot."

"Okay ... so these aircraft landed at LAX and SFO, no passengers, and they've been parked there since Sunday night, and there are no new flight plans filed, and I assume Captain Black and Captain Bellman and their unidentified co-pilots are enjoying the sights of LA and San Francisco as they await further instructions."

"It would seem so."

I thought about all of this and concluded that maybe it had no meaning, and was perfectly normal. Just four pilots jetting across the continent without passengers, burning jet fuel at the rate of several hundred gallons per hour, while their boss transported more fuel into the country in his tankers. I asked Kate, "Does this seem strange to you?"

"In and of itself, maybe yes. But we don't know this world." She informed me, "One of the FBO employees in San Francisco, for instance, suggested that maybe these aircraft had been chartered by someone for a pickup in San Francisco."

"Do you think a man like Madox charters his personal jets to make a few bucks?"

"Apparently some rich people do. But there's more."

"I hoped there was."

Kate continued, "I spoke to a Ms. Carol Ascrizzi, who works for Signature Flight Support in San Francisco, and she told me she was asked to transport the pilot and co-pilot in the courtesy van to the taxi line at the main terminal."

This didn't seem unusual or important, but I could tell by Ms. Mayfield's tone of voice that it was. "And?"

"And, Ms. Ascrizzi said that GOCO, like most bigger companies, almost always books a car and driver ahead of time to take the flight crew wherever they need to go. Therefore, she found it odd that this pilot and co-pilot needed to take a taxi from the main terminal. So, Ms. Ascrizzi, wanting to be nice to good customers, told me she offered to drive the two guys to their hotel." Kate informed me, "Apparently, these crews usually stay in some place with corporate rates near the airport. But the co-pilot told her, thanks, but they were going downtown, and they'd take a taxi."

"Okay ... did she know where they were going?"