"No, they didn't say."

Which, I thought, could be why they were taking a taxi and not the offered courtesy van, and why there was no livery car waiting for them. "All right. Anything else?"

"Yes, she told me that these two guys-pilot and co-pilot-had two large black leather trunks with them. The trunks were padlocked, and they were on wheels, and they were very heavy, and it took both men to get each trunk into the van."

"Okay. Big and heavy. Padlock and wheels." I said, "I guess that was the cargo that Chad saw at the airport here. Now, it's been off-loaded in San Francisco, and I assume LA also." Kate wasn't bringing this information to any point, so I mentioned helpfully, "Maybe the men had their wives or girlfriends on board as stowaways, and these big, heavy trunks held two days of clothes for the ladies."

She inquired, "How did you manage to get a sexist remark into a conversation about aircraft cargo?"

"Sorry." It wasn't easy. "I was just speculating." I further speculated, "So ... gold? Two dead bodies? What?"

"You should think about it."

"Okay. What did Carol Ascrizzi say? Was she suspicious? Did the pilot and co-pilot act suspicious or nervous?"

"The pilot and co-pilot, according to Ms. Ascrizzi, were perfectly normal, and joked about the weight of the trunks and the fact that GOCO hadn't booked a car and driver for them. The co-pilot flirted with Ms. Ascrizzi and told her he hoped he'd see her Wednesday when they returned to the airport for their departure."

"Okay ... departure to where?"

"The co-pilot said their final destination was LaGuardia, but he didn't say what stops they'd make en route. The pilot left instructions at Signature Flight Support to have the aircraft ready for a noon departure on Wednesday with full fuel."

"All right ... so, the pilot and co-pilot, according to Ms. Ascrizzi, seemed normal, but the cargo did not." I thought about that and said, "So, the cargo was flown to LA and San Francisco in two private jets, rather than one jet, making two stops in those nearby cities."

"That's correct."

"And there was no car and driver to take the crew and this cargo to where they needed to go."

"Correct."

"And the pilot instructed Signature Flight Support in San Francisco to have the aircraft ready for a noon Wednesday departure with the final destination of LaGuardia, but from what you said, they hadn't yet filed a flight plan with the FAA."

"Correct. But that's not unusual. Flight plans, I discovered, need to be filed near the time of departure, to take into account current weather, airport traffic, and so forth."

"That's logical."

"Sorry I couldn't feed your paranoia."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I got more where that came from. In fact, here's one-the pilot and co-pilot's secret destination in San Francisco."

"Why secret?"

"Well, there was no hired car and driver, which would leave a paper trail, plus they passed up the opportunity to take the courtesy van into town after loading these trunks full of bricks or something into the van, which then had to be off-loaded at the taxi line, then loaded into two taxis, because of the size of the trunks, for the trip into town. Does that make sense?"

"No. So, I called Garrett Aviation Service at LAX and got a guy named Scott on the phone who asked around while I was on hold, and he got back to me with pretty much the same story-two big black trunks, and the courtesy van only to the taxi line."

"Ah. So, apparently these four guys had the same instructions-to take taxis to wherever they were going with those trunks."

"It would seem that way."

"So, quite obviously, these two flight crews had a secret destination or destinations in LA and San Francisco, and that's why they each took a taxi, which would take a lot of luck to trace. Now, the question is, Does this have anything to do with Bain Madox's insane plan to become Emperor of North America, or whatever the hell he's up to? Or, is it not relevant?"

"I think it's relevant."

"Is this the bad news?"

She replied, "We need more context. Now, you tell me about your conversation with Madox."

"Okay. Then I get the bad news?"

"Yes. Unless you can figure it out yourself before we're finished with the other items on the agenda."

"That's a challenge. Okay, do I have everything I need to figure out the bad news?"

"You're at the point where I was when I figured it out. Then I found one more piece of information that confirmed what I was afraid of."

"Okay. Wow."

I thought about that, and there was something coming together in my brain, but before it fell into place, Kate said, "You're on. Custer Hill. Bain Madox."

All roads lead back to Custer Hill and Bain Madox.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Isat back on the couch, and Kate sat in an easy chair. I said, "All right. First, Bain Madox was half expecting me." I added, "Great minds think alike."

I love it when she rolls her eyes. It's so cute. I continued, "The house staff seems to be gone, but the security guards are there, and so is Carl."

I gave Kate a short briefing of my time with Bain Madox, including the tangential discussions about being wounded in the line of duty, and Madox's odd obsession with bears. I said to her, "But maybe these topics were not tangential. Madox may have been speaking allegorically."

"Sounds more like macho bullshit to me."

"Right. That, too. More important, I put Mr. Bain Madox on official notice that he was a material witness in a suspected homicide." I explained my bogus suspicions about one of his security guards being Harry's killer. "So, now we have him in a tight spot."

Kate reminded me, "Murdering a Federal agent is not a Federal crime."

"Well, it should be."

"But it's not." She informed me, "New York State has the jurisdiction. That means Major Schaeffer." She asked, "Don't you teach that in your class at John Jay College of Criminal Justice?"

"Yes, I teach it. I don't practice it. Actually, I covered myself by using the word assault, which is a Federal crime." I added, "Madox is not a lawyer. He's a suspect."

"But he has a lawyer."

"Don't sweat the small stuff."