Chapter 17
“It’s obvious Tristan Keller made his rounds.” Margaret zoomed in on the social media site’s photo. “He has a woman on each arm. Something tells me he likes to impress the ladies.”
“How so?” Lucy asked.
“This is the third photo we’ve seen of him at Fairfield Hills Country Club, one of the snootiest clubs in West Michigan. He’s with a different woman in each one.”
“I noticed too,” Gloria said. “He seems to prefer blondes.”
Margaret tapped the screen. “Check out his watch.”
“It’s nice,” Ruth said. “What’s so special about it?”
“It’s a Rolex. Do you see how he’s turned his wrist toward the camera? Obviously, appearances are extremely important to him. His suit also looks expensive. If I had to guess, it’s a Brooks Brothers.”
Dot squinted her eyes. “How can you tell?”
“By the notched lapels and the stitching on the cuffs,” Margaret said. “Don had a few Brooks Brothers’ suits. He only wore them when he was meeting with important clients.”
“So, he likes blondes, exclusive country clubs, and has expensive taste,” Lucy summarized. “It doesn’t help us figure out if he hired someone to shoot his plane or ticked someone off enough to hunt him down.”
“Hold on.” Gloria stopped Ruth from scrolling. “Go back up.”
She scrolled up.
“There’s a picture of him standing in front of a plane.”
Liz leaned in. “That’s his, all right. Yellow with blue tipped wings.” She read the caption above it. “My new Piper PA, spit polished and ready to go.”
Gloria peered over her sister’s shoulder. “He’s only had this plane for a few months.”
Ruth clicked on the photo to enlarge it. “This was taken at the Green Springs Airport.”
“I recognize the hangar,” Margaret said. “It was near to the one Gloria and I were at earlier today.”
Lucy removed her cell phone from her pocket and snapped a picture. “You were right there. Did you see a plane matching this one?”
Gloria thought about it. “No. I was too freaked out to notice the other planes. The only thing I was thinking about was making sure I didn’t die.”
Ruth laughed. “You walked away unscathed and with a story to tell.”
“Except for the years it took off my life.”
“I say we drive back to the airport to see if we can track down the plane, look for the bullet hole, and glean any other clues.”
Dot arched a brow. “And how do you propose we do that?”
“Obviously, pilots and passengers are in and out of the airport all day. We could tell them we’re thinking about buying a plane and want to know how much it would cost to rent a space.”
Ruth shoved her chair back. “I’m game. Let’s go see if we can find Keller’s plane.”
“Hang on.” Gloria lifted her hand. “We can’t go blowing in there, looking for the plane, pretending we want to rent a spot.”
“Why not?” Liz asked.
“We need to at least sound like we know what we’re talking about.”
“True.” Ruth slid her chair back in, her fingers flying over the keyboard. “Green Springs airport rents spots. Outdoor parking spots are only eighty bucks a month. What a bargain.”
“Maybe we could all chip in and buy a plane,” Lucy said. “How fun would that be?”
“I don’t want to buy a plane,” Margaret said. “Who will fly it?”
“We can take flying lessons.” Lucy rubbed her palms together. “Click on the link to see how much it costs.”
“Flying lessons?” Gloria playfully placed her hand on Lucy’s forehead. “Are you feeling all right?”
“I’m fine.” She swatted it away. “Seriously, we could fly up to Mackinac Island, over to Chicago. Think of all the places we could go.”
Ruth clicked on the flight school link and whistled loudly. “It’s pricey.”
“Ten thousand dollars,” Lucy gasped. “Forget the plane. It’s too expensive of a hobby for this chick.”
“I don’t think piloting is all it’s cracked up to be,” Dot said.
“We can still go over there to do a little snooping around to see if we can track down Keller’s plane.”
“Margaret and I were there earlier,” Gloria said. “Won’t it look suspicious if someone recognizes us?”
Liz waved dismissively. “Nah. Tell them you had so much fun, you wondered what it would take to actually fly a plane.”
“We can research online all day, but I think the next move is to get a visual of the plane, if possible. I’ll have to stop and get some gas. The spymobile is running on fumes.”
“I’ll drive.” Dot jangled her keys. “You’ve done more than your share of chauffeuring.”
“Fair enough, although I don’t mind.” After Ruth finished packing everything up, the friends piled into Dot’s van for the drive back to the airport.
The woman at the front desk was the same one who had checked Margaret and Gloria in earlier. There was a flicker of surprise on her face when she saw them. “Hello.”
“Hello.” Gloria leaned an elbow on the counter. “My friend and I were in here earlier for a skydiving class. We were so excited we decided to come back and find out how much you charge to rent a plane and / or rent a spot in the event we purchased a plane.”
The woman grabbed a flyer and slid it across the counter. “Our rental rates are very reasonable. It’s only eighty dollars per month for outside storage for a single-engine plane, which is mostly what we have around here.”
Ruth slipped her reading glasses on. “Do you rent month-to-month or is there some sort of rental agreement?”
The woman went into a long spiel about rates, rules, regulations and then asked if the women would like to tour the facility.
“A tour would be wonderful,” Lucy said. “Can we do it now?”
“Absolutely. I’ll radio one of our in-house sales reps. It should only be a minute.”
The group huddled off to the side while the woman tracked someone down.
“This is going way too smoothly,” Liz said in a low voice.
“Keep your eyes peeled for Keller’s plane,” Gloria whispered.
“There are six of us,” Dot said. “If it’s here, we’ll find it.”
The woman stepped out from behind the desk and hurried over. “Emery will be with you shortly.”
“Wonderful,” Gloria beamed. “Thank you for arranging a tour.”
“You’re welcome. We do daily tours. You would be surprised at how many people are interested in piloting planes.” She handed each of them a nametag. “You’ll need a tag for the tour. Please write your first name on it so that Emery will know who you are.”
The friends passed around the black marker, jotting their names down.
A man, in his thirties, if Gloria had to guess, with short brown hair and neon blue glasses, approached the counter. He stopped by the front desk before making his way over. “You’re here to tour the facility?”
“We are,” Ruth replied.
“Perfect. I’m Emery and I’ll be your tour guide.” He clasped his hands. “Which one of you owns an aircraft?”
“None of us,” Lucy said.
A flash of confusion crossed Emery’s face. “You’re interested in renting a spot for a plane, yet none of you own one?”
“Yet,” Liz said. “We may be in the market for one.”
“Soon,” Ruth added. “Before we seriously consider such a large investment, we want to know what we might be getting ourselves into.”
“We’re very analytical,” Dot chimed in. “And like to have all the information before pulling the trigger.”
Emery shot the receptionist a side glance. He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders, as if to say he thought he was wasting his time. “We’ll start the tour here in the main building.”
He led them across the lobby and down the hall to the classrooms, an area looking all too familiar to Gloria. “We have several classes in session. Our experienced instructors offer a wide range of training. Who has the pilot’s license?”
“None of us,” Margaret said. “At least not yet.”
Emery blinked rapidly, and Gloria could only imagine what was running through his mind. He thought they were nuts, wasting his time, perhaps even a little of both.
“You’re thinking about buying a plane and none of you can fly it.”
“Yet,” Margaret repeated. “We’re in the exploration phase.”
He wrapped up the inside tour and led them out a rear door. Circling around, they strolled past several small planes, all lined up in a row. “Parking in this area is only eighty dollars per month.”
Liz tiptoed toward one of them and gazed through the window. “This plane is tiny.”
“It’s a two-seater,” Emery said. “Most of the personal aircraft stored here only accommodate a pilot and one passenger.”
“This might not work,” Dot said. “We would need a much larger plane.”
“Larger plane means larger rental space,” Emery said. “Maybe you should postpone your tour until you’ve given the idea more thought.”
“We…uh…would like to continue the tour.” Liz placed her hands on her hips, offering him her prettiest pout. “Please?”
“Fine, but I feel like this might be a premature visit.” Emery reluctantly stepped inside the hangar and strolled through the center, passing by an array of planes, two-seaters, and even some larger ones. “We don’t have any covered storage available right now. If you were looking for inside storage, you would have to be wait-listed.”
“Do you have onsite mechanics who service the planes?” Lucy asked.
“Absolutely. All of our mechanics are certified professionals.”
“Good, because I would hate to have to worry about my plane crashing,” Gloria said.
Margaret snapped her fingers. “I heard something about a small private plane that went down only a couple of days ago.”
“I remember seeing something on the local news too,” Ruth said. “Maybe we don’t want a plane. It could be dangerous.”
“The pilot flies out of here,” Emery said. “It wasn’t a mechanical issue or pilot error. Someone shot his plane down.”
Liz’s jaw dropped. “Someone randomly shot a plane right out of the sky?”
“It wasn’t random. At least, from what I’m hearing, the pilot knew the shooter.”
“How awful.” Rose’s hand flew to her lips. “I hope he’s okay.”
“He’s going to be fine,” their guide assured them. “I haven’t heard what he plans to do with the plane.”
“Did they bring it here, to the airport?” Liz asked.
“Yeah. It’s out back.” Emery motioned in the general direction, which also appeared to be in the same vicinity they had just left.
They exited the hangar on the opposite side, passing by several other buildings before circling back around to their starting point.
“Are there any other questions I can answer before concluding your tour?” Emery asked.
“You did a great job of showing us the airport’s highlights,” Liz said. “Thank you for your time.”
“I have a question,” Lucy said. “If we wanted to book a flight, what’s the procedure?”
“You register with the clerk at the front desk, the one you stopped at when you came in.”
While Emery talked, Gloria slipped away, inching toward the area where the smaller planes were stored, searching for a yellow plane with blue tips. She checked to make sure Emery was still facing the other way and darted toward the back, ducking under the wing of a plane and making a beeline for the fence line.
“Hey!” Emery ran after her. “You’re in a restricted area!”
“I’m sorry. I uh…thought I spotted some skydivers coming down over there and wanted to see them.” Gloria glimpsed the yellow plane, her heart skipping a beat before trudging back toward the others.
Dot shaded her eyes. “What is that building over there, on the other side of this chain-link fence?”
“A restaurant. If you want to watch the skydivers, I highly recommend grabbing a bite to eat on their outdoor patio.”
Gloria perked up. “Right next door?”
“Yes. Their burgers are the best.”
“We’ll definitely check it out,” Lucy said. “Thanks for the tip.”
Emery escorted them to the front entrance. “Good luck. It sounds as if you have more research to do before making a decision.”
Liz thanked him again. “You’ve given us a lot to think about.”
The women crossed the parking lot and returned to Dot’s van.
“I didn’t see the plane.” Liz tapped her sister’s arm. “Were you able to get a visual?”
“I sure did. By the time I found it, Emery noticed me.” Gloria told them it was parked along the fence line.
“The restaurant is right next to the fence,” Lucy said excitedly. “We can get close.”
“So close we could reach out and touch it.” Gloria climbed in and buckled her seatbelt. “It looks like our next step is to swing by the restaurant to check it out.”
“I’m not hungry,” Margaret said.
“You can manage a mozzarella stick or chicken wing,” Dot said. “We’ll order a plate of appetizers to share.”
“This sleuthing is going to make me fat,” Margaret grumbled.
Gloria flung her arm around her friend’s shoulders. “Putting on a few pounds should be the least of our worries. We’re still alive, and at least we’re not in Liz’s shoes.”