“Just that, it was an accident. The authorities said the crane either lost hydraulic pressure while Dave was under the fuselage, or the lever worked its way loose and Dave didn’t notice until it was too late. He apparently was alone.” Jake raised his finger. “That’s another thing that bothers me. Dave never worked without a crane operator before — so why start now?”
“Maybe due to the urgency of the investigation, he was unable to.”
“Perhaps.”
“What happens next, Jake?”
“Pat suspended the investigation for the rest of today, discussed it at an early organizational meeting and later announced it at the press conference. He’s giving everyone on the investigation the day off tomorrow for two reasons. One, because of Dave’s death. And two, because of the St Patrick’s Day crowd. But mostly, because of Dave. Pat said Carol took it hard.”
Beth fell silent for a moment.
Jake gazed over her shoulder out the window overlooking River Street and noticed a man staring at him through the window.
The man they had seen in Barry’s Pub.
The man who met the description of Ian McDonald, the mechanic in Dallas.
The man with the white streak in his hair and the mismatched eyes.
Jake stood and ran outside eager to put an end to the mystery surrounding this man. The man was gone.
CHAPTER 32
At that same moment, Pat McGill pulled the NTSB Suburban to the curb as his cell phone rang. The caller ID stated only Chatham County. He flipped open his phone. “Pat McGill.”
“Mr. McGill, this is Jim Anderson, Chatham County Medical Examiner.”
“Yes, Mr. Anderson, what can I do for you?”
“It’s about Dave Morris. I found something you should know about.”
“What was that?”
“When I started cleaning Mr. Morris’ chest and removed his clothing, I noticed a lot of cuts and gashes and puncture wounds. Nothing I wouldn’t have expected to find, until I cleaned him thoroughly. Then I saw a puncture wound that looked a little different so I opened him up. That’s when I found it.”
“Found what?”
“Gunshot wound through the heart. Mr. Morris was dead before that airplane fell on him.”
“A gunshot wound? Are you sure?”
“Oh, yeah, I have the bullet right here to prove it. I bagged it and have it ready to send to ballistics. By law, I had to notify the local authorities so an investigation can be initiated.”
“Very good, Mr. Anderson, I appreciate everything you’ve done. This is a federal investigation and as such, additional notification must be made to the FBI, actually they will have jurisdiction. Also, due to the sensitive nature of this investigation, I must ask you not to discuss this with anyone other than the local police investigator or me until the FBI arrives and views Mr. Morris’ body. This aircraft accident involved a very influential and controversial political figure and must be handled with considerable delicacy.”
“Okay, Mr. McGill, I understand. What about next of kin?”
“Mr. Morris was married but had no children. I called his wife and broke the news to her. She took it pretty hard. I won’t tell her he was shot until the FBI gives me the green light.”
“All right, I appreciate that. Are you going to call the FBI?”Anderson asked.
“No. I’ll let the local police make that notification. I’ll give them a call right now.”
He ended the call with Anderson, got out of his car and walked up to the front door of a home in the historic district.
The door opened after one ring of the doorbell.
“Pat, what are you doing here?”
“Cousin, we’ve got one hell of a big problem.”
CHAPTER 33
Thirty minutes later Kaplan let himself into Annie’s house through the garage entrance. As he opened the door from the stairwell into the kitchen, he found Annie sitting in the bay window reading a book, Scout curled up in her lap. Seeing him, Scout jumped down and scampered over to rub lovingly against his legs.
Annie marked her page with a bookmark, placed the book next to the window and walked over to him, placing her head against his chest and giving him a hug. Barefooted, her head didn’t reach his chin.
She unbuttoned his shirt halfway down and kissed his chest, then said, “How’d it go at work?”
“I never actually made it to the tower.”
“Where the hell have you been then?”
“I saw a lot of commotion at the Gulfstream plant. You know, ambulances, police, a rescue unit—”
She interrupted. “Yeah, I saw something on the news about an accident, but I didn’t catch any details.”
“Anyway, as it turns out, one of the NTSB guys had a huge piece of the wreckage fall on top of him and it killed him. Then I talked to Jake Pendleton and he told me a few things that are bothering him about the investigation.”
“Like what?”
He spent a few minutes talking about Jake’s theories about the crash, with a brief interruption for a beer and snacks.
As he finished, Annie looked at him curiously. “So he believes that something strange went wrong with the airplane causing it to fall out of the sky?”
“Yeah, basically, either a mechanical failure or some sort of explosion.”
“So how does the midair factor into all this?”
“Jake said that was the one piece that doesn’t fit the puzzle.”
“I’d say that’s one pretty damn big piece, wouldn’t you?”
Just as he was about to respond, her cell phone rang. She picked up the phone, flipped it open, and placing it next to her cheek, said, “Annie Bulloch.”
“Who? … No, I’m afraid you have the wrong number.” She hung up.
He walked into the den and sat in the big leather loveseat and placed his beer on the coaster on the wrought iron end table. Turning around and looking over his shoulder toward the kitchen, he called out, “You’re originally from Ireland — have you ever heard of this O’Rourke guy?”
She came in, put her beer glass on the opposite end table, and sat down next to Kaplan. She spun sideways in her seat, placing her feet in his lap. “Of course, I’ve heard of him — he’s been in the news for months.”
“You never talk much about your past,” he said. “How come you moved away from Ireland?”
“Where I grew up was a dangerous place at a dangerous time … during the ‘Troubles.’ My mother was raped and my dad couldn’t deal with it so he left her. We moved here. Then my dad was killed.” She lowered her chin.
“I don’t talk about it because it’s painful. I just try to forget about my past before I moved here.”
“Where in Ireland did you grow up?”
“Northern Ireland, a town called Londonderry.”
Later that night, Collins lay in his hotel room, curtains drawn, room dark. The buzz of his Blackberry vibrating on the nightstand stirred him from a restless sleep. He reached over and picked it up to read the message that displayed in all caps.
BIG PROBLEM. MUST MOVE QUICKLY. JILLIAN.
He sighed.
What is the problem?
A minute later, the Blackberry vibrated again. The reply simply stated:
Jake Pendleton is getting too close. Stop him ASAP. And his girlfriend. Bring them both to me. J.
He deleted his messages, rolled over and went back to sleep.
CHAPTER 34
Holding his binoculars to his eyes, Jake stood on the balcony of his sixteenth-floor room overlooking downtown Savannah and the Savannah River. Wisps of steam rose from the warmer river waters. The waters were calm except for the wake from one of the ferries that had already started making its way from the City Hall Landing to the Trade Center Landing.