Page 42 of The Shadow Friends

“These are all local guys,” he said, narrating the video. “Decent pilots, all of them. Although that one there . . .” He pointed to a white Cessna with red stripes as it took off. “He had a stroke two years ago. I thought he’d have to give it all up, but he’s back in the air. Every time he takes off, I have to admit, my heart’s in my throat.” He fast-forwarded through the footage. Four o’clock. Four thirty. Five p.m. The only movement on the screen was the occasional bird, and a flurry of autumn leaves tumbling across the tarmac.

“Does this runway camera record around the clock?”

“Yes, ma’am. Even when there’s no one here manning the facility.”

“And you left the property at five p.m. on Tuesday.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you know what time sunset was that day?”

He pulled up the info on his desktop computer. “On that date, it was five forty-one p.m.”

“So after you left the facility, there was over half an hour of daylight remaining. A plane could have landed or departed during that time.”

“Could have.”

Jo’s gaze suddenly fixed on the screen. “And did,” she said.

Nolan’s attention snapped back to the video, where an aircraft was touching down on the runway. It was a white twin engine with a black undercarriage. The time stamp said 5:26 p.m.

“That looks like a Piper,” said Nolan as the aircraft rolled to a stop at the end of the runway.

“Seen it before?”

“This one? Never.”

“And it wasn’t here when you arrived the next morning?”

“No. And I never received any notification that this aircraft was coming in.”

“Would you normally be notified?”

“Normally, yes, since we have no tower. When pilots get within ten miles of this airport, they’re supposed to communicate with our Unicom station, frequency 122.975, to let us know they’re approaching. We didn’t get any such communication about this aircraft. That pisses me off. It endangers other pilots in the area.”

“And what about when it took off? Were you notified then?”

“No. Again, that’s not how it’s supposed to be done. I’d like to know what the hell that pilot was doing here.”

Jo could already guess the answer. Now she just needed video evidence to confirm it. She watched as the Piper pivoted at the end of the runway and rolled back toward the terminal. Suddenly it veered off the taxiway and vanished behind a hangar.

“We’ve lost it,” said Jo. “Have you got CCTV back there?”

“Um, no. No need for coverage in that area. There’s no doors, no access back there. It’s just the outside wall of the hangar.”

“Then what’s this plane doing there?”

“Maybe we can see it when it comes out the other side of that alley.”

Nolan switched to a camera at the front of the hangar. They watched five minutes, ten, waiting for the Piper to roll into view. Birds flitted past the camera, but nothing else moved.

“It’s sitting in a blind spot,” said Jo. “The pilot knew exactly where to stop.”

Nolan shook his head. “How would he know that?”

Because someone told him.

“Go back to the runway camera,” she said. “Let’s see when it takes off.”