McGill continued, “We’ll meet back in the morning at 0700, just the Board members. At 0730 I will call all the groups together and we’ll officially kick this thing off at that point. I’ll inform you as to who is the leader of which group at the organizational meeting tonight. Some of you will no doubt be leading more than one group. We’ll talk again as we get closer to Savannah.”
As McGill spoke to the team, Jake sensed edginess in his voice. Edginess that he’d never heard before.
This investigation would be different from all the other investigations.
CHAPTER 14
He pulled into the alley behind an old three-story duplex on the edge of Savannah’s historic district. He unlocked the gate with his keys and drove his Fat Boy into the back yard, parking it underneath the second floor balcony.
As soon as he turned off his motorcycle Kaplan heard a familiar female voice call out, “I called the facility. Mac said you already left. Come on up and tell me all about it.”
He hung his black half-shell Harley helmet on one of the motorcycle’s mirrors and walked through the garage next to her Miata, climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered into the kitchen. Annie kept her house spotless, and the modern kitchen lined with white cabinets was where she spent most of her time. The bright sunny room always energized her, and that’s where he found her, sitting on the bench in the oversized bay window next to the kitchen, a book in her hands, Scout in her lap. The cat jumped down from Annie’s lap, landed on the floor with a thud, then walked over to Kaplan and purred as she rubbed against his pant leg.
Annie’s face had a youthful glow — younger than her thirty-nine years. She looked up at Kaplan. “Rough day at the office, I hear.”
“I’ve had better.”
He took in her sweat pants, form-fitting short-sleeved crop tshirt and white socks, her hair pulled into a ponytail. She smiled at him, her green eyes sparkled in the light from the bay window. A splash of faded freckles ran across the bridge of her nose.
“And to top it off, I have to go in tomorrow for interviews with an FAA lawyer and the NTSB,” Kaplan said. “It shouldn’t take long. Then it’s just you and me and thousands of visitors.”
The crowds attracted by St. Patrick’s Day wouldn’t be clearing out for a few days.
“That sucks. Why do you have to go in when you’re on leave?”
“The manager ordered me in to meet with the NTSB and relieved me from ATC duties until the investigator clears me back to work. I didn’t even know they did that kind of thing. I think he’s just flexing his muscles to piss off Cookie.”
“Did it work?”
“Oh yeah. When I left, Cookie was in his office giving him an earful.”
“I would love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.” She stood, and threw her arms around his neck. “How about a beer?”
”Two. Get me two beers, please. I think I’ll skip Barry’s tonight— I’m not really in the mood. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, I don’t mind. I kinda figured we’d stay in tonight anyway.”
“Great. So what’d you do all day?” he asked.
“The usual, pined for you all day, wondering when you would get here to tell me about your day.”
Kaplan walked into the living room and fired back, “Liar.”
Scout followed him into the living room. Kaplan found a seat on the long leather sofa. Scout jumped into his lap, padded her paws on Kaplan’s leg, then settled in for a comfortable nap.
Kaplan first met Annie when she transferred to the Savannah facility from Augusta, Georgia. On her first day at the Savannah facility, she went into the radar room to observe and ran right into him as he was walking out. They stood an inch apart, staring at each other in the doorway to the dark radar room.
Kaplan looked down at her and said, “Are you coming or going?”
Flustered, she said, “Depends.” It was the only response Annie could think of.
“Depends on what?”
“On you.” She smiled.
“Well, I’m going to the break room — care to join me?”
“Sure, I’d like that.”
Annie’s confident, brash manner intimidated a lot of men, but not Kaplan. He was the only man who ever made her feel “weak in the knees,” she had told her best friend soon after the relationship with Kaplan began. Her demeanor was different around him. Subdued. Submissive. Even their coworkers remarked about the different tone in her voice when he was around.
The day they met, the two of them talked for thirty minutes until Kaplan’s break was over. Annie asked him if she could sit and observe him in the radar room while he was plugged into position — an opportunity neither of them let pass by.
After work, they went out for dinner, and later sat on a bench on River Street for hours talking. That was more than fourteen years ago.
Annie walked into the living room with the beer bottles and placed them on the coffee table. “Here you go — for my two-fisted drinker.”
Waving her arm down towards Kaplan’s lap, she said, “Okay, Scout, scram. Shoo. This is my time with Gregg.”
Scout ignored her and didn’t move, so she picked her up and moved her to the opposite end of the sofa where the cat curled up in a ball. Positioned just right so she could see Kaplan and Annie.
Annie unbuttoned Kaplan’s shirt down to his navel, started rubbing his chest and said, “Now, tell me about the accident. And don’t leave out any details.”
Kaplan removed her pony tail holder, letting her hair fall to her shoulders. Placing his hand on the back of her neck, he ran his fingers through her thick red hair.
“Well, it all started when I let a good-looking redhead off position so she could go home and goof off.”
“Goof off!” She punched him in the stomach lightly with her fist. “I’ll have you know I came home and did my workout, cleaned up around this house, and … well, I did take a little nap right after lunch,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. Then her smile faded and she grew serious. “Just tell me what happened.”
“I had a Challenger coming from the west. I set him up for the approach to runway 27. Everything seemed fine until I tried to switch him to the tower. Then I heard a couple of maydays. He just disappeared from radar.”
“No other signs of trouble?”
“No, actually, he had been the least of my worries.”
“What do you think happened?”
“I don’t really have a clue, but I can only guess that since he was slowing and lowering his gear and flaps for final approach, he had some sort of mechanical issue that caused him to lose control of the aircraft.”
Annie nodded and reached for her beer bottle. “The news said there was an Irish bigwig on board. He seemed sort of controversial, the way they described him.”
“That’s what they said at work. They came out and made me pee in a cup and blow in the tube,” Kaplan said.
Annie chuckled.
Stretching out on the couch, she accidentally kicked Scout, who jumped off the couch, letting out a squawk in protest.
Looking up into Kaplan’s eyes, Annie finished unbuttoning his shirt and said, “You look tense… why don’t you let me help you relax a little?”
She slid her fingers down his chest, stopping at his belly button. “We could play good cop, bad cop,” she murmured.
“Not tonight. I’m a little stressed, you know how we hate to lose one. Maybe I’m just tired and need some time to think. No games tonight.”
Grinning, she jumped up amid his protests and said, “What you need is a distraction.”