Page 43 of The Shadow Friends

Nolan switched cameras. “There it is.”

The aircraft had emerged from the blind spot behind the hangar and was now taxiing back onto the runway for its takeoff roll. She and Nolan watched as the Piper lifted off the tarmac and climbed out of view.

“Here and gone in fourteen minutes,” said Jo.

“It had to be some kind of delivery. You think it was dropping off drugs or something?”

“No. I think it was here to pick up a passenger,” said Jo. And she knew who that passenger was.

After watching a copy of the CCTV video in Lloyd’s kitchen, the four members of the Martini Club sat in silence. Were they too stunned to say anything? Or were they holding back, not yet ready to completely trust Jo? She looked at their faces, trying to gauge their reactions. Declan and Ben were stone faced, unreadable. Maggie was focused on Lloyd, who looked pale and shaken. No one, it seemed, was ready to address what they’d just seen on the airport video.

Jo finally broke the silence. “Where was your wife going, Lloyd?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“You do agree, though, that the plane was almost certainly here to pick up Ingrid.”

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“It swoops in unannounced. Then fourteen minutes later it takes off, carrying your wife. From Belfast airport, it could have flown to any number of destinations. The airport manager told me that’s a Piper Seneca, which has a range of—”

“A thousand miles,” said Ben. “Assuming max fuel and economic cruise.”

Jo looked at Ben. “How is it you already know this?”

Ben shrugged. “It’s just a random bit of info I picked up.”

“Now you’re gonna tell me you’re a pilot?”

“No. But I once had to, um, make a hasty exit aboard one of those planes. It was a very nice ride.”

“A range of a thousand miles means she could’ve headed to any number of airports. Refuel or jump onto another plane, and she could continue on to any destination in the world. Where would she go, Lloyd?”

“I don’t know.”

“You really have no idea?”

“Why do you keep assuming I know the answer?”

“Because you’re her husband. And this wouldn’t be the first time you people have kept me in the dark. You asked me to track down Ingrid’s whereabouts, but told me not to file a missing persons report. Which meant I had to make up a story and say I was looking for a stolen vehicle. I hate telling lies. It makes me feel dirty. The least I expect in return is an explanation. Tell me what’s really going on with Ingrid.” Jo looked around at the four faces. “Anyone?”

“The honest truth,” said Maggie, “is we don’t know.”

“Lloyd?” Jo turned to him. “You’ve been married for how long?”

“Twenty-eight years.”

“Your wife of twenty-eight years jumps on a private plane and disappears. And you have no idea why.”

“There’s a great deal about my wife’s career that I’m not privy to. Things that must remain behind a wall of secrecy. I respect that wall. We all do.”

“That’s her past career. This is happening now.”

“The past has a way of rearing its head,” Maggie said quietly. Hers was the voice of experience. Last winter, Maggie’s tragic past had followed her to Purity and had almost destroyed her life in this quiet corner of Maine.

“We’re in the dark too, Jo,” said Declan. “We’re trying to understand what led Ingrid to board that plane. We have to assume it’s connected to Maslov’s death. Clearly, Ingrid was the first to suspect it was an assassination, but we don’t know how she connected the dots. Because we certainly didn’t connect them.”

“Not until the Department of Energy showed up in their radiation suits,” said Ben. “Now the whole damn thing’s gone hot. It’s pulled in the state police, the FBI, DOE.”