Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

working on a story for the paper.  Doyou want to drive the new car?”

“Not until we have it on our insurance.  Are you going tohave lunch with Emily?”

“I think so.”

“Why don’t you make sure, otherwise you might go hungry.”

Chapter 12Flight of the Phoenix

Matthew and Emily had finally figured out that Mr. Graham wasgetting all the money.  Matthew was also sure that the flights to the CaymanIslands were how he laundered the money, or whatever, since putting the moneyin an offshore account didn’t actually launder it.  If you started to spend it,the IRS would definitely come calling, wanting to know where it came from.

What they hadn’t been able to figure out was how he wasgetting the drugs.  After analyzing his calendar and the calendar of thecharter company he used for his flight to the Caymans, Matthew had determinedthat Mr. Graham made a trip to the Caymans every four weeks, and two weekslater he made a trip to Catalina Island.  The timing of Graham’s last trip toCatalina coincided with Dante’s sudden replenishment of his supply of pills, soMatthew figured that it must be related to how he was getting the drugs.

Matthew had considered the ATR42 Graham was chartering forthe flights a strange choice.  The plane couldn’t make it from San Diego to theCaymans without refueling.  It was a mixed-use, cargo-passenger jet.  It wasconfigured to hold up to eight passengers with the rest of the space used forcargo.  And Mr. Graham had been chartering the same plane for over two years.

Now, Matthew was tuning in on Mr. Graham as he prepared forhis trip.  What Matthew couldn’t figure out was what Mr. Graham was up to.  Hewas meeting the charter flight from Fallbrook to Catalina, but instead of goingto the normal passenger boarding area he had driven up to a warehouse at theairport.

Matthew watched via his portal as Mr. Graham supervised theloading of three small pallets into the cargo hold of the jet.  Mr. Graham thenshook hands with the guy in the cargo hold and walked to a nearby pickup.  He’dleft his pickup in the airport parking lot, but now he drove the other pickup outof the airport and headed west.  This definitely piqued Matthew's curiosity.

“Emily, this makes no sense.  Graham has reservations on aplane to go to Catalina and he’s driving off in another pickup.”

“When is the flight scheduled?”

“Not for another two hours.”

“Maybe he forgot something.”

“Yeah, maybe, but why use a different pickup?”

“Well, we’re convinced he’s up to no good, so should wefollow him?”

“To where?”

“You said he has reservations at the hotel on Catalina.”

“Yeah, but he also has reservations on that jet and he’sheading west in a pickup away from his house and the airport.”

“Let’s head toward Catalina.  You can track where he actuallygoes and we can adapt as necessary.”

“Are we going to spend the night?”

“How long is Mr. Graham supposed to stay?”

“One night.”

“So we should plan on it.  Do we have to stop by your house soyou can grab some clothes?”

“It would be convenient.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Since they were leaving from Rancho Santa Fe, close to I-5,and because Emily drove like a demon, they had a solid head start on Mr. Grahameven after stopping at Matthew’s house.  They reached the ferry terminal atDana Point well ahead of him.  Emily parked the car in the long-term lot whileMatthew bought them tickets on the ferry.

“Is he still heading this way?”

“Yes, he just handed his keys to some guy and is walking thisway,” Matthew explained.  “I think the guy works for him.  I’ve seen him at theoffice.”

“Are they going to Catalina together?  Maybe it’s business.”

“No, the guy is heading back to the freeway.”

“Fine, let’s get on the ferry and find a place to hide fromhim.”

“Just go to the back.  He’ll probably take a seat up close tothe exit.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The ferry ride was uneventful.  Matthew did a quick check onthe jet; it was just heading over the ocean south of Catalina.  “Why wouldMr. Graham drive when he could have flown on the jet?”  As they exited theferry, Matthew caught Mr. Graham instructing a taxi to take him to theairport.  “Emily, go check us in.  I’m going to follow Graham to the airport. Something is weird about that jet.  It doesn’t look like it’s going to landhere.”

“Shouldn’t I go with you?  If he’s up to something you mightneed backup.”

“No, I’m just going to see what he’s up to and check on thejet.  It should be there by now, but it’s still flying.  It’s almost to LongBeach.”

“Why can’t you just use your portal?”

“It’s too hard to check out a wide area with it.  Too muchtunnel vision.  It’s better if I can look at the area and use it like a pair ofbinoculars.”

“Okay, but be careful.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Matthew handed his bag to Emily and grabbed a cab.  He didn’twant to be too far behind Mr. Graham.  When they arrived at the airport, justminutes apart, Matthew jumped out of the cab and threw money at the driver.  He’dlost Mr. Graham; it took him a second to find him.  He wasn’t going to theterminal as expected, instead, he’d had the cab drop him off close to thehangar.  A jet had just landed and was starting to taxi off the runway; it wasthe same type of plane that Mr. Graham was supposed to take from Fallbrook. Mr. Graham hopped on the fuel truck that was heading to where the plane wouldstop to unload passengers.  But when Matthew checked there were no passengers.

Between the fuel truck and the jet’s pilots deplaning, therewas a lot of confusion around the small jet.  The co-pilot opened the plane’scargo hold and handed a suitcase out.  Mr. Graham stepped out from behind thepilot and grabbed the suitcase and waved at everyone as he started toward theterminal.

“What the . . .” Matthew looked at the plane again.  “No way.”  The identifying number onthe jet’s engines was the same as the one on the plane at the Fallbrookairport.  But . . .  Matthew used his portal tocheck on the other plane.  He had done it enough times that he had a read onthe