Chapter 19

The cold wind caught Nancy's hair and nearly took her hat off, so Frank took her bag so she could remove her gloves and pin her hair back.

Nancy hadn't had a good night's sleep due to worrying about Frank's state of mind. He'd shaken himself out of his funk pretty quickly after drinking the brandy laced tea, but she wasn't so dumb as to not know that he was putting on a good show of being 'okay'. When he thought she wasn't looking, he had taken to drifting off into a world of his own – an outward appearance of calm, betrayed by a brooding stare, hooded eyes and down turned mouth. She was trying to keep things light-hearted for as long as possible.

They were standing just under the overhang of the hangar waiting for confirmation that they could board the Cessna 421C Golden Eagle aircraft that Frank had privately hired to transport them to Florida. It was 6.30 pm and the plane was being doused down with anti-freeze to ensure it would get into the air safely.

"It looks like a toy," Nancy observed nervously, accepting her suitcase back. "Won't it get battered about by the wind?"

"Nah, it's bigger than the planes I usually fly," Frank said. "Don't worry about the weather, I've flown in worse. It'll be like encountering turbulence. Just think about the warmer weather in Florida, it'll make this all worth it. It's 63-73 degrees on average at this time of year." He slipped his free arm about her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

Presently, two men approached them and one stuck his hand out and said, "Mr Hardiman?"

"Yes, pleased to meet you, call me Philip." Frank said and accepted the offered handshake. "This is Nancy who is flying with me today. She's a little nervous."

He turned and shook Nancy's proffered hand. "Oh, don't worry, Nancy, it'll be a breeze!"

"It's the breeze I'm worried about!" Nancy said, laughing.

"I'm Doug and this is Danny – the 'Double Ds', if you like! Danny will be co-piloting, so there's no need to worry because if anything happens to me, then Danny can take over."

Nancy warmed to this soft-spoken man and felt her nerves lessening. "Well, if it comes to that, Philip can take over if anything happens to Danny because he's got his wings as well."

They both turned to Frank, surprised. "Well," said Danny, it seems we've got some competition. Let me take your bags, if you'd like to board."

Half an hour later they were in the air as the plane had taken off in a timely manner, "the beauty of private hire" Frank whispered to Nancy afterwards.

They'd been able to remove their coats as the Cessna had the luxury of a pressurised cabin and the air-conditioning was keeping the interior at a regular and comfortable temperature.

Despite her reservations, Nancy was starting to relax and enjoy the view out of the window and the large leather seat she was sinking into. Neither of them talked about the case after agreeing to steer clear of the subject in front of strangers – although the sounds of the engine would have probably drowned out what they were saying.

Frank managed to control himself for a complete hour before curiosity overtook and he had to make his way up front to see the controls. He spent an enjoyable time discussing flying tactics, etc, that left the 'Double Ds' under no illusion that he did indeed know his way around a cockpit. He then picked his way back to Nancy and they made small talk for the next few hours the flight took.

Eventually, the plane was circling the Key West Airport, and Doug was waiting for his turn to be able to land the aircraft. Presently, he hoisted a thumb up and took the plane into a sharp dip and banked her around to take her down.

They were soon taxiing up to the hangar. Once stationary, they were given permission to leave the aircraft and the 'Double Ds' accompanied them to the building, eventually bidding them goodbye and handing them back their bags.

Frank watched them go and then smiled down at Nancy. "Well, that was painless," he said. "I ought to use Philip Hardiman's card more often. I liked travelling like a secret agent!"

Nancy pulled her hair free and tucked her coat over the handle of her bag. "No necessity for that heavy thing for a couple of days." She said with a smile.

Frank had booked them connecting rooms at the Radisson Hotel, a large complex that wasn't unlike in appearance to Frank's own apartment block. Each room had its own private balcony that overlooked a swimming pool and there was a private gym beneath that the older Hardy Brother had a quick glance into before they checked in.

By the time they had arrived, it was very late into the evening, so they grabbed a quick snack and then headed straight up to bed.

The next morning, Con returned with a serious look on his face. Vanessa had arrived earlier and Fenton was still in attendance.

"What is it?" Fenton asked. "News?"

"Yes, but it's not good again. Look…" He held up a wet cell phone. "I think it could be Nancy's phone. Someone handed it in at reception, it had been abandoned just out by those trees. Dead as a dodo."

"Give it here," Vanessa requested. Con handed it to her and she examined it, extracting it from its case. "It's the same model as mine. It could be that the cold has just discharged it. I'm guessing that the leather cover would have offered some protection. Luckily, my charger is in my purse." She fetched it from her bag and plugged it into the wall socket next to the bed and then slotted the other end into the wet phone. Two seconds later, it gave off a beeping noise to denote it was charging. "Thought so," she said and switched it on.

"Let me see," Joe requested. He shuffled himself towards the edge of the bed and accepted the offered phone. Fenton came and sat down next to his son in the space provided and watched as his son began scrolling through the contacts in the phone's 'address book'.

"This is definitely Nancy's phone," Joe confirmed, "Her dad's contact details are here." He next selected the 'call history' function. "Nancy took two lengthy phone calls on the evening before she turned up here that first time," he reported. "Both were from the same number – I'm guessing Nancy forgot to delete the phone's call history before she either lost it or threw it away." He lowered the phone and looked out of the window. "At least, I hope she threw it away or lost it!

"Did she read the text last message I sent?" Con asked.

Joe checked. "Yes she did."

"She or Frank probably discarded it in that case," Fenton said. "Probably to stop us tracing them. They're much too quick off the mark to allow us to follow them that easily."

Joe went back to the mystery telephone number. "Con, any chance you can give the station house a call and get them to trace it?" he asked, turning the handset towards the Lieutenant.

Con immediately put a call through. A short while later, he extracted his notebook from his pocket and began scribbling in it. Afterwards, he cut the call and looked up at the three expectant faces. "They were made from the head office of a company called Thompson Stationery which is situated just off Main Street," he reported. "Coincidentally – or not – the company lodged a call with the police the day after Nancy visited here to say they suspected someone had been trespassing on the premises. They said nothing was missing, but things had been moved around. They were told to lodge a call again if they found anything had been stolen, but they haven't phoned back."

Fenton smiled. "Worth a visit, I guess." he said. "Leave no stone unturned, that's my motto!" and indicated for Con to accompany him.

As soon as they were out of the way, Vanessa nodded at Joe and slipped out of the room herself to run an 'errand'.