‘ How’s Hawaii?’ la Rosa asked. ‘Where are you?’
Raveneau turned off the highway and on to what was called the Saddle Road. The road crossed the interior of the island connecting the north and south. Along the road was Bradshaw Army Air Field where Raveneau had phoned half an hour before.
‘I’m on my way to a military base and I need you to do something for me. After I stop at this air field I’m headed to the airport in Kona, and then on to Bali. I need your help with the lieutenant and the captain. I need to get cleared for Bali for a week.’
‘You mean Bali in the South Pacific?’
‘Yeah, it turns out Jim Frank rotated through islands and beach areas, possibly as part of a cover. After Bali I’ll need a week in a place in Thailand called Phuket. The guy I just interviewed says it is beautiful beach country. I guess that’s what the captain liked, beautiful women and beaches. I should have brought more than one swimsuit. You know, you rinse the salt off the suit and you can let one dry while-’
‘Guess what, you’re way out of touch. You don’t know your beaches. No one goes to Phuket any more.’
Raveneau smiled as she realized he was teasing her. It didn’t surprise him she knew her beaches.
Up ahead on his left the volcano Mauna Loa towered. In the midday Mauna Loa and the other volcano on the south end were gathering clouds. When he picked up the rental they warned him not to drive the Saddle Road. If he broke down there he’d be on the hook for the towing charges, but the road was much better than they said.
‘What I’m not messing with you about is stopping at Bradshaw Army Air Field to try to find an officer who also knew Krueger.’
‘Did you find the house?’
‘I found the house and learned Jim Frank died in 2004. The house and the surrounding ranch are owned by an old close friend of his named Tom Casey. I just left him, but I can’t get a read on him. He raises organic beef. He’s got other businesses in the islands and a man living with him who apparently is a second son of Jim Frank’s, but through a different marriage. There’s more but I’ll bring you up to speed when we have better reception.’
‘So this Casey owns the property and that’s why we couldn’t find any record of any property ownership?’
‘That’s right.’
‘And he just let Frank live there?’
‘That’s what he told me.’
‘OK, and what are you hoping to do at the air base?’
‘Interview an officer who knew Krueger.’
‘Are you still flying home tomorrow?’
‘I’m planning to.’
‘Things are moving here.’
‘What’s happened?’
Raveneau listened now as she described Khan and his wife driving through San Francisco last night with two surveillance teams trailing.
‘Khan’s wife drove and slowly, so they gave her room. Too much as it turned out because two blocks after the Embarcadero Bart Station entrance Khan wasn’t in the car any more. He crossed under the bay on Bart, switched trains at the MacArthur Station, went north and got off in El Cerrito. He left El Cerrito without any surveillance and drove away in a car that his daughter borrowed from her boyfriend. They circled the bay and came back into the city via the Golden Gate Bridge.’
‘How do we know that?’
‘Not sure, bridge video, I think.’
‘That doesn’t seem likely.’
‘I’ll find out.’
‘OK, so then what happened?’
‘He parked five blocks from the cabinet shop and walked in. That’s where they picked him up again. Inside, he didn’t turn any lights on and examined the unit of larch plywood with a flashlight.’
‘So that answers that question.’
‘There’s more.’
If he knew about the delivery this would make him their prime suspect for the murders.
‘He moved the plywood with the forklift, removed the bomb casings, and put them in cardboard boxes before bringing his car up to the loading dock.’
‘Did he do all that with just the flashlight?’
‘That’s what Ortega told me, never turned the lights on. He loaded the boxes into the trunk and this is where it gets bad. By now the surveillance teams were into hyperdrive and when he drove off with the casings the Feds got a helicopter up. He drove southbound on 101 to the airport exit for long term parking. He left the car at long term and rode the shuttle bus to the airport.’
‘Bomb casings are still in the car at long term parking?’
‘That’s right, but not for long. Khan bought a round trip ticket on a United flight to New York, JFK. He paid with a Visa, complained about the price and the extra charge for his luggage, and by then our guys were in the airport. The luggage screened clean but they got him pulled aside and given the extra wand. The decision was made to let him board.’
‘Who made it?’
‘Someone above Coe. Meanwhile, surveillance was setting up on the vehicle left at long term parking.’
‘This was all last night?’
‘Yes, and as Khan went to the gate to catch the flight he took a phone call. Short call, but they got it, and it almost certainly came from a man who was already in the parking garage in a van on Level Six where Khan left the car. A man also wheeling luggage and looking like he was just returning from a trip got off the elevator at Level Six then got in a white panel van. He drove slowly down the row where Khan left the car, stopped alongside it, got out, slid the van doors open and transferred the casings to the van. I heard it took eleven seconds to do the transfer. Then he drove south and crossed to 280 southbound.’
‘Were our guys there?’
‘Yes, but the FBI was calling the shots. The van left 280 and headed toward the coast, and this is what they think happened. Once he was on that road he started making stops every half mile or so. He’d pull over. They figured he was watching for surveillance behind him and one of the teams had to go past. So there was one team behind him, one ahead, and the helicopter in the air. But there was fog and the helicopter could track him but they couldn’t tell what he was doing. He was in and out of the fog and still making these stops every half mile or so.’
‘And during one of the side of the road stops the bomb casings got unloaded?’
‘You got it, that’s exactly what they think happened. He stopped just long enough for someone to slide the van door open again, only this time to pull the boxes out. They found two empty cardboard boxes this morning they think held the bomb casings.’
‘Where’s the van driver now?’
‘In a house all the way down in Salinas, but the dumped van is in Santa Cruz. He traded into a pickup in a supermarket parking lot. And the casings are God knows where.’
‘Did they get plates on the vehicles that drove the road afterward?’
‘Fifty-seven vehicles, they got all of them. They searched four last night. It’s a mess, not to mention finger-pointing. I hear Coe is in trouble, but I don’t think he was directing the surveillance so I don’t get that. But Ben, that’s not all. Khan’s dead. After the call he took in the airport, he left the airport. Never boarded the plane and got in a cab. Cabbie drove him home and then went into the house with him.’
‘Where’s Khan’s luggage at this point?’
‘He’s got it with him and the cabbie rolled it up to the door. The cab driver went inside with him. Five minutes later the cab driver leaves. This morning a little after nine o’clock Khan’s daughter arrives, unlocks her parents’ front door, and finds his body in the front hall and Mom on the stairs. Khan was garroted. His wife’s neck was broken.’
‘Garroted?’
‘Strangled with a wire and a search is on for the cab driver.’
‘This was all last night?’
‘Yes. How far are you from this air base and do you want me to do anything from here?’
‘You could google something for me. My phone is too slow out here. There’s a place called the Ka’Ohe Game Management Area. Tell me how far that is from Bradshaw Army Air Base and how many gates the base has. This officer Victor Shay lives in barracks in the back farthest from the road. If you can find out anything about him, text me.’
‘I’m looking at Bradshaw right now.’
‘If he leaves via the gate nearest his barrack how does he get to the main road?’
‘Hold on, OK, hmm, paved road goes back to your Saddle Road about a quarter mile from the base and a dirt one goes straight ahead.’
‘Follow the dirt road.’
‘OK, recalculating, recalculating, go left at the intersection of Lava Road. Hey, I’m seeing the word lava a lot. Is it sandy and beautiful or is it a rock pile?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘From Lava Road he would take the next left and that would get him to the road you’re on. Do you think he’ll try to avoid you?’
‘I hope not but I’m sure he’ll get a heads-up call from Casey, the rancher I just interviewed.’
‘Call me afterward.’
‘I will.’