Wings in the Dark

by Michael Murphy

  If she ever got out of the movie business, my wife would make a damn good detective.

  She gave Billy a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry about…about Fanny.”

  Didn’t she realize the kid wouldn’t want to revisit what happened? Why didn’t women appreciate that men weren’t anxious to talk about their feelings, especially when they were hurting?

  Billy stared at his hands. “We didn’t want anyone to know.”

  “What about Amelia and George?” Laura asked.

  “Especially them. Miss Earhart would never approve, and Mr. Putnam has rules about that sort of thing. If he finds out, we could lose our jobs.”

  He’d find out for sure, but I hoped Putnam wouldn’t fire Billy.

  Laura gave me that say something expression women used.

  I wasn’t one to give advice on broken hearts. “I’m sure it hurts finding out this way, but it’s better you know the truth about a woman like that.”

  Billy cocked his head. “A woman like…like what?”

  A dame who made you feel like you were the only one while entertaining the rest of your football team. “Some women, like Fanny, you’ll be with because they can show you a good time. Others”—I reached for Laura’s hand—“are the marrying kind, like Laura.”

  “I didn’t show you a good time?” Laura snatched her hand back. “You make me sound like Betty Crocker.”

  I’d walked into another trap. I should never try to explain relationships, especially in front of Laura. She’d shown me plenty of good times. “Of course, but you’re the exception.”

  Laura wasn’t buying it, and I didn’t think she would. She moved farther away from me.

  Billy cleared his throat. “Do you mind if we don’t talk about Fanny and me?”

  Laura stifled a yawn and rested her head on the passenger door.

  Her breathing slowed as she dozed. I checked my watch. At this hour, we should be cuddling under the sheets instead of keeping Billy company.

  Back in the day, I dreaded stakeouts. They often involved long hours of staring at front doors. So far Fanny hadn’t left and the cops hadn’t arrived.

  In the rearview mirror, I could see Billy writing in a notepad. A report for George Putnam, no doubt.

  The day had been a long one, full of twists and turns. I covered a yawn.

  When Billy cleared his throat, I was remembering Laura’s freckles and their various locations.

  “You say something, Billy?”

  “No. I just thought you fell asleep.”

  “I do my best thinking with my eyes shut.” Talking often kept me alert. “You did a bang-up job tonight, Billy.”

  He closed the notepad. “Thanks, Mr. Donovan. I have to say I was impressed by your…insight.”

  “I learned a lot about people during the Great War in Europe. I discovered men mostly fell into two categories: guys who longed to marry their high-school sweethearts and those who wanted to sleep with a movie star every night.” I glanced at Laura, who was still asleep. “It took a while, but I managed to do both when I married Laura. A chump from Queens, I’m the luckiest man in America.”

  “I’m not lucky when it comes to girls.”

  “How’d you and Fanny get together? I don’t want to pry, but I need to understand her.”

  Billy nodded. “I get it. When Mr. Putnam hired me, Fanny worked for Miss Earhart and hung out in airplane hangars. My father taught me about engines and mechanics, so whenever Mr. Putnam sent me to the hangar, I stopped by to see what Fanny was up to. Fanny’s an excellent pilot. She’d take Miss Earhart’s Vega up for tests before she’d let Miss Earhart climb into the cockpit. I could see right away she was an excellent mechanic…”

  “So you were smitten by her mechanical ability.”

  Billy laughed. “Well, she was the only one around even close to my age and she flirted with me whenever I visited. Girls in college don’t flirt with me much.”

  Billy, Amelia, and her husband trusted Fanny, a situation that would provide an opportunity for her to sabotage the plane.

  “One night I was working late. I dropped by the hangar in Los Angeles to deliver a message from Mr. Putnam to Miss Earhart. Fanny needed a ride back to her place. She invited me in and…one thing led to another.”

  “Tell me about the mechanical problems the plane has experienced since you arrived in Hawaii.”

  “Little things at first. Nothing major until a week ago. Fanny replaced some hydraulic lines then took the plane up for a shakedown flight. Everything seemed okay. That afternoon, Miss Earhart took her up and lost hydraulic pressure. She nearly crashed on landing.” He glanced toward Fanny’s apartment. “Fanny was…probably with Mr. Kalua, so Miss Earhart found a hose that had worked its way loose.”

  Or someone loosened it, someone like the plane’s mechanic. “Did anyone mention the incident to Detective Tanaka tonight?”

  “I doubt it. Mr. Putnam and Miss Earhart trust Fanny completely. I don’t think anyone suspected there could be a connection until now.”

  There was a good chance Tanaka’s investigation would eventually make the link, further sealing Fanny’s fate.

  “Fanny got back later that evening and felt awful. She stayed up all night fixing the problem, double-checking everything and, like she does, took the plane up the next morning. Things have worked okay since. Mr. Putnam thought the problems were caused by the voyage.”

  “How’d he get that idea?”

  Billy had a blank stare. “Fanny.”

  I felt sorry for what Fanny had done to Billy. He needed to get his mind off her. “When did George Putnam hire you as his personal secretary?”

  “He knows my father. Mr. Putnam hired me as an office gofer as a favor. Over the next twelve months, I worked hard, proved myself, and when I got into Yale I convinced him he needed a part-time personal secretary.”

  “In one year.”

  “I’m good at what I do, Mr. Donovan.” Billy smiled for the first time since we’d left Fanny’s apartment. “Haven’t you noticed?”

  I had. “Why prelaw?”

  “Something wrong with lawyers?”

  Attorneys I met earned the nickname shark for a reason. “Your father must be very proud.”

  Billy hesitated. “He passed away last year.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Ever hear of Thomas Thornton?”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “Thomas Thornton, my father, was an adventurer who was rarely home when I was growing up. I was raised by my mother until she passed away and I went to live with my aunt. Anyway, a couple of years ago, my father teamed up with another explorer of some note, Richard Byrd. Ever heard of him?”

  “Sure.”

  Byrd was a famous aviator and Arctic and Antarctic explorer, but a year earlier things hadn’t gone well in the Antarctic and he’d almost died.

  “Your father was part of Byrd’s Antarctic expedition last year?”

  “He was. When my father returned, he was hit by a bus and killed. Oh, the irony, huh? My father died trying to…I don’t know what he was trying to prove, but he made enough money to send me to the best schools. I got into Yale early, in part on the recommendation of Mr. Byrd and Mr. Putnam, who was trying to get Byrd to write a book.”

  “It must have been tough losing a father at your age.”

  Billy stared out the car window for several moments, then regained his composure. “I admired him, but didn’t want to be like him, you know? I want to be someone a little more grounded.”

  A black sedan pulled up in front of Fanny’s apartment. Detective Tanaka and the other detective, Pete, hurried to Fanny’s door and knocked.

  She opened the door and let the men inside.

  “You’re pretty good, Mr. Donovan. Maybe you should’ve stayed a detective. How’d you get started?”

  “After high school, I enlisted. I turned eighteen on the day our ship arrived in Europe. During the war, in spite of my age, I received a couple of field
promotions and demonstrated proficiency with a gun. On the boat back to the States I earned a reputation in a handful of organized boxing matches and returned in good shape. My army buddy Mickey O’Brien tried talking me into becoming a cop, but I didn’t want to wear a uniform again and take orders every day.”

  I didn’t tell him Laura turned down my proposal after I returned to Queens. A day later, I found a job that would take me far from home again. “A couple of months after I got back, I walked down to the Pinkerton office. They were looking to hire veterans. They hired me that day and sent me to their office in Omaha. That’s where I met Dashiell Hammett.”

  “And became a mystery writer.”

  “Not right away. At the time, Dashiell was trying to get published. I used to read a lot in the army, so we talked books and writing. When a pulp magazine, Black Mask, ran one of his stories, he encouraged me to give it a try. The magazine didn’t like any of my stories, but Dashiell kept encouraging me. Though that isn’t why I stopped being a detective.”

  “Why did you?”

  I glanced at Laura. I hadn’t even told her the reason. “I wanted to marry Laura and didn’t want her having to worry about me every time I went to work.”

  “You’re a swell guy, Mr. Donovan.”

  “I know plenty of people who’d disagree with you.”

  “Then why did you want to get involved in this case?”

  “Your boss, George Putnam, put the squeeze on my publisher. My publisher put the squeeze on me and…”

  “I get the picture. Mr. Putnam did what he had to do.”

  Fanny’s apartment door opened. Tanaka and his partner led Fanny to their sedan. She wasn’t in handcuffs. Tanaka opened the back door and Fanny sat in the backseat. The two detectives climbed in the front and drove off with their suspect.

  “Are you going to follow them, Mr. Donovan?”

  I started the car. “I know where they’re going.” They were taking Fanny to the station. I didn’t know whether they’d arrested her or if they were just going to interrogate her.

  Laura stretched then glanced at her watch. “It’s after one. Where’re we going?”

  “Back to Billy’s hotel.”

  Chapter 12

  Amelia Grounded

  We headed back to the Moana Hotel. I checked the rearview mirror as I stopped at a light. For several blocks, I’d kept my eyes peeled, sensing something wrong. I couldn’t shake the feeling we’d picked up a tail.

  Laura braced her feet against the floorboard and held on to the dash with a white-knuckled grip. “Hold on, Billy.”

  I glanced both ways and mashed down on the accelerator. I sped through the red light and skidded the tires as I turned the corner at the first intersection. I made a U-turn, parked on the curb in front of a dry goods store, and kept the engine running.

  Billy yelled, “Wow! That was great.”

  Laura laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”

  As the cars passed us, no one so much as glanced our way. I wiped my damp palms with a handkerchief. Maybe I’d lost my touch, but I didn’t spot anyone following us. Nevertheless, I took side streets and alleys to the hotel.

  At almost two in the morning, the desk clerk stared at the rip in Laura’s dress and my muddy trousers and torn pocket. He refused my offer of a sawbuck to ring Amelia’s suite, but when he recognized Billy, he made the call.

  We rode the elevator to the penthouse. When the elevator operator opened the door, I clapped Billy on the shoulder. “You did good tonight. Your old man would’ve been proud.”

  Billy smiled. “You think so?”

  I nodded and knocked on the suite door. With her husband on the phone behind her, Amelia greeted us and let us in. Who would he be speaking to at this hour?

  Putnam slammed the receiver down and gave Laura and me the once-over. “Looks like you might have run into some trouble. You find anything that might clear Amelia?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “I think whoever killed Kalua wants to prevent Friday’s flight across the Pacific by making Amelia a suspect.”

  Amelia’s eyes widened. “Who would want to frame me?”

  “So far we’ve turned up two possibilities. Hawaiian Royalists plotting to remove American influence and restore the monarchy and—”

  “Then maybe Hank’s brother, Ihe, is connected to the murder,” Amelia said. “He’s involved with the Royalists.”

  Putnam cocked his head. “What’s the other possibility?”

  “Fanny Chandler.”

  Putnam burst into laughter.

  “It seems Kalua took a liking to her from the moment she arrived in Hawaii.” I nodded to Billy. “Perhaps you should start from the beginning.”

  The young man pulled out his notepad but barely glanced at the pages as he recounted the trip to Kalua’s office with meticulous precision. He described the implication of Ihe’s letter to Hank.

  Billy described how we discovered Kalua’s appointment book and Fanny Chandler’s name in it. He related the confrontation with the three teenage thugs but left out the parts about leaving his Giants hat in Kalua’s office and the gum-swapping kisses with the pretty Hawaiian girl.

  Putnam looked more skeptical than Amelia. “Donovan, is this true?”

  “He downplayed his role in getting us out of a jam after the cops showed up at Kalua’s office but, other than that, everything happened the way Billy described it. Laura found the book with Fanny Chandler’s name, phone number, and address with several ‘dates’ thrown in. And we encountered a bit of trouble after we left by way of the fire escape. Young Mr. Thornton proved more than resourceful.”

  Amelia shook her head. “Hank Kalua was old enough to be Fanny’s father.”

  “That’s not all.” Billy continued with our visit to Fanny’s apartment, where she confessed to the affair with Kalua and the gun in her kitchen. He also shared my suspicion that Fanny might have sabotaged Amelia’s plane.

  “Sweet, innocent, hardworking Fanny Chandler!” Amelia dropped into one of two white leather chairs. “I can’t believe she became involved with Kalua.” After a quick glance at her husband, she looked at Billy. “I thought she…you and her…”

  Billy gasped. “You…you knew?”

  Putnam chuckled then cleared his throat. A stern expression swept over his face. “We both knew.”

  Billy’s mouth dropped open.

  For a moment, the only sound in the room was the ticking of a clock on the fireplace mantel. George headed to the door and held it open for Billy. “Why don’t you get some rest and type up a report in the morning?”

  Billy stopped in the doorway before Putnam closed the door. “I’m sorry, Mr. Putnam. I know you have rules. If you’d like me to submit my resignation, I’ll understand.”

  Putnam shrugged. “Some rules are hard to follow. Now get some sleep.”

  When Billy left, Putnam rubbed his hands together. “From the looks of it, you could both use a belt. Scotch?”

  “Sure.” A drink sounded terrific.

  “A small one.” Laura sank into the soft leather chair beside Amelia.

  After he gave us our drinks, Putnam handed Amelia, a teetotaler, a club soda.

  I dropped on the couch. “How much do you know about the Royalists?”

  Putnam poured himself a glass of scotch. “I know they’ll stop at nothing to return Hawaii to the way things were in the old days. I checked into Hank Kalua’s background before agreeing to come to Hawaii, and discovered that he and his brother didn’t see eye to eye. But I didn’t know it involved the Royalists until Kalua let it slip at a New Year’s Eve party.”

  I took a long swallow. If the Royalists didn’t get the cops to arrest Amelia for Kalua’s murder, I had no doubt they’d go after her directly.

  Putnam finished his scotch. “I’ve met Ihe. He doesn’t come across as a political fanatic. He runs the family pineapple plantation. He’s a man of the earth, while Hank made his fortune cozying up to American interests.”

&n
bsp; Longing for the old days didn’t make someone a fanatic or a murder, but I couldn’t rule him out until I had a chance to size him up. I finished my drink and stepped onto the balcony.

  A cool breeze met me as I gazed out over the Pacific Ocean. Fanny was the prime suspect. She had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Kalua, but instinct told me someone more experienced in plots and subterfuge was orchestrating a well-planned effort to stop Amelia Earhart from flying across the Pacific.

  Laura joined me on the balcony. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a lingering kiss.

  “What’s that for?”

  She wiped lipstick from my mouth with her thumb. “Why didn’t you ever tell me why you gave up being a detective?”

  At the time, it had been such a big step. Back then I didn’t want Laura to blame herself if I didn’t make a go of things writing. “You were awake in the car? You’re a superb actress.”

  “I dozed. When I awoke, I didn’t want to disturb your man talk. I’m glad I didn’t.”

  I kissed Laura. When the kiss ended, I held her tight and gazed into the room.

  Putnam was sitting next to Amelia, holding her hand. In that instant, I realized I’d misjudged George Putnam from the beginning. I’d let my resentment about his publishing background and the rivalry with Empire Press cloud my judgment.

  The man cared about his wife. He wasn’t just focused on promoting her career. He loved Amelia.

  Laura and I returned to the room and sat on the couch.

  Amelia checked her watch. “It’s Wednesday morning already. The takeoff is in two days. I won’t cancel the flight just because someone wants to stop me.”

  Her husband let out a long sigh. “Maybe we should postpone the flight a week or so.”

  Amelia shook her head. “In that time someone else could make the trip from the West Coast to Hawaii. I might give the police a few more days to uncover the killer, but a week’s too much.”

  At least they were considering postponing the flight

  Amelia must have seen the surprise on my face. “When I take off on a flight no one’s accomplished before, I’m very cautious. I make sure the plane doesn’t carry any unnecessary weight and I have enough fuel to get where I need to go. I’m determined to make this trip, but if someone’s trying to kill me, I don’t want to make it easy for them. I’m stubborn, not crazy.”