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THE DOCTOR KEPT ME in the hospital another day and night. He wasn't comfortable with discharging me until all the symptoms were gone. The day after admission to the hospital, I still had headaches. There had also been a feeling of pressure in my head.
Mike Young had come to the hospital to check on me twice the first day and was there the morning the doctor discharged me. Mike gave me a ride back to the hotel. We agreed to a seven o’clock dinner date at a place he knew and then Mike returned to work. I still had some sensitivity to noise and light. Concentrating was still difficult at times. But I felt better after catching up on my rest. With most of the day left, I decided to do something more productive than lying about or sunning beside the hotel pool.
Jimmy Kamaka had told me the name of the helicopter tour company where he and Adam Morton had worked. I got the address from the concierge at the hotel. He offered to arrange the tour for me, but I told him I wanted to check the place out first. I collected the motorbike from the parking garage. I then headed for Pearl City, the location of Oahu Air Tours. When I arrived, I saw helicopters that looked like the one I’d seen Adam flying. At the desk in the office, I told the receptionist I needed to speak with the owner or person in charge. The receptionist picked up the phone and rang someone. A guy who looked to be in his mid-fifties wearing chinos and a flowery Aloha shirt came out from an office in the back.
"Aloha, I’m Chet Beckett, operations manager," he said. "How can help you?"
"Hello Mr. Beckett," I said. "I’m T. J. O’Sullivan. I need some information. Would you be kind enough to answer a few questions?"
"Well, little lady, that depends on the questions," Beckett said. "What do you want to know?"
"I understand that Adam Morton worked here as a pilot," I said.
"May I ask what this about and who you are exactly?" Beckett said.
"I’m a private investigator, Mr. Beckett," I said. "I’m conducting a background check on Adam Morton for a client he has applied for work with."
"I see," Beckett said. "I need to know who I'm talking to when discussing personnel information. Even information about a former employee. So, yes you’re correct. Adam Morton was a pilot for us for about six months."
"This might seem a bit random, but are all your helicopters accounted for, Mr. Beckett?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Curiosity," I said. I turned and looked out the plate glass window. "So, your tour company operates the two helicopters out there?"
"Those and we have two birds out flying tours today," Beckett said.
"It’s a total of four helicopters then?"
"Five total," Beckett said. "One bird is down for maintenance. It’s in the maintenance hanger out back."
"Are you certain it's there?"
"Sure, I’m sure," Beckett said. "I’m not following what any of this has to do with a background check on a former employee."
"I’ll be happy to explain in a moment," I said. "But, would you humor me and take a walk with me to the hanger to make certain the helicopter is there?"
"You’re not here doing a background check are you little lady?" Beckett said. "Are you from the insurance company?"
"The insurance company?"
"Yes, we made a claim on a damaged windshield. Are you here checking up on the claim?"
"Ahkay, Mr. Beckett. You got me. Yes, I work for the insurance company. They want to know a little more about the circumstances of the windscreen damage. If you allow me to examine it, it will expedite the claim process."
"Well, see here, the pilot wasn’t very cooperative in explaining the damage. That’s why we had to let him go."
"So, the pilot, that would have been Adam Morton?"
"Yes, it was Morton," Beckett said.
"So, how about it, Mr. Beckett? Can we have a look inside the hanger?"
Beads of perspiration had popped out on Beckett’s forehead, and he seemed a bit fidgety.
"Sure, I guess so," Beckett said. "Follow me."
I followed Beckett out the front door of the office building. We walked to a large sheet metal covered hanger behind the office. Beckett went to a side door, opened it, and motioned for me to proceed ahead of him. After we were inside, Beckett flipped a light switch.
"Well, shit," Beckett said. "Please pardon my French."
There was no helicopter in sight.
"It was here yesterday," Beckett said. "Shit, shit, shit."
"Is there a problem Mr. Beckett?" I said.
"Yes, there is a problem. There’s a big problem. I’m missing a helicopter for one. And it isn’t airworthy."
"Airworthy?"
"Yes, it shouldn't be flying. The mechanics brought it here to await replacement of the windshield. They completed other routine maintenance checks as well. They discovered that the bearings in the tail rotor were bad. They haven’t replaced the bearings yet because we are waiting for delivery of the parts. If that bird is being flown and the bearings seize up, it will crash. The mechanics said we’d been damn lucky that hadn’t happened already."
"Would the helicopter crash without warning?" I said.
"Well, the pilot would get an alarm on the flight panel first, an abnormal heat in the tail rotor assembly alarm. That would tell the pilot he needed to set the bird down right away. So, no it wouldn’t crash without any warning. The alarm might only give the pilot a few minutes to find a place to land before the bearings failed though."
"Do your helicopters have the range to reach all the islands in the chain from here on Oahu?"
"Yes, as far as the eight major islands go," Beckett said. "We run tours to them all."
"If the bearings failed on the missing helicopter, where would be the most likely place for it to come down?"
"It depends on where the bird was going. And, as I said, the mechanics said we were damn lucky the bearings hadn’t seized already during flight. They both agreed they didn’t believe the bearings would last for more than another flight hour at most. If the bird flew to Kauai for example, that’s about 63 miles, so I wouldn’t like the chances of it making it that far. If the pilot went the other direction, the bird could make it to Molokai, Lanai, even Maui. But I doubt it would make it to the big island."
"I see, so the closer the better the chances then."
"Yes, but that bird shouldn’t be flown at all. I need to call the police and report that someone has stolen it. And I need to notify the Coast Guard to start a search in case it went down in the ocean."
"Do me a favor, Mr. Beckett?" I said.
"What kind of favor?"
"I understand you want to report the theft as soon as possible. But would you consider not saying anything to the police for a couple of days?"
"Why the devil would I wait to report it?" Beckett said. "If the bird goes down in a populated area there could be liability issues. It seems best to report it now."
"We're sure to have heard about it already if it had crashed on land, Mr. Beckett," I said. "Chances are the helicopter is on the ground somewhere now, unless as you said it is in the sea."
"Why are you asking me to do this?"
"I’m going to be honest with you, Mr. Beckett. I’m not doing a background check, and I don’t work for your insurer. I’m looking for Adam Morton. Morton took some valuable property from my client, and I want to get it back. If the police find Morton first, I may never get the property back. The courts will keep it tied up in legal limbo. If Adam Morton took your missing helicopter as I suspect and I can find him, I'd get my property back. But you would also get your helicopter back. It’s a win-win for both of us."
"But, I have to notify the Coast Guard," Beckett said. "If the bird went into the ocean, if the pilot survived the crash, he won’t last long in open water. Evidence at a crash site deteriorates with every passing hour. That makes it even more difficult to find a crash site."
"Sure, I understand," I said. "But if you report this to the Coast Guard you'll have to tell them Morton stole the helicopter. They will likely share that information with the police."
"Okay, I understand that. It doesn't change the ethical considerations."
"When would you have discovered the helicopter was missing if I hadn't shown up here today?" I said.
"I suppose in a couple of days when the supplier delivers the parts we need," Beckett said. "The mechanics would have discovered it missing. You know when they went to the hanger to replace the bearings."
"Then why not give me those two days?" I said. "No one but us knows the helicopter is missing."
"But what if it crashed? What about the pilot?"
"It's been 24 hours already," I said. "You said it was yesterday when you saw the helicopter in the hanger. If it crashed in the ocean, it's already too late for the pilot. If it had crashed on land, we would have heard about it."
"If I agree do you give me your word you will notify me if you find my missing bird?"
"Of course I will, Mr. Beckett," I said, "you have my word on it."
"All right, 48 hours," Beckett said. "I'll wait 48 hours before I call the police. But not one minute more."
"Awesome," I said. "Thank you for giving me the chance to find Morton, Mr. Beckett."
"Then I'll expect to hear from you soon."
"Yes, no worries," I said. "Count on it."
After saying goodbye to Beckett, I got on the motorbike and headed back to Waikiki. The search for Morton and the missing helicopter would have to wait until tomorrow. I first needed to locate a flying service to hire. I didn't reckon Morton had crashed into the sea. Only if he had made an unlucky choice and tried flying to one of the more distant islands. It seemed logical Morton wanted to get off Oahu to somewhere he could lay low until the heat died down a bit. Afterward, he could try to organize a way to leave the islands for another part of the world. My guess was he was already on the ground on one of the nearer islands to Oahu that Beckett had mentioned. I’d start with Molokai tomorrow and work my way down the chain from there as necessary.
It was after four when I got back to the hotel. Feeling a bit tired I decided to nap until time to get ready for the dinner date with Mike Young.
