Magnolia Gods (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 2) by Thomas Hollyday Page A

the cockpit, his arms and legs useless with fear. Then his father climbed into the idling float plane. The rest of them watched as his father burst out of the small mooring and into the air, his light blinking off into the storm, getting smaller, smaller and smaller as he went into danger. Then they listened as the radio was silent for ten minutes then twenty, then thirty. Finally a propeller noise and a blinking light came out of the blackness. His father circled and flicked his wing lights. Even with the strong crosswinds, the plane came down for a perfect landing. The mechanics ran past Mike who lay on the grass at the edge of the runway. The fear had taken all his strength and he could not move.
    The plane was tied down again as the wind howled even more strongly. Then his father came up beside him and passed by, his face straight ahead, walking into the radio room without a word to him. The mechanics and fliers yelled to Mike as they followed his dad inside. Mike would have heard them even if they had whispered in the howl of the wind. Even now, all these years later, Mike could still hear those words, sharp and stark, clear and free of any storm noise.
    “He got the job done, Mike, as he always does. You got to be proud of the old guy. Life ain’t worth living, as your father likes to say, unless you be willing to give it up for something.”
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    2 PM, July 1
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
     
     Robin decided to come along when he went to find Lawson’s secretary and Hiram Jones. Mike looked at her riding beside him. This was like old times, the two of them together.
    Mike’s mind kept going back to persistent questions about the Lawson case. What was the real story about the death of Jesse’s Vietnam veteran father? Something didn’t add up about the death and the handling of that murder. What was the truth about why Aviatrice, a world renowned corporation, had chief executives who were still angry about what happened to a project so long ago? What did Lawson have to do with the development of this nuclear bomber project that Veal had mentioned? Perhaps Lawson had made a discovery in propulsion of aircraft that was so innovative and so different that Aviatrice still wanted it. He found hard to believe the notion that Aviatrice investigators would try to kill Jesse’s father to find the papers on that discovery. On the other hand, according to Jenni’s report, they, meaning Jessica Veal, Bullock, and likely Wall himself, had certainly been willing to use their financial power to get their way, to crush Jesse Lawson’s attempt to find the truth about his grandfather.
    Jeremy had never heard of an atomic bomber program. Mike remembered reading about a huge building constructed in the 1960’s, out west, for testing atomic aircraft engines. He’d heard about a B36 bomber being fitted out decades ago to test a nuclear engine but that the project had been cancelled because the radioactivity was too great for the safety of the air crew. Jeremy promised he’d start right in this morning researching the state of that technology.
    Mike smiled. He was supposed to be a careful museum director who worked with facts to find answers. The problem was that Mike did not know enough facts. In one ear, Mike heard the old saying “let a sleeping dog lie.” In the other, though, was the crinkle of Jesse Lawson’s line of credit being torn up to put Lawson Harvesting out of business, and what was going to be a concerted effort by Aviatrice to punish the Museum by taking away its money and its museum standing.
    “These witnesses, they are pretty old,” said Robin.
    Mike nodded. “Still it’s worth the time to see them. If they can’t help us, though, I’m telling Jesse we’re out of this. Then we’ll have to see how we can placate Aviatrice.”
    “Yeah,” said Robin, her voice softer than the normal brash tone.
    “You don’t think I should quit?”
    “It’s your call. I agree that without a real