Vacations Can Be Murder: The Second Charlie Parker Mystery by Connie Shelton Page A

want to take chances with Drake's
truck.
    Inside, the cafe was one large room, divided
into a small section and a large one. The small side held a couple
of bakery cases and a shelf unit, empty now except for one loaf of
bread apparently left from yesterday. Heavenly smells from the
kitchen indicated that the shelves would soon be refilled.
    A long counter with a dozen short stools
facing it ran the length of the back wall. Two of the stools were
occupied by men in work clothes. Each man had a cup of coffee, a
donut, and an open newspaper in front of him.
    The remaining large section of the room was
filled with formica tables in assorted sizes. Either they catered
to big families here, or the banquet business was pretty hot.
Several of the tables were set to accommodate ten or twelve
people.
    We took a booth near the windows, three
booths away from the only other patrons in the place. The vinyl
seat was cracked in a pattern like a broken windshield. The backs
of my legs were glad I hadn't worn shorts. Drake recommended the
macadamia nut pancakes and coffee and that sounded good to me.
    "Okay," I began, "what evidence do they have
against Mack?"
    He sighed. "Because there were no footprints
around the body, and it was nowhere near the hiking trail, they
conclude that the man was dropped from a helicopter."
    "That's not evidence! That's what my eighth
grade math teacher used to call a WEG, a Wild-Eyed Guess. No way
they can hold him on that."
    "There's more. They found blood in the
ship."
    "Mack's helicopter? Have they matched the
type to the victim? Did Mack have any explanation for it?"
    "I don't know," he said miserably. "We only
got to speak for a minute last night. He couldn't really tell me
anything."
    I reached out to touch the back of his hand.
Clearly, he was upset about the mess Mack was in, and I wasn't
helping much. All I could do was try to reassure him that it would
all work out.
    "Tell me more about Mack."
    "He's been in his own business here about
five years. I've worked for him three. I think he's a pretty
straightforward guy. Competition here is fierce, and Mack is a
scrapper. But I know he's honest, and he works hard for what he's
got. He learned to fly in Vietnam, and has been at it ever since.
He's flown all over the world."
    "What about his personal life?"
    "Single, no kids. I think there was a brief
marriage years ago, but he never talks about it. A helicopter
pilot's nomad life doesn't lend itself to lasting
relationships."
    Drake's eyes focused briefly on a spot out in
the middle of the room, then he busied himself putting sugar in his
coffee. He didn't elaborate, and I didn't ask.
    "Mack's got his problems, but basically he's
a good guy to work for. He gave me a job during an especially bad
time in my life, and he's always been fair with me."
    The pancakes arrived then, and we devoted our
attention to them. They were heavenly—slightly crisp on the surface
with generous bits of macadamia nuts inside. I smothered mine with
pink guava jam.
    “How did you get into flying helicopters?” I
asked Drake. Our initial hunger had been satisfied and we’d both
paused between bites.
    “Vietnam, like most everyone,” he replied.
“After that, I put in quite a few years in South America, the Gulf
of Mexico, the Rockies.”
    “Sounds dangerous.”
    “I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years.”
He chewed slowly, remembering long-gone faces.
    “Have you had a lot of close calls yourself?”
I pictured scenes of violent fiery crashes like in the movies.
    He shrugged. “I guess I’m more cautious than
most. I check every aircraft I get into; I preflight them as though
each flight were the first. I’ve caught a lot of potential
mechanical failures that way. But it’s hard to catch them all. I’ve
had six engine failures over the years.”
    My hand stopped midway to my coffee cup.
    “Yes, I’m still here to tell about it,” he
chuckled. He patted my hand. “A helicopter’s a bit different than
an