THE AIRPORT AT THE NORTH END of Fool’s Gold was typical for its size. There were two runways and no tower. Pilots were responsible for staying out of each other’s way. Finn was used to flying under those conditions. It was the same in South Salmon but with a lot worse weather.
He got out of his rented car and walked to the main office of Fool’s Gold Aviation. He’d been told this was the best place to find out about renting a plane. He was also going to talk to the owner about picking up some extra work. There was no way he could stay in town for any length of time without doing something more productive than flying show contestants a couple of times a week.
He knocked on the open door and stepped into the two-room office. There were a couple of battered desks, a coffeepot on a rickety table by the window and a view of the main runway. An older woman sat at the larger of the desks.
When he entered, she looked up. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Hamilton.” He’d been given a single name and little else.
The woman, a pretty redhead in her fifties, sighed. “He’s out with his planes. I swear, if he could sleep with them, he would.” She pointed to the west. “That way.”
Finn nodded his thanks and went around the building. He saw an older man bent low over the right tire of a Cessna Stationair.
Finn was familiar with the plane. It had a 310 fuel-injected horsepower engine and could cruise for nearly seven hours. The rear double doors made it easy to load cargo.
Hamilton looked up as Finn approached. “Thought I felt the tire go when I landed last night,” he said, straightening. “Seems fine now.”
He walked toward Finn and held out his hand. Hamilton had to be in his seventies, with wild white hair and a permanently lined face.
“Finn Andersson,” Finn told him, shaking hands.
“You a pilot?”
“On a good day.” Finn told him about his cargo business up in Alaska.
“That’s wild flying,” Hamilton said. “We don’t get weather like that here. We’re below twenty-five hundred feet, so we miss the worst of the snow and wind. There’s some fog, but nothing like what you deal with. What brings you to Fool’s Gold?”
“My brothers,” Finn admitted and told Hamilton about the twins and their involvement with the show.
“They’re going to use me to fly people around. I guess to save money.”
“I don’t care who rents my planes as long as they know what they’re doing. Sounds like you do.”
Finn knew the old man would need more than his word, but confirming credentials would be easy. “I’m stuck here for a few more weeks and wondered if you needed a pilot. I can fly cargo or people.”
Hamilton grinned. “I do have some extra business. I hate to turn it away, but I’ve only got one set of hands and can only take on one flight at a time.” He sighed. “There’s plenty to be done. Rich people like to fly back and forth to town. Makes ’em feel special. The restaurant at the lodge is all fancylike and I fly in their fish. I have contracts with a few delivery companies, that kind of thing. Just tell me when you want to work and I can keep you busy.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Finn told him, relieved to know he wouldn’t have to spend his day sitting around and watching his brothers.
“Let’s go back to my office and see what’s on the schedule. I guess I’ll need to make it official and check on your license. We can go for a flight when we’re done with the paperwork, if you have time.”
“I have time,” Finn told him.
“Good.”
Back in the building, they went into Hamilton’s office. It was smaller than the front room, but tidy. There were pictures of old planes covering the walls.
“How long have you been here?” Finn asked.
“Since I was a kid. Learned to fly before I could drive, that’s for sure. Never wanted to do anything else. My wife keeps bugging me to move to Florida, but I don’t know. Maybe soon.” He glanced at Finn. “The business is for sale, if you’re interested.”
“I have a business,” Finn told him. “Although you could do a lot here.” Not just charter and deliveries, he thought. Air tours could be lucrative. And there was that idea of his about teaching flying.
Dreams for another day, he reminded himself. When he knew for sure his brothers were grown-up enough that nothing bad would ever happen to them.
“If you change your mind, let me know,” Hamilton told him.
“You’ll be the first.”