7. The kidnapper had known how to scuba dive and had tied Catalina to his ransom scheme.

The points were intriguing, but they proved nothing. She had to think backward. She had to assume that Matt had in fact plotted to fake his death and then kidnap Amy’s baby. She had to figure out how he could have done it.

How does one crash a plane in the ocean in the middle of the night and survive? Obviously he couldn’t have been in the plane when it hit the water. The tape of the radar confirmed that his plane had been traveling in excess of a hundred and fifty miles an hour when it crashed. Therefore, he must have parachuted out of the plane into a waiting boat.

He must have learned to parachute ahead of time.

He must have planted a boat off the Ventura coast ahead of time.

Kelly called Cindy. Did Matt know how to parachute? The answer was a definite no. Cindy wanted to know why she asked. Just wondering, Kelly replied. She told Cindy to keep the call private and rang off.

What Cindy said did not dissuade her. If Matt had intended to fake his death, he wouldn’t have advertised the fact that he was learning to parachute. Kelly called the local skydiving school in Perris and asked them to check their records for a Matt Connor. Did he take any classes? The answer was another no.

Still, Kelly did not feel put off. If Matt had wanted to be careful, he would have learned to parachute in another city. He flew regularly—besides Santa Barbara, what was his favorite destination spot? The NTSB report contained a phone number of the agency where Matt had rented his plane. Kelly called and learned that Matt often went up to Fresno. By chance there was a large skydiving facility there. She rang and asked them to check their files for a Matt Connor. But again she came up with nothing.

Nevertheless, Kelly felt she was onto something. Falling had been fanatical in his attention to detail. He had probably not only learned to skydive in another city, he had undoubtedly used a false identity. Before leaving Cindy’s apartment, she had asked for a picture of Matt, which was different than the one Amy had taken. There was a chance if she took that picture to the Fresno skydiving facility, she might strike gold.

Too bad she herself did not fly. It would be a long drive tomorrow, by herself.

NO POT of gold waited for her at the end of the road. No one in Fresno recognized Matt’s picture. At first she felt disappointed but then it struck her how strange that was. Matt had flown into the small airport regularly. She spoke to over two dozen locals. Someone should have recognized him. Then it occurred to her that besides having false ID, he might have used a disguise as well.