Chương 5
“Did they give you instructions?”
Claire pointed at the folder on the desk.
Nora opened it.
“You’re supposed to rest.”
“I’m resting.”
“You’re searching corporate filings on your phone.”
“I’m horizontal.”
“That is not the same thing.”
Claire put the phone down.
For perhaps thirty seconds.
Then she picked it up again.
Nora watched her.
“Do you think Daniel tried to kill you?”
Claire stared at the screen.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not what your face says.”
“My face spent part of today outside a helicopter.”
“Fair.”
Claire set the phone down again.
This time for almost a minute.
“I saw him lean across me before the door opened.”
“To touch the latch?”
“I thought so.”
“You thought so then?”
Claire hesitated.
“No.”
Nora waited.
“That came afterward.”
“What did you think he was doing?”
“Reaching for the document folder between us.”
“What document folder?”
“The Westmere printouts.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“You brought them on the helicopter.”
“They were in my bag.”
“Where’s the bag?”
Claire looked toward the hotel desk.
It was not there.
She had carried her phone out.
Nothing else.
The handbag had been on the floor beside her seat before the door opened.
“On the helicopter.”
Nora stared.
Claire was already calling the sheriff’s office.
The aircraft had been secured.
Nobody from the Bennett company had been allowed to remove anything.
Her bag had been logged with the rest of the cabin contents.
Claire asked what was inside.
The deputy could not tell her over the phone.
“Can I come identify it?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?”
“Because it’s midnight.”
Claire looked at Nora.
“Right.”
After she hung up, Nora said, “You were about to argue with a sheriff’s deputy about the existence of nighttime.”
“I’m tired.”
“You’re impossible when you’re tired.”
“Daniel says that.”
Nora’s expression changed.
Claire lay back.
The mattress was too soft.
She missed her own bed, which made no sense because Daniel was probably sleeping in it.
Or not sleeping.
She wondered where he was.
Then became angry at herself for wondering.
At one fifteen, her phone vibrated.
A message from Daniel.
I did not open that door.
Another arrived.
I should have told you about restricting your access.
Then:
I’m sorry.
Claire stared.
The three messages managed to feel both inadequate and completely like him.
She typed:
Did you touch my seat belt?
Deleted it.
Typed:
Did you know Gavin would be at the hangar this morning?
Deleted that too.
Finally she locked the phone.
Nora was asleep.
Claire remained awake.
Around three, the mini refrigerator made a loud mechanical click and she almost jumped out of bed.
She sat with her knees pulled toward her chest and waited for her heart to slow.
Her hand moved to her abdomen without thinking.
She kept it there.
The next morning, Walter called.
His voice sounded rougher without the headset.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“Baby?”
“Okay.”
He exhaled.
“Good.”
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Old.”
“That’s not a diagnosis.”
“It is at sixty.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
Then Walter said, “I need to tell you something before Daniel does.”
The smile disappeared.
“What?”
“I should have grounded that aircraft yesterday morning.”
Claire sat up.
Nora opened one eye from the other bed.
“Why?”
“The door indicator flickered during startup.”
Claire said nothing.
Walter continued.
“It cleared. I cycled it twice. Physical latch looked seated. Indicator stayed normal.”
“And you flew.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
A long silence.
“Because I’ve seen that sensor act up before.”
“That aircraft?”
“That model.”
Claire looked at the wall.
“You thought it was a sensor.”
“I convinced myself it was.”
“Why?”
Walter breathed out.
“Because Daniel was in a hurry. Because the maintenance chief said it had been checked. Because I’d flown the aircraft three days earlier with no issue. Pick one.”
Claire stood and walked toward the window.
Cars moved along the highway below.
“Who was the maintenance chief?”
“Not our regular one.”
“Who?”
“Cole Rainer.”
“Do I know him?”
“No.”
“Does Daniel?”
“Probably not.”
“Does Gavin?”
Walter did not answer immediately.
That was enough.
“Walter.”
“Cole works for a contractor Gavin approved last year.”
Claire shut her eyes.
“Did you tell investigators?”
“Everything.”
“What about the controls?”
“Still being looked at.”
“But you said somebody disabled them.”
“I said what it felt like.”
“Was that accurate?”
“The control-assist system dropped offline at the same moment the door warning came on.”
“Can that happen because a door opens?”
“No.”
“Could it be coincidence?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe it was?”
“No.”
Claire looked back at Nora.
Nora was fully awake now.
Walter said, “There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“The seat belt.”
Claire tightened her grip on the phone.
“They found a strip of clear packaging plastic inside the buckle housing.”
For a moment Claire did not understand the sentence.
Then she did.
“It was jammed?”
“Enough that the tongue could feel seated without locking all the way.”
Her throat tightened.
“So when I pulled it before takeoff—”
“It may have held lightly.”
“And then released.”
“Yes.”
Claire sat on the windowsill.
“Daniel didn’t do that while we were flying.”
“No.”
“Could he have done it before?”
“Anybody with cabin access could have.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Walter said, “But if you want my opinion, Daniel Bennett has done plenty of stupid things in his life.”
Despite everything, Claire almost laughed.
Walter continued.
“I’ve never seen him learn how to rig a seat belt.”
“That’s a strange character defense.”
“It’s the one I have.”
“Thanks.”
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“Do not let anybody make you feel foolish for being suspicious of him.”
She looked down at the traffic.
“Why would they?”
“Because rich families survive by teaching everybody inside them to be embarrassed by reasonable questions.”
Walter hung up.
Nora stared at Claire.
“Well?”
Claire repeated what he had said.
Nora sat on the edge of the bed.
“That’s attempted murder.”
Claire winced.
“Don’t.”
May you like
“What else do you call sabotaging a seat belt and aircraft?”
“We don’t know that one person did all of it.”
