And then he had personally insulted her by not being Dutch enough. Dutch enough? Not Dutch at all. The only hint was Van and Der. He was American, and sometimes an insult to that country too. But he loved his country and all the opportunity it offered him, though much to his parents’ dismay, he rarely took it.
They’d come to America hoping he’d be a doctor or lawyer or something. They never understood how hard he worked at his music, and they died long before his band started to do more than practice in garages.
Closing his eyes, Jake slid his hands over his belly again, but this time for a nap. He let his iPod blare and decided to talk himself out of his paranoia.
He was on a plane thousands of feet in the sky over the Atlantic. He was perfectly safe.
Now, if he could just tune out that toilet.
The cockpit was hot, and Perry wanted to loosen his collar, but he didn’t dare. He didn’t move a muscle, except for his arm, which inched slowly toward a storage bin to the left of his jump seat. The conversation continued.
“Look, I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“Let’s just drop it. I’m more concerned about what’s going on in the cabin,” Danny replied.
“The captain will let us know when she can.”
“I realize that.”
“Had I known you’d slip up on the Bermuda thing, I’d have saved my speech for later.”
“Why not save it, period? Thanks.”
“Speaking of saved, you’re not and I think you should be.”
“Let’s just concentrate on the—”
The knock startled them all.
“Mr. Smilt, would you mind?” Danny asked.
Retracting his hand, Perry rose and unlocked the door.
“All right,” the captain said as she entered, “I’ve asked GiGi to join us. We have some things to discuss. An elderly woman has died. We’ve already passed Gander. We could make an emergency landing in Iceland, but we’d have to reroute and turn back to get there.”
GiGi spoke up. “Let me remind everyone that we have an emotionally challenged woman onboard, and I’m not talking about the dead lady’s daughter.”
“We’ll refer to her as Hetty, not ‘dead lady,’” the captain said.
“GiGi brings up a good point,” Danny said.
“The pig lady could be unpredictable,” James said.
“Her name is Anna Sue,” Danny added.
The captain continued. “Landing in Iceland will cause a huge inconvenience for everyone, and I’m not certain it would solve the problem. Frankly, the problem is unsolvable, as the woman is dead. However, continuing on to the Netherlands will cause other problems. Either way, I believe we’re going to have distressed passengers. So a decision will be made, we’ll make the best of it, and we’ll show a united front. Mr. Smilt, what do you think?”
“I, uh… of what?”
“Should we make an emergency landing in Iceland or proceed to the Netherlands?”
“We land in the Netherlands,” Perry said. “There’s no question about it.”
“Mr. Smilt, there’s always a question about it, and ultimately it’s my call,” the captain said. “However, I happen to agree with your assessment of the situation.”
“What?” GiGi yelped. “You’re telling me that we’re going to have a dead woman on our flight along with her daughter, who wants to murder all of us and serve up the pig for breakfast?”
“We’re not going to let the passengers know there is any other option,” the captain replied. “We will take extra care and assist our passengers in coping with this. We are all going to remain calm. Understood?”
Everyone nodded, so Perry did too.
“Bubba, I want you to go into the cabin, talk to Mrs. Kilpatrick.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you’re naturally likable.”
“What…what does that have to do with, um, dead people?” Danny asked.
“We need someone with the ability to calm her down. You have that effect on people.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You do, Bubba.”
“No, I really don’t. I wouldn’t even know what to say.”
“You explain to her that we’re going to clear a row at the back of the airplane. We’re going to lay her mother across the center row and cover her with a blanket. Mrs. Kilpatrick is welcome to sit wherever she wants.”
“But…but…”
“GiGi, you and the rest of the flight attendants are going to move everyone forward as far as you can.”
“Who’s moving the body?” GiGi asked.
“Bubba, there was a man onboard who offered to pray for Mrs. Kilpatrick. GiGi can find him. He’ll help you.”
“Why can’t I move the body?” James asked.
“Boy, quiet. After you get Mrs. Kilpatrick and Hetty settled, Bubba, I’d like you to check on Anna Sue.”
The flight attendant groaned. “I am telling you, she is going to flip out, if she hasn’t already. We are talking about an emotionally challenged woman. She was already about to chew a hole through her lip at the possibility of turbulence. What is she going to do now? A woman is dead and her daughter thinks it’s because of the pig! I mean, I’m not emotionally challenged, and I feel like I need to assume the fetal position.”
“Bubba can handle her. All right, let’s begin. I’ll make an announcement from here.”
The cockpit door opened. Danny and GiGi left. The pilots resumed their positions in their seats.
“Mr. Smilt, I suppose you’ve never had this much excitement on a flight,” the captain said.
Perry tried a polite smile. “Yes, well, as they said, you’ve crash-landed in the Bermuda Triangle. This is a piece of cake.”
Her smile faded, and she turned so he could only see the back of her head, which was fine with him. He had what he needed for Plan C.
And Miles thought he had poor planning skills. Please! He had a sack full of diamonds within reach and now possessed a gun he’d happened upon while pretending to inspect storage bins in the cockpit. Unlike Miles, Perry could be flexible, and this kind of flexibility and attention to detail—like the gun he’d stolen from the storage compartment—gave him an even bigger edge.
The gun comforted him. He’d sensed the captain’s suspicions from the beginning. Or maybe he was just nervous. Whatever the case, a dead body, as long as it wasn’t his, could only work in his favor at this point. It already had, in fact. It had distracted an entire cockpit full of people enough for Perry to slip the gun from the storage compartment into his briefcase.
He didn’t know if he could endure much more of this “Bubba” and “Boy” talk, especially about girlfriends and God. He wanted to scream shut up, but he knew he must remain quiet, calm, and under the radar.
Now he just had to find Jaap Van Der Mark. And if another dead body came out of it, so be it. At least he’d be rich.
Chapter 15
What’s going on back there?”
“A woman died.”
Lucy covered her mouth. “Oh, that’s terrible.” Hank seemed shaken. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just feel bad for her daughter. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, losing a parent isn’t easy. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a moment to pray for her.”
Lucy retracted her hand. “Now?”
“To myself.”
“I’ll do the same.”
“You don’t believe in God.”
“I’m praying to the universe.” Lucy closed her eyes, centered herself, produced thoughts of life rather than death, and pictured bright lights. But no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn’t stop wondering whether or not Hank had seen Jeff back there.
She opened her eyes, and waited for Hank to open his. Several minutes passed and Lucy grew impatient. Finally, though, he finished. He looked sad.
“Are you okay? Are you thinking about your parents?”
“No.” His voice was distant. “I just…
I’m worried about that woman.”
“She’s in a better place. I don’t know where that is or what it’s like, but I believe with all my heart that good people find peace after death.”
“I’m talking about her daughter. She’s very angry, and I don’t think it has anything to do with her mom’s passing away.”
“How do you know she’s angry?”
“She yelled at me when I asked if she would like me to pray for her.”
Lucy gasped. “She did? What a jerk! People are so pathetic. I mean, Hank, you’re a kind, decent person. That’s obvious before you even say anything! She’s probably just a horrible, bitter person.”
Hank turned to her and frowned. “Lucy, how can you say that? You don’t even know her.”
Lucy blinked. Okay, that was true, but in the order of the universe, people bond over other people’s weaknesses. It’s a fight-or-flight sort of thing. And they were on a flight that almost erupted into a fight, so…
“You’re right, Hank. Absolutely. I didn’t stop to think about that.” She realized it was going to take some finesse to get details out of him about whether or not he’d spotted Jeff while being lambasted by a passenger. To ask now seemed cold. She wasn’t cold, just focused. “Maybe I’ve been overly harsh with Jeff too,” she tried. “He is, after all, human.” Subhuman, but human nevertheless.
Hank didn’t take the bait.
“It’s just that when someone hurts you, your first instinct is to hurt them back. Of course, that’s wrong.” She tried to say it with conviction.
He smiled at her with a warmness she wasn’t expecting. “It’s natural to feel that way. It’s human nature.”
Lucy’s head spun. If it was human nature, why didn’t it seem to faze him that a woman came unglued on him? Hank seemed a little unnatural.
“Once,” he began, “this guy was giving my sister a hard time. She’s a police officer, and he thought she didn’t fit in as an undercover cop, so he kept trying to make her feel bad about herself.”
“What’d she do?”
“Ultimately she proved him wrong by being great at what she does, but it wasn’t easy. I wanted to put him in his place.”
Lucy smiled. Exactly. Except she had a sneaking suspicion he didn’t.
“But I didn’t.”
“Of course. Because that would be wrong.” Lucy thought she might be getting the hang of this.
“Perhaps, but the real reason I never did was because my sister is really good at that in her own right. I mean, she has this amazing ability to just throw people to the ground with her tongue. She got in trouble for it all the time when we were kids. She also has a terrible temper. I thought if I tried it, I’d just look stupid.”
Lucy’s mouth hung open because the universe wasn’t feeding her a response.
“And then I wondered why I cared. I did some deep soul searching with the help of the Holy Spirit, and it turns out I was dealing with some insecurities about myself. I never felt like I measured up to the rest of my siblings because I can be shy, so God is helping me realize He made me like this and that I have my own strengths.”
Lucy stared forward, trying to find her centeredness, trying to capture any negativity that might be causing her own self-doubt.
Self-doubt. That was it. That was the negative energy burst that continued to blind her points of light. Even as she thought it, a dark shadow crawled across her tray table and over the seatback of the passenger in front of her. Lucy shuddered, but then realized it was the shadow of the flight attendant who stood over them.
With a particularly sour expression, she fixed her gaze on Hank. “I realize you’re probably due for a pillow fluffing, but the captain would like your assistance moving the body to the back of the airplane.”
“Of course.” Hank rose and trailed after the flight attendant, disappearing down the aisle.
Lucy closed her eyes and tried to control her mind, but it kept wandering to one thing in particular. It kept her attention like a giant, colorful monarch or Brad Pitt.
And all the brain power in the world couldn’t keep her from reaching for it.
Danny marched aft, denying eye contact to passengers while wondering which regional jet he would be banned to for the rest of his flying career. He couldn’t believe he’d asked the captain about Bermuda, but he did have a long and painful history of saying inappropriate things under duress, particularly during childhood. James’s face had said it all. He’d just made the Sasquatch equivalent of all verbal blunders. He’d rather have made a huge flight mistake and gone back to sim training than face whatever he’d face from the captain. Strangely, he respected her. Or maybe he just respected the idea that she didn’t want to talk about the crash, that she never sensationalized it.
His mind entertained this unpleasant topic in order to avoid thinking about another unpleasant topic: moving a dead body. He’d never seen a dead body outside a casket, which in his opinion was the only place one should be.
Was she stiff? Were her eyes open? If he thought Chucky might help, he wasn’t above petting a pig at this point. He decided to check on Anna Sue first, since the dead woman was far less likely to burst into hysterics and Mrs. Kilpatrick already had.
He found her concentrating on Chucky, a frown on her face.
“Anna Sue, how are you doing?”
She looked distracted and didn’t acknowledge him.
“Anna Sue?”
She tore her gaze away from the pig. “What’s wrong? I’m seeing some commotion.”
“We’ve had a medical emergency. The captain will explain in a moment. How are you two doing?” he asked.
Chucky stayed asleep, though his ears twitched occasionally.
“I’ve never seen Chucky sleep this much.”
“If only everyone could sleep like that on a plane, right?”
Anna Sue nodded. “I wish I could. Are you certain we’re not going through turbulence?”
“Turbulence? No ma’am. If we go through turbulence, the captain will turn on the seat-belt sign.”
Her eyes darted above her, and she let out a long sigh, like she’d been holding her breath. “Okay.”
Danny patted her arm. “Okay. So you’re feeling okay?”
She nodded. “Yes, I am. Thank you for asking.”
“I’ll come check on you later, okay?”
“Okay.”
Danny walked toward the back of the plane and was met in the middle galley by GiGi and a thin, squeaky-clean young man who didn’t look like the type who could handle seeing a dead body. As Danny approached, the man combed his fingers through his neatly parted hair.
“This is the guy the captain wanted,” GiGi said with an exaggerated gesture that indicated she was baffled by the choice.
The young man stuck out his hand. “Hank.”
“Officer Danny McSweeney. You’re certain you can handle this?”
“Yes.”
“And we all have to handle Mrs. Kilpatrick,” GiGi said.
“I can’t imagine how upsetting this is to her,” Hank said.
GiGi rolled her eyes. “The dead woman was older than dirt. You can’t tell me her daughter didn’t consider her mother’s time might be upon her. She’s just using the pig as an excuse to sue.”
“I disagree,” said Hank. “I think she’s genuinely upset. Something else is probably going on, you know? She’s using the pig as an excuse for something deeper.”
“Are you a psychologist?” Danny asked.
“No. Just something my dad taught me.” Hank looked at Danny. “The deceased’s name is Hetty.”
“I seriously doubt we’ll be paging her, but thanks anyway,” GiGi said.
“It’s nice to put a name with a face,” Danny tried. “Or, um, a body.”
“Let’s just get this done,” GiGi said.
They made their way toward Mrs. Kilpatrick and Hetty. A small group stood clustered around them, while other passengers stared wide eyed at Danny as he passed.
/> “Folks, move aside. Return to your seats,” he called.
The crowd cleared. Mrs. Kilpatrick sat hunched with one hand covering her face.
“Mrs. Kilpatrick?”
She looked up. “What?”
Danny squatted next to her and lowered his voice. He wasn’t sure what approach to take, but decided on a factual but compassionate angle that left no room for her opinion. “We’re going to move your mother to a back row and move the passengers forward. We’ll alert the authorities in the Netherlands, who will arrange transportation for you and her to wherever you would like.”
Mrs. Kilpatrick’s chin quivered. “To the funeral home. My mother’s wish was to be buried next to my father.”
The intercom crackled, and Danny knew the captain was about to make the announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. A woman onboard has passed away. While it is very unfortunate and we offer our condolences to her loved ones, she passed of natural causes.” A rush of whispering filled the cabin. “I need everyone to listen very carefully to my instructions. If you are seated in the back of the cabin, we are going to move you forward to a new seat assignment. We do not have a completely full flight, but this will mean that most of our rows will now be full. We are going to move the woman and her family to the back of the plane. We will not make an emergency landing as we are over the Atlantic Ocean right now, so we will continue to our destination of Amsterdam. I ask for your full cooperation in this matter. Everyone should remain calm, composed, and cooperative. We will arrive in Amsterdam in approximately five and a half hours. If you would, please keep this woman’s family in your prayers. Thank you.”
“All right, Mrs. Kilpatrick,” Danny said, “we’re going to go ahead and move your mother. Would you like to remain here or move to the back of the airplane with her?”
Mrs. Kilpatrick stared at her mother for a moment, and through the cloud of bitterness that hung over her, Danny could almost see a stream of memories flowing between them. But then she said, “What are you waiting for? She’s not going to get up and walk back there by herself.”
Skid Page 12
