George began to wonder if his boss had developed gray hair within the past week, or if the gray suit he wore the previous week had disguised the true color of his hair. Either way, George now thought, the man appeared to be in his sixties, rather than his fifties.
As George sat, he began to feel uneasy when he realized his own choice of clothing might be interpreted as inappropriate. He wore a casual, light-blue blazer and a white shirt. His boss, on the other hand, looked as if he was about to attend a funeral.
George waited patiently, but the man sitting across from him didn’t speak; instead, Mike Williams kept staring at the paper. Once again, George thought of bankruptcy, and for some reason he immediately thought of Trisha Boyle and her ability to support her son.
“What do you have there, Mike?”
“Are you aware employees get discount tickets for families and relatives?”
George first thought was that he’d somehow abused the program. But he quickly dismissed the thought since he hardly had any family or friends.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“Sharon Stone had a discount ticket.”
George felt as if his boss had sucker-punched him. His gut suddenly ached.
So much for this just being a coincidence, he thought.
“Captain Daniels got his ex-wife the ticket?” George asked in disbelief.
Michael Williams nodded. “And it gets worse.”
How could this possibly get any worse?
“Did Daniels pay for the ticket, or did she?”
The CEO looked surprised by his question. “He must have paid for the ticket in order for her to get the discount,” Mike said. “But that’s not the worst part.”
“How could this possibly get any worse, Mike?”
“He got her two tickets,” Mike said, and sighed. “One for her, and one for the man seated next to her.”
“The guy she replaced him with?”
“It might appear so,” Mike said.
“Did he know who the other ticket was for?”
“I don’t have that information. Why do you ask?”
“If he didn’t know who she was traveling with, then perhaps he didn’t plan for this to happen. Perhaps he left the cockpit to say hello, and then had an emotional meltdown as he realized who she was traveling with.”
“Is that somehow preferable?” his boss asked.
“Then it’s not premeditated,” George said, and realized such a circumstance wasn’t much better.
George also realized he’d heard no mention in the media regarding Captain Daniels’ possible murder of his ex-wife and her partner—not to mention the rest of the passengers.
“Did you share this information with the authorities?” he asked cautiously.
“I most certainly did,” Mike affirmed. “But the feds didn’t seem very interested. However, they did tell me not to interfere with the investigation.”
“Well, they can’t prohibit us from visiting the emergency contacts of our employees,” George said. “And the reason they’re not that interested is probably because they’re working the terror angle. People usually seek out information corresponding with their own feelings.”
“What do you mean?” Mike asked.
“It feels better to fear terrorists rather than fearing pilots,” he said, and shrugged. “Did you hear about the Imam who was on the plane? He who wanted to introduce Sharia law into the American legal system.”
George just realized how stupid his question was, given that the Imam had been the media’s focus all week.
Mike looked uncomfortable, but eventually nodded in response.
“That text message from the stewardess makes a big difference,” George added. “In many ways, it exonerates us.”
“About that… that text message doesn’t make any sense,” Mike said.
“It indicates the pilots were murdered, and therefore people assume it’s terror—”
“I understand that part,” Mike said, cutting him off. “But if in fact Captain Daniels crashed the plane on purpose, then that text message doesn’t make any sense. Elisabeth McAllister claimed both pilots had died. How could she possibly have known that?”
“She couldn’t.” George paused for a few seconds as he liked to do to add more drama. “The only way she could’ve known for certain the pilots had died is if she was in the cockpit at the time. And if so, I imagine she would’ve used the radio instead of her cell phone. I don’t believe she was in the cockpit.” He shook his head to emphasize his point.
Michael Williams looked bewildered. “It still doesn’t explain the text message.”
“Perhaps she noticed the plane was off course,” George said. “I mean, she’d flown the same route all day. She must have been used to seeing certain surroundings. And when the pilots didn’t respond to her every request, she assumed they’d died.”
George felt as he’d forgotten about something.
“Wait a minute, didn’t she send the text message around midnight, you say?”
“Yes, I believe so,” Mike responded.
“The plane was scheduled to land in Anchorage around midnight, am I right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, there you go.” George shrugged. “She must have realized something was wrong when the pilots never initiated landing. And when the pilots didn’t respond to her at the door, she tried to call the police, but was cut off due to poor reception. Then she panicked, and sent her husband a text message.”
“It takes a cold person to ignore someone pleading for their life,” Mike said, and shook his head firmly.
“I’m not sure I follow. What do you mean by that, Mike?”
“I mean, Captain Daniels must have ignored Elisabeth McAllister pleading for him to open the door.”
“He was most likely dead already.”
“I beg your pardon?” Mike said.
“Ironically, at the time she sent the text message, both pilots were most likely dead. Elisabeth McAllister’s assumption was probably true.”
“You think Captain Daniels killed himself before the plane crashed?”
“Suicide would spare him from the pain and agony of enduring a plane crash. Perhaps he killed himself as soon as he’d changed the destination.”
“Destination,” Mike muttered, and sounded baffled.
George thought his boss looked clueless, and at that moment, he felt quite pleased with himself.
“The plane deviated from its route. He probably changed the destination of the aircraft, and then killed himself. I mean, the plane was bound to run out of fuel sooner or later. An altered destination might also explain why the plane flew into the Canadian wilderness. Perhaps he tried to avoid crashing into a populated area.”
At least he showed a shred of decency.
“Wouldn’t it be better to head for the ocean?” Mike asked.
“If the plane crashed into the ocean, then perhaps there would be a slim chance of his wife actually surviving the crash. But if the plane crashed into the Canadian mountains…” George didn’t finish the sentence, but shrugged his shoulders.
So much for a shred of decency, he added to his thoughts.
“But the plane crashed into the Great Slave Lake,” Mike pointed out.
“Allegedly,” George responded. “Or, perhaps he simply miscalculated and the plane crashed into the lake instead of a mountain.”
“What do you mean by allegedly?”
“Just because the plane disappeared from radar near the lake, doesn’t necessarily mean it crashed into the lake,” George said. “It could have kept going. Perhaps it did crash into a mountain.”
“They’re searching the surroundings with drones, and they have satellite images also. They would’ve noticed the debris if the plane crashed into the woods.”