by Sandra Ryan
“I think we would begin from Elizabeth Benson.” She tapped a button and Elizabeth’s face filled the screen. It was a different face from the one they had seen that morning. This one was coated in makeup, and was looking regal in her floor length black dress. “Thirty-two. Parents are stockbrokers. She is a single child. Graduated from Penn. Worked at the law offices of White and Case before branching out with another associate to form their own independent firm. Got married to Nathan Benson six years ago. They had to wait a while for their son, five years to be exact. During that period, they were the subject of massive scrutiny by the public with many speculating the cause of their inability to have a child. Elizabeth is a private person. She makes an appearance once a month or so at some charity events, but that is just about it. Her co-workers love her. Her maid loves her. Practically everyone I asked about her had something nice to say about her.”
“You do not seem mightily pleased about that,” Samuel said.
“Nobody is that perfect,” she scoffed.
As she spoke, several images of Elizabeth flitted across the screen. From her graduating from college to even ones of her in her wedding dress.
“Next stop: Nathan Benson,” Olga continued.
“Thirty-six. Only child. Parents owned a pharmaceutical company. Both are now deceased.. He graduated from Penn also, although he was three years ahead of Elizabeth. During the interviews they always talked about the fact that they never met while they were both in college. It was while Elizabeth was handling a case for Nathan that they both realized that they were schooled at the same college, and everything continued from there, I think.” She paused to take a breather.
“Nathan’s company, Benson Pharm. was started by Nathan’s father. He inherited it and has since turned it into a fortune 500 company. A few months ago there were whispers of the company being involved in some kind of situation, but the talks were quickly halted as soon as they begun. Their stocks suffered a hit and plummeted as a result though, but it has since blown over. Unlike his wife, Nathan Benson likes the camera, and the cameras love him. He has been on the cover of a lot of magazine as the quintessential executive. He presents himself as the whole package – great wife, nice job, amazing smile, everything.”
“You do sound smitten,” Holly quipped.
“Oh, I’m not, thank you,” Olga countered. “Now to the baby: Baby Benson was born at Ferguson’s Memorial Hospital. On the night of his birth, Mr. Benson was the one who drove his wife to the hospital because, according to him, the ambulance was taking a lot of time to get there. Elizabeth had to take a leave of absence in order to have the baby and hasn’t been back to work since then. There aren’t a lot of pictures of the baby on the internet. Elizabeth put up a couple on her social media pages, but she made sure that his face was carefully turned away in most of them. I heard that she had even gotten offers from gossip magazines to have a sit down with the baby but she turned them all down. That’s about it.”
Holly considered this for a moment, tapping her fingers gently at her temple.
“Did you notice the slight pause when she was trying to tell us about her husband’s innocence?” Holly was directing the question to Samuel.
“I did, but I did not make much of it that time. I felt probably it was as a result of all the crying and stuff.”
“She sounded as though she was harboring doubts about her husband’s involvement. I cannot shake the feeling that there was something she was not telling us. And the way she threw us out when I asked that question about whether they were having trouble in their marriage? It is only when someone has hit so close to the truth that you react that way.”
”Olga,” she called, turning to her.” What did the neighbors and her friends have to say about their marriage?”
“Nothing. Most of them did not know the inner workings of the marriage. However, I had the feeling that most of them objected to her getting married to Mr. Benson. Especially her closest friends, and when she began having difficulties conceiving, she cut the relationship with most of her friends,” Olga said.
“I see. Perhaps we should interview more of her friends. And their housekeeper, Clara, I think that was her name. We should find a way to speak to her too. If anyone would know if the couple is having issues in their marriage, it would be her.”
“On it,” Olga said, packing everything in her backpack.
‘What did you think of her?” Holly asked Samuel as soon as Olga exited the room.
“Who? Olga?” He asked.
“No, Elizabeth. Why would I be asking you about Olga?”
“Oh,” he said, blushing deeply.”I think her concern for her child is genuine. I do not think she could have any hand in the disappearance of her own child.”
“You are right. That was my conclusion too.”
“So, what do we do right now?”
“I think it is time we visited the crime scene.”
CHAPTER SIX
UNRAVELING
“Would you mind explaining again how you managed to convince both the airport authorities and the airline to allow us go into the aircraft,” Samuel asked, trying to keep up with Holly as they strode across the airport floors.
“Dear Samuel, I do not know if you have realized this, but a lot of things could be obtained by simply asking. Ask and you will receive is the mantra,” she replied without missing a beat in her walk. Since they stepped down from the car she had been walking as though she was trying to complete a marathon.
“My dear Holly,” he started, mimicking her tone, “I do know about asking for things and I also know about getting rejections all the time. Perhaps there is something you are not telling me.”
“No. I just think you are not asking the right people. Or maybe you are not asking the right way. Or maybe you are just not me. I think that is it; you are not me.”
“Well, that is definitely correct. Now, why are you walking like the world is coming to an end, and forcing me to do the same with you?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied, although she made no efforts to slow down. “I missed my morning walk today because I did not go into the office, and this is me covering up for that. Isn’t it a lovely day to walk!”
“Right, except that I may lose my hips if you continue at this pace.”
She didn’t act as though she heard him and they both continued trudging on.
“How really did you do it?”
“Do what, Samuel?”
“Get the both parties to agree. I’m hoping that there weren’t any omissions like in the case of Mrs. Benson.”
“Well, I did tell them I am a private investigator.”
“Why do I feel like there is a ‘but’ somewhere in that statement.”
“Although I did not expressly mention who I was working for. I think they may have run with the idea that I am working for Mr. Benson.”
“How convenient,” he replied.
“Oh, come on. Concessions like that have to be made in jobs like this. If we are ever going to do our jobs, people like us who have no badges and thus cannot badge into offices whenever we want, have to blur the lines somewhere in order to get ahead. I’ve made my peace with it. I suggest you do same.”
They walked together in silence for a while, Samuel bristling in the subtle rebuke by Holly.
“Now that we are on the same page, I have to tell you something else.”
Samuel groaned.
“It is not something bad. It is just expensive. I have hired an airplane specialist. She is going to be joining us on the tour of the airplane.”
“Who the hell is an airplane specialist, and why the hell do we need one?” he pushed the thoughts of the cost implications away from his immediate thoughts. He would deal with that later.
“I’m sure she would be more than willing to answer the first question herself, and the second is pretty clear now, isn’t it? We are trying to solve a crime that happened on an airplane. Who would be better at explaining how it could have ha
ppened save for someone who is an expert at something like that?”
Without waiting for an answer, she stopped talking abruptly when they emerged into the hangar. There were different aircraft parked there, their bulk looming in the silence. Holly craned her neck, looking from side to side as though she was searching for something.
“What is it?” Samuel asked.
“Penny. The airplane specialist. She should be here somewhere. She told me she would be here to wait for us before we arrived.”
“There, that is her!” Holly finally exclaimed, pointing to a figure standing close to one of the airplanes and staring up at it. They walked to the place she was standing. She gave no indication that she saw them, thus Samuel was startled when she suddenly turned to him and said,
“Isn’t she beautiful? This beauty here,” she pointed at the plane. “She could carry almost six buses crammed with passengers and would still have the ability to fly at an incredible speed of five hundred knots. That’s like almost 576 miles per hour.” She sounded out of breath when she got to the end of her explanation.
“Well, that’s incredible,” Samuel said. “I totally did not know that.”
“Oh, I’m sure you did not. Most folks do not know things like that.”
“Penny, this is Samuel, Samuel, this is Penny Meyers, our airplane expert.” Holly had an amused expression on her face as she said that. It was almost smug.
“Hey, Holly!” the woman exclaimed, as though she had only just realized that Penny had been standing there the entire time. “How are you doing? Still getting into trouble with the law?”
Holly laughed. “I try to steer clear of the law these days. I am an upright and law abiding citizen.” Something about this seemed to crack the both women up and they giggled almost foolishly. “Penny and I worked a previous case together. Perhaps on a good day I will tell you the details,” she said by way of explanations to Samuel.
“And how are you, Penny, you do look awesome,” Holly said. Penny did a small twirl. Her floral print skirt blew up in a circle. She had on a white blouse and a sweater to complete the outfit. Her hair was a mess, she kept trying to pat in down but it billowed everywhere, the band she used to hold the tip proving incapable of doing the job.
“I am alright. Currently in the process of divorcing husband number three.”
“How sad, I thought he was the one. What happened?”
“Well, a lot of things happened, some of which included his secretary and a vacation home in Barbados.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. It is his loss though.”
“Sure is. Although the amount I am costing him in legal fees is less than funny. Now, are we not supposed to be checking out the aircraft? Did you not mention that you were allotted a specific amount of time?”
“Yes. Yes. A crew member is supposed to take us to the aircraft. I haven’t seen anybody yet.”
“Do you think it could be that unfortunate young man over there who has been trying to get your attention for that past fifteen minutes?” Samuel said, pointing to a particular aircraft where a young man was waving his hands frantically.
“Oh dear, I had no idea. We should better get going then,” Holly said and the trio started trudging to the airplane.
Midway, Holly stopped abruptly. She turned to Penny with a sly grin on her face and said,
“My friend here, Samuel, was wondering what it is exactly you do.” Then leaning in, in an exaggerated whisper she added, “You do know he is the one paying. I wouldn’t have him thinking that I am wasting his money on frivolities.” At this, Samuel blushed to the roots of his hair.
“Now did he?” Penny asked.
“I didn’t really mean it like that. It is okay. You do not have to explain anything further,” he blubbered.
“No. it is fine. I love talking about my job,” Penny said. “I am an airplane expert. Which loosely translates to meaning that I know everything about any airplane. I’ve had that obsession from the time I was a kid, and initially I thought that I would become a pilot or even some kind of aeronautic engineer, but life had other plans for me.” She gave a small laugh.
“I am usually called in to consult for airlines regarding what planes they are to purchase, and I take into consideration such matrix such as cost, efficiency and a ton of other stuffs.
When they got to the young man, Holly offered him profuse apologies, and in no time, the young man was grinning as though he had just won the lottery. He led them to the insides of the plane. The plane was looking dirty, exactly as it had been the day of the kidnapping. He stated that the police said to leave it that way as they would be returning to take a look at the crime scene again in the event that if they missed anything the first time, they would find it the second time around. After a few minutes, the crew member excused himself and left the party to themselves.
‘Okay, let’s begin,” Penny said. “Seating configuration on a plane depends on the size of the aircraft and on the length of the flight. Domestic flights which are short haul flights have a 3-3-3 pattern. This means a set of 3 seats in 3 rows with two aisle passageways between the 3 rows. This pattern is similar in the economy or coach class cabin of long haul international flights like this one.”
She paused then went towards the front of the plane where the first class seats were arranged.
“On international long haul flights, some airlines have seats in the first class designed like a hotel room suite which has all the privileges and privacy. According to the plane’s manifest, Mrs. Benson was supposed to have sat here, keeping her baby here. But somehow she ended up at the business class with the rest of the folks. If she had been seated at the first class section, it would have been near impossible for anyone to have taken her baby as they are usually the first to get in and also the first to disembark.”
“She said that there was some mistake in the booking of the flight, and because she had been so eager to go home, she had decided to make do with the seat available.” It was Holly who spoke.
Penny waved away the explanation. Continuing her lecture. Holly and Samuel stood to the side, with their arms folded like school children.
“Now there are emergency exits row seats which are used, of course, in the case of emergencies. In this case, I doubt if anyone would have smuggled baby Benson out through that means. The emergency exits are usually opened in very dire circumstances.”
“So, if you were to hazard a theory, how do you think a baby could disappear from a plane mid-flight,” Holly asked.
“Well, I think there could have been three distinct possibilities of that happening. I’m going to be going through a process of elimination till we get to the answer.” She was seated in one of the first class seats, with eyes shut tightly and her head thrown back.
‘First, it could have been before they boarded the aircraft. Airport security is actually very tight and there are cameras everywhere the entire time. But a person who knows his way around airports, or who has studied this particular airport for a long time could be able to pull it off with minimal stress. I mean, I could pull off something like that if I put my mind to it. But you said the child was missing mid-flight, is that correct?”
The both parties nodded.
“This is where it gets tricky. For the baby to have been missing mid-flight, it would either mean that the baby was stolen, somehow disguised and smuggled off the plane while the other passengers were disembarking...”
“How is that possible? We were sequestered here and searched immediately we left the plane.”
She opened her eyes and gave him a pointed stare and then closed her eyes again and continued speechifying,
“…or the baby was hidden here somewhere, and then smuggled off when everyone had gone.”
It was then that she turned to address Samuel.
“Mr. Clark, I would appreciate if you did not interrupt me in the middle of my speech, apart from it being rude, you could also interrupt the flow of my thoughts.” Samuel felt like
a twelve year old being reprimanded by his teacher. Holly stood to the side, trying hard to suppress a chuckle. “Now concerning what you asked, I would have you know that a lot of things we term impossible are only impossible because no one’s done it yet. I mean, no one thought it was possible for a child to vanish from an airplane till this happened, No?”
“How many other couples had children with them?” she asked Holly.
“Two, I am told. They were handled separately. Elizabeth was asked to take a look at the children. She confirmed that neither was hers.”
“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose a mother would not recognize her child, even in any circumstances, still.”
They were silent for a bit.
“You mentioned that it was possible that the baby was hidden here and then carried off later?” Samuel was the one asking now.
“Yes. There aren’t a lot of places where one could hide a child for the duration of the flight, but like I said, anything is possible. Especially if the kidnapper had the help of one or more of the crew members.”
“Why do you say so?” Samuel asked again. He seemed really interested in this particular line of thought.
“Nothing goes by the flight attendants. Even the individuals who sneak into the bathrooms for a rumpus, the flight attendants notice. Sometimes they just choose to turn a blind eye. So, if the baby was hidden here, one of the crew members would have an idea who and how.”
“And, I think my work here is done,” Penny said as abruptly as she had started. “Besides, I think that crew member is trying to get your attention.” She was looking over Holly’s shoulder. The crew member from before was just standing there, saying nothing.
“Oh, you were asked to inform us that our time was up?” Holly asked sweetly, batting her eyes at the young man.
“Obviously he was. I think he was too smitten to even approach you. I don’t know how you do it, Holly, I think you need to give me a few lessons in preparation for the next marriage.”
“Oh, honey, the trick is not to get married in the first place. Marriage makes the magic ineffectual.” They laughed as they clambered down the staircase.