Chapter Fourteen: Stage Actors
"Let's do it," Jordan said with a smile.
"Sweet Nancy, just don't make me the killer-perv this time," Nigel muttered.
Woody smirked. "I doubt that there are any pervs in this story, Nige."
"But how on earth are we supposed to make sure you aren't the killer; isn't that what we're trying to figure out?" Kate said, smacking Nigel on the arm ("Ow!"). "Anyway, what exactly are 'we' doing?"
"It's Jordan's favorite past time," Bug explained. "A little crime recreation theater."
At Kate's still-puzzled look, Garret explained more. "Everyone pretends to be one of the people involved in the murder. We only use the facts and try to reconstruct what happens. I know it sounds crazy, but it's hardly ever failed."
Kate rolled her eyes, but didn't protest.
"Okay…Nige, if you really don't want to be the killer, I suggest you be the pilot," Jordan stated. "I doubt this is suicide, so he's the only one we can really rule out."
Everyone pushed the tables out of the way and set up the chairs to look like airplane aisles.
Nigel took his place as the pilot, and Bug volunteered to be the copilot.
"Okay…there were supposed to be two stewardesses, but one was in sick…of course, that person was replaced," Woody said after referring to Seely's notes. "So, Jordan and Kate…you be the stewardesses on board. Lily, you be the one who stayed home."
The women glanced at each other. "Wow, this is exciting," Lily commented.
Garret and Woody chose to be passengers who were at the top of the "interest" list.
"All right…what about the terrorist angle?" said Garret. "No one was of Middle Eastern decent, but there could have been a home-grown terrorist."
"Okay, I'll be him," said Woody. "Let's see what happens."
"Woody the Terrorist" boards the plane. Jordan welcomes him, and he takes his seat towards the front of the plane. Once everyone is on board, Jordan goes to the back of the plane. Woody waits for Kate to leave the front, but she doesn't pass him until the plane is in the air and the stewardesses are passing out drinks.
Woody gets a drink, and surreptitiously inserts the toxin into it. Then, he gets up and goes towards the cockpit to—
"That doesn't make sense," Garret said.
Everyone else stops, and becomes themselves again.
"Why not?" asked Lily.
"Well, first of all…the cockpit has its own security system. I doubt anyone would be able to get in without force, and that would attract too much attention. The pilots would never drink anything a man with a gun would give them."
"Plus, the toxin would not have caused the paralysis that quickly. The pilot had to have ingested it before take off, at the very least," Nigel added.
"Okay…didn't think the terrorist angle would work anyway. Most home-grown guys aren't into suicide, and they usually want it publicized. It was only a small plane; it hasn't gotten any national attention," Jordan thought out loud.
"So what? It has to be a personal connection to someone on the plane," Kate said.
Woody consulted his suspect list again. "Well, any of the passengers would have the same problem getting into the cockpit. And none of them would have access to the plane before boarding, so I think we can rule them out."
"That leaves the stewardesses and the copilot." Jordan waggled her eyebrows at Kate.
Bug replied, "Well, it can't be me. Why would I drink my own poison? If I did want the plane to go down, I would make sure that I wasn't on it."
Everyone slowly turned and looked towards Lily.
"Lily the Stewardess" boards the plane while no one else is in it. She takes out a can of soda and places the toxin inside it. Then, she puts it in the cockpit on the pilot's side. Taking one last glance around, she leaves the plane.
Afterwards, she pretends to get sick and Kate has to replace her.
Garret sighed. "That explains how the soda got there…but what about motive? And why would the stewardess want to kill everyone on the plane?"
"Why did she put the soda by the pilot and not the copilot?" asked Kate.
Jordan re-read the tox reports. "The pilot ingested a greater quantity of the toxin than the copilot did. The same results, but it means that he was the target. He must have shared his drink with the copilot."
"So maybe the stewardess didn't mean for the plane to go down," Nigel said. "Maybe she just wanted the pilot dead…for some reason."
Jordan shook her head. "But if she wanted him dead, there are bunches of other ways to get him that way that don't involve taking out 20 other people in the process. And it wasn't sure-fire…if the copilot hadn't drunk the soda, the plane wouldn't have crashed."
"She was the stewardess with that crew for over two years," Woody read from the report. "She would have known both pilots' habits. Maybe they always shared drinks? We need to question her again."
"But what about motive?" asked Bug. "She had to have a really good reason to want this guy dead."
"Affairs are always good motives…the guy was married," Kate replied. "And, this way…it looks like an accident. She probably betted that the soda can would be destroyed in the crash."
"This is all very lovely, but do we have anything that will prove our theories?" Nigel asked.
Jordan smirked. "As a matter of fact, we might, Nige. We found a print on the soda can, remember? It didn't match anyone from the crew. I bet it is the stewardesses."
One quick computer test confirmed it. The absent stewardess was indeed the guilty party.
"That's cold," Lily said quietly. Everyone shuddered…no matter what the reason the stewardess had, it would never justify killing 20 people like that.
"Let's call Seely…tell him we did his job for him," said Garret soberly.