Nelson DeMille - Night Fall

“Yes, an ATTF team did. They found several hotels and motels that used that brand of blanket. They narrowed it down to one hotel that said a maid reported a missing blanket from a room.”

“What was the name of the hotel?”

“Are you interested in pursuing this?”

“No. In fact both you and Liam Griffith have told me it’s none of my business.”

“That’s correct.”

“Good. By the way-why are we here?”

“I thought you’d find this interesting. You might work it into one of your classes at John Jay.”

“You’re always thinking of me.”

She didn’t reply.

By now, of course, the hook was in John Corey’s mouth, and Kate Mayfield was reeling the fish in slowly. I think this is how I got married, both times.

She continued, “On the blanket was an ice chest, and in the chest, the police officer’s report described half-melted ice. There were two wineglasses on the blanket, a corkscrew, and an empty bottle of white wine.”

“What kind of wine?”

“An expensive French Pouilly-Fume. About fifty dollars in those days.”

I asked, “Did anyone get prints from the bottle?”

“Yes. And the wineglasses. And the ice chest. Lots of good prints. Two different sets. The FBI ran the prints, but came up empty.”

I asked, “Lipstick?”

“Yes, on one glass.”

“Any sign of sex on the blanket?”

Kate replied, “There was no semen found, and no condoms.”

“Maybe they had oral sex, and she swallowed.”

“Thank you for that thought. Okay, forensics did find male and female epidermal on the blanket, plus body hair, head hair, and some pubic hair, so this couple was probably naked at some point.” She added, “But it could have been someone else’s hair and epidermal since it seemed to be a hotel blanket.”

“Any foreign fibers?”

“Lots of fibers. But again, it could be from a dozen different sources.” She added, “Also some white wine on the blanket.”

I nodded. In fact, stuff found on hotel blankets was not exactly good forensic evidence. I asked, “Sand?”

“Yes. Some still damp. So they may have gone down to the beach.”

I nodded and asked, “Did this cop see any vehicles heading away from this beach?”

“Yes, he mentioned passing a light-colored, late-model Ford Explorer out on Dune Road, coming from this direction. But since he was responding to an emergency, not a crime in progress, he didn’t take note of the license plate or if there were any passengers in the vehicle. No follow-up was done.”

I nodded. Ford Explorers, like Jeeps, were as common around here as seagulls, so it wasn’t worth the time or effort to check it out.

Kate said to me, “Okay, that’s about it. Would you like to attempt a reconstruction of the events of that evening?”

I replied, “Rather than me verbally reconstructing, this may be a good time for a re-enactment.”

“John, clean up your act.”

“I’m trying to get into this scene.”

“Come on. It’s getting late. Reconstruct.” She smiled. “We’ll re-enact later.”

I smiled in return. “Okay. We have a man and a woman. They may have been staying at a local hotel, the name of which I may learn later. The expensive wine indicates perhaps upper-middle-class and middle-age people. They decide to go to the beach, and they snag the blanket from the hotel bed. They do, however, have an ice chest, so maybe this was planned to some extent. They know or have heard of this secluded spot, or they just stumbled upon it. I think they got here late afternoon or early evening.”

“Why?”

“Well, I remember where I was when I heard about the crash. Bright and sunny that day, and you didn’t mention suntan oil or lotion on the blanket, on the bottle, or on the wineglasses.”

“Correct. Continue.”

“Okay. So, this man and woman, perhaps driving a Ford Explorer, got here at some point before eight-thirty-oneP.M., the time of the crash. They laid out the blanket, opened the ice chest, took out the wine, opened it with the corkscrew, poured it into two glasses, and finished the bottle. At some point, they may have gotten naked, and may have engaged in sexual activity.”

She didn’t reply, and I continued, “Okay, based on the damp sand found on the blanket, we can speculate that they went down to the water, naked or clothed. At some point-at eight-thirty-oneP.M. to be exact-they saw and heard an explosion in the sky. I don’t know where they were standing at that time, but realizing that this spectacular occurrence would draw people to the beach, they got the hell out of here, and they were gone before the police arrived at eight-forty-six. The two vehicles may have passed on the single road leading to this beach.” I added, “My guess is that these two people were not married to each other.”

“Why?”

“Too romantic.”

“Don’t be cynical. Maybe they weren’t running away. Maybe they ran for help.”

“And kept on running. They didn’t want to be seen together.”

She nodded. “That’s the general consensus.”

“Among who?”

“Among the FBI agents on the Anti-Terrorist Task Force, who investigated this five years ago.”

“Let me ask you something. What makes these two people so important that the FBI went through all that trouble?”

“They were probably witnesses to the crash.”

“So what? There were six hundred eyewitnesses who saw the explosion. Over two hundred of them said they saw a streak of light rising toward the plane before the explosion. If the FBI didn’t believe two hundred people, why are these two unknown people so important?”

“Oh, I forgot. One last detail.”

“Ah.”

She said, “Also on the blanket was a plastic lens cap belonging to a JVC video camera.”

I let that sink in a moment as I looked around at the terrain and the sky. I asked her, “Did you ever hear from these people?”

“No.”

“And you never will. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER FIVE

We drove back through the Village of Westhampton. “Home?” I asked.

“One more stop. But only if you want to.”

“How many one-more-stops are there?”

“Two.”

I glanced at the woman sitting in the passenger seat beside me. It was my wife, Kate Mayfield. I mention this because sometimes she’s Special Agent Mayfield, and other times she’s conflicted about who she is.

At this moment, I could tell she was Kate, so this was the moment for me to clear up some things.

I pointed out to her, “You told me this case was none of my business. Then you took me to the beach where this couple had apparently witnessed and perhaps videotaped the crash. Would you care to explain this apparent contradiction?”

“No.” She added, “It’s not a contradiction. I just thought you’d find it interesting. We were close to that beach, and I showed it to you.”

“Okay. What am I going to find interesting at the next stop?”

“You’ll see at the next stop.”

“Do you want me to look into this case?” I asked.

“I can’t answer that.”

“Well, blink once for yes, twice for no.”

She reminded me, “You understand, John, I can’t get involved in this case. I’m career FBI. I could get fired.”

“How about me?”

“Do you care if you get fired?”

“No. I have a three-quarter NYPD disability pension. Tax free.” I added, “I’m not thrilled to be working for you anyway.”

“You don’t work for me. You work with me.”

“Whatever.” I asked again, “What do you want me to do?”

“Just look and listen, then whatever you do, you do. But I don’t want to know about it.”