Джордан Шор - The Search

George swallowed. “You mean the ex-wife?” he asked and tried his best to sound nonchalant.

“His ex-wife?” Jack sounded surprised. “I thought they were married?”

“Yes, you’re right,” George responded. “Technically, they were still married, but I was told they were going through a divorce.”

“That’s strange. They seemed so happy together.”

“They talked to each other?” George asked. “Did this happen during the flight?”

“I only noticed them when boarding. But they looked very happy together, and very much in love,” Jack claimed. “Perhaps they’d fallen back in love.”

“No, that can’t be right,” George said. “His mother told me they hated each other.”

“You talked to his mother?” Jack Green had a look of disbelief.

“It’s just standard … protocol,” he mumbled. “I visited the co-pilot’s parents also. It’s just company policy.” George made it all sound very nonchalant.

Jack Green kept staring at him with wide eyes.

“The pilot’s ex-wife was on the plane, and they were going through a bitter divorce, and then the plane crashes. Is that what you’re saying, Stanton? That’s some coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

What just happened here?

“Did the pilot know his ex-wife was on the plane?”

Yeah, he even bought her the ticket .

“I don’t have that information,” George lied.

“That’s too much of a coincidence if you ask me.”

“It’s just a coincidence,” George said. “But I thought the feds mentioned that she was on the plane?”

Jack Green frowned. “No, they never mentioned it to me.”

“But they mentioned her name?”

“I don’t think so. What was her name?” Jack Green kept frowning.

“Sharon Stone,” he almost yelled.

“The pilot’s ex-wife was Sharon Stone?”

“Not the actress, obviously,” George responded. “It’s a common name. But, I don’t understand. You told me there was a celebrity on board.”

“I was referring to Pamela Anderson.”

Pamela Anderson?

“Who’s Pamela Anderson?” This time he yelled.

“She was on this TV show when I was young, she played this lifeguard—”

“I’ve heard of Baywatch , and I’m familiar with Pamela Anderson, the actress,” George interrupted. “But who exactly are you talking about?”

“Kevin’s wife was named Pamela, and the feds told me his last name was Anderson,” Jack added. “I saw Kevin board the plane with his wife, and I noticed how happy the two looked. I was talking about her. I never heard of Sharon Stone.”

“Kevin…” The guy from the woods?

George reached for his cell phone, and swiped the screen before he scrolled down to the bottom of the manifest.

“Kevin Anderson was seated next to…”

George hesitated on how to pronounce the name.

“…Aiglentina Anderson,” he mumbled, and then scrolled through the list of names. “There was no passenger by the name of Pamela.”

“Perhaps I did imagine it then.”

“Imagine what?”

“I thought I heard a male voice yelling for Pamela.”

“I heard that too.”

Jack Green frowned. “Excuse me?”

You probably shouldn’t frown so much, given how distinctive your eyebrows are.

“Back at the police station,” George responded. “I heard someone chanting Pamela, but there weren’t any women present.”

“That was just Agent Coleman messing with me,” Jack said. “After the crash, I kept asking the others if they’d heard someone yelling for Pamela. But no one else heard it, and I was getting on people’s nerves for asking. Julie must have mentioned it to Coleman, and he used it as an opportunity to mock me.”

“Is that why you tried to break down the door?”

“I lost my temper,” Jack admitted. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. It sounds to me as if that Coleman fellow had it coming.”

“He’s just young for his age. That’s all,” Jack said. “He’ll grow out of it.”

“I think that guy is done growing.” George smiled.

Jack Green smiled back at him.

Seriously, George? Are you making fun of short people now?

“I thought it was Kevin who was shouting for his wife,” Jack said. “But I guess I must have imagined it then. At first, I thought I heard God.”

George hesitated. “God…”

“I was confused after the crash, and it was so dark, and I didn’t know which way to swim. I thought I was about to die,” Jack said. “My mother’s name was Pamela, and I thought God shouted her name to remind me that I didn’t attend her funeral. I thought God had forsaken me and left me in the darkness as a punishment.”

“Sounds to me, as if you had a near death experience,” George said. “They wouldn’t let you out to attend your mother’s funeral?”

Jack Green bowed his head. “I chose not to go.”

There was an awkward silence before Jack Green finally spoke.

“That explains why the pilot checked out Julie before boarding. He probably noticed his ex-wife in the waiting area, and tried his best to make her jealous.”

“He talked to Julie?” George asked. “The woman from the woods?”

“No, that’s the thing, he wasn’t really talking to her,” Jack responded. “He just stood close to her, as if he was pretending to have a conversation with her or something. But Julie didn’t show any interest in him. And why would she?” Jack chuckled. “As if a guy like that ever could have a chance with her.”

“So, you find her attractive?”

“Julie,” Jack responded. “Oh, she’s gorgeous.”

George sensed something about the way Jack Green had said her name; he was a man in love.

“On the other hand, you don’t have to be gorgeous to turn that guy down,” Jack added. “It makes me wonder what Sharon Stone looked like. You know, in comparison.”

“You mean in comparison to the actual actress?” George felt puzzled.

“No, I mean in comparison to the pilot,” Jack clarified. “She had to be pretty desperate to marry a guy like that . Am I right?”

Jack Green appeared to be waiting for a response, and George hesitated as to whether he should comment on Captain Daniels’s physical appearance, which he thought was very delightful.

I like men who are tall and muscular… Oh, do NOT say that, George.

George Stanton made sure to bite down on his tongue.

Jack Green smiled and winked. “You didn’t think he was attractive, did you?”

Yes, I thought he was attractive… Wait, did you just call me gay?

George tried to think of a safe response. “I don’t follow.”

Jack Green’s face clouded over. “I didn’t mean to sound shallow. But I just can’t imagine most women would want to wake up, next to a bald eagle every morning.”

“A bald eagle?” George asked and felt clueless. “Why would you say that?”

“I hate to sound shallow.”

“No, a bald eagle—What do you mean by that?” The tension in George’s chest was back, but he wasn’t sure why.

“Well, his nose was shaped like a beak, and then there was the lack of hair. I don’t know,” Jack said and shrugged.

George felt the hairs on his neck rising.

“That’s the co-pilot,” he just about yelled. “You’re describing the co-pilot, Isaac Gregorian. Was it him up in the woods? Captain Daniels was tall and handsome.”

“Well, in that case it was the other way around,” Jack said, and shrugged once more. “Then it was your co-pilot who died in the woods. That… Gregory fellow.”

If Captain Daniels had poisoned his co-pilot, then how could the co-pilot, Isaac Gregorian, have ended up in the woods?