Chapter One Hundred and Ten
Alice looked in the mirror, applying a perfect line of black eyeliner, then waiting for it to dry. She could get used to flying private, with its free supply of toiletries. She had hardly felt the jet land and she was stalling, as part of her plan. She sprayed herself with Chanel perfume when there was a knock at the door.
“Bennie?” Knox said. “It’s time to deplane.”
Alice opened the door, threw her arms around Knox’s neck, and gave him a long, deep kiss. “Sorry, I wanted to get all pretty for you.”
“Mmm.” Knox’s tongue flicked inside her mouth. “You smell sexy.”
“I am sexy.”
“I second that. So, are you good to go?”
“Just about.”
“Your car is ready and waiting. You’ll have to go through immigration, but it won’t take long. We have our own officer at the private airport. I’ll escort you.”
“Will you walk me to the car, too? I don’t know where the pickup area is. I’ve never been.”
“Certainly, I’m off for the night. Any other requests?”
“Just one.” Alice kissed him again. “Send the other flight attendant home.”
“She’s gone. They all went.”
“Even whoever cleans the plane? I don’t want anybody seeing us together. My husband-” Alice broke off her sentence, and Knox’s eyes widened slightly.
“Oh, I see.” He glanced at her left hand. “What, no wedding band?”
“Not out of town.” Alice smiled, and so did Knox.
“No worries. The service crew doesn’t come until tomorrow morning.”
“Good. I’ll be right out.”
“See you then.” Knox closed the bathroom door, and Alice threw the latch to lock it, then she went into action.
She took one of the sweat socks, wet it, and wedged it around the smoke detector in the ceiling. She tore paper towels from the dispenser in fistfuls and shoved them into the wastebasket. She took the toilet paper out of the dispenser, stuffed that in with the paper towels, and put the wastebasket under the window with its plaid curtains.
She opened the matchbook, struck a match, then lit the curtains, which made a funny smell. She slid her new gun from her messenger bag and shoved it in her waistband in back. She tossed the matchbook into the flaming wastebasket, then grabbed the messenger bag, slipped out of the bathroom, and hurried to the front of the jet, where Knox stood by the open door.
“You had a cigarette, eh?” he asked, and she took his arm and pressed him toward the door.
“You can smell it, huh? Someday I’ll quit.”
“You and me both.” Knox helped her down the stairway, and Alice looked around the airfield. It was dark, but lit enough to see a row of jets lined up next to their jet, near a silvery cylindrical fuel truck that read AVITA. The tarmac was quiet, no one was around, and not a baggage cart moving.
“Where is everybody?” Alice smiled.
“Gone to bed. Welcome to Nassau.” Knox took her arm and led her toward a small modern terminal. Palm trees rustled along the concrete walk that lead to a glass double door, and the terminal’s large windows showed only a single uniformed person inside.
“Only one person?”
“We’re the only flight. He’s waiting on us.”
“Before we go through immigration, wanna stop at the bathroom?”
“Didn’t you just do that?”
“Not for my benefit, for yours.” Alice faked a sexy giggle. “There’s one thing we didn’t do, and I bet I do it better than your wife.”
“Ha!” Knox laughed. “Come with me, woman.”
They passed through an automatic door, which let them into a waiting room with a large screen TV in front of a leather sofa and chairs. A man in a light blue shirt was on the phone and didn’t look up. Knox led the way down a hallway and went through a door that read MEN’S.
Alice followed him inside.
Chapter One Hundred and Eleven
Bennie was the first one off the plane when it landed in Miami, and she hurried down the jetway and through the door to the terminal, which was crowded with vacationers in funny hats, big families, honeymooning couples, and world-weary business travelers, all filling the air with different languages. Moms cuddled toddlers in chairs in the gate area, and students slept on the floor, their flights delayed in bad weather. Her connection to Nassau had also been delayed, and on the flight they had announced the gate number, which was only three down the hall.
She made her way through the crowd, reached the Nassau gate, and got in line at the counter to get her boarding pass. It was five people deep and manned by a single beleaguered airlines employee, so she looked around for a supervisor, but there wasn’t one, so she waited. The air-conditioning had been turned off, and it smelled like body odor and patisserie hot dogs. People thronged to the gate, waiting for the boarding announcement, and by the time she reached the desk, the flight to Nassau was already boarding.
“Can I help you?” asked the airline employee, a faint sheen of sweat covering his top lip.
“My name is Bennie Rosato, I’m booked on this flight, and I need a boarding pass.”
“Certainly. Your ID, please?”
“I don’t have it. My wallet was stolen, and the FBI contacted you about me. They called down from Philadelphia.”
The airline employee blinked a few times. “If this is a joke, I’m kind of busy.”
“The FBI was supposed to call you, or someone at the airline. I just got off the flight from Philly, and they let me on without ID because I’m working with the FBI.”
“If you’re with the FBI, you should have identification.”
“No, I’m a private citizen but I’m working with the FBI.” Bennie dug in her purse and slid Special Agent Wingate’s business card across the desk. “This is the agent in charge of the case. If you call him, he’ll vouch for me.”
“I don’t have time to do that, and I can’t board you without ID, no matter who says so. I don’t make the rules.”
“But I’m booked on this flight. You can find my name, and you know I just got off another flight, because I couldn’t have gotten through security without ID, right?” Bennie sensed it was a losing cause, but she couldn’t give up or Alice would be gone forever. “Just let me on. I have to get to Nassau tonight.”
“I can’t do that, I’m sorry.” The airline employee looked at the line, worriedly. “Now, as you can see, there are so many people waiting-”
“Then give me a phone and let me call.” Bennie walked around the side of the counter, but the airline employee recoiled, putting his hands up, protectively.
“Stop! You’re not allowed back here.”
“I just want to use your phone. I can clear this up in two minutes. I have to get on this flight.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t let you do that. I don’t have an outside line here. The most I can do is call my supervisor, and you can take it up with her.”
“Call her, then.” Bennie checked behind her, and the flight was boarding quickly. “Right away.”
“I couldn’t reach her right away, Miss. She’s on break.” The airline employee wet his lips, nervously. “Why don’t we put you up tonight, at the hotel near the airport, and give you a voucher for a flight anywhere in the continental United States, usable for up to one year.”
