Fatal Voyage (14 page)

 “Will you ever be able to tell who was seated and who wasn’t?”

 “Recovered seats will be examined for evidence of belt restraint,
things like belt loading, belt cuts, occupant-related deformation.

 With data from the medical anthropology group we’ll try to correlate
seat damage with body fragmentation.“

 I listened, knowing the bodies would be coded, just as the seats had
been. Green: body intact. Yellow: crushed head or loss of one extremity. Blue: loss of two
extremities with or without crushed head.

 Red: loss of three or more extremities or complete transaction of
body.

 “The autopsy reports will also show where passengers with penetrating
materials, thermal burns, or chemical burns were seated within the cabin,” Lowery went on. “We’ll
also try to correlate right-versus-left-side injury patterns with right-versus-left-seat
deformation.”

 “What does that tell you?” Ryan asked.

 “A high degree of correlation would suggest that passengers remained
seated through most of the crash sequence. A poor correlation would mean either they were not in
their assigned seats, or they became separated from their seats fairly early in the
sequence.”

 I felt a chill thinking of the terror-filled final moments of those
passengers.

 “The docs will also give us data on anterior-versus-posterior injuries,
which we’ll correlate to fore-versus-aft seat deformation.”

 “Why?” Ryan.

 “It’s assumed that the forward motion of the plane combined with the
protective effect of the seat at the occupant’s back result in predominantly anterior
injuries.”

 “Unless the passenger is separated from the seat.”

 “Exactly. Also, in crashes with forward velocity, forward-facing seats
are deformed in the forward direction. In midair breakups, that pattern may not occur, since
portions of the plane may have tumbled prior to impact.”

 “And?”

 “Of the seats recovered so far, over seventy percent show detectable
deformation in the fore-aft plane. Of those, less than forty percent were deformed in the forward
direction.”

 “Meaning in-flight destruction.”

 “No doubt about it. Susan’s group is still studying the mode of
breakup. They’ll try to reconstruct the exact sequence of failure, but it’s pretty clear
there was a sudden, catastrophic midair event.

 That means that parts of the fuselage tumbled prior to ground
impact.

 I’m a little surprised there isn’t more variation among the various
sections, but these things never follow the book. What is clear is that the seats in each section
show nearly identical impact loading.“

 He worked the keys, and the original diagram filled the screen.

 “And there’s little doubt where the blast occurred.” He pointed to the
splotch of fiery red at the left rear of the cabin.

 “An explosion doesn’t necessarily mean a bomb.”

 We swiveled to see Magnus Jackson standing at the cubicle entrance. He
looked at me a long time but said nothing. The screen glowed rainbow bright behind us.

 “The rocket scenario has been given some new credibility,” Jackson
said.

 We all waited.

 “There are now three witnesses claiming to have seen an object shoot
into the sky.”

 Ryan crooked an arm over the back of his chair. “I’ve talked to the
Right Reverends Mr. Claiborne and Mr. Bowman, and I’d estimate a combined IQ in the woolly worm
range.”

 I wondered how Ryan knew about woolly worms but didn’t ask.

 “All three witnesses give times and descriptions that are virtually
identical.”

 “Like their genetic codes,” Ryan quipped.

 “Will these witnesses take lie detector tests?” I asked.

 “They probably think a microwave will fry their genitals,” Ryan
said.

 Jackson almost smiled, but Ryan’s jokes were beginning to annoy me.

 “You’re right,” Jackson said. “There’s a healthy suspicion of authority
and science in the rural areas up here. The witnesses refuse to submit to polygraphs on the
grounds that the government could use the technology to alter their brains.”

 “Give them upgrades?”

 Jackson did smile briefly. Then the investigator in charge studied me
again, and left without another word.

 “Can we go back to the seating chart?” I asked.

 Lowery entered a sequence of keystrokes and the diagram filled the
screen.

 “Can you superimpose the seat damage over that?”

 Another few keys and the Seurat was in place.

 “Where was Martha Simington seated?”

 Lowery pointed to the first row in first class: “1A.”

 Pale blue.

 “And the Sri Lankan exchange student?”

 “Anurudha Mahendran 12F, just forward of the right wing.”

 Dark blue.

 “Where were Jean Bertrand and Remi Petricelli?”

 Lowery’s finger moved to the last row on the left.

 “Twenty-three A and B.”

 Fiery red.

 Ground zero.

 FOLLOWING THE BRIEFING, RYAN AND I BOUGHT LUNCH AT HOT Dog Heaven and
watched tourists at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad Depot as we ate.

 The weather had warmed, and at one-thirty in the afternoon the
temperature was in the low eighties. The sun was bright, the wind barely a whisper. Indian summer
in Cherokee country.

 Ryan promised to ask about progress in victim identification, and I
promised to dine with him that night. As he drove off I felt like a housewife whose children had
just started full-day school: a long afternoon of yawning until the troops reappeared.

 Returning to High Ridge House, I took Boyd for another walk. Though the
dog was delighted, the outing was really for me. I was restless and edgy and needed physical
exertion. Crowe hadn’t called, and I couldn’t get into the courthouse until Monday. As I was
barred from the morgue and persona non grata with my colleagues, further research into the foot
was at a standstill.

 I then tried reading but by three-thirty could take it no longer.

 Grabbing purse and keys, I set out, going somewhere.

 I’d hardly left Bryson City when I passed a mile marker for
Cherokee.

 Daniel Wahnetah was Cherokee. Was he living on the reservation at the
time of his disappearance? I couldn’t remember.

 In fifteen minutes I was there.

 The Cherokee Nation once ruled 135,000 square miles of North America,
including parts of what are now eight states. Unlike the Plains Indians, so popular with
producers of Western movies, the Cherokee lived in log cabins, wore turbans, and adopted the
European style of dress.

 With Sequoyah’s alphabet, their language became transcribable in the
1820s.

 In 1838, in one of the more infamous betrayals in modern history, the
Cherokee were forced from their homes and driven 1,200 miles west to Oklahoma on a death march
christened the Trail of Tears. The survivors came to be known as the Western Band Cherokee. The
Eastern Band is composed of the descendants of those who hid out and remained in the Smoky
Mountains.

 As I drove past signs for the Oconaluftee Indian Village, the Museum of
the Cherokee Indian, and the outdoor drama Unto These Hills, I experienced my usual anger at the
arrogance and cruelty of manifest destiny. Though geared toward the dollar, these contemporary
enterprises were also attempts at heritage preservation, and demonstrated the tenacity of another
people screwed over by my noble pioneer ancestors.

 Billboards plugged Harrah’s Casino and the Cherokee Hilton, living
proof that Sequoyah’s descendants shared his aptitude for cultural borrowing.

 So did downtown Cherokee, where T-shirt, leather, knife, and moccasin
stores elbowed for space with gift and souvenir emporiums, fudge shops, ice cream parlors, and
fast-food joints. The Indian Store. The Spotted Pony. The Tomahawk Mini-Mall. The Buck and Squaw.
Teepees sprouted from roofs and painted totem poles flanked entrances. Aboriginal kitsch
extraordinaire.

 After several unsuccessful passes up and down Highway 19, I parked in a
small lot several blocks off the main drag. For the next hour I joined the tourist mass swarming
walkways and businesses. I appraised genuine Cherokee ashtrays, key chains, back scratchers, and
tom-toms. I inspected authentic wooden tomahawks, ceramic buffalo, acrylic blankets, and plastic
arrows, and marveled at the ringing of the cash registers.

 Had there ever been buffalo in North Carolina?

 Now who’s screwing whom? I thought, watching a young boy hand over
seven dollars for a neon-feathered headdress.

 Despite the culture of commercialism, I enjoyed stepping back from my
normal world: Women with bite marks on their breasts. Toddlers with vaginal abrasions. Drifters
with bellies full of antifreeze. A severed foot. Goosefeather headdresses are preferable to
violence and death.

 It was also a relief to step out of the emotional quagmire of puzzling
relationships. I bought postcards. Peanut butter fudge. A caramel apple. My problems with
Larke Tyrell and my confusion about Pete and Ryan receded to another galaxy.

 Walking past the Boot Hill Leather Shop, I had a sudden impulse. Beside
Pete’s bed I’d noticed the slippers that Katy had given him when she was six years old. I’d buy
him moccasins as a thank-you for boosting my spirits.

 Or whatever it was that he had boosted.

 As I was poking through bins, another thought struck me: Perhaps
genuine imitation Native-American footwear would cheer Ryan’s spirits over the loss of his
partner. O.K. Two for one.

 Pete was easy. Eleven D translates to “large” in moccasin. What the
hell did Ryan wear?

 I was comparing sizes, debating whether an extra large would fit a
six-foot-three Irish-Canadian from Nova Scotia, when a series of synapses fired in my brain.

 Foot bones. Soldiers in Southeast Asia. Formulae for distinguishing
Asian remains from those of American blacks and whites.

 Could it work?

 Had I taken the necessary measurements?

 Grabbing one large and one extra large, I paid and raced for the
parking lot, anxious to return to Magnolia to check my spiral notebook.

 I was approaching my car when I heard an engine, glanced up, and saw a
black Volvo moving in my direction. At first my mind didn’t register danger, but the car kept
coming. Fast. Too fast for a parking lot.

 My mental computer. Velocity. Trajectory.

 The car was speeding directly toward me!

 Move!

 I didn’t know which way to throw myself. I guessed left and hit the
ground. In seconds the Volvo flashed by, showering me with dirt and gravel. I felt a blast of
wind, gears shifted close to my head, and the smell of exhaust filled my lungs.

 The engine sounds receded.

 I lay flat on the ground, listening to my pounding heart.

 My mind connected. Look up!

 When I turned my head the Volvo was rounding a corner. The sun was low
and straight in my eyes, so I caught only a glimpse of the driver. He was hunched forward, and a
cap hid most of his face.

 I rolled and pushed myself to a sitting position, brushed dirt from my
clothes, and glanced around. I was alone in the lot.

 Rising on shaky legs, I threw my purse and package into the backseat,
slid behind the wheel, and hit the locks. Then I sat a moment massaging my throbbing
shoulder.

 What the hell had just happened?

 All the way to High Ridge House I replayed the scene. Was I becoming
paranoid, or had someone tried to run me down? Was the driver drunk?

 Blind? Stupid?

 Should I report the incident? To Crowe? To Mcmahon?

 Had the silhouette seemed familiar? I’d automatically thought “he,” but
was it a man?

 I decided to ask Ryan’s opinion at dinner.

 Back in Ruby’s kitchen, I made tea and drank it slowly. By the time I’d
climbed to Magnolia, my nerves had calmed and my hands were steady. I made a call to the
university in Charlotte, not really expecting an answer. My assistant picked up on the first
ring.

 “What are you doing at the lab on Saturday?”

 “Grading.”

 “Right. I appreciate your dedication, Alex.”

 “Grading exercises is part of my job. Where are you?”

 “Bryson City.”

“I thought you were finished there. I mean, your job was finished. I mean… ”
She trailed off, unsure what to say.

 Her embarrassment told me that news of my dismissal had reached the
university.

 “I’ll explain when I get back.”

 “You go, girl.” Lamely.

 “Listen, can you grab the lab copy of my book?”

 “Eighty-six or ninety-eight?”

 I’d been the editor of a book on forensic techniques that had become a
leading text in its field, largely due to the excellent work of the contributing authors I had
managed to assemble, but including a couple of my own chapters as well. After twelve years it had
been updated with a second, entirely new edition.

 “The first one.”

 “Hold on.”

 In seconds she was back.

 “What do you need?”

 “There’s a chapter on population differences in the calcaneus. Flip to
that.”

 “Got it.”

 “What’s the percentage of correct classification when comparing
Mongoloid, black, and white foot bones?”

 There was a long pause. I could picture her scanning the text, forehead
creasing, glasses creeping down her nose.

 “Just below eighty percent.”

 “Not great.”

 “But wait.” Another pause. “That’s because the whites and blacks don’t
separate well. The Mongoloids could be distinguished with eighty-three to ninety-nine percent
accuracy. That’s not too bad.”

 “O. K. Give me the list of measurements.”

 I had a sinking feeling as I wrote them down.

 “Now see if there’s a table that gives the unstandardized canonical
discriminant function coefficients for American Indians, blacks, and whites.” I would need these
figures for comparison to coefficients I would derive from the unknown foot.