Read Online Healing Waters by Stephen Arterburn, Nancy Rue - Free Book Online Page B

the ravings of a fat lady after all.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said. “I lied—I do have one more question.”
    I wanted to stand up so she’d know I only had one answer left in me, but I stayed put.
    â€œDid you notice the crew that serviced the airplane at all?”
    â€œThe crew?”
    â€œWeren’t there some people refueling the jet—”
    â€œI know what a crew is.” I closed my eyes again, but I only saw the scrawny kid with a wanna-be goatee who tried to hit on Marnie. “They were just kind of there,” I said. “All I saw them do—”
    â€œThem.”
    â€œTwo guys. They put those blocks under the wheels. Other than that, I didn’t pay attention.”
    â€œNeither of them went on board the plane.”
    â€œNot while I was on there.”
    â€œWhen you got off, did you notice them anywhere around the plane?”
    How many ways did I have to say it?
    And, more to the point, why? The FBI didn’t come around unless they suspected somebody had committed a crime. It didn’t sound like Chip’s kind of crime this time, but I still wanted with every cell in my body to get out of there. Yet I couldn’t leave with this piling on top of everything else I was hauling around inside. Even I could only expand so much to hold it.
    â€œYou said you weren’t here to talk about my husband,” I said. “Then why are you here?”
    â€œThat’s a fair question.” She added more tea to her cup. “We don’t have a theory about the plane crash yet. At this point we’re just gathering information. Would you like to hear what we know so far?” She gave a small shrug. “Who knows, maybe it will jog something in your memory.”
    Regret that I’d asked crept in, but I nodded.
    â€œAir traffic control lost contact with the pilot within seconds of takeoff. Preliminary examination of his body by the medical examiner showed no smoke inhalation, which would indicate he died before the fire occurred. That jibes with the behavior of the plane described by the ground crew. Am I going too fast?”
    It was too much to process at any speed.
    â€œMr. Underwood’s medical records show he has no previous history of serious illness. The man was fifty-nine years old, though pronounced to be in good health at his last physical.”
    Her words were professional, but by her tone we could have been chatting on the back porch about our recently deceased uncle.
    â€œThe autopsy and full tox screen could reveal more. In any event, as the jet ascended, he apparently pulled the yoke too hard for some reason and caused a stall. The plane virtually fell out of the sky.”
    I nodded involuntarily. I’d described it that way to myself as I’d watched it.
    â€œNow, here’s the problem. The plane had gained no more than a few hundred feet in altitude before the crash. While the fact that it had been refueled literally moments before would account for its bursting into flame, NTSB is not sure the impact was enough to warrant the kind of explosion you saw.” She gave me the grandmotherly look again. “I’m sorry, but we’re looking for evidence of foul play.”
    â€œYou think somebody did this deliberately?”
    â€œWe’re just compiling the facts.” She pulled out her badge case again and produced a business card, which she held out to me. “If anything occurs to you—even if you think it’s insignificant—call me at this number.”
    I couldn’t even reach out my hand to take the card. She set it on my knee.
    â€œThe idea that someone would want to hurt your sister, or anyone else on the plane, is probably difficult to fathom,” she said. “Unless you can think of anyone who might.”
    â€œEveryone loves Sonia,” I said before I even thought it. To meet Sonia was to drop to one’s knees in awe, no matter how hard you fought