Chapter Twenty-Five
Simone wiped her hands on her jeans when they’d parked the plane on the apron next to the other aircraft. She pulled her headset off as Ross got out to let the air stair down for the Carlevaros. She opened her door for fresh air and pulled the paperwork from between the seats. She took up a pen, but her hand hovered over the log, as she relived Ross’s earlier assault. Her fingers trembled, a solid cold enveloping her at the memory.
How to phrase what had happened? Putting it down in words was impossible. The cockpit voice recording, captured on the electronic flight data recorders, would have been the perfect evidence, but the most recent flight data would have wiped it out.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to make some sense of what had happened. Simone Levin was sexually harassed during the flight by Ross O’Connor. Her mind repeated the words yet her hand didn’t pen them down. By pinching her leg. By groping her groin. It sounded stupid although it had felt far from stupid. It had been intrusive and demeaning.
She glanced back to the cabin. The others were unbuckling. Angelo was already on his phone, talking in rapid Italian. She had no idea how much Dino, Natalia and Angelo knew, and if Carlo had told them of her part in the whole mess. During the flight, the three had tried to talk, breaking off in silence as the aircraft was too noisy for any decent conversation. Angelo slumped back into his seat again, nodding his head as Dino and Natalia disembarked.
Angelo leaned over and held his phone out. “Here, it’s Carlo. He wants to speak to you.”
Her heart raced, and her nervous fingers dropped the pen between the two pilot seats. “Thank you.” She took his phone.
“Simone?” The strain of the day was concentrated in his voice. “How are you?”
She closed her eyes. “I’m fine.” Too many words burned on her tongue. The need to tell him she was sorry, again, the need to tell him about Ross and what he’d done to her earlier. But this morning still hung between them, and Angelo sat behind her in the otherwise dead quiet, empty cabin. “How are you?” she asked instead.
“I’m in the international departures lounge next door,” he said. “My flight to London departs in half an hour.”
She suppressed a sigh. “Okay.” This wasn’t exactly news, but it wasn’t exactly painless either.
“I’ll have to see how it goes tomorrow. I’ve scheduled meetings with everyone who is in London.”
“Have you managed to speak to Alan Kaan or Brett Winser?”
“I got hold of Alan,” he sighed. “The conversation convinced me to go to the UK.”
“Oh,” she managed.
Ross ambled up to the open door on her side of the aircraft, staring at her, waiting. She shook her head at him, her stomach fisting in a cramp.
“I managed to speak to Michael Flynn.” Carlo took a breath but didn’t elaborate. “Can you check the aircraft Michael flew on the day he found the tusk? Find the container he refers to? It could still be there.”
She reached for her door and closed it, so that Ross could no longer hear her side of the conversation. “Sure.” Michael had flown the CC 208, number 583. She’d checked the log after her conversation with him the previous day.
She’d do whatever she could to patch this up. “I’ll check if the airplane is here.” She glanced over to the other aircraft, which were parked next to the DHC. Most of the planes were back for the day.
“Thank you.” He hesitated. “Is Angelo still there? Natalia? Dino?”
“Angelo is here, I’ll pass you back to him.” Her heart had sunk to somewhere below her knees.
“No, wait.” He paused. “We never had time to talk about Sarah.” His tone was softer.
She closed her eyes. “No.”
“This day didn’t pan out as I hoped. When you get home, please give Sarah…a hug and a kiss from me.”
She almost choked up at his words and bit on her tongue to stop the surge of emotion. “Will do,” she whispered.
“I’ve got to go, we’re finally boarding.” He rang off, saying nothing else, and the void he’d left almost swallowed her whole.
Angelo had waited for her to finish the call. She turned to hand Angelo his phone. He didn’t blink as he caught her gaze. He’d followed the whole conversation, and with it, her rollercoaster emotions.
Leaning down she picked up her pen from the floor, wiping at the lone tear that had escaped.
“Let’s get out of here, this heat is suffocating,” Angelo said, getting up from his seat. Stooping, he scooted down the narrow aisle toward the back exit of the aircraft.
She took a deep breath, grabbed the flight documentation, got out of the aircraft and locked her door. Ross was talking to Dino, Angelo and Natalia where they were waiting.
Angelo came up to her. “Is the plane Carlo referred to here?” He waved toward the other Carlevaro airplanes that were parked on the apron.
“I’ll have to look,” she answered, clutching the flight documentation under her arm.
Ross was hovering close, listening to their conversation.
“Do you have time to show us around? I think we should look at more than one plane,” Angelo continued as Dino approached them.
She didn’t bother checking the time. She wanted to get rid of Ross and the immense guilt that had overrun her every thought since that morning.
“I’ll deal with the flight admin,” Ross stepped up to them. “You can get going, if you need to, Simone.” His voice was friendly, helpful. He held out his hand for her to pass him the clipboard with the flight log still attached to it. “You should leave the clipboard in the plane, you know, but no worries, I’ll deal with it.”
It was so simple, it was so much easier, to just let it go. She took the pen, signed the document and handed it over to Ross. He held out his other hand and she dropped the aircraft’s keys in his palm.
She couldn’t deal with Ross, the Carlevaros who lingered expectantly, with gazes on her, seeming to gleam with knowledge about her part in the leak, and the whole fuck-up at the same time. “Thank you.” She managed to gather some manners together for show.
“No problem,” Ross said, signed where he was supposed to sign on the log, and then winked at her.
Heat rushed to her face. With the documents now signed without his assault documented it would be game, set and match. She wouldn’t have hesitated to raise her complaint to Peppe, without it being logged. There was no proof, nothing in her own demeanor during the flight or after, that would help tip the scale in her favor if she mentioned this later.
“I’ll catch you later, Simone. Mr. Carlevaro, Mr. and Mrs. Viggio.”
With a nod to the rest of the group he set off for the terminal building, and Simone exhaled in relief.
She took a deep breath and focused on the moment. “If you’ll wait here, I’ll check if the plane is back.” She searched around the other planes, spotting the CC 208.
She returned to the group. “It’s parked there, but I’ll need to get the keys to open the hold. Bring your luggage, we’ll leave it in the office.”
Picking up one of Natalia’s suitcases, she led the way to the terminal building. She walked slowly, hoping to give Ross time to take care of the paperwork so she could deal with the Carlevaros without his supervision.
As they buzzed into the office she spotted Ross in the fleet manager’s office, his back turned to the door.
The Carlevaros put their luggage behind the security gate, and Simone walked to Rebecca’s desk, Dino and Angelo following in her wake.
“Can I sign out the key for the CC 208, number 583?” Simone asked. “We want to go check something.”
“Sure.” Rebecca turned to the safe behind her back, taking the key off its hook.
“Do you always keep the safe open like this?” asked Dino, as he eyed the situation.
“I always lock it.” Rebecca handed the key to Simone, her eyes downcast. “Ross just handed back the keys for the DHC.”
“You’ll have to wait for us,” Simone said as she signed for the key. “We won’t be long.” The other staff in the office had been chattering, like birds at the end of the day. It hadn’t taken much for them to go quiet, staring at her where she stood surrounded by Team Carlevaro. She shifted on her feet, averting her gaze from those prying pairs of eyes. It was ridiculous, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that everybody knew she’d messed up.
She couldn’t get out of the office quick enough.
“What do we keep in that safe?” Dino asked her.
“The keys to all the aircraft and their spares,” Simone said. “As far as I know.”
“Why do they keep the spares there? It would be better to have them in a separate safe where no one has access to them, except in an emergency,” Dino said.
Simone frowned as the implication of his words sank in.
“Do you think the other employees could have access to the keys?” Natalia asked.
“Well, if they can get the spare keys, they can unlock the aircraft, and put whatever they want in the hold,” Dino replied.
“But we have the log book, all keys must be signed out,” Simone said.
“Which is great as long as everybody follows procedure and no one has an ulterior motive.” Dino sighed, wiping a drop of sweat from his temple.
Simone led the way to the Cessna Caravan Michael had flown two days ago. That someone would take a key, or sign it out for any purpose other than flying, had never entered her mind. But a spare key would be perfect for opening a stationary aircraft at any of the lodges, especially at night, when no one was watching.
“There she is,” Simone said, guiding the group to the plane. The last of the flights from the islands landed and parked some distance from them on the apron. The sun had dropped and soon it would be dusk. They needed to be quick if they wanted to see anything in the twilight.
She unlocked the hold of the aircraft, and everybody peeked in with anticipation.
It was empty.
“What does this crate look like?” Angelo asked. “Was Michael specific in any way?”
“No, only that it was strapped to the wall of the hold, camouflaged.”
“Let me get in.” Angelo hoisted himself into the hold and felt around the inner walls.
“There are no straps or anything here, but this wall feels like it’s carpeted,” Angelo called out.
Natalia stared at Dino, then glanced at her. “Carpet?”
Simone shrugged. “I’ve no idea.”
“Rough or soft carpet?” Natalia called.
“Fuzzy, black. It’s covering the whole wall.”
Natalia’s eyebrows shot up. “Help me up, Dino.”
Dino frowned but helped Natalia into the hold. After a few seconds of inspection, she peered down at them. “It’s the loopy side of industrial Velcro.”
“Merda,” Angelo cursed. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Natalia said. “On a surface this size, it would be secure. If you stuck something with the other side of Velcro to it nothing would budge the entire flight from the Selous. We use the stuff when we attend travel conventions.”
“It would hold something as heavy as forty kilograms?” Simone asked.
Natalia nodded. “Yes, if the bottom part of the container rested on the floor of the hold.” She sat and let her legs hang from the hold. Dino took her by the waist and helped her down.
“Well, now we know.” Dino sighed, wiping the sweat on his forehead and temples. “Container gone, proof gone, carpet intact. Great.”
“Sounds like whoever’s involved had something custom made.” Angelo jumped down.
“And they’re organized.” Natalia picked up her handbag from where she’d dropped it on the ground earlier.
Simone closed the latch door and locked it. “How did this go on unnoticed?”
“Collusion, without a doubt,” said Dino.
They strolled back to the terminal building. Inside the office, the last of the staff had switched on the lights, which now threw a few beams over the apron.
“Are there any other lights? It’s very dark out here,” noted Natalia. “Are there no lights on the runway?”
“No, we don’t fly at night,” said Simone. “This terminal is used only during the day and only by small aircraft. The office opens at six in the morning; at this point we only have a skeleton staff manning the office.”
“What’s security like after dark?” asked Angelo.
“I can’t say. I’ve never stayed around to see.” Simone felt seriously misinformed for someone who wanted to take up the fleet management position at Carlevaro Air.
The group exchanged glances, taking the few stairs to the building.
“Airport security has the usual strict luggage checks when you enter the terminal for check-in during the day, but as for other times and around the perimeters of the terminal, I don’t know.”
“Our insurance covers our planes for standing outside like this, and not in a hangar,” said Dino. “I must read through the policy again to understand what airport security we need to comply with. For now, it seems like as little as possible is implemented.”
“Passenger safety overrides everything else,” Simone said. “They are more concerned with what goes into an aircraft before takeoff from here, than what comes out once a plane lands. Especially since our return flights are all domestic and from our reserves.”
“Clearly an oversight on our part.” Dino wiped at his brow again.
Rebecca was one of the few staff left in the office waiting for them. The fleet manager was in his office, and Simone glanced around to see if Ross was still around. There was no sign of him. She signed the keys back in and Rebecca locked the safe.
“If I run now, I’ll still catch the last staff shuttle home,” Rebecca whispered apologetically.
Rebecca was in a hurry but trying not to show it in front of the Carlevaros.
“I’ll let them out,” Simone said, knowing Rebecca could be stuck otherwise.
“Thank you,” Rebecca whispered as she picked up her bag. “He’ll buzz you out,” she said as she nodded toward the fleet manager.
Dino turned to Simone as Rebecca rushed off. “Who keeps the office keys?”
“The fleet manager and Rebecca. They work on a rotation basis and have access keys and the code to the safe. Whoever gets here first in the mornings opens up the office and signs out the keys for the first flights out.”
Dino nodded as he glanced around the office, spotting the security cameras, inspecting the window with the view over the tarmac.
“Let’s go, Dino,” Natalia said. “Carlo wanted you to get onto those calls and emails.”
“Maybe we can do it from here,” Angelo suggested. “See what goes on here at night.”
Simone shifted on her feet. Sarah was at home, and she owed her a hug and a kiss.
“How are you getting home, Simone?” Natalia asked. “You’ve just missed the last staff shuttle.”
Simone sighed inwardly. Natalia really did miss nothing. “I’m here with my own car.”
Angelo raised his eyebrows at this information. “Can you stay? We might need some help as we go on.”
“I—” She broke off. “I have plans for tonight, I’m sorry.”
“Surely nothing the fleet manager can’t help us with, Angelo,” Natalia said, killing the direction of the conversation. “Carlo mentioned earlier today that we mustn’t abuse her. Simone has been working day in and out.”
She blinked at this information. Nothing in Natalia’s demeanor gave anything away but she was solidly in her court, prompting Angelo to back off.
Angelo shrugged but Simone was not convinced that he agreed she needed a break; after all, she’d only been shuttling them from one lodge to the next for the past few days, seeming to lounge about for the rest of the time.
“How are you getting to your hotel?” Simone asked Natalia.
“I’ve got the number of a taxi service. I’ll call them now, or the fleet manager can help us.” Natalia dropped her gaze before it shot back up to her. “Go home, we shouldn’t keep you any longer.”
She took her leave and buzzed herself out of the office, using the little button hidden at the secretary’s desk closest to the door.
Walking down the empty, dark corridor she clasped her handbag tighter. A prickle ran down her spine, and she took longer, faster steps.
She walked past two security guards who chatted by the entrance leading out to the parking lot. There were no officials at the x-ray scanners for luggage; the terminal building was locked up for the night. One of the guards unlocked the door and let her out.
The door shut behind her and she gave the parking lot a once-over. Her heart rate slowed. It was a good hundred meters to her car and the sun had gone. A few figures were stalking in the dusk, and the honks and the buzz of the ever-present traffic on the other side of the razor-wire fence seemed far off. There were no more taxis waiting at the exit, and there were no streetlights.
She felt for her car keys in her bag, pulling them out with a jingle that sounded surreal in the close silence that surrounded her. She took a breath, ready to bolt to her car.
Ross’s painful pinch on her leg, and memory of his fingers on her sex, echoed on her skin, spilling adrenaline into her bloodstream and causing her heart to thump in fear. She recalled that he’d been watching her.
I’ll watch my back if I were you. Michael’s words rang through her mind.
She turned back to the door and knocked. A security guard opened the door again, and she asked him in Swahili to escort her to her car.
The man took a flashlight from underneath his desk, and the other guard let them out.
She thanked him when they got to her car and she locked her doors, then buckled up. Relief seeped through her as she sped away straight to the exit, weaving through the odd car that still stood in the parking lot.
An hour later, Simone couldn’t help feeling that she’d escaped as the gate rumbled open at her apartment block. She parked and took a moment in the dark to gather her thoughts. She glanced in the rearview mirror, observing the gate. How did Ross know that Carlo had come in and had only left the next morning?
She got out of the car, slamming the door harder than intended. There was no way he could have known, unless he’d seen them entering the gate. He must have seen them when the taxi had dropped them off outside. She mumbled to herself as she entered the lobby, trying to shake off work and everything that had happened that day before seeing Sarah.
Sarah deserved her undivided attention, but ever since that email with the changed flight schedule had landed in her inbox her life had been an absolute mess.
She leaned her head against her apartment door for a second. It wasn’t that easy. That Ross had groped her was still hard to stomach and freaked her out, but she was safe at home now, and tomorrow she would put in a complaint against him, for what it was worth.
But her hand in revealing the poaching was not so easy to shrug off; the new rift between her and Carlo felt almost as deep as the first one had been.
In the silence of the corridor the beeping of her phone, signaling a message, was almost ominous. She sighed and dug her mobile out of her handbag.
A message from Liz blinked on the screen, and she paused to read it.
Beheaded dik-dik waiting for me this morning in the kitchen. Female and pregnant at the end of gestation. Blood everywhere as if they slaughtered it on the spot. I just want to run. This is clearly aimed at me. They want me to leave.
God. Her heart hammered as she read the message again. She leaned against the wall as the image of the tiniest gazelle overwhelmed her thoughts, dead with such cruelty. Someone had his knife out for Liz and was getting serious.
She had no idea what to say or how to comfort Liz. She still tried to formulate a response with quivering fingers when a message from Carlo beeped through, popping up on the screen.
After London I’m needed in Rome. Not sure when I can be back. Will see how this situation develops and get it under control first. C
She had to read it twice before the full meaning sank in.
He was gone, indefinitely.
Her fingers trembled so much she couldn’t respond, and her phone slipped from her fingers. It dropped with a clang on the tiled floor, echoing everything inside her.
With a curse she dropped to her haunches to pick it up. The screen showed a webbed crack, stretching from the corner over the screen. She pressed some buttons, getting away from Carlo’s message. The phone was still working, but her heart was a chipped cup that had fallen again and shattered into a thousand pieces.
She gathered herself, knowing she couldn’t respond to Liz right now with anything that would help her feel better. In the end she only messaged her back that she hoped James reported it and that they should take care.
When she entered the apartment, she exhaled the breath she’d been unconsciously holding. Ruth and Sarah were playing with Sarah’s dolls on the carpet.
Sarah looked up and her face split into a sweet smile. She hopped up and pattered over. When she hugged Sarah close she forced out the last of her day.
She had Sarah. Her daughter had kept her going through some tight spots in the past and she would do so again.