Night Over Water - Ken Follett [127]
While he had been working, the two passengers on the port side, handsome Frank Gordon and bald Ollis Field, had picked up their overnight bags and trooped off to the men’s room; and now Davy began to make up the bunk on that side. The arrangement was slightly different over there. The aisle was not in the center of the plane, but nearer to the port side, so on that side, there was only one pair of bunks, placed lengthwise rather than across the width of the plane.
Princess Lavinia returned in a floor-length navy blue peignoir trimmed with blue lace, and a matching turban. Her face was a mask of frozen dignity: obviously she found it painfully uncomfortable to appear in public in her nightclothes. She looked at the bunk in horror. “I shall die of claustrophobia,” she moaned. No one took any notice. She stepped out of little silk slippers and climbed into the lower bunk. Without saying good night, she pulled the curtain shut and fastened it tight.
A moment later Lulu Bell appeared in a rather flimsy pink chiffon ensemble that did little to conceal her charms. She had been stiffly polite with Diana and Mark since Foynes, but now she seemed to have suddenly forgotten her pique. She sat down beside them on the divan and said: “You’ll never guess what I just heard about our companions!” She jerked a thumb at the seats vacated by Field and Gordon.
Mark looked nervously at Diana and then said: “What did you hear, Lulu?”
“Mr. Field is an F.B.I. man!”
That was not so startling, Diana thought. An F.B.I. agent was only a policeman.
Lulu went on: “And what’s more, Frank Gordon is a prisoner!”
Mark said skeptically: “Who told you this?”
“Everyone’s talking about it in the ladies’ room.”
“That doesn’t make it true, Lulu.”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me!” she said. “That kid overheard a row between Field and the captain of the plane. The captain was mad as hell because the F.B.I, didn’t warn Pan American that they had a dangerous prisoner on board. There was a real set-to and in the end the crew took away Mr. Field’s gun!”
Diana recalled thinking that Field seemed like Gordon’s chaperon. “What do they say Frank did?”
“He’s a mobster. He shot a guy and raped a girl and torched a nightclub.”
Diana found that hard to believe. She had talked to the man herself! He was not very refined, it was true; but he was handsome and nicely dressed, and he had flirted with her politely. She could see him as a confidence trickster or a tax dodger, and she could imagine his being involved in illegal gambling, say; but it did not seem possible that he had deliberately killed people. Lulu was an excitable person who would believe anything.
Mark said: “It’s kinda hard to credit.”
“I give up,” Lulu said with a deprecating wave of her hand. “You guys have no sense of adventure.” She stood up. “I’m going to bed. If he starts raping people, wake me up.” She climbed the little stepladder and crawled into the top bunk. She pulled the curtains, then looked out again and spoke to Diana. “Honey, I understand why you got ticked off at me back there in Ireland. I been thinking about it, and I figure I asked for what I got. I was kind of all over Mark. Dumb, I know. I’m ready to forget it as soon as you are. Good night.”
It was close enough to an apology, and Diana did not have the heart to reject it. “Good night, Lulu,” she said.
Lulu closed the curtain.
Mark said: “It was my fault as much as hers. I’m sorry, baby.”
By way of reply, Diana kissed him.
Suddenly she felt comfortable and at ease with him again. Her whole body relaxed, and she slumped back on the seat, still kissing him. She was conscious that her right breast was pressing up against his chest. It was nice to be getting physical with him again. The tip of his tongue touched her lips and she parted them a fraction to let him in. He began to breathe harder. This was going a bit too far, Diana thought. She opened her eyes—and saw Mervyn.
He was passing through the compartment, going forward, and he might not have noticed her,