TITANIC: A STORY TOLD
Chapter Six
An enormous Sea Stallion helicopter thundered
across the ocean. There was no land at either horizon. The Keldysh was visible
in the distance.
Rose's face was visible, looking out calmly.
Brock and Bodine were watching Mir 2 being
swung over the side to start a dive. Bodine clearly wasn't happy.
"She's a goddamned liar! Some nutcase
seeking money or publicity--God only knows what! Like that Russian babe, Anesthesia!"
Buell gestured to them. "They're
inbound."
Brock nodded and the three of them headed
forward to meet the approaching helicopter.
Bodine wasn't giving up. "Rose DeWitt
Bukater died on the Titanic when she was seventeen. If she had lived, she'd be
over a hundred by now."
Lovett wasn't giving up, either. "A
hundred and one next month."
"Okay, so she's a very old goddamned
liar. Look, I did the background on this woman going back to the twenties, when
she was working as an actress...an actress! There's your first clue, Sherlock!
Her name was Rose Dawson then. Then she marries a guy named Calvert, they move
to Cedar Rapids, and she punches out a couple of kids. Now Calvert's dead, and
from what I hear Cedar Rapids is dead."
The Sea Stallion approached the ship, forcing
Brock to yell over the rotors.
"And everyone who knows about the
diamond is supposed to be dead...or on this ship. But she knows!"
In a thundering down blast the helicopter's
wheels bounced down the helipad.
Lovett, Buell, and Bodine watched as the
helicopter crew chief handed out about ten suitcases, and then Rose was lowered
to the deck in a wheelchair by Keldysh crewmen. Lizzy, ducking unnecessarily
under the rotor, followed her out, carrying Freddy the Pomeranian. The crew
chief handed a puzzled Lovett a goldfish bowl with several fish in it.
The little old lady looked impossibly fragile
amongst all the high tech gear, grungy deck crew, and gigantic equipment.
Bodine shouted to Lovett.
"Doesn't exactly travel light, does
she?"