Page 73 of Holmes, Margaret and Poe

The English teacher drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, still gazing off into the distance. Finally she said, “He evidently had to kill a lot of people in Iraq and Syria. As a pilot, I mean. Whole villages, I guess.”

“That would affect a man.”

She nodded.

“Maybe make him angry.”

Plum glanced at Sampson. “He’s angry about a lot.”

“His ex-girlfriend?”

“Ex-girlfriend and her daughter. You know why he says she did it?”

“Because he lost his chance at a job with American Airlines?”

The English teacher shook her head bitterly. “Because he’d killed so many people and the psycho girlfriend found out and it drove her even more insane. Enough to kill her own daughter and herself.”

“That doesn’t make much sense.”

“I’m just telling you what he said. She was seriously mentally ill. Finding out snapped her.”

Sampson watched her cheek twitch. She put her hand to her mouth. “That man is suffering,” Plum said.

“Violent?”

“No … I mean, no,” she said. “I think he’s just consumed by sorrow and anger.”

“At who?”

“Himself. His commanders. The government. You. The police. The FBI. The headmaster at the Charles School. Me.”

“You?”

Tears dripped down her cheeks. “He’s angry at me for loving him. Says I have no idea who he is. And you know what? I guess I don’t, which is why I left to come to my sister’s.”

“You letting Davis stay at your place?”

“I left a letter telling him to leave. He was still passed out.”

“Did he mention anyone named Ibrahim?”

“No.”

“How about Leslie Parks?”

She shook her head. “Why? Who are they?”

“People of interest.”

“If he knows them, he never mentioned them to me.”

Sampson felt his phone buzz. He ignored it a moment. “Are you going to be all right?”

Plum barely nodded. “Funny how one night can shatter a dream.”

“Knowing what you know now, is he capable of it? Of shooting down a plane like that?”

She dropped her chin a little. “Before last night, I would have said no. Emphatically no. Now? I … I guess I can’t tell you how deep that black hole in his heart is.”

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