to a door. You remember, Bob, you couldn't be sure how it happened,
but that must have been it. Even the pilot had cut himself shaving.
That very morning!"

Kessler and Brogan had stopped eating and were watching her intently.
"Stop staring," she said indignantly. "You're making me nervous.
What's wrong?"

"Nothing, dear," Kessler said quietly. "It's very interesting. Go on."

She looked at him suspiciously. "Well, when it comes to the
passengers! What do you mean? You know all this!"

"Go on," Brogan said.

"Well, one man was even in another plane crash before. I forget his
name."

"Pearlow," Kessler murmured.

"Pearlow, yes. And Dr. Pollitt who was blinded in an accident. I don't
really know about your friend Miss Bennett, senator."

Brogan nodded. "She qualifies."

"And the little girl, Barbara? Who had the automobile accident? The
veteran? Prewitt, who accidentally killed his brother? At least two of
those people were going to psychiatrists. Well, Mr. Spencer had me
worried because I didn't know if the mushrooms qualified him as
accident prone. Then, of course, when I found out about him definitely
I figured the Valentes qualified, too, with the mumps. The man who
broke his fingernail! Oh, just about everybody I think."

Kessler and Brogan glanced at each other. Brogan nodded. "Just about
everybody," he said. "And all on the same plane. It's something that
would happen once in ten thousand times. Like being dealt a solid suit
in bridge. But it can happen. It seems to have happened this time. And
I think maybe it's happened before. Maybe one person who was not
accident prone could make the difference. But when I think about a
plane taking off with those particular seventy-three people aboard it
really scares me."

Margaret looked from Brogan to Kessler, confused. Kessler put his hand
over hers on the table cloth and gripped it tightly. "Darling," he
said, "when we have finished our coffee, George and I are going back
to his office and I think maybe you'd better come along with us. We
have a lot of thinking to do, the three of us, and we could use a
feminine touch."

* * * * *

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