There was a flash, red spread outward from the Lindenbaum suitcase, and a jagged hole appeared in the rear of the baggage compartment.

'Twenty minutes and twenty-one seconds into the flight, vaporized fuel crossed a wire bundle, which apparently contained some arcing wires, and ignited in a deafening detonation. This explosion can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder.'

I remembered Ryan's account of the pilot's last words, felt the same helplessness he had described.

'The circuit failed.'

I thought of the passengers. Had they felt the shock? Heard the explosion? Did they realize they were going to die?

'The initial explosion blew from the pressurized baggage compartment into the unpressurized fuselage behind, and air loads began tearing parts from the plane. At that point, more fuel escaped from the line and flaming fire ensued in the hold.'

Jackson identified items as they separated and fel to the ground.

'Skin from the aft fuselage. Speed brakes.'

The room was deathly quiet.

'Air loads then blew up through the vertical tail and dislodged the horizontal stabilizer and elevators.'

The plane in the animation pitched nose down and plunged toward the ground, the passenger cabin stil intact. Jackson hit a key and the screen went blank.

No one seemed to breathe or move. Seconds passed. I heard a sob, or perhaps only a deep breath. A cough. Then the room exploded.

'Mr. Jackson—'

'Why weren't smoke detect—'

'Mr. Jack—'

'How long—'

'I'l take questions one at a time.'

Jackson pointed to a woman with Buddy Holy frames.

'How long would it have taken to raise the temperature in the duffel to the point of fire?'

'Let me clarify one thing. We're talking about incandescence, a glowing type of combustion generated when the little oxygen available comes in direct contact with a solid, like coals or embers. This is not flaming combustion. In a smal volume like the bag's interior, incandescence could be quickly established and maintained at around five hundred to six hundred degrees Fahrenheit.'

His finger found another journalist.

'How could the rum bottle survive the fire in the bag?'

'Easy. On the other end of the temperature spectrum, incandescence can reach eleven hundred to twelve hundred degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of a lit pipe or cigarette. That's hardly enough to alter a glass bottle containing liquid.'

'And the smoke deposits would remain on the bottle?'

'Yes. Unless it was subjected to a very intense and sustained fire, which was not the case, as it occurred inside the suitcase.'

The finger moved.

'The metal fatigue marks survived as wel?'

'To melt steel you need temperatures of twenty-five hundred degrees Fahrenheit or more. Beach marks, your typical evidence of fatigue, generaly survive fires of the intensity I'm describing.'

He pointed to a reporter from the Charlotte Observer.

'Did the passengers know what was happening?'