I gave him a very accurate description. It was even a bit poetic. The name I offered him, in all good faith, was a name he’d never heard before.

Chapter 58

58

Dal Segno al Fine

“The name is Vernon, Edna Vernon,” said the absurdly attractive woman as a redcap deposited her lone suitcase at the sales counter. “I called early this morning. You’re holding a reservation for me on the Flying Cloud to Mexico City, unless a seat has become available on your Buenos Aires flight.”

The Pan Am clerk consulted a clipboard and smiled. “I think I may have some good news for you, Miss Verne.”

“Vernon.”

“Beg your pardon. Well, I’m pleased to say we’ve had a cancellation on the flight to Buenos Aires. So it’s really your choice. Which would you prefer?” He waited as she considered. “Please don’t let me rush you.”

After a moment, she decided. “Yes, good. Buenos Aires.”

“Buenos Aires, then. That will be, um, nine hundred and thirty-two dollars, I believe.” His tone was apologetic, because it really was so much money. “Would you prefer to pay by cash or with a check?”

She opened her pocketbook. “Cash.”

“Excellent. And because this is an international flight, I’ll be needing to see your passport.”

She gave it to him. He compared the photograph to the woman. Edna Drisch Vernon, it said. The picture was clearly a few years old, but she was even more stunning now, her angled pompadour sweeping back into a chignon.

He handed the passport back to her. “Thank you so much. Now if you’d like, you may wait for your flight in what we call the Pawala Lounge. I know it sounds like a Hawaiian village, but it actually stands for Pan American World Airways Los Angeles Lounge, exclusive to our customers.” He winked at her. “It’s an awful lot better than the hamburger sandwich counter by Gate 3, I promise.”

He indicated a door, and the redcap followed her through it.

She walked into a small room with a number of occupied chairs and not much else. She was dismayed to see that there was no bar, no table with hors d’oeuvres. She gave the redcap a quarter and sat by a table with some magazines on it. It surprised her that the magazines were so old.

There were six or seven men seated about the room. A burly-looking lady in the corner was the only other woman. The men, all dressed in commonplace suits, seemed uniformly engrossed in the morning’s Los Angeles Times.

A Pan Am steward in a peaked cap and epauletted jacket stepped over to her. He had some cheeses under glass on a tray and a sharp-tipped knife in his hand for cutting slices of same. “Cheese board, Miss?” he asked. Well, this was a little better. “We have some Stilton, Cheshire, American, and Limburger.”