On the downwind leg he looked among the Quonset huts and service shacks for Norma, but could not see her. He made the final turn. On the highway at the far end of the strip, six lanes of cars, all alit, slid quickly to the left and right. Leland could pick out the letters on the neon signs along the road as the buildings rose above the black horizon. The strip came up faster; the tarmac appeared, racing, making the beams from the lights in the nose of the plane converge and sharpen. Now a gentle easing back and the wheels touched softly, chirped, and took hold on the ground. Like a car, the plane rolled along the strip. He was down; as if he had put on another topcoat and a pair of hip boots, he could feel the pressure of the bottom of a sea.

She was in the office. As he crossed to the counter he directed her to keep her seat on the orange plastic couch. He wanted to order gasoline and service. She came over anyway while he signed the sheet.

“Why didn’t you wait for me in Manitou?” He watched the mechanic check the list. She didn’t answer. The mechanic said all right and Leland picked up his suitcase and motioned Norma toward the outer door. She stayed quiet until they were outside. Her coat was unbuttoned and she held it closed with her hands in the slash pockets. Today’s smock suit was light blue and she had a little jeweled pin on the collar. She brought out a set of car keys. The wind was stronger at ground level and it blew her black hair back from her forehead and made her have to squint to see. “I had an attack of nerves. I wanted to get out of that hotel room. Until your telegram came, I hadn’t thought of there being more than one airport in Port Smith. I know that I should have called your office, but I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to go.”

“All right, no harm was done, but you have to get it into your mind who we’re working for. It’s not only a matter of making our job easier. You’ll know where you stand. Florence would have told you that I was working on your case. You would have felt better and there would have been none of this running around and missed connections.”

She nodded, then shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

He was coming to her, not the other way around, and because of it he found himself trying to hold down an increasing desire to be rough with her. He said, almost involuntarily, “Let’s forget it. It was one of those things.”

She came up smiling. “How was the flight? Did you enjoy it as much as you expected?”

She was trying to be pleasant. “Yes. It was fine.”