“Praise be!” Vicki exclaimed. She unstrapped and jumped to her feet.
She and Jean ran to reassure the children and the elderly among their passengers. Everyone was shaken up, profoundly sobered, but relieved and grateful. The men were inclined to joke now that the danger was over. The two stewardesses made certain, and Captain Jordan came out to make certain, that each passenger was all right. Not one person showed panic or caused any trouble. Captain Jordan praised the stewardesses for their share in maintaining high morale.
The cabin was littered with passengers’ garments, handbags, eyeglasses, and pens. For several minutes Jean and Vicki were busy picking these up. Everyone helped them. Or almost everyone—Vicki noticed that Miss L. Rowe, like a few others, did not bother to help anyone but herself.
Something glistened on the plane’s carpet. Vicki picked it up: it was a gold charm off a woman’s bracelet, inscribed “Dorothy.” She held it high and asked: “Does anyone own a charm marked ‘Dorothy’?” Several women shook their heads. Vicki hastily consulted the manifest with its list of names. No woman passenger aboard had the name “Dorothy” or the initial “D.”
“Does anyone own this gold charm?” Vicki asked, carrying it conspicuously all through the cabin. It was a valuable piece of jewelry. No one claimed it. She knew it was unlikely that the charm had been left on the plane from a previous flight, since the cleaning crews at terminals did a thorough job. The owner was aboard this very minute. Why didn’t Dorothy—whoever she was—claim it?
The passengers began leaving the plane, the stewardesses managing an orderly evacuation. There went Miss L. Rowe! Vicki was seized by an irresistible curiosity to see whether the Bryants or Mr. Dorn would meet the girl. With a promise to Jean Cox and the passenger agent to come back, Vicki went down the plane stairs after Miss Rowe. She followed her at a short distance across the airfield, into the crowded terminal building, and out again at the front portico to the taxi stand. Vicki watched Miss L. Rowe get directly into a taxi by herself, without looking around to see whether anyone was waiting to meet her. Apparently she didn’t expect to be met.
“Well, I guess she isn’t the right L. Rowe,” Vicki thought. “If she were, the Bryants would at least have sent their car and chauffeur for her. Or is her arrival a surprise? Even if it were, Mr. Dorn probably would be on hand to escort her to the Bryants’ house,” Vicki reasoned. “Wrong girl. That’s that. Just a coincidence of names and brown hair.”
In all likelihood the Bryants’ granddaughter—the girl with the brown hair and green scarf which tallied with the portrait—was still at the hill house near Pine Top.
Vicki still had the gold charm clutched in her hand. The “Lost and Found” desk was only a few steps away. She went over and turned the charm in. It was odd, she thought, that no one on the plane had claimed it.
On her return to the Electra, she joined Jean in completing the final, routine picking up in the cabin and putting equipment back into place. After handing in their reports to the Flight Stewardess Supervisor, Vicki and Jean went to the stewardesses’ sleeping lounge to have a nap and tidy up. Now that the emergency was met and past, they admitted they felt tired.