“You know what caused the illness aboard the plane?” he went on.
“It was a strong irritant of some kind,” she replied, “but I wasn’t told at the hospital just what it was.”
The personnel director switched to another track.
“You wouldn’t have had any reason to place anything in the food, would you?”
Jane’s face flushed, and it was a struggle to keep from showing her intense anger, but she finally managed to reply “no,” in a calm voice.
“Do you know anyone who would do it as a grudge against you?”
“That question is hardly fair,” retorted Jane. “If I mention any names I might unjustly throw suspicion on someone who is not guilty.”
Through her mind, though, raced thoughts of Mattie and her promise of revenge. Mattie had been alone in the commissary long enough to dope the sandwiches or the salad, and she was capable of stooping to such a low trick. No matter what happened, as a result of the investigation, Jane resolved to see Mattie and have a talk with her.
“What do you know about this, Miss Comstock?” asked the personnel director, turning to the chief of the stewardess service.
“Very little, but I am sure that Miss Cameron is being treated very unfairly if anyone thinks she deliberately planned such a distressing incident as the one which took place aboard the Coast to Coast the other day.”