Part 43, page 196

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

way. He wore a Brahms sweatshirt and a pair of Vietcong pajama trousers. His slippers looked like the gloves on a boxing kangaroo. I kept my voice calm. "Hello. Is he around?" The old man clammed up. "It's O.K., dad," I said. "I'm not with the police." "Cooper packed up and moved out a couple of days ago," he said. "Didn't pay his rent, though." "His name is really D.B. Cooper?" The old man studied his palms. "Strange fella," he said. "Kept trying to turn himself in. But the cops wouldn't believe his story, either."

* * *

I called Sea-Tac and asked for Operations. A young, eager voice came on. I told its owner that I was a writer. What I specifically wanted to know was this: had anyone in Operations overheard any of the conversation between Cooper and the tower while the plane was re- fueling and the money was being delivered to the skyjacker? There was a pause. "I heard a little," the young man said. "But don't quote me." "I don't even know your name," I assured him. "The radio was a little staticky," he said. "I heard the captain tell; Cooper that the smart skyjacker would try for San Francisco in- stead of Reno. Cooper just told him to rotate for takeoff — that's right, rotate — and head south, on Vec- tor 23." I asked what his voice was like. "Flat, sir," my informant said. "Kind of a whine, like W.C. Fields or Mae West." "Anything else?" "Yeh. Cooper was very unhappy about the money having been xe- roxed. He said something like, "I sniffed it myself — tell that to the bank." "Sniffed?" I said. "Or snarfed?" A long silence. "I'm not sure, sir," the helpful young man said at last. His tone turned waspish. "Could it possibly make any difference?" "Only," I said, "to someone who's over forty and has a dirty mind." "Dirty mind, sir?" Sighing, I thanked the young man and hung up. I was too old to be tracking phantom skyjackers. Admit it, I goaded myself. You've finally OD'd on D.B. But my addiction was not that simple. Once a Cooper expert, always a Cooper expert.

(Next: The Los Angeles Times backs down on D.B. — and a beau- tiful blonde ghost visits my apart- ment.)

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Bob Hasting

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DB Cooper-17402