| Lady Justice and the Cat
Lady Justice and the Cat
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A treasure hunter is murdered and his discovery is stolen.
Members of a terrorist cell who have plans for a devastating attack, recognize Sara Savage, a retired CIA operative, kidnap her, and hold her for ransom.
And who does Lady Justice send to help private investigator Walt Williams save the day?
Clarence the Cat!
Walt forms an uneasy alliance with the feline crime fighter to solve the mysteries and bring the bad guys to justice.
It’s a laugh a minute as Walt spars with his new furry partner and the forces of evil.
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LADY JUSTICE AND THE CAT
PROLOGUE
On November 24th, 1971, D.B. Cooper boarded a Boeing 727 in Portland, Oregon after purchasing a one way ticket on Flight 305 to Seattle.
Comfortably seated in the rear of the passenger cabin, he lit a cigarette and ordered a bourbon and soda.
Flight 305 was approximately one-third full when it took off on schedule at 2:50 pm, PST. Cooper handed a note to Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant situated nearest to him in a jump seat attached to the aft stair door. The note was printed in neat, all-capital letters with a felt-tip pen. Its exact wording is unknown, as Cooper later reclaimed it, but Schaffner recalled that it indicated he had a bomb in his briefcase, and wanted her to sit with him. Schaffner did as requested, then quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper cracked open his briefcase long enough for her to glimpse eight red cylinders attached to wires coated with red insulation, and a large cylindrical battery. After closing the briefcase, he dictated his demands: $200,000 in "negotiable American currency"; four parachutes (two primary and two reserve); and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival. Schaffner conveyed Cooper's instructions to the pilots in the cockpit: when she returned, he was wearing dark sunglasses.
The pilot, William Scott, contacted Seattle-Tacoma Airport air traffic control, which in turn informed local and federal authorities. The 36 other passengers were told that their arrival in Seattle would be delayed because of a "minor mechanical difficulty." Northwest Orient's president, Donald Nytro, authorized payment of the ransom and ordered all employees to cooperate fully with the hijacker. The aircraft circled Puget Sound for approximately two hours to allow Seattle police and the FBI time to assemble Cooper's parachutes and ransom money, and to mobilize emergency personnel.
FBI agents assembled the ransom money from several Seattle-area banks ---10,000 unmarked 20-dollar bills, most with serial numbers beginning with the letter "L" indicating issuance by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and most from the 1963A or 1969 series --- and made a microfilm photograph of each of them.
At 5:24 pm Cooper was informed that his demands had been met, and at 5:39 pm the aircraft landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Cooper instructed Scott to taxi the jet to an isolated, brightly lit section of the tarmac and extinguish lights in the cabin to deter police snipers. Northwest Orient's Seattle operations manager, Al Lee, approached the aircraft in street clothes (to avoid the possibility that Cooper might mistake his airline uniform for that of a police officer) and delivered the cash-filled knapsack and parachutes via the aft stairs. Once the delivery was completed, Cooper permitted all passengers, Schaffner, and senior flight attendant Alice Hancock to leave the plane.
At approximately 7:40 pm, the 727 took off with only Cooper, pilot Scott, flight attendant Muck low, co-pilot Rataczak, and flight engineer H. E. Anderson aboard. Two F-106 fighter aircraft scrambled from nearby McChord Air Force Base followed behind the airliner, one above it and one below, out of Cooper's view.
After takeoff, Cooper told Muck low to join the rest of the crew in the cockpit and remain there with the door closed. As she complied, Mucklow observed Cooper tying something around his waist. At approximately 8:00 pm a warning light flashed in the cockpit, indicating that the aft air stair apparatus had been activated. The crew's offer of assistance via the aircraft's intercom system was curtly refused. The crew soon noticed a subjective change of air pressure, indicating that the aft door was open.
At approximately 8:13 pm, the aircraft's tail section sustained a sudden upward movement, significant enough to require trimming to bring the plane back to level flight. At approximately 10:15 pm Scott and Rataczak landed the 727, with the aft air stair still deployed, at Reno Airport. FBI agents, state troopers, sheriff's deputies, and Reno police surrounded the jet, as it had not yet been determined with certainty that Cooper was no longer aboard, but an armed search quickly confirmed that he was gone.
In the days that followed, the FBI, along with Army soldiers, Air Force personnel, National Guard troops, and civilian citizens, launched a search program that was arguably the most extensive and intensive in US history.
In July of 2016, after 45 years, the FBI officially suspended active investigation of the case.
D.B. Cooper was never seen again. His body was never found. The bulk of the $200,000 was never recovered.
Or was it?
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