Victor looked down. One of his four buttons was lit but not punched "You're very astute, Mr. . .?"
"Pitt, Dirk Pitt. If you're Lieutenant Victor, we had an appointment." "I'm Victor." He paused to replace the receiver in its cradle. "You were the first person inside the control car of the Prosperteer blimp?"
"That's right."
"Thank you for coming in, especially so early on a Sunday. I'd appreciate your cooperation in clearing up a few questions."
"Not at all. Will it take long?"
"Twenty minutes, maybe half an hour. Do you have to be somewhere?"
"I'm booked on a plane for Washington in two hours."
Victor nodded. "I'll get you on your way in plenty of time." He pulled open a drawer and took out a portable tape recorder. "Let's go somewhere more private."
He led Pitt down a long hallw
ay to a small interview room. The interior was spartan, only a desk, two chairs, and an ashtray. Victor sat down and fed a new cassette into the recorder.
"Mind if I put our conversation on tape? I'm a terrible note taker. None of the secretaries can decipher my handwriting."
Pitt shrugged agreeably.
Victor moved the machine to the center of the desk and pressed the red Record button.
"Your name?"
"Dirk Pitt."
"Middle initial?"
"E for Eric."
"Address?"
"266 Airport Place, Washington, D.C. 20001."
"Telephone where you can be reached?"
Pitt gave Victor the phone number of his office.
"Occupation?"
"Special projects director for the National Underwater and Marine Agency."
"Can you describe the event you witnessed on the afternoon of Saturday, October 20?"
Pitt told Victor of his sighting the out-of-control blimp during the sailboard marathon race, the mad ride while clinging to the mooring line, and the last-second capture only a few feet away from potential disaster, ending with his entry into the gondola.
"Did you touch anything?"
"Only the ignition and battery switches. And I laid my hand on the shoulder of the corpse seated at the navigator's table."
"Nothing else?"
"The only other place I might have left a fingerprint was on the boarding ladder."
"And the backrest of the copilot's seat," said Victor with a smug smile. "No doubt when you leaned over and turned off the switches."