The Sixth Station(53)

The officer automatically handed me back my passport and went over to them. When the agents inquired about something or other, the rocker got furious.

“Do you know who I am?” he said menacingly.

Maybe he’s also in the Pan Band.

When they asked again for his passport, he said, “Bugger off,” and went back to his drink. Within seconds a scuffle ensued, and the couple was hustled off the plane kicking and screaming.

This was getting weird—two checkpoints and two violent passengers—both had been there just in time to take the heat off of me. First the fat smoker and now a skinny rocker.

Naaah.

By 8:00 the flight attendants had offered more drinks (yes), blanket and pillow, choice of entrées for dinner (yes, yes, and some of that), and after-dinner drinks (yes).

I reclined my seat to the full, yes, full sleeping position, which almost worked wonderfully, but then I tossed, turned, and tried to make myself comfortable enough to sleep. As I was drifting off, I remembered. The envelope!

I put the seat back up, turned on my reading light, and dug into my red bag and pulled out the faxes from Dona.

The large Best Rate Motel envelope did indeed hold five pages. And each one was so explosive, I could have been arrested as a mad bomber.

The first was a photocopy of an old clipping from the New York Post that was probably half a tabloid page in its original size, including the photo of a somber, freckle-faced girl with medium-length, medium-colored hair, wearing a dark crewneck sweater over a light shirt. It was clearly her school picture, but the child wasn’t smiling.

“Theotokos Bienheureux in happier times,” the caption read. That was her “happier times” face? The story was a shocker—for me at least.

New York Post

April 14, 1981

Honors Student Goes Missing: Cops Seek to Question Parents

By Marsha Kranes

A twelve-year-old brown-haired, freckle-faced seventh grader, Theotokos Meryemana Bienheureux, a student at the Friends Seminary Quaker school on Seventeenth Street, has been missing since Thursday.

When the girl, known affectionately by classmates as “Theo,” did not show up for school either on Friday or Monday, her teacher, Ms. Debbie Chasen, became concerned and called the child’s parents, Leah and William Bienheureux, at home.

Chasen’s concern turned to worry when messages left on the family’s answering machine were not returned. Two days ago, she tried reaching personnel at the Catari Relief Services Worldwide offices, located in Rockefeller Center, where the Bienheureux couple works.

The CRSW is a philanthropic organization that sends missionaries, teachers, emergency relief workers, and supplies to third-world countries around the globe.

Chasen told the Post, “When I still hadn’t heard back from Mr. and Mrs. Bienheureux, I called the CRSW office. Theo has never missed class. Ever. She’s a top student who has a perfect attendance record.

“I spoke to a receptionist, who said the Bienheureuxs were out of the country, but that someone would return my call,” Chasen added. “But I never heard back. I tried again and was put through to Mr. Bienheureux’s answering machine, which indicated that they were no longer working at the New York City offices and have been reassigned to Indonesia. I know that they move around a lot, and right now Indonesia is suffering through a terrible drought. We at Friends are working with relief organizations there as well. But still, the Bienheureuxs never signed Theotokos out of school.

“I’ve asked Quaker relief workers in Indonesia if there is any way they can find out more for us.”

Lt. Det. Richard Marino, of the NYPD Missing Child task force, told the Post that the bureau is investigating the strange disappearance of the girl.

“The child has not been seen for over a week. The parents, however, were going about their normal activities until three days ago, even though the messages on their answering machines had been placed probably six days earlier,” he told the Post exclusively.

“This sends up a red flag for us, because in that period of time—from the last time Theo was seen leaving Friends Seminary on Thursday until today—nothing. It’s like she disappeared off the face of the earth.”

Since her parents were French nationals, he said, the disappearance took on all sorts of international complications, if they chose to go that route.

That being said, immigration has no record of Leah, William, or Theotokos Bienheureux leaving this country. They did not, as far as we can determine, ever enter Indonesia, either.

The question then, is “Where is Theotokos Bienheureux?”

The story went on to describe the parents’ prestigious Fifth Avenue apartment building, where, it was stated, they occupied—get this—a ten-room spread.