The Heart of the Ocean

Chapter One: They Meet Katerina

Katerina, Caroline, and Rose was flown to the ship in a helicopter. But Lewis had his concerns about her.

"She's a goddamned liar!" Lewis told Brock. "Some nut case seeking money or publicity. God only knows why, like that Russian babe, Anesthesia."

"They're inbound!" Bobby told the two.

The helicopter was ready to land but Lewis wasn't done.

"Katerina Elena Rogers died on the Titanic
when she was 1 7, right?" Lewis asked Brock.

"That's right." Brock confirmed.

"If she had lived, she'd be over 100 by."

"101 next month."

"Okay, so she's a very old goddamned liar. Look, I've already done the background on this woman all the way back to the '20s when she was working as an actress. An actress! There's
your first clue, Sherlock. Her name was and still is Katerina Hockley-Dawson back then.
Then she marries two men, one of the men was a very wealthy sing who became very popular in the 1940s named Caledon or Cal Hockley and the other one was a artist named Jack Dawson. They move to Cedar Rapids and she punches out a couple of kids. Now, Cal and Jack are both dead, and from what I hear, Cedar Rapids is dead."

"And everybody who knows about the diamond is supposed to be dead or on this boat, but she knows."

The helicopter landed on the deck and the crew started to unload all of Katerina's things. She didn't pack light. Four men had to help Katerina out of the helicopter as she was in a wheelchair. Brock welcomed her aboard along with her granddaughter and her great granddaughter. Rose pushed Katerina to the temporary cabin and waited for the luggage so that they could unpack. Brock and Lewis would check on them later on to ask if the room was alright. Katerina said it was nice. Katerina was setting up all of her pictures as she never traveled without them.

Brock asked her if there was anything he could do for her. She said she would like to see her drawing. So, Brock took her, Rose and Caroline to the deck where all the artifacts were being kept, including the drawing. Katerina looked into the water to see the drawing she had lost so many years ago. Katerina closed her eyes as she remembered the night it was drawn, and the hazel eyes and brown eyes studied her as the hazel eyes were drawing and the brown eyes were posing along with her. Katerina opened her eyes again as Brock stared to tell her about the diamond she wore in the picture.

"Louis XVI wore a fabulous stone that was called the Blue Diamond of the Crown which disappeared in 1792 about the same time old Louis lost everything from the neck up. The theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped, too. Recut into a heart-like shape that
became known as "Heart ofthe Ocean." Today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond."

Katerina scoffed. "It was a dreadful, heavything. I only wore it this once."

"You actually think this is you, Grams?" Rose asked her.

"It is me, dear. Wasn't I a dish?"

Brock lightly laughed at Katerina's comment. "I tracked it down through insurance records. An old claim that was settled underterms of absolute secrecy. Can you tell me who the claimant was, Katerina?"

"I should imagine someone named Stone." Katerina said remembering the name all too well.

"Richard Stone that's right. New York business man. Claim was for a diamond necklace bought his fiancee--you a week before he sailed on Titanic. It was filed right after the sinking so the diamond had to have gone down with the ship. You see the date?"

""April 1 4, 1912."" Caroline read.

"Which means if your grandmother and great grandmother is who she says she is she was wearing the diamond the day the Titanic sank." Lewis told her.

"And that makes you my new best friend." Brock told her with a smile.

Brock then took her to another side of the room where all of Katerina's old things were being kept. Katerina looked at it all in awe. She hadn't seen these in years to the point she almost forgot about them. She picked up a hand-held mirror and was amazed at the fact it hadn't changed a bit. Well, the reflection had changed a bit. She put the mirror down and picked up a hairpiece she used to wear. It was designed as a butterfly through it had broken from either the sinking or how long it had been down at the bottom of the ocean. Either way, she remembered it clearly.

Brock kneeled next to her and asked. "Are you ready to go back to Titanic?"

Katerina looked at him and nodded. Lewis set up a simulation to describe what happened that night.

"Okay, here we go. She hits the berg on the starboard side, right? She kind of bumps along punching holes like Morse code-- dit-dit-dit--
along the side, below the waterline. Then the forward compartments start to flood. Now as the water level rises, it spills overthe watertight bulkheads which unfortunately don't go any higher than E deck. So now as the bow goes down, the stern rises up slow at first, then faster and faster until finally she's got herwhole ass is sticking up in the air and that's a big ass. We're talking 20,000, 30,000, 30,000 tons, okay. And the hull's not designed to deal with that pressure, so what happens? She splits, right down to the keel and the stern falls back level. Then as the bow sinks, it pulls the
stern vertical and finally detaches. Now, the stern section just kind of bobs there like a cork
for a couple of minutes, floods and finally goes under about 2:20 a.m. Two hours and 40 minutes after the collision. The bow section planes away landing about a halfa mile away
going 20, 30 knots when it hits the ocean floor." Lewis imitates crashing sounds as the simulation shows the Titanic hitting the ocean floor. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine." Katerina said. " Of course, the experience of it was somewhat different."

"Will you share it with us?" Brock said.

Katerina said nothing and got up from her chair to look at the underwear footage of the Titanic. One of the cameras showed the door to the First Class desk. Katerina flashed back to crew members opening the door for her as the orchestra played before coming back to the present day. She suddenly became overwhelmed and got upset. Caroline was ready to take Katerina away to rest but Katerina refused. Caroline insisted but Katerina still refused. She sat back down as Brock got a tape recorder ready.

"Tell us, Katerina." Brock urged.

"It's been 84 years..." Katerina began.

"It's okay. Just try to remember anything-- anything at all."

"Do you want to hear this or not, Mr. Lovett?" Everyone stayed quiet. "It's been 84 years...
and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never
been slept in. Titanic was called "The Ship of Dreams"and it was, it really was."

The scenery around the decaying Titanic suddenly changed to when it was all shiny and new. Back when she first sailed in 1912.