Elena took in the scene: a motionless woman in 1B, a furious traveler blocking the aisle, and a captain standing beside a damaged document sleeve.
“I'm told we have a seating disagreement,” Elena began.
“We had one,” Mercer said. “Now we have a document-control incident.”
Casey pointed at Claire. “She refused to show her boarding pass. I've been trying to get a legitimate passenger into this seat.”
Elena consulted her tablet. “Seat 1B is assigned to Claire Vance. Checked in, identity verified, boarded at 6:14.”
“Then your system is wrong,” Casey snapped.
“Your boarding pass is for 3C, Ms. Holloway,” Elena said. “That's a different cabin section.”
Casey straightened. “I was told a regional director might be upgraded.”
“An upgrade request isn't an assignment.”
For a moment, the cabin heard only the soft rush of ventilation. Then Casey recovered. “You have no idea who I report to.”
Elena's expression tightened. “I know exactly who issued your ticket. It's a corporate travel booking under Northstar Aviation Services.”
Claire looked up. Northstar was one of the operating subsidiaries named in the lease. She had seen Casey's surname before, though she could not yet place it.
“Ms. Holloway,” Claire asked, “are you employed in the fleet procurement division?”
Casey hesitated. “I'm a senior regional accounts director.”
“Then you know that the equipment lessor isn't the same entity as the airline selling the seats.”
“I know what a lease is.”
“Do you know who signed this one?”
Casey glanced at the folder but did not answer.
Mercer stepped between them. “This isn't a deposition. Elena, please secure the aisle and contact the station manager.”
Elena nodded. Riley finally moved to ask the waiting passengers to take their seats. She had spent the past several minutes treating the dispute as an inconvenience; now the captain's measured urgency made her hands feel clumsy.
Claire opened her handbag and produced a phone. Her boarding pass appeared immediately, complete with the seat number Casey had demanded.
“You could have shown that ten minutes ago,” Riley murmured.
“I offered you the manifest,” Claire replied. “You already had the evidence. You simply preferred a louder person.”
Riley had no response.
A second notification flashed on Elena's tablet. The station manager was requesting the names of all witnesses, and legal wanted the torn sleeve photographed before anyone attempted to repair it.
Casey looked toward the open door. “I have a meeting in Dallas. I'm not staying here to answer ridiculous questions.”
“You may leave the aircraft,” Mercer said, “but the report will still be filed.”
Claire's phone vibrated. A message from her general counsel filled the screen: DO NOT RELEASE ORIGINAL. BOARD REPRESENTATIVE EN ROUTE. BOARD VOTE AT 8:00.
She read it twice. The meeting in Dallas was no longer her immediate concern. The decision scheduled for eight could determine whether Northstar kept flying the aircraft it had promised investors it controlled.
And somebody inside Northstar had apparently decided that she should not arrive with the original agreement intact.
Claire had spent eleven months investigating discrepancies in Northstar's lease payments. At first, the numbers had looked like clerical noise: maintenance reserves moved between accounts, inspection certificates arriving late, and equipment charges attributed to aircraft that had not flown for weeks. Then an internal audit revealed something more troubling. Someone had represented amended lease terms to lenders without obtaining the lessor's consent.