Coleman nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Daniel asked, “Was that true?”
Coleman hesitated.
There it was again.
Alana whispered, “Oh, Richard.”
He looked miserable.
“The metric used substantiated cases.”
Daniel said, “Meaning?”
“Complaints closed as insufficient evidence did not count.”
“How many were closed?”
“I don't know.”
“Guess.”
The attorney said, “Richard, stop.”
Daniel turned toward screen.
“No.”
“Let him answer.”
The lawyer said, “You are conducting an investigation without authority.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Then consider this vendor diligence.”
“We can stop anytime.”
The attorney stared.
Everyone in the room understood what stop meant.
A $2.3 billion partnership disappearing.
Coleman rubbed his forehead.
“Approximately thirty-two bias-related passenger complaints over four years.”
Alana’s eyes widened.
“How many substantiated?”
“Three.”
“How many formally investigated beyond crew statements?”
Coleman looked down.
“Maybe eight.”
Daniel sat completely still.
Thirty-two.
Only eight deep reviews.
A quarter.
“How many involved premium-cabin access, upgrades, ticket verification, or suspected fraud?”
Coleman looked toward attorney.
No help.
“Eleven.”
Alana closed her eyes.
Jensen was not anomaly.
Maybe not even central problem.
Daniel said, “And Meridian represented three substantiated incidents during diligence.”
“Yes.”
“You did not disclose the underlying complaint pool.”
“No.”
“Did Elaine Mercer know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Thomas?”
Coleman looked up immediately.
“I don't know.”
Daniel believed him.
That mattered.
The problem might sit below CEO level.
Or Thomas might be protected by layers.
Either possibility was serious.
Alana stood.
Everyone looked.
She walked toward window.
Aircraft moved beyond glass.
Lines.
Schedules.
Complexity made visible.
She said quietly, “I spent six years designing human-factors protocols for environments where one incorrect assumption can kill people.”
No one interrupted.
“People think bias is a moral issue separate from competence.”
“It isn’t.”
“A crew member who substitutes stereotype for evidence is making a cognitive error.”
“A supervisor who rewards that error institutionalizes it.”
“A company that suppresses reports teaches the organization that intuition outranks data when data is uncomfortable.”
She turned.
“That is a safety culture failure.”
Coleman looked shaken.
The attorney stopped arguing.
Daniel’s phone rang.
Thomas Reed.
He answered.
“Daniel.”
“I’m boarding company aircraft.”
“I told you not to come.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because Elaine Mercer resigned twenty minutes ago.”
Daniel and Alana looked at each other.
Too fast.
Daniel said, “Why?”
Thomas’s voice hardened.
“Because when legal notified her we were reopening passenger conduct complaints, she deleted files.”
The room went silent.
Daniel asked, “Deleted what?”
“Emails.”
“Complaint summaries.”
“Internal review notes.”
“Our forensic team caught deletion in cloud archive.”
Alana whispered, “Jesus.”