And both believed an inconvenient passenger could be made to disappear from first class without anybody important asking too many questions.
The problem was that somebody important did ask.
Not merely because I had money.
Because I had the documents, the contractual authority, and the professional responsibility to insist that the airline explain what was happening.
The first independent financial report arrived eleven days after Flight 408.
I was in my San Francisco office when Maya walked in carrying a thick binder.
Her expression told me the news wasn't good.
I closed my laptop.
“What did they find?”
She sat opposite me.
“The Asteron transactions are more serious than we expected.”
I opened the binder.
The preliminary review identified tens of millions of dollars in payments and accounting entries requiring correction or further investigation.
Some expenses had been classified in ways that made the airline's operating performance appear stronger during critical reporting periods.
Other transactions involved consulting fees that the independent accountants could not match to complete, verifiable deliverables.
The amounts were substantial.
But the numbers alone weren't the most disturbing part.
Several invoices had been approved through a management process influenced by Leonard Pike.
And Asteron's ownership records showed connections to a business associate who had maintained a longstanding financial relationship with Pike.
The auditors were examining whether those relationships had been properly disclosed.
I looked toward Maya.
“Does Catherine know?”
“Yes.”
“How did she react?”
Maya took a breath.
“She requested immediate preservation of the records and expanded the review.”
I nodded.
“Good.”
Then I examined the operating schedules.
The problem wasn't that Northstar had neglected every aircraft.
The independent maintenance assessment was separating actual maintenance performance from financial reporting.
Several aircraft had received the required work.
Qualified technicians had documented the inspections.
Those records mattered.
The airline's safety wasn't something we could infer from accounting entries alone.
But the review also identified maintenance planning decisions that needed closer scrutiny.
Some scheduled improvements had been deferred.
Some forecasts understated future expenses.
And several senior managers had been given incomplete summaries when approving budgets.
That created financial risk.
It also raised operational questions.
I looked toward the report.
“How are the technical concerns being handled?”
Maya opened another page.
“Independent aviation specialists are reviewing the relevant maintenance and planning records. Northstar is coordinating with the appropriate oversight authorities where required.”