There it was.
Cole asked:
“What information did Passenger Intelligence View provide?”
“Past travel.”
“Company associations.”
“VIP notes.”
“Security status.”
“Sometimes employment category.”
“Government indicator.”
“Were you authorized?”
“No.”
“What happened when you generated a fraud referral?”
“Sometimes nothing.”
“Sometimes we caught something.”
“Examples?”
“Stolen points accounts.”
“Ticket brokers.”
“People using somebody else’s corporate travel profile.”
“Were successful referrals rewarded?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Recognition.”
“Performance points.”
“Shift preference.”
“Promotion consideration.”
“Money?”
“Not directly.”
“SilverLine?”
Emily looked toward her attorney.
Then:
“Sometimes they sent gift cards.”
Her attorney whispered sharply.
Cole noticed.
“So money.”
“Small.”
“How small?”
“Two hundred.”
“Five hundred once.”
“For what?”
“Referrals.”
Isaiah felt anger rise.
Gift cards.
Now payment.
Cole continued:
“Did you receive one for referring Black passengers?”
Emily became defensive.
“They weren’t for race.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“Yes.”
“Did you refer white passengers?”
“Yes.”
“Did you refer Black passengers more often?”
“I don’t know.”
“We do.”
Emily looked up.
Cole slid a statistical summary across the table.
Emily stared.
Her face changed.
“That doesn’t mean—”
“No one said what it means yet.”
Cole’s voice remained calm.
“We’re asking what you did.”
Emily looked at the chart.
Her eyes filled.
Not tears yet.
Close.
“Sometimes…”
She stopped.
“Sometimes what?”
“They looked wrong.”
Silence.
Isaiah’s jaw tightened.
Cole asked:
“Wrong how?”
“For the reservation.”
“What does a first-class passenger look like?”
Emily could not answer.
Cole waited.
The room seemed smaller.
Finally Emily whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Cole’s voice softened slightly.
“You knew that morning.”
Emily looked down.
Isaiah felt something he had not expected.
Not sympathy exactly.
Recognition.
The terrible moment a person hears their own belief once it becomes explicit.
Cole asked:
“Why did you tear Inspector Reed’s ticket?”
Emily swallowed.
“He was calm.”
The answer confused everyone.
Cole frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He was too calm.”
“I thought he knew he’d been caught and was trying to intimidate me.”
Isaiah stared through the glass.
His calm had become suspicious.
If he had become angry?
Aggressive.
If calm?