For a moment, he looked angry.
Then he looked away.
The questions continued.
Who requested the Palm Beach movement?
Who was expected to board?
Why were four premium meals ordered for a flight without passengers?
Why had the destination changed?
And why did Whitmore Private Services appear in supporting communications?
Richard gave incomplete answers.
Then contradictory ones.
Finally, he requested time to consult an attorney.
The interview stopped.
The management company suspended him from assigned duties pending further review.
Nobody declared him guilty of every suspected violation on the spot.
The investigators still needed records, witness accounts, and explanations.
But Richard was no longer authorized to fly Naomi's aircraft.
And the evidence already gathered made his position increasingly difficult.
Meanwhile, Julian's team continued reviewing previous flight movements.
The audit discovered that several irregular records involved the same names.
Richard Vance.
Edmund Royce.
Whitmore Private Services.
And authorization references that didn't correspond to approved company travel.
The pattern was becoming clearer.
Richard had not merely misunderstood a passenger.
He appeared to have participated in a scheme that treated an owner's private aircraft as something that could be offered for unauthorized outside use.
And the company was only beginning to understand how long it had been happening.
Naomi reached Columbus that evening on a properly authorized flight with a qualified replacement crew.
The departure had been delayed while the aircraft's status, records, and new crew assignment were verified.
The delay caused inconvenience.
Her original dinner meeting had to be rearranged.
Several colleagues adjusted their schedules.
And a planned presentation was moved to the following morning.
Naomi apologized to the people affected.
But she didn't regret the decision to hold the aircraft.
The flight itself was smooth.
Captain Torres and the assigned first officer completed their duties professionally.
Olivia provided attentive service.
And Naomi spent much of the journey reviewing documents related to the regional hospital transportation initiative she was helping establish.
The initiative was called the Thomas Ellis Access Fund.
Named for her father.
Its purpose was to help qualified healthcare organizations coordinate certain transportation needs that could create barriers for patients, families, and specialized clinical teams.
It was not an emergency medical service operated by Naomi herself.