“You expected me to demand handcuffs?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“No, ma’am.”
“You did.”
He did not deny it.
She looked back at the attendant.
“Twelve years ago, people decided what I must have done before the evidence was complete.”
Her voice hardened.
“I will not reproduce that process because this time I am the person with power.”
For the first time, the attendant seemed to have no response.
The chairwoman turned toward the regional president.
“Preserve every record from this flight.”
“Crew logs.”
“Gate system.”
“Reservation history.”
“Cabin reports.”
“Any available boarding-area surveillance.”
“Passenger statements if they volunteer.”
“Do not pressure anyone.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“And find the old theft file.”
His face tightened.
“Archived under the predecessor system.”
“Then find it.”
“Yes.”
The chairwoman looked at the watch again.
“Airport police can handle serial verification.”
The older officer nodded.
“We can make a report and coordinate through property-crime detectives.”
“Good.”
The lead attendant laughed bitterly.
“All this over a seat.”
The chairwoman looked at her.
“No.”
Then she pointed toward the watch.
“This stopped being about a seat when you covered your wrist.”
Silence.
The attendant’s eyes filled.
Not tears yet.
Fear.
The chairwoman had seen that fear before.
She had worn it herself.
Twelve years earlier.
But there was one difference.
Back then nobody had slowed down for her.
Now she could.
So she did.
The aircraft was taken out of boarding for operational review.
Passengers groaned when the delay announcement came.
Then stopped complaining once rumors spread through the cabin.
The chairwoman declined to stay onboard.
She collected her tote.
The younger officer handed her the boarding pass.
She looked at the crease where it had bent beneath the attendant’s hand.
Then folded it once and slipped it inside her bag.
Not as a souvenir.
Evidence.
The regional president followed her down the jet bridge.
Behind them, the lead attendant remained with airport officers and airline management.
No cuffs.
No public spectacle.
The chairwoman would later be grateful for that.
At the end of the jet bridge, a senior gate manager approached.
“Do you want a private lounge?”
“No.”
The manager blinked.
“Meeting room?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what I meant.”
“No.”
The chairwoman almost smiled.
“A lounge is hospitality.”
“I need a room with a table.”
The manager nodded.
Within minutes she was sitting in a windowless conference room beneath Terminal 3.
The regional president sat across from her.
A general counsel representative joined remotely.
Airport police assigned a property-crime detective.
The airline’s corporate security director arrived from another terminal.