"And later?"
"Later I was trying to cooperate without escalating the confrontation. Once I recognized a potential hazard, I used the fastest verified reporting route available. I wasn't trying to win an argument with a purser. I was trying to get an independent assessment of what I had seen."
Amara regarded him for a moment. "I want you to know this will be reviewed outside your management chain. You're the complainant and an eyewitness. You're not directing the investigation."
"Good," Miles said. "That's how it needs to be."
He asked for one thing before the interview ended. "Please record whether the initial security warning identified anyone. If it didn't, don't let a later description be substituted for what the crew actually received. They need to account for why they chose me at the time, not invent a justification after seeing the video."
Amara nodded. She had investigated enough misconduct cases to know how easily memory adjusted itself around consequences. A person who had acted on prejudice might later remember an aggressive movement, a threatening tone, or a mysterious bag that nobody mentioned when there was still time to check. The earliest records, imperfect as they were, mattered precisely because they existed before the actors knew how events would end. She made a note to request the first cockpit advisory, the operations-center recording, and the cabin communications before anyone could reframe them.
Across the hall, Molly sat with a paper cup of tea she had not touched. Her uniform jacket was still buttoned, though she had loosened her collar and taken off her name badge. She feared that Lyle Whitlock, the airline vice president everyone mentioned with reverence, would call her a disloyal employee for contradicting Trent. She feared Preston Vance had enough influence to make her life at work miserable. Most of all, she feared being asked why she had not intervened sooner, a question she had already been asking herself.
A woman from the federal interview team sat opposite her and began with a simple invitation. "Tell me what you saw, from the moment Mr. Sloan boarded."
Molly described the valid upgrade and the way Trent looked at Miles's clothes before checking the reservation. She described Preston's joke about bought miles and the effort to move Courtney into the seat. She spoke about the bin latch and her maintenance report, which now mattered as evidence that Miles had identified a legitimate cabin issue rather than suspiciously examining equipment. When she reached the moment the restraints went on, her voice broke.
"I knew he hadn't threatened anybody," she said. "He was asking what was happening. I could have spoken louder. I should have."
"Did you tell Mr. Galloway the alert contained no description?"
"Yes. Twice. He said the captain wanted the problem isolated and that we had already found the person."
"Did the captain name Mr. Sloan himself?"
"I never heard him do that. Trent said he had spoken to the captain. I was told to assist." She rubbed her hands together. "I was afraid of being fired. That doesn't excuse it."