"You wrote that at 8:43," he said.
Bria folded her arms. "Temporary catering notes are not official records."
"Were you the one who wrote it?"
"Those initials could belong to any number of people."
Merrick glanced toward her name badge. "You signed this morning's galley check BC. I'm asking you directly whether you authorized this transfer."
"I may have marked the tray while organizing service. That doesn't prove it was improper."
"My family never canceled it," Zire said. "Who told you that you could give it away?"
Lenora lowered the tray with more force than necessary. A dessert spoon rattled against its container. "Could somebody please remember that the flight is supposed to leave today?"
Merrick held up a hand. "We're working through it."
He opened the service record again and examined the field attached to the acceptance entry. A small device identifier appeared beneath the timestamp. CABIN DEVICE 3. Merrick looked toward the forward galley, where three service tablets were clipped into their holders. The number on Bria's current tablet matched the one beside Zire's acceptance.
"This entry came from your device," he said to Bria.
"I exchanged tablets with Sela earlier. Mine wasn't loading the premium list correctly."
Sela, passing with a bundle of blankets, stopped when she heard her name. "I handed device three to Bria before boarding," she said carefully. "She kept it while I used device four."
Bria stared at her. "You had it for several minutes before that."
"Not at 9:12. I was waiting for it back then."
Sela's voice had become quieter, but she did not retract the statement. She glanced toward Merrick, perhaps expecting him to be annoyed that a junior crew member had contradicted a colleague. Instead, he asked her to write down what she remembered while it was still fresh.