Zire studied the pasta through the clear lid. It looked perfectly good to him, but the colors were muted compared with the salmon and fresh fruit Lenora had photographed. The pasta was beige, the bread brown, the salad mostly green. It was the sort of food that might taste wonderful and photograph ordinarily.
He looked toward Lenora. "You didn't want this one."
"I've never seen it before," she answered.
"It's an actual complimentary meal," Zire said. "You wanted the tray that looked better."
Lenora straightened. "You're guessing."
"Maybe," he said. "Then the question is easy. Who put your name on this one, and why was it hidden?"
Sela examined the service cart's electronic access record. The device had logged an opening at 8:46, after the time of the early filming and one minute after Bria's warning to delete the second video. The identifier beside the access belonged to Bria's assigned tablet. It was another traceable entry, small by itself but important in the sequence already documented.
"That could be when it was put back," Merrick said. "We need to know what happened before the recorded opening."
Zire remembered the short cabin video Lenora had shown. It began with her already inside the aircraft and Bria already holding his meal. He had not seen her first encounter with the complimentary tray, or her reaction to it. The beginning of the recording was missing, and Lenora had not been eager to show even the portion that remained.
"How long was the original cabin video?" he asked her.
"You've seen the relevant part."
"The beginning isn't there. Was there an earlier part where you saw the pasta?"
Lenora looked at Bria, then at the unused cart. "I edit my videos. That's normal."
"I know," Zire said. "I'm asking what you edited out."
Merrick turned to Roland. The manager asked Lenora whether she would show the file information voluntarily, making clear again that they would not take her phone or search it without permission. Lenora considered refusing. Then she looked at the catering tray, the device logs, and the passengers watching her, and decided a limited answer might be less damaging than continued silence.
She opened the file details. The current clip lasted one minute and twelve seconds. Its editing history showed an original duration of two minutes and nine seconds. Fifty-seven seconds had been removed from the beginning.