"What about the part she deleted?" Zire asked.
"We'll describe what the editing history actually shows," Roland replied. "An original recording of two minutes and nine seconds, a shortened version of one minute and twelve seconds, and a remaining thumbnail showing Mrs. Pike holding the complimentary tray. We cannot invent the other fifty-seven seconds."
"That's fair," Zire said.
It surprised Lenora enough to make her look at him. She seemed to have expected him to use every uncertain detail against her, just as she had used every uncertain detail to defend herself. Instead, he wanted the account to be accurate even when accuracy left something unresolved. That was what his grandfather meant by reading every label twice. A person could be certain about one part of a story and still be careful about the rest.
Sela had been standing near the forward curtain, holding a clipboard she had filled with handwritten seat numbers. At Roland's request, she stepped beside the counter and described what she remembered about the early filming. She had seen Bria open the unused service cart, but not the moment the pasta tray was hidden. She had noticed Lenora examining a dessert cup and heard her ask whether the salmon would look more colorful near the window. She also remembered Bria responding that she would "take care of the children's orders" after the photographs were finished.
"Did you understand what she meant then?" Merrick asked.
"No," Sela admitted. "I thought she was talking about moving special meals into the correct cart. I was dealing with boarding assistance, and I wasn't looking for anything wrong. I should have checked when I saw loose passenger labels beside her tablet."
Merrick shook his head. "Say what you saw. Don't turn it into a confession about something you didn't know."
Sela nodded gratefully, then added one more detail. "I heard Mrs. Pike ask Bria whether the child's family could complain after landing. Bria said the system would show the meal delivered. I thought they were discussing a service recovery problem, but I remember the wording because it sounded odd."
Zire felt his stomach tighten. The exact plan he had pieced together from scattered records had been discussed aloud by adults standing a few steps from the seat assigned to him. They had not needed a sophisticated way to hide it. They had relied on everybody around them having another task, another passenger, another reason not to pay attention.
Roland entered Sela's statement separately and asked whether she would sign it. She read every line, changed one sentence from "witnessed concealment" to "saw the cart opened," and signed only after the language matched her recollection. Zire watched the correction with quiet approval. It was the first time he had seen a crew member insist that a record be made more precise rather than more convenient.
Meanwhile, Merrick asked Orla to check the untouched promotional tray and Arthur's celebration beverage against the catering handoff list. The beverage was still sealed and could be returned to its paying passenger once catering confirmed its condition. The pasta tray, although never assigned to a paying customer, had been handled during unauthorized filming and would not be served. Its existence could establish the inventory, but its contents would not become an excuse for overlooking the other missing orders.
"We're preparing fresh replacements," Orla said. "The kitchen can bring a suitable fruit plate and a sealed beverage. For Zire, we can provide a warm meal from the approved reserve menu, though it won't be his original salmon. And we'll confirm Nessa's allergen details directly with her and her aunt before offering anything else."
"Thank you," Zire said. He was surprised by how much he meant it. He had heard the word replacement so many times that it had begun to sound like an attempt to make him stop talking. Orla used it differently. She described what could be replaced, what could not, and what she would verify before handing anything over.
Merrick called the gate office and requested that Nessa's aunt be escorted to the front cabin. Miriam Row arrived several minutes later with a carry-on bag and an expression that changed from worry to anger when she saw her niece waiting beside a meal that another child had surrendered. She hugged Nessa tightly, checked that the replacement tray was properly labeled, and only then turned toward the adults.
"I was told there was a catering delay," Miriam said. "Why am I hearing from my niece that her meal was recorded as delivered and found in another passenger's bag?"