"Send it."
The draft arrived while they were talking.
Skyward Airlines is aware of an unfortunate incident involving a misunderstanding between a crew member and a passenger on Flight 2447. We take all concerns seriously and are reviewing the matter.
Naomi read it once.
"Delete it."
Richard laughed without humor.
"That's what I said."
"It wasn't a misunderstanding. The basic facts are on video. Don't pre-judge employment findings, but don't insult the public by pretending nobody knows what happened."
"What would you say?"
Naomi thought for a moment.
"Say a child was physically handled by a crew member after trying to reach his mother. Say language used during the incident was inconsistent with our values and policies. Say the crew member is suspended pending an independent investigation. Say we are preserving records and contacting prior complainants. Say I am recused from employment decisions because my son is involved."
"And the race issue?"
"Name it carefully. The recordings contain racially coded and explicit language. We are investigating whether race influenced the employee's treatment of the child and whether prior complaints were improperly handled."
Richard was quiet.
"Legal will panic."
"Legal works for reality. Not the other way around."
"I'll call you after the board meeting."
At 9:07, Skyward published the revised statement.
The response was immediate.
Some people praised the company for acknowledging facts. Others accused Skyward of protecting itself because the victim happened to be the COO's child. Some demanded Rebecca's immediate arrest. Others defended her before the investigation had begun, arguing that flight crews needed authority and that passengers were becoming impossible.
Naomi read almost none of it.
At 10:30, a child therapist named Dr. Lila Grant arrived at the house.
Naomi had found her through a colleague whose daughter had experienced a traumatic event at school. Lila specialized in children dealing with public incidents, bullying, and authority-related fear.
She did not ask Elijah to recount everything immediately.
Instead, she sat on the living room floor and asked about black holes.
Elijah looked at Naomi suspiciously.
"Did you tell her?"
"Only that you like space."
Lila smiled.
"I know almost nothing about black holes."
That offended Elijah enough to distract him.
"They're not holes."
For the next fifteen minutes, he explained event horizons.
Only then did Lila ask, "Do you want to tell me what happened on the plane, or do you want me to tell you what your mom said and you can correct me?"
Elijah chose the second option.
That gave him control.
Naomi understood immediately why Lila was good at her job.
During the session, Elijah admitted he was afraid of uniforms now.
"Not police exactly," he said. "Just people who can tell you what to do."
Lila asked what he thought would happen if he disobeyed an adult by accident.
"They can make everyone think you're bad."
Naomi looked away so he would not see her face break.
That sentence became the center of the next several months.
Not Rebecca's career.
Not the media.
Not the lawsuits.
That sentence.
By the end of the first week, the outside review team had interviewed twelve current or former Skyward employees who had worked with Rebecca. Six described her as excellent with premium-cabin passengers and impatient with economy. Four reported hearing comments about neighborhoods, accents, names, and passengers who looked like they did not belong in certain cabins.
Two defended her strongly.