“Why would someone fake a diplomatic passport for a domestic flight?”
“Maybe stolen identity.”
“He’s way too calm.”
Marcus noticed that one when Zoe angled the phone downward for a moment. He could not read every comment, but he saw enough to understand the spectacle around him had become a referendum on his demeanor. If he raised his voice, he would be aggressive. If he remained calm, he would be calculating.
If he left, he would be fleeing. If he stayed, he would be difficult. There was no correct performance once the crowd had accepted guilt as the premise. He opened his wallet slowly.
His Virginia driver’s license was visible. So was a federal credential card tucked behind it, the gold seal partly obscured by the fold of the wallet. Sandra reached toward the wallet. Marcus moved it back.
“Do not take personal documents from my hand.”
Her face hardened.
“Security!” she called again.
A contract security officer approached from the concourse. He was large, probably in his forties, with a black uniform and a radio clipped high on his shoulder. His name tag read HARRIS.
“What’s the issue?” he asked.
Sandra answered before Marcus could speak.
“Fraudulent passport, refusal to cooperate, possible identity problem.”
Harris glanced once at Marcus and then at the torn pages on the floor.
“You ripped that?”
Sandra’s expression flickered.
“It was fraudulent.”
Harris looked again at the pieces.
“Who verified that?”
Sandra opened her mouth. Janet stepped in.
“We’re waiting on our supervisor.”
Harris’s eyes moved to Marcus.
“Sir, do you have another ID?”
“Yes.”
“May I see it?”
Marcus appreciated the wording.
“You may look at it. I am not surrendering it to airline personnel.”
Harris nodded.
“Fair.”
For the first time in ten minutes, someone had responded to Marcus as though his boundaries were ordinary rather than incriminating. Marcus opened his wallet enough to show the Virginia license. Harris read the name.
“Marcus Williams.”
“Yes.”
Sandra interrupted.
“That could match the fake passport. It doesn’t prove anything.”
Harris looked at her.
“We haven’t established the passport is fake.”
That should have slowed things down. Instead, Sandra heard it as a challenge.
“I know what a fake document looks like.”