“May I read it?”
Graham hesitated.
Mr. Doyle took the incident form from the folder.
“I assume you’re here to apologize to my crew,” he said.
Mrs. Ashcroft extended one hand.
“I’d still like to read the report.”
Mr. Doyle gave it to her.
She adjusted a pair of reading glasses and began at the top.
Nobody spoke while she read.
Lily watched the woman’s eyes move across the page.
There was no visible anger.
That made Graham more nervous than anger would have.
Mrs. Ashcroft reached the witness section.
“Lily Monroe,” she read. “Present during incident.”
She looked up.
“They asked you to sign this?”
Lily glanced at Graham.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you didn’t.”
“It wasn’t true.”
Graham exhaled sharply.
“Are we finished with the sentimental part?”
Mrs. Ashcroft removed her glasses.
Mr. Doyle shifted in his chair.
“Ma’am, you were difficult. You were instructed to change seats and questioned the cabin crew. We have to take disruptive conduct seriously.”
“Was I abusive to you, Mr. Doyle?”
He frowned.
“I wasn’t on the aircraft.”
“Then you don’t know that I was difficult.”
“I have a report from my senior crew member.”
“A report that one witness refused to sign because she says it is false.”
Graham leaned forward.
“Mrs.—”
“Ashcroft.”
The room stopped.
Not because the surname immediately meant anything to Lily.
It meant something to Mr. Doyle.
His expression emptied.
Mrs. Ashcroft placed the report flat on the table.
“I founded this company forty years ago,” she said.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The fluorescent light above them buzzed.
A printer somewhere in the next office woke and began feeding paper.
Graham stared at her.
Mrs. Ashcroft continued.
“We had one airplane. A leased turboprop with a hydraulic leak that ruined three pairs of my shoes in the first winter. We had fourteen employees, and for the first six months I signed the checks myself because the bank did not trust us enough to extend payroll credit.”
Mr. Doyle stood without realizing he was doing it.
“Mrs. Ashcroft.”
“Yes.”
“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you.”
“That is precisely the point.”
Graham’s face had gone gray.
He looked toward Mr. Doyle as though expecting the station manager to rescue him.
No rescue came.
“Mrs. Ashcroft,” Graham began, “I was only following procedure.”
She turned to him.
“No.”
One word.