Lily looked toward Graham.
He continued arranging cups.
The light above 38C remained on.
A second chime sounded several minutes later.
Graham finally glanced at Lily.
“What?”
“She called.”
“I heard it.”
“Should I—”
“In a minute.”
Lily waited thirty seconds.
Then sixty.
Then she walked back anyway.
Mrs. Ashcroft looked up.
“Excuse me. Could I have some tea?”
“In a minute,” Graham called from behind Lily, loud enough for the passenger to hear.
Lily turned.
He stood several rows away.
Mrs. Ashcroft did not react.
“No hurry, dear,” she said.
Lily returned to the galley with anger burning beneath her ribs.
Tess was folding napkins.
“Just sign whatever he gives you,” Tess said quietly without looking up. “It’s easier.”
Lily stared at her.
“Is that what you did?”
Tess’s hands stopped.
The answer arrived before her mouth opened.
“You noticed that before any of us,” Lily said.
Tess looked up sharply.
“Noticed what?”
“That he makes people agree with him after the fact.”
Tess’s face changed.
Lily lowered her voice.
“You’ve signed something before.”
Tess looked toward the curtain to make sure Graham was not nearby.
“Old habits,” she whispered.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to know.”
“If he’s going to do it to me, I do.”
Tess pressed her lips together.
Three years earlier, she explained, a passenger had argued with Graham over a baggage issue. Graham escalated it after landing and wrote an incident report describing the passenger as threatening. Tess had been nearby. The passenger had been rude, but not threatening.
Graham asked Tess to sign as a witness.
She did.
“Why?” Lily asked.
“Because I was still junior enough to believe he could end my career.”
“Could he?”
Tess gave a tired laugh.
“He made sure I thought so.”
“Did anything happen to the passenger?”
“Banned for six months.”
Lily felt sick.
“And you never corrected it?”
Tess folded another napkin.
“I told myself I didn’t write the report. I only signed what I was given.”
“That’s still signing it.”
“I know.”
The shame in Tess’s expression stopped Lily from saying more.
Graham returned.