Chapter 6 - PARKER WAS IN THE OFFICE
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Finally, Martin laughed.
“That’s impossible.”
The IT director shook his head.
“We have a timestamped security image.”
“Send it.”
The photograph arrived in Evelyn’s inbox.
She opened it.
There was Parker.
Sitting at Martin Vale’s desk at 11:46 the previous night.
No uniform.
Gray polo shirt.
Reading glasses.
Hand on the keyboard.
I looked at Martin’s video window.
“Still impossible?”
His face had gone rigid.
“Parker was in Dallas yesterday.”
“You said your laptop was locked in your office.”
“He must have gotten in.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Evelyn asked, “Does Parker have a badge that accesses executive offices?”
“No.”
IT answered.
“Actually, he used a temporary executive credential.”
“Registered to whom?” I asked.
The director checked.
Then hesitated.
“Martin Vale.”
Martin slammed his hand onto his desk.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Did you give Parker the credential?”
“No.”
“Did your assistant?”
“I don’t know.”
“You seem not to know much about what happens in your own office.”
His eyes hardened.
“Watch yourself, Malcolm.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because men like Martin were so used to power that they sometimes forgot when the room had changed.
“I am watching.”
Evelyn intervened.
“Martin, effective immediately, do not access any Northstar complaint, HR, operations, scheduling, or safety system.”
“You can’t suspend my authority.”
“The CEO can.”
Andrew Mercer cleared his throat.
“And I am.”
Martin stared at him.
“Andrew, think carefully.”
“I have.”
“No, you haven’t.”
Martin leaned toward his camera.
“If you do this, you are creating a public admission that senior management may be involved.”
Andrew said quietly, “Senior management may be involved.”
Martin disconnected.
Ten minutes later, corporate security reported that Parker had left the airport.
His company phone was off.
Nobody knew where he was.
That worried me.
But what worried Evelyn more was why he had been deleting complaints before confronting me.
“We need to know what Parker thought he was doing,” she said.
Tessa crossed her arms.
“Maybe he knew Malcolm was coming.”
“Then why pick a fight with him?”
“Because maybe the fight was the point.”
I looked at her.
“Explain.”
“Think about it.”
She stood and paced.
“If Parker knew you were inspecting the airline anonymously, maybe someone wanted you to see him behaving badly.”
Denise frowned.
“Why?”
“To take down Parker.”
I shook my head.
“They could send me the complaints.”
“Unless the complaints implicated somebody else too.”
Evelyn stared at her.
Tessa continued.
“Maybe Parker was supposed to become the whole scandal. Angry racist captain. Fire him. Apologize. Everybody claps. Story over.”
“And while the public focuses on him…”
“Management cleans the records.”
That made sense.
Too much sense.
I looked again at the deleted files.
“What else was in those complaints?”
Evelyn opened Tessa’s copies.
Then she started searching for names.
Parker.
Martin.
Crew scheduling.
HR.
Operations.
On the fourth complaint, she stopped.
“What?”
“There’s another executive copied on this.”
“Who?”
“Andrew Mercer.”
I looked at the video-call window he had occupied minutes earlier.
The CEO of Northstar.
The man who had just suspended Martin.
Evelyn kept reading.
Then her face went pale.
“This complaint was sent directly to Andrew fourteen months ago.”
“And?”
“He replied.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he say?”
Evelyn read it aloud.
“Martin, please keep this away from legal until we know whether there is real exposure.”
Nobody moved.
May you like
Then Tessa whispered:
“So the CEO knew.”
