Chapter 7 - The Name on the Boarding Pass
The inspection room became unnaturally quiet.
Marcus accepted the faded boarding pass from the detective and carefully brushed away a thin layer of dust. Time had nearly erased the printing, but one detail remained unmistakably clear.
The passenger's name.
Rebecca Lawson.
Eleanor's breathing became uneven.
Marcus looked at her. "You know this person?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she lowered herself into a nearby chair, as though the strength had suddenly drained from her legs.
"I prayed that name would never appear again."
Victor shifted uneasily.
"Rebecca has nothing to do with this."
Marcus noticed the speed of Victor's response.
"You recognized the name before anyone explained who she was."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"I knew many people back then."
Dana folded her arms.
"So did Mrs. Whitmore."
Eleanor finally looked up.
"Rebecca worked at this airport."
The detectives exchanged glances.
"As security?"
"No."
"As airline staff?"
Eleanor slowly shook her head.
"She worked in the airport records office."
Marcus immediately understood why that mattered.
Someone working in records could alter passenger manifests, shipment logs, baggage histories, and countless official documents.
The detective opened the notebook again.
Several pages contained repeated references to initials instead of full names.
R.L.
Meeting delayed.
R.L. copied the originals before they disappeared.
If she vanishes, Samuel must know where she hid the archive.
Marcus pointed to the initials.
"Rebecca Lawson?"
Eleanor nodded once.
"My husband trusted only two people near the end."
"And Rebecca was one of them?"
"Yes."
Victor laughed quietly.
"Or perhaps that's what Daniel wanted everyone to believe."
Marcus turned toward him.
"You seem determined to discredit every person mentioned in this notebook."
Victor shrugged.
"I'm simply being realistic."
The lead detective carefully examined the old boarding pass under brighter light.
Another line became visible.
Seat 14C. Flight 927.
Today's airport database still contained archived flight records dating back decades.
"If those archives survived..." the detective murmured.
Eleanor interrupted him.
"They survived."
Everyone looked at her.
"But someone replaced them."
Marcus frowned.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"Because Daniel compared three different copies."
She looked directly at the boarding pass.
"And only one matched the truth."
The detective immediately requested access to the airport's historical archive.
While waiting, Marcus continued examining the notebook.
Between two pages he discovered another folded sheet.
Unlike the other documents, this one contained no names.
Only a rough sketch.
It appeared to be a storage facility with numbered rows, loading bays, emergency exits, and a single location marked by a handwritten circle.
Inside the circle were three words.
Do Not Trust Vault.
Marcus slowly unfolded the page completely.
Written beneath the map was a date.
Tomorrow.
Not twelve years ago.
May you like
Tomorrow.
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