The false bottom rose less than an inch before the flight attendant whispered, “That duplicate isn’t mine.”
Alexander stopped moving.
I felt the air change inside the cabin.
No one had called the object beneath the lining a duplicate.
No one had even seen it clearly yet.
Alexander looked up at her with the same calm expression he had worn when he found me sleeping in his seat.
“What did you say?”
The flight attendant’s lips parted.
“I said the device isn’t hers.”
“No,” I said quietly.
“You called it a duplicate.”
Her eyes snapped toward me.
For the first time since she had accused me, the confidence in her face cracked.
Alexander lifted the false panel completely.
Two narrow compartments had been carved into the leather frame.
One held a black security token no larger than a flash drive.
The second compartment was empty, but the velvet lining still carried the outline of another device.
A tiny red light blinked on the remaining token.
The flight attendant took another step backward.
Alexander placed the briefcase on the table between us.
“Close the cockpit door,” he told the chef.
The chef obeyed without hesitation.
Then Alexander pressed the cabin intercom.
“Captain, engage the cockpit lock.
No one enters or leaves until I authorize it.
Send the cabin network log to my secure tablet, and alert my legal team in Paris.”
The flight attendant recovered enough to straighten her shoulders.
“Sir, you’re allowing a stranger to manipulate you during an active theft.”
Alexander ended the call.
“I’m allowing a witness to speak.”
The words settled over me.
A witness.
Not a suspect.
My pulse was still racing, but I forced myself to breathe slowly.
Alexander turned toward me.
“Tell me exactly what happened at the gate.
Leave nothing out, even if it seems unimportant.”
I closed my eyes and pictured Gate 12A.
The nearly empty corridor.
The polished aircraft steps.
My suitcase leaning against my leg while I struggled to read the boarding pass through burning eyes.
“The briefcase wasn’t with me when I entered the terminal,” I said.
“I only saw it after I reached the aircraft.”
“Where?”
“Beside my suitcase.
I thought it was the work bag I sometimes carry.
They’re both black, and I was barely awake.”
The flight attendant folded her arms.
“How convenient.”
I ignored her.
“When I bent down, someone moved behind me.
I heard a shoe against the metal step.
Then a hand pushed the case closer to my bag.”
Alexander glanced at the silver ring.
The flight attendant immediately curled her fingers into her palm.
“You saw her face?” he asked.
