He read.
His jaw tightened.
“Who delivered it?”
“Security footage is being enhanced.”
“Police?”
“Not yet.”
“Naomi.”
“I’m not making this public until I know whether it’s real.”
“Good.”
“I didn’t say I was hiding it.”
Ethan looked at her.
She added:
“I’ve already contacted an independent forensic lab.”
He smiled faintly.
“Of course you have.”
They spent two hours going through the old records Naomi had accumulated over decades.
Public reports.
Supplemental findings.
Engineering diagrams.
Maintenance timelines.
The Bay 14 visit appeared nowhere in the official chronology.
That disturbed her most.
Not “unexplained.”
Absent.
Naomi pointed.
“Six days before the accident, aircraft 742 is shown in overnight maintenance at Gate M12.”
“Yes.”
“But you say it was moved.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Tow tractor.”
“Record?”
“Lost.”
“Who authorized it?”
“Unknown.”
“How long was it there?”
“About four hours.”
“What work?”
“Electrical inspection.”
“By whom?”
“Contract technicians.”
“Names?”
Ethan hesitated.
“One died.”
“One disappeared from aviation after the accident.”
“And the third?”
He looked at her.
“Still alive.”
Naomi felt the next question before she asked it.
“Who?”
Ethan slid one document toward her.
The name had been highlighted years earlier.
Samuel Voss.
Naomi stared.
“Where is he?”
“Montana.”
She looked up.
“Of course he is.”
Ethan smiled tiredly.
“Why ‘of course’?”
“Every retired man with a secret apparently moves to Montana.”
He laughed despite himself.
The next morning, Naomi called Samuel Voss.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Ethan suggested contacting federal investigators first.
Naomi agreed.
This time, she refused to repeat history by running ahead of process simply because the story belonged to her family.
The National Transportation Safety Board accepted the tag.
Forensic analysis confirmed the metal composition, oxidation, punch pattern, and service markings were consistent with the period.
Not proof.
Enough to investigate.
Samuel Voss finally returned Naomi’s call four days later.
His voice sounded old.
“You Marcus’s girl?”
Naomi closed her eyes.