Chapter 11 - The Part That Was True
Jenna invited Leah to the duplex only after Caleb said yes. She stayed in the kitchen while the two of them talked.
"Graham called for the second helicopter," Caleb said. "The weather desk wanted everybody turned back. He refused. If he hadn't insisted, you might not have found us until daylight."
"That's important," Leah said.
"I don't want to take that away from him. I just don't want him saying he pulled me out himself. Those are different things."
Leah had spent weeks imagining that exposing the falsehood meant stripping Graham of every honorable action. Caleb's testimony made that too easy. A truthful account would have room for a courageous decision and a lie that followed it.
"Will you tell Rebecca?" she asked.
"I already did."
He showed her a postcard Aaron had written to his mother before the flight. It described Tessa as the only person on the crew who knew how to repair a broken winch and added, jokingly, If she says jump, we jump.
"He trusted her," Caleb said. "I want Margaret to know that."
At a coffee shop the following week, Naomi asked Leah to meet privately. She arrived without uniform ribbons, looking more tired than she had at the gala.
"My own 2020 memo was too narrow," Naomi said. "I looked at whether the accident account supported a disciplinary finding, not at whether public credit had drifted from it. That was within the task I had. But I shouldn't have used the word 'settled' when Mrs. Bell asked for answers."
"Why are you telling me now?"
"Because you deserve to know I contributed to the delay. And because my role means I can't sponsor the new review."
Leah studied her coffee. "I'm angry with you."
"You should be."
"You also stepped in when Graham cornered me."
"Doing one thing right doesn't cancel the other."
For the first time, Leah could hear Naomi without assigning her the role of rescuer or betrayer. She was a senior officer who had failed once and might still help by telling the truth about that failure.
May you like
Naomi slid a copy of a letter across the table. It was addressed to Mrs. Bell, offering a full account of Naomi's earlier handling and permission to include it in an independent records review.
"I want you to know what I'm sending," Naomi said. "I don't need you to forgive it."
