The account belonged to the custodian. The transmitter had watched the cabin, sent the warnings, and opened both cases. Whoever hidded inside Mr. Buttons controlled case 417 that pointed to Valerie, the woman who took the bear in Baltimore, but Valerie had been in custody when the cases disappeared. Someone else still had live access to her device. Nia looked at the cut scene.
Clare put the bracelet inside, but she didn't put the black box there. Valerie did, Zuri replied. No, she returned Mr. Buttons before you came back with the water. I checked his stitches while we waited. The seam wasn't cut yet, and there was nothing hard inside.
Zuri froze. If Nia remembered correctly, Valerie had altered the travel pouch, but had not planted the transmitter. Someone placed it inside the bear after boarding. Clare admitted cutting the seam and inserting the replica bracelet. She could also have inserted the device.
Yet the video showed Clare's left hand entering the bear for only 3 seconds. Too little time to cut it, position two objects, and conceal the opening. Who touched Mr. Buttons between the desk and Clare? Hayes asked. Nia thought carefully.
The male officer. Every face turned toward Owen Mercer. He remained calm. I did not meet the children before the flight. Not you, Nia said. a different officer at the gate.
He asked to inspect the bear, then apologized and gave it back. Hayes requested the Baltimore security footage. The video arrived 2 minutes later. Zuri and Nia stood at the assistance desk. Valerie returned Mr. Buttons.
Then a uniformed officer stopped them outside the boarding lane and carried the bear behind a privacy screen. His face remained turned from the camera. His badge number was visible. Officer Mercer read it aloud. MTA 6041.
Hayes looked at him. That's your number. Mercer shook his head. My badge was with me all morning. The footage advanced.
The gate officer returned the bear to Nia and lifted his head. His face was Owen Mercer's. Same gray hair, same scar beside the jaw, same uniform. Mercer stared at the screen. That is not me.
Peter moved closer. The impostor copied my face to escape in Kansas City. He may have copied yours in Baltimore. Officer Hayes checked Mercer's original boarding scan. He entered flight 218 at 8:14 a.m. The officer in the footage handled the bear at 8:09.
The two locations were a 12-minute walk apart. Mercer could not have done both. For a moment, the evidence cleared him. Then Zuri opened her original cabin recording again. In the window reflection 5 minutes before Celeste reported the bracelet missing, Mercer stood from row six and adjusted his jacket.
Something flashed beneath his sleeve. A flexible strip of artificial skin. Zuri enlarged the frame. The scar beside his jaw had begun peeling away. Nia stepped back.
Officer Hayes reached for Mercer's arm. He moved first. Mercer seized her wrist, removed her radio, and pulled Nia against him. A small blade appeared beside the child's shoulder. Passengers screamed.
The man they had called Officer Mercer tore the false scar from his face. The gray hair came away with it. Peter recognized the younger face underneath. The custodian, the impostor, backed toward the open aircraft door with Nia held in front of him. Then he looked directly at Zuri.