Chapter 5 - THE PILOT WHO FLEW LOWER
Mason Reed changed his statement after investigators confronted him with the payment.
Ethan had ordered a route over the ocean instead of along the coast. He requested the cabin intercom recorder be disabled for “marital privacy” and instructed Mason to descend below normal sightseeing altitude for photographs.
Mason accepted twenty-five thousand dollars through Redwood Air.
“Did you know he intended to harm her?” Ortiz asked.
“No.”
Mason said Ethan told him he planned a private reconciliation and wanted dramatic pictures near the water. The explanation was possible, but the payment and disabled audio violated company rules. Mason had risked his license for money.
He also admitted hearing Claire scream through the wind before she fell. He looked back only after her body passed the door. Ethan's hands were extended.
That observation came too late and from a guilty witness. Prosecutors needed corroboration.
Redwood's maintenance system preserved switch events. The side door opened at 10:42:11. Claire's harness sensor changed from locked to open four seconds later. The buckle could be released by the wearer or another person; the data did not identify whose hand touched it.
Ethan's phone showed no location anomaly because it traveled with him. Claire's phone had been left at the landing pad in a locker Ethan said was required for privacy.
Nora provided the reason Pacific Lantern was nearby.
Claire had hired her team to collect independent samples from a restoration zone. She suspected Blue Meridian had billed for kelp work never performed. The research vessel's presence was not a rescue arranged in advance; it was part of the investigation Ethan wanted hidden.
Nora's vessel camera captured the helicopter descending, the door opening, and Claire falling. The image was distant, but analysts stabilized it frame by frame.
One silhouette remained inside the cabin with both arms moving forward immediately before Claire exited.
Ethan's expert said perspective could make a reaching motion look like a shove. The state's expert agreed the footage alone was not definitive.
Then Hope's court-appointed guardian received a copy of a trust amendment Ethan had drafted ten days before the flight.
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If Claire died before Hope was born alive, management of the Pacific Renewal Fund would pass temporarily to Ethan.
The amendment carried Claire's signature.
