Officer Kofi: "It is the reference number associated with the secondary screening authorization."
Supervisor Diallo: "Can you access the full details?"
Officer Kofi: "Not with my current permissions. The system administrator will need to retrieve the audit history."
Supervisor Diallo: "Request it and preserve the original record. Do not make changes while the review is underway."
Officer Kofi: "Understood."
Amara immediately stepped closer to the workstation.
Officer Amara: "That entry is routine. It has nothing to do with the device."
Supervisor Diallo: "If it is routine, the audit history will help establish that."
Officer Amara: "You're treating a standard inspection like a major investigation."
Supervisor Diallo: "I am responding to a disputed discovery and an incomplete record. That is exactly why we need to establish the facts."
Amara fell silent.
David looked from the supervisor to the open suitcase. The device remained inside the transparent bag on the steel table, still unexplained. The cameras above them continued recording, and the inspection log now contained a reference that required further verification.
For the first time since the search began, the next decision would not be made by Amara alone.
But as Supervisor Diallo opened the request for the full authorization history, a new notification appeared on the workstation.
Kofi leaned closer to the screen.
Officer Kofi: "Supervisor, the system has returned an earlier access event associated with this inspection number."
Supervisor Diallo: "What time was it recorded?"
Kofi read the time stamp, then checked it against the initial inspection entry.
Officer Kofi: "It appears to have occurred before the manual search was marked as started."
Supervisor Diallo looked up slowly.
Supervisor Diallo: "Preserve that entry exactly as it appears. We need the full audit history before anyone interprets it."
Officer Amara: "It could be a routine system event."
Supervisor Diallo: "It could be. We will verify it rather than guess."
David stood quietly beside the table, listening as the supervisor instructed Kofi to secure the record. He still did not know how the electric stun device had entered his suitcase, and he had no proof that anyone had deliberately placed it there.
But the investigation was no longer limited to Amara's accusation.
There was now an incomplete evidence record, a surveillance request, and an unexplained access event that needed to be checked against the official timeline.
Supervisor Diallo looked at David.
Supervisor Diallo: "We will continue reviewing the available records. Until that review is complete, no final conclusion will be drawn about the device or how it came to be in your luggage."
David nodded.
David Okafor: "That's all I've been asking for."
Across the table, Amara stared at the workstation. Her earlier certainty had given way to a guarded silence.
The full audit history had not yet arrived.
The surveillance footage had not yet been reviewed.
And the question of who had handled the suitcase before the device was discovered remained open.
Kofi clicked the preservation request and waited for confirmation.
A moment later, the system displayed a new message.
Officer Kofi: "Supervisor, the administrator has acknowledged the request. They're retrieving the complete authorization record now."
Supervisor Diallo: "Good. No one leaves this record incomplete."
She opened the newly returned reference, checked the account field, and compared the time stamp with the initial inspection log.
Then she stopped scrolling.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
David watched her expression carefully, while Amara stood motionless on the opposite side of the table.
Supervisor Diallo: "There is a discrepancy here that we need to understand."
Officer Kofi: "What kind of discrepancy?"
Supervisor Diallo looked again at the screen.
Supervisor Diallo: "The authorization record and the inspection timeline do not appear to match."
The room fell silent.
The black electric stun device remained sealed inside the transparent bag, and David's suitcase remained open beneath the fluorescent lights. No one yet knew what the discrepancy meant, but it was now part of the official review.
Supervisor Diallo placed the tablet beside the workstation and requested the original authorization details.
Whatever had happened before the inspection began, the records would now have to account for it.
The supervisor kept her eyes on the workstation, comparing the authorization record with the inspection log. The discrepancy was not enough to establish misconduct, but it raised a question that could no longer be ignored: why had the system recorded activity associated with David Okafor's inspection before the manual search was officially marked as having started?
Supervisor Diallo: "I want the original authorization, the complete audit history, and the names of the accounts that accessed this record. We will not rely on a summary when the original information is available."
Officer Kofi: "I'll contact the system administrator again."