Chapter 7: Verification
Nora returned to Wexford Private Bank on Tuesday at nine thirty, in the same gray coat, and took her place at Counter Nine.
Derek Lawson saw her coming and stood this time.
"Ms. Wexford," he said, smiling. "Good morning. I was just about to call you."
"Were you," Nora said. "Then I have saved you the trouble. Has verification finished?"
"Almost," he said. "We are making excellent progress."
"Almost is not a status, Mr. Lawson. What remains unfinished?"
He glanced at his screen as if the answer lived there. "Senior review, first. The amount is exceptional, and your account history has been largely dormant. Second, the First Lakeshore confirmation is still pending. Third, compliance has placed the file in its queue."
"Three obstacles," Nora said. "Yesterday there was one process. Today it has become three."
"It is care," he said. "Not delay. Care takes paperwork."
"Then let us do the paperwork."
He slid the first form across the tray. "This is a source of funds declaration. You will need to state where the money originated, in your own words."
Nora opened her case and placed a copy beside it. "The Pilsen warehouse sale, final distribution from my father's estate. I gave you the estate letter, the closing statement, and the probate order yesterday."
"Yes," Derek said. "Compliance would like it again, in this format."
"Of course." She filled in the form in clear handwriting and signed it. "Next."
He blinked. "This one confirms your identity for a transaction above our internal threshold. Passport or license, and a second document showing your address."
She laid both on the tray. "Passport copy, license, and a Foundation letter on headed paper with this address. You copied all three yesterday."
"I did," he admitted. "Compliance keeps its own set."
"Then compliance may have them with my blessing," Nora said. "Next."
"This is an acknowledgment that certified funds may be held until the issuing bank confirms issuance."
"Has First Lakeshore been asked to confirm?" Nora asked.
"It is in process," Derek said.
"When was the request sent?"
His smile thinned. "I believe yesterday afternoon."
"You believe," she said. "Is there a reference number?"
"Not one I can share at this stage."
"Write that down for me, please. The date the request was sent, and that no reference is available."
"I cannot write internal notes for a client file on request," he said.
"No," Nora said mildly. "I suppose you cannot." She opened her green notebook and wrote it herself. "Next form."
He watched her pen move. "You write everything down."
"I write what is said. It saves us both from remembering it differently later."
"The estate letter," he said, recovering. "The copy you provided was very clear, but compliance requires the original wording on the distribution page. Page two, I think."
Nora turned to a divider in the blue folder and removed the full letter. "Page two, paragraph one. Read it aloud, please, so we agree it is present."
He read, haltingly, the sentence confirming the six million four hundred thousand dollars as her personal share. "That is present," he said.
"Good. Then that request is answered. What else does compliance require?"
"A signature here confirming you understand the deposit will not be available until verification is complete."
"I understand that is your position," Nora said. "I do not agree that it is justified. Is there a space for that distinction?"
"There is a comments box," he said.
She wrote in it, signed, and passed it back. "Now the deposit itself. I want it formally lodged today, with a receipt stamped with the date and time."
"Once verification is complete, the receipt will show the credit date," Derek said.
"No," Nora said. "The receipt will show the date the bank took my check. Those are different facts, and both should be on paper."
"You laughed," Nora said.
Derek looked up. "What?"
"Yesterday, when you saw the check. You laughed."
"I did not," he said too quickly. "I was surprised. Anyone would be surprised. It was not laughter, it was, it was a reaction to the amount."
"Mr. Lawson."
"It was nerves, perhaps. The size of it. I smile when I am nervous. People say that. It was not at you."
"I did not say it was at me," Nora said. "I said you laughed. I wrote the time in my notebook because it happened."
His face colored. "I am trying to help you today."
"I know," she said. "That is why I am standing here. Stamp the receipt, please."
He reached for the check, logged the deposit with stiff fingers, and pressed the stamp down hard. "Nine fifty one, Tuesday. Lodged, pending verification."
"Thank you," Nora said. She placed the stamped receipt in her case, closed it, and walked out past the nine brass counters.