She opened her fountain pen cap with a sharp click and pointed the brass nib at the tallest stack.

“Douglas Kingsley is facing total corporate insolvency,” Brenda said.

I pulled out a leather chair and sat down across from her.

“Show me the worst of the numbers,” I said.

Brenda slid a yellow summary sheet across the polished wood.

“He owes eighty-two thousand dollars to a lumber transport fleet in Macon,” Brenda said.

I looked at the top line of the summary sheet.

“And another one hundred and fourteen thousand to a heavy machinery supplier in Valdosta,” Brenda said.