I walked back into the kitchen alone.

The bank statement was still sitting on the kitchen island under the bright overhead lights.

Twelve thousand five hundred dollars.

I looked at the black numbers printed on the page as Daniel’s footsteps faded on the floor above.

By eleven o’clock the next morning, I stood at the high polished counter in the lobby of Community First Bank on West Colfax Avenue.

Frank Vance adjusted his silver-framed reading glasses and turned his computer monitor three inches toward me.