Then I bought oranges for Laura and me and went home.

There was room in my grief for a future I hadn’t yet pictured.

PART 12 — The Bank’s Questions

Elena Ortiz called when the lender had completed its initial review.

She could not tell me everything investigators were examining, but she confirmed that the application remained unfunded and that the bank was reviewing how the disputed acknowledgment entered the file.

She advised me to continue communicating through the assigned department and my attorney.

I asked whether they had identified who wrote the signature.