He turned his eyes toward the hallway mirror.

Melissa Grant adjusted her wire-rimmed glasses and pulled a second set of papers from folder four.

“To secure a loan of that size, the lender required verified income documentation for the co-applicant,” Melissa said.

She laid two stapled pages on the desk directly over the application form.

They were scanned copies of my federal 1040 tax returns from three years ago.

The top left corner showed the small black smudge from the roller wheels of Dad’s old HP desk printer in the corner of the study.