It was stale and tasted like the inside of a kitchen cabinet.

He wrote UNVERIFIED on the legal pad and drew a box around the word.

Rain tapped against the kitchen window.

At four, I laid that same statement on Gordon Bell’s desk.

His office was in a strip mall between a tax preparer and a nail salon.

The blinds threw a striped shadow across the carpet.

Gordon adjusted his silver reading glasses.

“Active corporate accounts.