PART 1

I set the notice beside my coffee and called Ruth Bennett at the time we had scheduled.

The coffee had cost me nothing to make, but I had already spent two dollars and twenty-five cents at the office vending machine the previous afternoon because the machine in our break room had run out of cups again.

“Read me the line at the top,” Ruth said.

I held the page flat with one hand.

“Promotion authorization. Emily Whitlock.

Review notice issued at 6:32 a.m.” “And the entry below it?”

“Authorization record updated at 5:48 a.m.”

Ruth did not answer right away.

I could hear paper moving at her end.

“That timestamp was not on the file when I checked it Friday.”

“Then don’t change anything yet,” she said.

“Tell me what the notice actually says, not what you think it means.”

I read the remaining lines aloud.

The notice referred to a completed routing action, but it did not identify the independent verification that should have preceded the final promotion authorization.

“Did you receive an explanation with it?” Ruth asked.