And of course, at that moment, the doorbell rang.
Rolling her eyes at herself, Verity moved to the hall just in time to hear Sprocket welcoming her friend.
“Good evening, Mrs Monroe. A pleasure to see you.”
“Hello Sprocket. Is Lady Verity receiving? I know it’s rather late...”
“Come in, Tabby.” Verity called from the other end of the hall. “There’s a fire in here. We’ll share a glass of wine.”
“I could use one,” Tabitha sighed.
“If you’ll allow me to take your coat, I shall see to another glass,” said Sprocket, trundling out of the hall.
“Oh, the library.” Tabby sighed with delight as she joined Verity. “One of my favourite rooms in this house, although most all of them are lovely.”
“I like to think so.” Verity gestured to one of the large chairs next to the hearth. “Now sit, Tabby, and tell me what brings you here? You should be home with the family, should you not?”
“Your wine, Mrs Monroe.” Sprocket rolled in with another wineglass, put it on the table next to Tabitha and filled it from the decanter already there.
“Thank you, Sprocket. This is just lovely.” She raised her glass. “To your health, you and Verity. I have no idea what I’d do without you both.”
Verity grinned as Sprocket, unused to compliments, nearly rolled over her tail as she left.
“Right then, Tabby. What’s brought you from your own fireplace to mine?” She settled in her chair and watched her friend’s brows meet in a frown.
“I had a...anissue, Verity.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. At the Arcvale Bank.”
Verity straightened. “Really?” She watched her friend. “What sort of issue? Are you all right?”
“Oh yes, I’m fine. And all the transactions went well. I deposited the donations from a couple of nights ago and wrote up the tally sheet documenting the totals.”
“And that’s your normal process, correct?”
“Absolutely, yes. Good heavens, we’ve had so many events I could probably do it in my sleep.”
“Please don’t,” grinned Verity. “But go on...tell me about tonight...”
“You’ll probably tell me I’m bothering you for nothing, but...” she took a breath, “after the process had completed, something strange happened.”
“What?”
“The acknowledgement receipt I always get when I make these deposits? It has the correct total and says that the funds are accounted for. But the transaction is...pending!”
“Pending? What on earth...”
“I know. It surprised me too. I have the receipt here, so you can look for yourself.”
Verity was out of her chair before Tabby had finished speaking and reading the paper immediately. She bit her lip, frowning over the clearly visible words—words that should never have appeared together.
“You’re right, Tabby. These are the right amounts. I recall them quite clearly. But...this ‘pending’ notification? Very unusual.”
The other woman relaxed and finished her wine. “Thank goodness you agree.”
“I am so glad you brought this straight here, my dear girl. I really appreciate it, because now I can do a quick evaluation of my records and our files, and see if there are any discrepancies or issues.”
