He was grateful for the rebuke. His first impulse had been to go to Branch Twelve immediately, confront Bradley, and set everything right with a public announcement. The more evidence appeared, the more he understood how easily that impulse could become another form of executive power used without enough care. He needed the bank to respond properly, not simply to exchange one dominant personality for another.
By lunchtime, temporary controls were in place. New enrollments in the disputed products at Branch Twelve were paused pending revised disclosures, while ordinary deposits, withdrawals, and essential customer service continued. The systems team preserved access journals and relevant employee messages. An outside law firm began reviewing consumer-protection obligations and potential reporting requirements, and human resources was instructed to protect employees from retaliation.
Those steps were not as dramatic as a manager being escorted through the lobby, but they were the steps that could keep the bank from making the problem worse. Nathan had spent enough time in boardrooms to know that a loud promise was not a remedy. A remedy had to be documented, funded, and tested by somebody who did not benefit from declaring the work complete. He asked Miriam to tell him what they still did not know.
"We don't know how many enrollments lacked legally sufficient consent," she said. "We don't know whether the misconduct extends beyond Branch Twelve, or whether every questionable closure was intentional. We don't know whether Douglas personally approved all the actions recorded under his role. And we haven't interviewed the affected customers or the employees."
"Then we start there," Nathan answered. "And we don't wait to secure their evidence while we finish our charts."
Grace received a call that afternoon from a woman named Rachel Kim in the bank's independent employee-relations group. Rachel was careful to say that Bradley's termination decision was under review and had not been accepted as final. She asked Grace whether she would be willing to make a recorded statement to investigators outside the regional management chain. Grace felt her pulse quicken when the woman mentioned headquarters, because no one there had ever called her about a complaint before.
"Is Mr. Stone going to be in the interview?" she asked.
"No. He won't have access to your interview or authority over your participation," Rachel replied. "You can bring a representative if you wish, and we will give you a written acknowledgment of everything you submit."
Grace looked across the kitchen at Lorraine, who was sorting medication into a weekly organizer. "I'd like that," she said. "And I want you to know I reported the same thing months ago. June Morales and Anita Bell signed it with me."
"We have been told about that report. We want to understand why it didn't receive an independent review. Would you be available tomorrow morning?"
Grace asked where the interview would take place. Rachel gave her a private meeting room at Branch Twelve, not because it was the only space available but because investigators would already be examining the branch that morning. Grace could have requested an off-site location, and Rachel made that clear. After thinking it over, Grace agreed to return to the place where she had been fired.