"Ms. Price, who instructed reception employees to send certain walk-in applicants away before reviewing their documents?"
Cynthia took a breath.
"That was a management decision."
"Whose?"
For several seconds, she didn't speak.
Then she looked toward Hargrove.
The regional executive's jaw tightened.
Amelia followed her gaze.
For a moment, she sensed that the confrontation in the lobby had exposed only a small part of the story.
Then Hargrove spoke.
"Madam Chair, we have a premium-client initiative that may explain some of the confusion."
Amelia looked toward him.
"What initiative?"
He hesitated.
Then answered.
"Project Meridian."
Keller lowered his eyes.
Cynthia became very still.
And Amelia understood that the most important meeting of the morning was no longer about one man throwing a bank card onto the floor.
It was about a program the chief executive officer had never been told existed.
The name meant nothing to Amelia.
She looked from Hargrove to Keller, waiting for an explanation. Both men had built careers around sounding confident in meetings, yet neither seemed eager to describe the initiative they'd just mentioned.
Finally, she turned to Cynthia.
"Tell me what Project Meridian does."
The assistant operations manager looked toward Hargrove.
He gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of his head.
Amelia saw it.
"Ms. Price, I'm asking you."
Cynthia cleared her throat.
"It's a customer segmentation program."
"Segmentation by what?"
"Account potential, service requirements, and projected relationship value."
Amelia nodded.
"Who decides projected value?"
Cynthia hesitated.
"A scoring model."
"Which model?"
For several seconds, the room was silent.
Then Keller spoke.
"It's an internal tool. Nothing unusual."
Amelia turned toward him.
"Then there shouldn't be any difficulty identifying the model, its approval, and the controls governing its use."
He looked down.
Hargrove leaned forward.
"Madam Chair, perhaps we should allow the regional compliance team to prepare an explanation."
She studied him.
"That would be appropriate. They can provide the original documents, not a summary written after this meeting."
His expression tightened.
Amelia continued.
"I'd also like the version history, the employees authorized to change its criteria, and the business justification used to approve it."
For a moment, Hargrove appeared to consider arguing.
Then he nodded.
"Of course."
Amelia looked toward the conference-room window.
Below them, customers continued entering and leaving the branch.
Some appeared wealthy.
Others looked like office employees, retirees, students, or people running errands before work.
Every person who approached the counter had a reason for being there.