Although Eddie was 99% sure that this was the person who called just now after hearing the voice, he still asked cautiously and politely: "Uh... well, Cathy, was it you who called just now? Sorry I came to the office late today and didn't receive it."
"Yes, it's okay, I'll call again as I said." The person on the phone said, "You're Eddie Lewis, right? May I call you Eddie?"
"Of course." Eddie sat down in a comfortable position on the chair, "Cathy, is there anything I can do for you?"
"That's it, Eddie, I want to donate a sum of money to your foundation, can you tell me your remittance account number?" the other party asked.
"Oh! On behalf of the foundation, please allow me to express my sincere thanks for your generosity!" Eddie happily turned on the computer, "But please understand that we still have some formalities to go through, if you don't mind, for To ensure your rights, I am going to record the call now."
"Please, I don't mind," said the other.
Eddie pressed the recording and hands-free buttons one after another, and called up the database of donation information from the computer, "Okay, I'll start recording now. Can you say your full name again?"
"I'm Catherine Donna Ryan," said the other.
Every time the other party said a word, Eddie typed the corresponding letter on the keyboard.
"Catherine Donna Ryan?" He couldn't help being stunned when he saw the result on the screen, and repeated the other person's name, "Uh... Ms. Ryan... I mean Cathy, did you give us Donated to the foundation?"
"Yes, but I can't remember the process of donating. After all, I'm getting old and my memory is not very good, you know." The other party's tone was a little perfunctory, as if trying to cover up something.
"But..." Eddie swallowed a mouthful of saliva, stared at the screen and said with difficulty: "But, Cathy, the last time you donated...you donated in the form of a will...Listen, no matter who you are, this joke is not funny."
He quickly glanced at the donation records of Catherine Donna Ryan. She has donated to the foundation several times in more than ten years, with varying amounts, all of which were earmarked for lung cancer research. The last amount was the largest, which was A lawyer handled it on her behalf as her will.
Is it the same name? It is so rare that the first, last and middle names are all the same, and the same foundation was chosen to ask for the donation. This is unlikely to be a coincidence, so it can only be explained as a prank.
"I know, I know." The other party laughed on the phone, "I understand your feelings, the will is right, but... well, there was a little accident, I thought I was going to die, the lawyer and the doctor I thought so too, but then I made it through again. You see, my body has fully recovered now, and I’m traveling in China. Did you hear the sound of firecrackers outside? It’s celebrating the Spring Festival here, it’s really lively!”
Eddie: "..." Of course I know it's the Spring Festival, why do you think I'm late this morning
He felt a little thirsty, picked up the paper cup of coffee and drank it down, and put the receiver on the other side of his shoulder.
"Wait a minute, please don't hang up."
He pressed the call hold button on the landline, and then retrieved the call records left by Catherine Donna Ryan from the computer before donating, and clicked to play.
The same voice as just now came from the computer speaker, except for the slight distortion caused by the age of the recording file and the conversion from analog to digital, judging by his hearing, it was definitely the same person.
So, are lawyers and doctors really wrong
The doctor issued the death certificate by mistake and the lawyer donated her estate to the foundation based on the wrong death certificate? Sounds... pretty ridiculous.
Thinking of this, Eddie gasped. He really felt sorry for the two doctors and lawyers. How much should he pay her for making such a serious mistake? It is estimated that even the license to practice medicine will be permanently revoked.
It seemed so, and there was no other reasonable explanation.
He turned off the previous recording file and reconnected the phone.
"Cathy, are you still there?"
"Here, Eddie, have you checked it out?" The other party smiled, as if he had already expected the answer.
Eddie cleared his throat, "Sorry, Cathy, I misunderstood you just now."
"Of course, who would donate in someone else's name? This is not a relief fund." The other party smiled and accepted his apology. "Okay, let's get down to business now."
What she said made sense. Although Eddie still felt a little awkward, he couldn't find any reason or evidence to question it.
"Cathy, do you have a fax machine? I need to fax you a donation confirmation letter. There is our bank account on the confirmation letter, and PayPal payment is also made. Please fill it out and fax it back, is that okay?"
The other party paused for a while, the microphone was covered, and he seemed to be discussing something with someone, and then said a little troublesomely: "Can't you just give me an account? Do you have to make it so troublesome?"
Eddie was taken aback, and explained: "Please forgive me, Cathy, this is a request you made when donating in the past, because you asked for the donation to be used for funding research on lung cancer. If you don't limit the scope of funding, then you don't need to fill in Confirmation letter. So, Cathy, are you going to limit the funding, or not?"
Just like before, the other party paused again, and then said in a rather helpless tone: "Okay, okay, then fax it over, and send it to this number."
Eddie sent the confirmation letter.
"Cathy, did you get it?"
After a while.
"Got it, how do you fill in this thing?"
Eddie's doubts increased a little more. He did not handle Cathy's previous donations, but it stands to reason that she should have filled out this form several times. Why can't she fill it out
However, he explained patiently: "For the first item, please fill in your email address and residential address so that we can send you a donation certificate; See the names of various cancers such as pharyngeal cancer, lip cancer, colorectal cancer, gallbladder cancer, liver cancer, bone cancer, etc. If you only plan to fund lung cancer, please choose the tenth option; for the third item, please fill in your donation amount; and The last one, if you donate this time to remember someone, pay tribute to someone, or just want to donate, please tick the reason."
There were rustling, breathing, and muttering sounds from the phone, and the other party seemed to be complaining softly while filling out, and occasionally a few cats and dogs could be faintly heard.
After a few minutes, the other party put down his pen and said, "Okay, I've filled it out. What are you doing now? Can I send money?"
It was the first time that Eddie met someone who was so eager to donate, and the other party seemed to be eager to donate the money.
He licked his lips and said, "Please sign the confirmation letter with your own hand, and then fax it back."
"What? I still need to sign..."
The other party seemed surprised and unwilling to sign, but Eddie insisted on autographing.
In desperation, the other party said as if explaining something: "I haven't written by hand for a long time, and I almost forgot how to sign..."
Eddie: "..." Even if you haven't written for a long time, can you still forget how to write your own name
After a while, the fax machine creaked and received the document faxed by the other party.
"Eddie, is this all right?" the other party asked.
Eddie pulled the document, glanced at the "4000.00" written on the donation amount, and replied, "Yes, Cathy, I have received the confirmation letter and can donate."
"Okay." The other party said, "Please check it."
He refreshed his bank account and saw $4,000 in the account.
"Thank you again for your generosity! We assure you that every penny of yours will be used to fund the human battle against cancer as you requested."
In his years of service to the Matthew Davis Foundation, he has said this sentence countless times, and he will continue to say it in the future.
"Okay, Eddie, that's it, I wish you a happy day, goodbye!" The other party said relaxedly.
"Goodbye, Cathy."
The other party hung up the phone.
A beep sound came from the receiver, and Eddie also put down the phone.
Although the process was a bit weird, the donation went smoothly this time.
A $4,000 donation at work today was a great start, enough to brighten his mood, which had been sapped by the bad weather, like basking in the sun on a California beach.
Eddie hummed an old-fashioned song from more than ten years ago, opened the desk drawer, and wanted to put the confirmation letter in there, and send it together for filing before leaving get off work at night.
"Um?"
At the bottom of the confirmation letter, he noticed the other party's signature.
Katherine Donna Ryan
The name is fine, but the problem is... how can this word be written so ugly? Even the words of primary school students are inferior!
The extremely ugly signature contrasted too much with the impression the other party's voice gave him.
Immediately afterwards, he noticed that the last item on the confirmation letter was whether the donation was to remember someone, to pay tribute to someone, or just to donate.
The other party chose the second option, paying tribute to someone. Fill in the blank with k.
In other words, the other party used this donation to pay tribute to the person named K.
k...
As it happens, Katherine Donna Ryan's initials are also k.
Pay homage to yourself
Or just a coincidence
He took the confirmation letter and reviewed it several times, and the more he thought about it, the more weird it became.
In any case, the voice just now was definitely Catherine Donna Ryan's voice, there was no mistake, he believed his ears.
So how to explain this
Eddie stood up and leaned against the window to look out.
The hazy drizzle was still falling desolately, judging by his familiarity with the weather in San Francisco, the rain would not stop for a while. The familiar cars were still parked in the parking lot, and no new cars drove in. It seemed that there would be no visitors for a while.
He glanced at the landline again. It was lying quietly on the table, and it didn't seem to want to ring.
"Okay," he said to himself as if he had made up his mind, "let's see, Catherine Donna Ryan, what secrets are you hiding?"
Eddie clutched the confirmation letter, turned on the answering machine, locked the office door and left.
He turned a corner and came to the office door of the colleague who had greeted him in the corridor before.
The nameplate on the door read: Archives.
He knocked on the door, opened it and walked in.
"Hi! Jason!"
"What's the matter, Eddie? Don't tell me you're going to the bar now, isn't it time to get off work?" Jason behind the desk looked at his watch jokingly.
Eddie smiled and said, "No, Jason, I have something to help me find some confirmation letters that were filed in the past. The donor is Catherine Donna Ryan."
"What's wrong?" Jason asked worriedly.
"Not yet, I just want to... review it."
Eddie didn't want everyone to know until things were clear.
"Okay, let me see." Jason quickly checked the number of the portfolio on the computer, took it out of the filing cabinet and handed it to Eddie.
Eddie opened the file bag of some years and took out several confirmation letters from it.
Without careful comparison, he found at a glance that the signatures of these confirmation letters were completely different from the one just now. The handwriting was neat and tidy, and it was obvious that they were not written by the same person. In addition, as for the reason for the donation, these confirmation letters all selected "in memory of someone", and the name of the object of memory is obviously Catherine Donna Ryan's husband who passed away due to lung cancer.
There was only one exception, which was written by a lawyer named Adams, and a copy of the power of attorney was attached.
He silently read it several times without saying a word, wrote down the contact information of Adams' lawyer, and then put the confirmation letter back into the file bag and put it back in place.
"Thanks, I'm treating you to wine tonight, I mean, if the rain stops." He waved to Jason and left the file room.
…
China, Binhai City, Qiyuan Pet Shop.
Zhang Zian hung up the phone, and said guiltily: "Why do I feel that this person seems to be very careful... He won't find any problems, right?"
"Quack! Probably not, if there is a problem, it must be in your shit-like signature!" Richard flapped his wings and shouted, "I said, you idiot, you have nothing to do and just hang around me? Why don't you practice your signature?"
"Your shit may not be much prettier than dog shit." Phimas happened to go upstairs to drink water, and when he heard Richard's words, he immediately responded, expressing that this blame cannot be carried by a dog. "Even if I practice signatures, I won't practice under other people's names, right?" Zhang Zian expressed his aggrievedness. formalities!"
Richard raised one wing, pointed at the rope hanging from the ceiling and shouted: "Quack! Who do you blame? I suggest you hang the southeast branch yourself!"
Zhang Zian: "..." This bitch's skin is itching again!
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