She chose one that could survive fluorescent light and occasional neglect.
It seemed sensible to begin with realistic conditions.
Naomi returned to Westbridge in early spring for a scheduled follow-up.
The station's entrance still caught when pulled too quickly. The plastic plant had been straightened, although one leaf remained pressed against the window.
Eli was at reception.
He looked up, recognized her, and reached for the appointment list.
“Good morning, Agent Reed. May I see your identification?”
“Certainly.”
She handed him the replacement credential.
He examined it, located the approved reference, and completed the required callback. He did not skip a step because he knew her face or add a step because the first visit had embarrassed the department.
Naomi waited while he recorded the confirmation.
“Everything is ready,” he said, returning the wallet.
She put it away.
Neither made a joke about tearing it.
The memory did not need to become a ritual at the counter.
Eli gave her the visitor record and explained that the escort was finishing a property release. The delay would be a few minutes. Naomi took a seat rather than ask him to interrupt the waiting civilian's transaction. The appointment gave her a place in the process. It did not require the rest of the room to disappear while she used it.
A man waiting beside the entrance asked Eli whether found property could be collected without the original receipt. He had lost the paper and seemed to expect that admitting it would end the conversation.
Eli asked for the reference information the man did have, explained the permitted alternatives, and offered a seat while he checked.
He did not make the man's confusion into evidence of dishonesty.
Naomi stepped aside so the desk could continue serving someone else.
Claire met her at the secure corridor with a visitor escort record.
They walked to the conference room where the review team waited. There were still unresolved audit items: a delayed secondary check, a location field entered incorrectly, two cases where the acknowledgment of an employee concern had been sent late.
The failures appeared on the report beside completed actions.
No one removed them to make the department look ready for a photograph.
Naomi reviewed the samples, asked how corrections were documented, and identified what further material her team needed. The meeting lasted past lunch.
At one point, a supervisor described an employee as difficult during a disagreement over a release.
Claire asked what the employee had requested.
The supervisor consulted the file.
A confirmation number was missing.
The employee had asked for it before releasing the item.
The room grew quiet, but the supervisor corrected the description rather than defending it for another twenty minutes.
Naomi wrote down the correction.
Afterward, Claire showed her the new intake checklist. Its last line asked the reviewer to identify any unresolved custody question rather than merely tick that no problem existed.
“People hate that line,” Claire said.
“Why?”
“It makes them write something when the answer isn't ready.”
Naomi looked at the blank space.
“Does it help?”
“So far.”
They left the answer at that.
In the lobby, Eli was on the telephone with an officer from another municipal office. The officer had an unfamiliar authorization and wanted to know whether an appointment match was enough to admit a visitor.
Eli opened the written instructions.
“The match confirms the scheduled event,” he said. “You still need the identity call and the access conditions. I'll help you find the approved contact.”
He listened, asked a clarifying question, and waited while the other officer checked the reference.
Naomi stood near the door with her folder under one arm.
On the first visit, she had watched a hand force the receiver down.
Now she watched a person on the other end of a line receive enough time to finish the question.
Outside, the air was warmer than she expected.
Her father called while she walked toward the car.
“How did it go?”
“They checked my identification.”
“And?”
“They followed the instructions.”
He made a satisfied sound.
She asked about his garden, and he began complaining about a fence repair he had been postponing since autumn.
Naomi listened as she put the folder in the car.
Through the station window, she could still see Eli at the desk, holding the receiver and looking at the screen.
The man with the lost receipt remained seated nearby, waiting for an answer.
No one had told him that asking made him the problem.
*The End.*