The drive to Hiawassee took nearly an hour, and when they arrived and entered the lobby of the bank, Micah said that she looked like "death warmed over." Isabel was obviously frightened over what she might find.
According to Micah, the people at BOH were warm and cordial. After a cursory glance at Isabel's documents, Micah and Isabel were ushered into a spare office and asked to wait while a clerk went to the vault to retrieve deposit box #106. Isabel later said that she wondered at that time if "this would prove to be the last vestige of Ray Whitlow." Only time would tell. . .
Isabel's heart was pounding when Rays safety deposit box was placed on the small conference table in front of her. After the clerk left the office, tears formed in Isabel's eyes as she turned to Micah Davnport and said, "Micah, would you please open it? I'm just not ready to deal with this right now." |
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Micah's hands were steady as he unlocked Ray's safety deposit box that day. He had known Ray for several years and knew deep in his heart that Isabel's fears were groundless. Still, in all the years he had known Ray, Micah had never known him to be secretive about anything, and this did make Micah a little uneasy.
There were no gold bars or cash, but the box did contain several bulging, plain white envelopes. Ray had evidently used these to store a large accumulation of canceled checks. Micah was easily able to recognize Ray's distinctive signatures on the documents as Isabel began to shuffle through them. Another of the envelopes contained new, still unused checks, and another contained a well-worn checkbook and check register. |next|
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