I took Reeve's certified pension schedule to Contributions Registry. The clerk entered each reference and returned three worker numbers. None carried a visible name.
All three numbers had paid small amounts into the coat's Garment Continuity account. The sums were too regular to be mistakes and too small to interest anyone with a budget.
The registry preserves a valid worker number when the corresponding identity is restricted. The clerk proved this by printing the audit strip: three accepted contributors, three blank name fields, and no error code.
I returned to Reeve with the strip. He compared it with the release form, drew a line through APPROVED, and explained that a contributor without a name remained a liability. The coat could not leave while it owed benefits to unidentified people.
The coat, still seated, had no comment. Reeve asked me not to interpret that as consent.
Each payment carried the same supporting reference. It was not a payroll file or death notice, but an alterations record for one repair to the coat's left sleeve. The repair had been entered three times, once against each worker number.
Reeve certified another copy and placed it in the bereavement sleeve. Tomorrow I must inspect that sleeve repair and determine why three unnamed contributors were entered against the same work.
An official Sanctuary Serial