I picked up the phone and opened it.

‘Your speech was honorable,’ he had written.

‘Keep yourself safe on your next deployment.’

I looked at the twelve words for a long moment.

There was no mention of Eleanor, no mention of Derek’s failed startup, and no request for a loan or a reply.

I laid the phone face down next to the brass clock without typing an answer.

In the months ahead, Arthur would keep up a quiet, secret correspondence with me, sending three-line notes every few weeks from his office computer.