He took a big plastic tub of heavy-duty hand cleaner off the top shelf.

“You’ve got the bike out back?” Derek asked.

“It’s in my trunk,” Michael said.

Derek scrubbed the black grease out from under his fingernails.

He rinsed his hands in the deep utility sink in the corner of the office.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Derek said.

Michael quit writing.

He straightened his watch strap.