“We’ll talk when I get back.”

For the first time, I did not ask him to talk sooner.

“Yes,” I said.

“We will.”

After the call, I wrote down what had been said and put the notebook beside the loan copies.

I was still frightened.

I was simply no longer asking the person who had created the problem to be the only person allowed to explain it.

PART 6 — Two Days Before Sunday