The actual amount advanced, the money held in escrow, and the treatment of collateral had to remain precise.

“It will look less dramatic,” I told Gavin after the meeting.

He was standing by the library window.

“Will it protect you?”

“It will protect other people, too.”

He nodded.

“Then let it.”

I would remember that answer when I later began asking what else he had been willing to keep precise, and what he had not.