I understood it completely — he thought he was trapped, alone, with no way out that didn’t end in a cell — and more than once I had to stop myself from reaching across the table to him, because the one thing I could not do yet was let Julian see a single thread connecting my brother and me.

So I caught Jim’s eye only once, when Julian turned to order another bottle, and I held it for just a second, and I tried to put into that one look everything I could not say: I know.

It’s going to be all right.

Trust me a little longer.

I don’t know how much of it he read.

But he set down his glass after that, and he drank more slowly, and when Julian turned back Jim managed a laugh at the right moment.

We got through it.