Nobody said a word as I left.

Vera held the door wide open, the way you hold it for someone carrying something fragile, and behind me Tom Drucker asked Julian whether there was anything at all the church could do.

Arthur’s car came up my street at three with the passenger window rolled down and his hand out in the cold, because he never trusted the defroster.

He climbed onto the porch with a folder under his arm and wiped his glasses on his tie before saying anything.