“Yeah.” His friend eyed him. “That ship you were on, it wasn’t just out there mining the ocean, huh?”

So he’d seen Friday’s Times, too. Jerry stuck to as much of his story as he could: “It didn’t do anything else while I was on it. What happened in the Atlantic before it got to Long Beach, I can’t tell you.”

“Okay.” Tim left it right there.

Jerry realized he could have put that better. Or maybe he couldn’t. Did Tim think he meant I don’t know what it did in the Atlantic or I can’t talk about what it did in the Atlantic? Tim respected secrets—respected them more than Jerry did, for sure. Jerry said, “I think before real long I may need that envelope back.”

“Let me know so I can get it out and bring it straight to you. I don’t want to leave it at my place. I’ve got the feeling that’d be dumb,” Tim said.

“Will do. Um … don’t mention it on the phone, y’know?”

“I won’t. I already thought of that. How much trouble did you get yourself into?”

“More than I wanted to, that’s for sure.”

“I believe it.” Tim hesitated. “Would knowing what it is do me any good?”

“No. Christ, no!” Jerry was a halfhearted Jew. Tim was an equally halfhearted Buddhist. Most of the Japanese-Americans Jerry knew were Baptists, but Tim’s dad hadn’t bothered to convert. Both of them said Christ! and Jesus! all the time anyway, because they lived in a Christian country. Jerry went on, “For one thing, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. For another, what you don’t know, nobody else can make you tell him.”

“That doesn’t sound real good.”

“It isn’t. It’s liable to get worse, too.” Jerry wondered how much worse. They still weren’t sure about him. They wouldn’t be sniffing around the edges of what he’d done if they were sure. They’d stick him in a soundproofed room somewhere and work on him with hot things and sharp things and pointy things.

“All right. Thanks for playing straight with me, anyway. Whatever happens to me, I don’t want anything bad coming down on Cheryl, know what I mean?”

“Afraid I do. I haven’t said a word to Anna, either, and I’m not going to. The less she knows, the better off she is.”

Tim digested that. Then he said, “Maybe we should head on home.”

“Maybe we should. I’m sorry I got you into this to begin with.”