Listen , he said softly. maybe this is all new to you. Well, I've had almost twenty years of this , and a lot of other people - clever have - too . They know I've got nothing that doesn't belong to me. Never did. Some other person got it .
the mail clerk, I said, Sure.
Listen, he said, still softly . I did my time in prison. I know people aren't going to stop wondering. I know that from time to time somebody is going to come along with some questions. That's OK. Now how do I get you to go home again?
I shook my head and stared at the fish in their big silent tanks, thinking about ghosts - ghosts from a long time ago. A train moving through the darkness, the sound of shooting, a dead clerk on the floor , a man who had kept a secret for nineteen years - almost kept it.