Minute for What (continued)

"What," Rob said, "did I do, precisely?"

"Taking the gun from him?" The agent laughed. "You must have known we would find it."

"I didn't think we'd be caught."

"No deed unpunished, that's the law of the land, Father. I'd think you know that by now, in your line of work."

"I forget." Too much lately, he thought.

"I'll wrap up your file," she said, adding notes to his file with a ballpoint pen. Ink and paper were apparently the best available means of record-keeping at Saughton. Rob would have thought that improved relations would grant civil services an upgrade in basic, digital necessities, yet even at St Greg's they had to scrape by with the old forms.

"Did you know your mother would visit, in the old days when you were getting arrested it seemed like every other day? Rest her soul," said the agent, "she would bring us casserole, to thank us for treating her son so well."

He had other things on his mind. "Can I see the boy?"

Finished with paperwork, she added his file to a shelf stacked with them. "On your way out, why not. Another soul to save, right?"

"Something like that."

TO BE CONTINUED