Each Other’s Rock Bottom

Jacob instantly works out why the folder contains only the public part: the “real thing” cannot be told without telling on oneself. This is the exact mechanics of silence around violence in close bonds: the secret is glued together from two shames at once. Simon would have to speak about his desire; Jacob — about what he did in the dark, and what he himself leaned toward.

A bond like this is the strongest prison there is: each stays silent guarding not the other but himself — and therefore guards both. Love and loyalty have nothing to do with it; it is the mutual guarantee of the bottom. And while it holds, no protocol will reach the truth: in that office, the truth has not a single willing witness.