Brian didn’t elaborate. “Fine, thanks. I guess you got my note.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. What are you doing up at two fifteen in the morning?”

“Rick, what the hell is going on over there? They’re not supposed to be moving staff out of Manteca. That was part of the deal.”

“Well, that’s not necessarily true. They said they wouldn’t shut down the plant there, and that they had no plans to move people. But that’s standard for an acquisition. You know that.”

“Yeah, but I told people they shouldn’t be worried about their jobs.”

Rick suspected that Brian’s mood was as much a function of his general struggle with the transition to retirement as it was with the events at JMJ. So he decided to be gentle.