CHAPTER SIXTEEN E: THE DINER AFTER MIDNIGHT
Warren asked Jake to meet him at the diner after closing.
Jake considered refusing until Warren explained that he had found something behind the old freezer.
“I’m not asking you to take it anywhere,” Warren said.
“I just need someone to see what it is before I decide what to do.”
Jake called the deputy first.
The deputy told him not to handle any possible evidence and offered to meet them at the diner.
Warren looked irritated when he saw the patrol car.
“I asked you to come alone,” he told Jake.
“I told you I wouldn’t hide anything from the investigation,
” Jake replied.
Warren let them inside.
The diner smelled of bleach and old fryer oil.
Its booths were empty, and the television above Gideon’s corner table showed a silent weather report.
Warren led them into the storage area behind the kitchen.
A metal box sat on the floor beside the freezer.
“The maintenance man pulled the freezer out to check a leak,” Warren explained.
“This was wedged behind it.”
The deputy crouched beside the box.
“Have you opened it?”
“No,” Warren answered.
The deputy examined the latch and put on gloves.
Inside were ordinary objects that had become difficult to look at.
There were several employee name badges, a stack of bus tickets, and a child’s drawing folded into quarters.
Jake recognized the drawing’s bright green house from a day when a little girl had sat near the back door while her father spoke to Russell.
“Why would this be here?” he asked.
Warren rubbed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
The deputy asked whether Russell had ever used the storage area.
Warren hesitated.
“I gave him a key when he rented the parking lot,” he admitted.
“He said drivers needed somewhere to leave their coats.”
Jake stared at the metal box.
“Did you know he was keeping people’s belongings?”
“No,
” Warren said.
Jake believed that Warren had not expected to find a child’s drawing.
He was less certain what Warren had allowed himself to ignore.
The deputy photographed the contents and sealed the box.
He asked Warren to come to the station in the morning.
When the patrol car left, Jake remained beside the counter.
Warren poured two cups of coffee and set one in front of him.
“I know you don’t trust me,” Warren said.
“You made that difficult,” Jake replied.
Warren sat opposite him.
“When I bought this diner, I thought the hardest part would be keeping the doors open.
”
Jake looked at the dark highway.
“That is hard.”
“I told myself every compromise was temporary,” Warren continued.
“I thought I’d stop taking Russell’s money when business improved.”
“Did it improve?”
“A little.”
“Did you stop?”
Warren shook his head.
The answer was so small that Jake almost missed it.
“I kept waiting for a better month,” Warren said.
Jake remembered how often the manager had blamed a slow shift on a cook, a waitress, or the price of eggs.
“You can’t make those people disappear because the bills are real,” Jake said.
“I know.”
“And you can’t ask me to tell you you’re a good man because you finally found a box.
”
Warren looked at the untouched coffee.
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
Jake stood.
“Then I’ll see you at the station tomorrow.”
Warren nodded.
Jake left the diner with the uncomfortable knowledge that a man could be both frightened of losing his business and responsible for the choices he made to protect it.
