Chapter five of six
Last
Call
1:12 AM · Booth four, across from him
Twenty-three hours after the voicemail. You drove out to Exit 41 because there was nothing left to do at the hospital but sit, and because every person in this story has told you where the one seat with a view is. The sign is on. Teo opened at six because nobody told him not to. The bell does what it always does. Nobody says your name from the pass. Mara is with family tonight. Voss's stool is empty, first night in four years. Harlan is in booth four with a slice of pie he hasn't touched.
Ten minutes. Headphones help. This time you're the one recording.
People so far
Dell — Your father; in the county hospital.
Mara — Diner server; with family tonight.
Voss — Deputy; changed the pickup time on the tablet.
Dobbs — Drives the deposit pickup; in the lot at 2:05.
You sit down across from him. He doesn't look up right away. When he does, he looks for a long time.
Mara's phone heard pulled it. You flagged it on the highway two nights ago. It wasn't wrong. Something did get pulled out of that office. The machine just got the who.
Since your mother died, Voss said. He's looking at you like he knows she said it.
You put the phone on the table between the pie and his coffee, because everyone in this story has been recording everyone. He looks at it. He nods.
Booth four
0:00Booth four · Thursday · 1:14 AM
You look like her. Nobody has said that since the funeral.
It's the kid's. He went out there having already decided you'd get the bag and not him.
I didn't call anybody, he said. You let that sit. He lets you.
You don't pick them up. He doesn't take them back.
Ask him one thing
Harlan has told you where the money is. Forty feet away. Twenty-three hours. What you do with it is yours.
The last chapter is yours
Chapter six is booth four. You sit where he sat, with everything you've been told in front of you, and you decide.
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