THE DEADLINE CAFÉ EPISODE #4
“Good afternoon, friend.”
Hank turned around to see Sergei, the limo driver. The 40-year-old émigré from Minsk stopped by the café regularly at the beginning of his 3 p.m. to midnight workday.
“I drive big car for big businessmen,” he’d told Hank when they first met, pointing to the shiny black town car.
But that was about all anyone ever learned about Sergei’s customers. He was so tight-lipped about his clientele that whenever Hank asked, all Sergei would say was, “You wouldn’t believe. You wouldn’t believe.”
“Lissa,” Sergei beamed as he moved to the café counter on this Monday, “A double espresso. I finish Great Gatsby. Thank you for recommending.”
“Sergei, I’ll be with you as soon as I take care of Mrs. Worthly,” Lissa said as she carried a cup of tea to a table for an elegant older woman on a cane. “I want to hear what you think of Fitzgerald.”
“Now where did you say Hank found the note?" the old woman asked.
“Inside Sunday’s Trib, Mrs. Worthly,” Lissa said. “Right inside the comics.”
“It said, ‘Stay alive, you got 85!’” said a stout, bearded man of about 60 sitting at a nearby table. He was carving a piece of wood, as he did each day at the café. Nobody knew his name; they simply referred to him as the Whittler.
“Hank, my friend,” the Whittler said. “You got yourself what might be called a ‘situation.’ A lot can happen in 90 days: lose 5 pounds, gain ‘em back. Fly around the world in a balloon.”
A long, deliberative silence settled in, then Lissa said, “Sergei, I think it’s time you read Huckleberry Finn before it’s banned.”
She moved past Hank to the lending library in the back of the café. There wasn’t an hour that Hank wouldn’t hear talk like that from the Whittler, the professor, and the other regulars.
“Well, I think it’s—'' or “Someone told me he ... ''
Over the last week, he’d heard pretty much every idea that he’d thought of himself too: a disgruntled customer or former employee, a nut case, Hank’s old girlfriend, Lissa’s most recent ex.
Lissa had even suggested that one of Hank’s former teammates on his 16-inch softball team might be behind the notes. “Ryan never spoke to you after you pinch-hit for him,” she said.
“C’mon, Lissa. That’s a stretch.”
After Friday’s episode with the stranger, Lissa speculated that it was only a matter of time until Yada Yada Java came to town. The worst was when Hank overheard a woman speculate that he was doing it himself just to jack up business with some kind of advertising gag.
After finding Huckleberry Finn, Lissa pulled Hank to one side. “Nothing yet today.”
“Maybe we’re home free,” he said. “Every other note was either right there when we opened up or it showed up by noon.”
“You wish,” said the Whittler. “I told you, son, you got yourselves a situation.”
Hank moved to Sergei.
“A guy was in here last Friday morning,” he said. “A big man. He got into one of your company’s limos around 10:30.” He paused, then said: “Look, Sergei, I know you’ve got this code of secrecy but we really need your help. Do you know anything about him?”
Sergei shook his head slowly.
“No," he said. "But if you want, I find out. What is his name?”
Hank reached into the drawer behind the counter where he’d stored the business card. “David Lawrence,” he said, eyeing the name for meaning like he was a Tarot card reader. Then he turned it over.
“Jeez,” he gasped
“What?” Lissa asked.
“84.”
Someone had printed the number on the back of Lawrence’s business card. How could he have missed that on Friday?
EPISODES #5 AND #6 WILL APPEAR ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 22.
