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Well, at least the place has one good thing going for it—the subway.
Hell, just take it.
Payne texted back: “Be there shortly.”
—
Payne impatiently squeezed past the small groups of passengers that had just gotten off the subway train cars of the Broad Street Line, and moved with purpose down the tiled concourse toward the exit.
He then took the steps, two at a time, up to street level, then started across the deep gray slush of snow and melted ice that covered the sidewalk.
At the newsstand shack on the southeast corner of Erie and Broad, he quickly tugged a newspaper from a stack topped with a chunk of red brick, stuffing it beneath his left arm, then peeling from his money clip a pair of dollar bills. He handed the cash to the attendant—a heavily clothed elderly black man with leathery hands and a deeply wrinkled face and thin beard—and gestured for him to keep the change.
Payne turned and glanced around the busy intersection.
The storefronts were a blend of bars and fast-food chain restaurants, banks and pharmacies, barbershops and convenience stores. Payne thought that the facades of the aged buildings, as well as the streets and sidewalks, looked much like he felt—tired, worn-out.
On Erie, halfway down the block, Payne saw the coffee shop he was looking for—tall stenciled lettering in black and red on its front window read THE DAILY GRIND—then grunted.
As he pulled on the stainless steel handle of the diner’s glass door, then started to step inside, he almost collided with a grim-faced heavyset Latina in her twenties carrying three waxed paper to-go coffee cups. He made a thin smile, stepped backward, made a grand sweep with his free arm for her to pass through the doorway first, then went inside.
It was a small space, permeated by the smell of frying grease and coffee. The only seating was at a stainless steel countertop at the back that overlooked the open kitchen. Elsewhere, customers could stand at the nine round high-top tables and at the worn wooden counter that ran chest height along the side walls and the front windows.
There were just two customers now, both older men, who were seated at opposite ends of the back counter and busy with their meals. An enormous coal-black man in his forties, wearing a grease-stained white apron tied over jeans and a sweaty white T-shirt, stood stooped at the gas-fired grill, his large biceps bulging as he methodically worked a long-handled wire brush back and forth. Flames flared up with each pass.
The cook stopped, looked over his shoulder, saw Payne, called out, “Hey, man, he’ll be right with you,” then turned back to scrubbing the grill.
At the far right end of the counter, under a sign reading ORDER HERE/PAY HERE that hung from the ceiling tiles by dust-coated chains, was the cash register. And just beyond it was a faded emerald green wooden door with TOILET FOR PAYING CUST ONLY!! that appeared to have been handwritten in haste with a fat-tipped black ink permanent marker.
The bathroom door began to swing open and a brown-skinned male in his late teens stepped out, drying his hands on a paper towel.
Daquan Williams—in black jeans and a tan PHILLY—NOBODY LIKES US & WE DON’T CARE T-shirt—made eye contact with Payne, nodded just perceptively, then looked away as he went to the rack of coffeepots.
He pulled a heavy china mug from a pyramid-shaped stack, filled it with coffee, then carried it to Payne, who now stood by a window in the front corner of the shop, opposite the door, watching the sidewalk traffic over the top edge of the newspaper as he casually flipped its pages.
The teenager placed the steaming mug on the wooden counter beside a wire rack containing packets of cream and sugar.
“Thanks, Daquan,” Payne said, then yawned widely as he reached for the coffee. “I really need this.”
He held out a five-dollar bill.
Daquan didn’t take it. He nodded toward the enormous cook cleaning the grill.
“Boss man say you don’t pay,” he said, keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard.
“I appreciate that, but I like to pay my way.”
Payne put the money on the counter, then sipped the coffee.
Daquan nodded. He took the bill.
Payne glanced at Daquan’s left ear. What
looked like a new diamond stud sparkled in the lobe. Payne considered mentioning it, but he instead gently rattled the newspaper’s front page.
“So,” Payne said quietly, “what do you know about this hit?”
Daquan’s eyes shifted to the front page of the newspaper and his facial expression changed to one of frustration.
