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By the time I’m sitting at the bar, Ted has a cup on the counter and he’s making my fluffy drink. Calvin, the manager, who I’ve chatted with before, waves at me across the room and I note another tall waiter I’ve never seen before. A young buck with dark, curly hair. I say he’s tall because he’s taller than Calvin, who’s standing fairly close to him, by at least a couple of inches. And I’ve seen Calvin and Ted side by side. They’re close to the same height.
“Whipped cream?” Ted asks, setting my cup in front of me.
“Ah,yes. Does anyone really say no to that question?”
“Foolish people,” he says, with a straight face.
He’s a stoic guy but we all have our thing. Some might say mine is being a bitch, but you know, fuck them or that, too. He scoops all kinds of whipped cream on top of my coffee and I ask, “Who’s the new guy?”
“That’s Kurt. He’s not new. He was on leave for a couple of months. Some family thing. That’s why we didn’t mention him. We didn’t think he’d really come back. But now that he has, I plan to take a few days off.”
“Before you do, can you make me a list of the regulars?” I ask, and I’m interested to see if Cathy shows up on that list.
“We don’t know names, at least not for many, but I can get you what I do know. Are you really leaning toward one of our regulars being the killer?”
“It’s a long shot, but I’m giving it a try,” I say. “Speaking of, do you know Cathy Summers, a little old lady who loves your whipped cream?”
“We all know Cathy. She’s a ray of sunshine compared to all the kids that come in this place.” Calvin is now behind the bar, and he jumps into the conversation, “Cathy’s a ray of sunshine, right, Calvin?”
“Oh, yes,” he confirms. “She’s a sweetheart. If she was about twenty years younger, I’d date her, and she probably wouldn’t even have me. We knew her husband, too. He was a nice man. Why?”
“I ran into her at the bank and we got to talking about the best place to get a cup of whipped cream.” I scooped some cream up and happily give it a taste. “It’s here. For sure.”
Calvin motions to Ted. “He came up with that recipe himself. He created half our menu.”
Kurt shows up at the end of the bar, and calls, “Two bacon cheese curly fries.” His attention lands on me. “Hi, there.”
He’s about thirty, which is the youngest of the three, but in a city like New York City, second jobs and tip-driven income prosper. “I’m Kurt.”
There’s a flirty tone to his voice, and Ted grimaces at him. “She’s an FBI agent looking for a bad guy. Be careful. Acting like a pervert is not in your best interest.”
Kurt pales. “I’m so sorry. Can I help in any way? I mean, I’ve been in Tennessee helping my sick mom, but I have worked here for years. If you think it’s someone that comes in here, I know a lot of people.”
“Make a list of your regulars,” I say. “And I need your driver’s license number.”
“Yes, sure. Okay.” He grabs a pad of paper from his apron and starts scribbling. “I can give you the address I’ve been at in Tennessee, and you can confirm I’ve been there.” He rips off the paper and rounds the counter to hand it to me. “That’s my info. I did read about that kid that died after Calvin told me he’d been into the diner. I didn’t know him, though. I tend to work the morning shift, and the college kids come in at night.”
I motion to the pen in his hand and then write the names of the victims on the back of the paper. “Did you know any of these people?”
His brows dip and then his eyes light up. “Oh, yeah. That one. Sherman Lee. Oh, shit. Sherman’s dead?” He eyes Calvin, who is now standing beside me, while Ted attends to another customer who sat down.
“Sherman Lee is dead?” Calvin asks. “Really? He was just in last week.”
“I liked that dude,” Kurt adds. “I mean, he could be cranky, but he was under a lot of pressure at work, and he has an ex-wife who’s a real bitch.”
“How do you know that? I ask.
“He told me,” Kurt says. “One day he was acting like a jerk but he ended up apologizing. He told me he and his ex had a fight that left him on edge. They had some business investments together, so had to communicate from time to time. But that dude remembered all about my mother.”
“So you saw him when you returned?” I ask.
“Yeah. My first day back was yesterday morning. After Bonnie called in sick again, Calvin called me all desperate, and my mom is much better. I was coming back anyway. Holy hell. I feel kind of shell-shocked. You sure it’s him?”
That is a real question. He was in pieces but then again, I saw the head. It was Sherman. “Yes,” I say.
Calvin motions to Ted who joins. “Sherman Lee is dead.”
“I don’t know who he is.”
