A WAITRESS FED THE SAME HOMELESS MAN EVERY NIGHT—ONE DAY, HE WALKED IN WEARING A SUIT
Chapter 2
The next evening, Emma arrived for her shift at four.
Her manager, Paul, was already angry.
“Table six complained about you.”
Emma blinked.
“About me?”
“They said you took too long.”
“I was helping Mrs. Lewis with her wheelchair.”
Paul sighed.
“Emma, this isn’t a charity.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
“Then act like it.”
Emma nodded.
She needed the job.
Her younger brother Noah was finishing college, and their mother had been struggling with rent since losing work.
Emma couldn’t afford to lose another paycheck.
At 9:40, she took the tray outside.
The homeless man was waiting.
“You’re late.”
Emma laughed.
“By two minutes.”
“I noticed.”
She sat down beside him.
“You have a watch?”
He pointed toward the restaurant.
“Clock.”
Emma looked at him.
“You’re strange.”
“So I’ve been told.”
She handed him the coffee.
His hands wrapped around the cup.
“Warm.”
“That is generally what coffee does.”
He smiled.
It was the first real smile Emma had seen from him.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
He hesitated.
“David.”
“Nice to meet you, David.”
“You too.”
They ate in silence.
After a few minutes, Emma asked, “Were you always homeless?”
David stopped.
“No.”
She immediately regretted asking.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I had a house.”
“What happened?”
“Someone took it.”
Emma looked at him.
“Who?”
David stared into the darkness.
“A person I trusted.”
Before Emma could ask more, a black SUV slowed beside the alley.
David’s body stiffened.
The change was so sudden that Emma noticed.
“Do you know them?”
“No.”
The SUV stopped.
A man stepped out.
He wore a dark coat.
He looked directly at David.
Then at Emma.
David stood.
“Go inside.”
Emma frowned.
“Why?”
“Please.”
The man walked closer.
“Mr. Hayes?”
David’s face went pale.
“You have the wrong person.”
The man smiled.
“I don’t think so.”
Emma looked between them.
David’s voice became firm.
“Leave.”
The stranger reached into his coat.
David stepped in front of Emma.
But the man only pulled out a business card.
He dropped it at David’s feet.
“We know you’re alive.”
Then he returned to the SUV.
The vehicle disappeared.
Emma picked up the card.
There was only one line.
Harrison Capital.
David took it from her.
His hands were shaking.
“Forget you saw this.”
“Who are you?”
David looked at her.
For the first time, there was no helplessness in his eyes.
There was fear.
“Someone who should have stayed dead.”
