Late sixties.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
There was something vaguely familiar about him.
“Who is that?”
“Watch.”
The recording began.
The man was sitting inside Miller’s.
Booth seven.
He spoke directly to the camera.
“My name is Richard Bell.”
I froze.
I knew that name.
Everyone in our city did.
Richard Bell had built Bell Atlantic Systems, a logistics and software company worth billions before retiring.
Mason paused the video.
“You know him?”
“I know who he is.”
“He came to the diner when I was fifteen.”
“Why?”
“Coffee.”
“That’s it?”
“He said coffee.”
Mason pressed play.
Richard continued.
“Three years ago, I came into this diner after receiving a diagnosis I had no idea how to discuss with my family.”
The video didn’t specify the illness.
It didn’t need to.
Richard explained that he had spent his life solving problems with money.
Employees.
Consultants.
Doctors.
