"Not outside. Close enough to see your face." Grim nodded. "Fair."
At the door, Millie called his name. "Victor." The unusual sound of it made Danny glance toward her, but Grim turned without surprise.
Millie stood with her arms folded, sixty-three years of stubbornness gathered into the set of her shoulders. "You come back in here," she said. "Whatever happens in that parking lot, you come back through that door. We have enough empty seats already."
The words struck closer than a shouted warning would have. Grim looked at the corner booth, then at her, and for one instant the age in his face became visible. "I'll do my best," he said. Millie shook her head. "Not the answer I wanted." "It's the honest one," he replied, and stepped into the night.
Rain hissed lightly against the shoulders of his leather vest. He crossed the wet pavement at an ordinary pace, keeping his hands where everyone could see them. The deputy stood beside the cruiser with his arms crossed, pretending to observe the road rather than the restaurant. Grim stopped a comfortable distance away. "Deputy Holt," he said. "Didn't expect to see you out here after midnight."
Holt's jaw moved slightly. "Public safety concern," he said. "We've had reports of suspicious vehicles in the area." Grim glanced at the four trucks arranged like a blockade.
"Looks like you found some," he said. Holt did not smile. "If you've got something to report, Hayes, make it quick. I'm working."
"I have something you need to hear," Grim said. He kept his voice low enough that Clay's men at the far end of the lot would not hear the details. "A young man named Jesse Tarant has given me records from Clay Mercer's business. Bank transfers, audio recordings, missing-person information. Your name appears in them." Holt's shoulders tightened, though his face stayed determinedly blank.
"This is a threat?" Holt asked. "It's information," Grim replied.
"I spoke with a federal investigator in Phoenix tonight. They're sending people to secure the records and interview the witness. That conversation is already in motion, whether either of us likes it or not." He let the deputy consider that before continuing. "I don't know what part of Jesse's file will be proved. I do know you don't want to be photographed standing alongside Clay while eight men intimidate the witnesses in a diner."
Holt looked toward the trucks. The men inside them were too far away to hear, but one driver had lowered his window and was watching. "You think I can't arrest you for obstructing an investigation?"
Holt asked. Grim did not change posture. "You can write down anything you like. Tonight I want to know what investigation brought you here and whether it has a number attached."
"Stolen vehicle," Holt said after a pause. "Which vehicle?" Grim asked. "Report's still coming through."
"From whom?" "That's none of your business." Grim nodded slowly. "Then I imagine the people reviewing dispatch tonight will ask exactly those questions. I wouldn't want to have to explain why the answer wasn't available when I drove to a diner in the middle of the night."