On the road, his borrowed car had broken down.
He had walked for hours in the cold before reaching the diner.
Jonah asked why he had not called the police.
Arthur admitted that he had been stubborn.
He had wanted proof that people still recognized one another without titles or security guards.
Evelyn gave him a disapproving look.
She said his little experiment had nearly resulted in a missing-person investigation.
Arthur accepted the rebuke.
Then he told Jonah that the meal had answered one question but raised another.
He wanted to know whether the diner workers were being treated fairly.
Jonah considered telling him everything.
He also considered the possibility that a powerful stranger could disappear as quickly as he had arrived.
He said he would answer honestly if Arthur promised not to use his words to punish Marta or the other employees.
Arthur agreed.
Jonah described the missed breaks, the unexplained deductions, and the way Dennis regularly held back tips from the evening shift.
Evelyn took notes without interrupting.
When Jonah finished, Arthur stared at the diner through the tinted glass.
He said Ruth would have been furious.
Chapter Four: The Sister Waiting at School
Jonah expected Arthur to offer him money.
Instead, the old man asked what he planned to do that afternoon.
Jonah said he needed to find another job before his landlord changed the locks.
Evelyn asked whether the landlord had obtained a court order.
Jonah admitted that he did not know.
He was accustomed to believing people who spoke with certainty about rules.
Arthur asked about his family.
Jonah told him about Lucy, who was fourteen and loved astronomy.
Their mother had died three years earlier after a long illness, and their father had left when Lucy was small.
Jonah had postponed community college to keep the household together.
He had no heroic explanation for it.
There had simply been bills to pay and a child who needed someone to sign her school forms.
Arthur listened without offering advice.
Evelyn finally said that Jonah should collect Lucy before they discussed anything further.
She offered to have a driver take him.
Jonah refused the car and walked to the bus stop.
He needed twenty minutes to decide whether any of the morning had been real.
At the school office, Lucy was waiting with a science project wrapped in newspaper.
She took one look at his face and asked whether Dennis had fired him.
