“He didn’t know I was here, I swear! He couldn’t have.”

“Oh, you think he was just coming here for a cup of coffee?”

Zack knows how it seems. How it looks.

“Zack, everyone on the team says you’re a good worker. Everyone likes you. But you’re gonna have to find a different GreenGirl, or another coffee shop, or another job altogether. I’ll give you a good recommendation. But I can’t risk keeping you here. Sorry.”

43.

43.

In a couple of hours, Joey is uncuffed and released from the 14th Precinct.

Did not enter the establishment, the police report says. Remained in public space. Since he never entered the GreenGirl, Joey did nothing bookable, nothing wrong. He was stopped before anything happened. Maybe the cops regretted that. Under the law, he was literally just a man crossing the street.

Now he knows how closely he is being watched.

Karloff and Will must know too.

So how do Karloff and Will expect him to pull off whatever they have in mind? Unless it has to do with being so closely watched. Unless that’s part of it somehow. Being close to the cops. Being dragged back into court again soon.

Maybe the cops who were tailing him will be rotated off now since he’s seen them, and new ones will be assigned. Or maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe they’re happy to have him know who’s watching him.

And he knows that if he has to shake them at some point, he’ll probably have just one chance at most—and he begins to think about how.

44.

44.

Zack decided not to tell Emily or Steve about what happened outside the GreenGirl. Who had shown up. Who he might have served coffee to.

Emily would be paralyzed by fear, unable to concentrate at work, afraid to leave the apartment.

Steve would reach for his gun, not able to stay in his apartment like a target, like a sitting duck. Might even go looking for Joey.

“Wait. So it’s not working out? They’re letting you go?” says Emily, back at the apartment that night when Zack explains how there’s no longer a place for him at the GreenGirl.

“Well, Chris told me I’m doing a really good job and that people like working with me…” Zack pauses, searching the apartment for the right words. “I think it’s just a staffing thing. He said he’d help me find some shifts at another GreenGirl.”

Emily frowns. She’s clearly surprised. Zack said days ago how well everything was going. He can tell she’s not completely satisfied with his explanation.

He senses she’s starting to worry he’s one of those people who can’t hold down a job. Any job. Not even a GreenGirl job, for Christ’s sake.