Part 7:
Her eyes were the same. Gray. Tired in the specific way she’d been tired at the bus stop, like tired was something she wore more than something she felt. Ryan, please, get in. He got in. Marcus closed the door behind him. The door was very heavy. It closed with a sound like a bank vault. Inside the SUV was warm.
There was a faint smell of leather and coffee. There was a small console between the two back seats, and on the console, there was a steel thermos and two paper cups, and she was pouring coffee into one of them as he sat down. I hope you take it black. I take it however it comes. She handed him the cup. Her fingers were cold.
You lied to me yesterday, Ryan said. I did not lie. You told me your name was just Celeste. I told you that was my name for now. That was true. I did not give you my full name. That is not the same as lying. Most people would call that the same. Most people are imprecise. He looked at her. She looked at him. She had a small private smile at the corner of her mouth that was not quite amused and not quite apologetic.
I’m sorry, Ryan. That was a lawyer’s answer. I apologize. It’s okay. It’s not. Okay? She took a sip of her own coffee. The SUV was not moving. The driver was sitting in front with the engine off looking straight ahead through the windshield like he was made of wax. Who are you? Ryan said. My name is Celeste Arden.
I run a company called Arden Logistics International. We move freight. Medical supplies, electronics, agricultural equipment, some high-value industrial materials. We have operations in 41 countries. We employ about 18,000 people. Ryan looked at her over the rim of his coffee cup. Okay. He said. Okay. I heard you. You’re not surprised.
I’m very surprised. I’m just not going to show it in front of you. She laughed. It was a real laugh, short, almost startled. That’s fair. Your company he said carefully. Arden Logistics. Yes. That’s a holding parent. Isn’t it? Yes. It owns subsidiaries. Yes. One of those subsidiaries is called Regis Hollister. Her smile faded.
Yes. Ryan set his coffee down on the console. He looked at the dashboard of the SUV and then back at her. You own the company that fired me. My company owns the company that fired you. That’s splitting hairs. Maybe. Did you know that when you let me drive you to the diner? I knew you were a warehouse employee at one of my subsidiaries.
I knew there had been a disciplinary event concerning you. I did not know the specifics. I was not working off a list with your name on it, Ryan. I was sitting at a bus stop in the cold, and you were the person who stopped. You were at the bus stop on purpose. Yes. You weren’t stranded. I was not stranded. There was no broken-down car.
There was no broken-down car. Ryan leaned back in the seat. He could feel the leather through his shirt. He was trying not to let his face do anything. So, yesterday, he said, was a test? Yesterday was a coincidence that I took advantage of. That’s a nicer way of saying yes. I suppose it is. I gave you my last $40.
Yes. Because I thought you were stuck. Yes. And you weren’t. I wasn’t. Ryan, hold on. Let me think for a second. She held on. She let him think. The silence inside the SUV was a very expensive silence. Out the tinted window, he could see the second-floor curtains of his own apartment, and for a second he felt like he was seeing them from very far away, from someone else’s life.
“Why were you there?” he said finally. “At the bus stop?” Yeah. I was observing. Observing what? People. Come on. I am not being cute, Ryan. I was observing people. For the last 5 months I have been doing things like this. I dress down. I go to towns where my company operates. I sit where people can see me.
I stand in line at gas stations. I walk through parking lots at the end of shifts. I’m trying to understand who the people who work for me actually are, because something is wrong inside my company, and I do not trust the reports I’m getting from the top down, so I’m trying to see it from the bottom up. Something is wrong. Yes. Like the shipments going missing.
That’s one of the things. Yes. And you picked the bus stop at Chestnut and Vine because because that stop is half a mile from the rear gate of the Regis Hollister distribution facility. I’ve been watching that facility for 6 weeks. I thought I might see something useful. I did not expect to see you. You didn’t expect anything.
I expected a lot of things. I did not expect a man who had just been fired from my company to pull over in a truck with a cracked windshield and give me his last $40. Ryan was quiet. You didn’t know I’d just been fired. Not at that exact moment. I knew there had been a termination that morning. I did not know yet that the termination was you.
I put it together late last night after I went back to the hotel. After you called me. Before I called you. The call was after. So, when you called me I already knew. And you came here this morning. Yes. With four SUVs? She smiled, a little tired. I apologize for the SUVs. My security team is somewhat aggressive about these visits.
