detective third grade lila livingston, armed with bud rogers’ s report on yolanda carter and yancey clevenger, presented herself at the just a restaurant as dawn was breaking.
xenia was not there, but daisy the midnight shift waitress told her that she was expected soon.
“do you know a young man named yancey clevenger?” the detective asked daisy.
“uh - yes, he works here. at least, he did. i don’t know if he still does, you would have to ask xenia.”
“do you know him very well pesonally?
“no, i wouldn’t say so. he worked mostly different shifts. he did, until last night anyway. “
“so you don’t know him that well?”
“i don’t hang out with him, if that is what you mean. he is just a kid, i think he is still in school.”
“what did you say your name was again?”
“daisy. daisy derringer.”
“why do i get the impression, miss daisy, that you are holding something out on me?”
“um - i answered your questions.”
“right. but is there something i didn’t ask about that you could tell me?”
daisy hesitated. “the kid was supposed to show up last night at midnight. xenia just put him on full time, and this was supposed to be his first time on his new shift. xenia wasn’t too happy about it . and when she is not happy she lets you know it. i wouldn’t want to be the kid when she catches up with him.”
“and he never showed up, or called in?”
“he did call, real late. way after xenia went home. “
“how late?”
“real late, like i said.”
“i mean, what time exactly? three o’clock, five o’clock? it’s about seven now.”
“maybe around three. i didn’t talk to him, he called george.”
“and george is what or who?”
“he is the dishwasher. the kid called him on his own phone.”
“and is george still here?”
“yes, he is, do you want to talk to him?”
“please.”
george the dishwasher was an old timer, and he knew enough not to try to hold out on the police. he told detective livingston everything he remembered about yancey’s call,
“so what time did he call?”
“i just checked my phone, he called about three. you want to see the phone?”
“yes.”
george handed the phone over and livingston glanced at it. it showed a call at 2:58, nothing afterwards or for the day previous .
“did you record the call?”
“naw, i never bother with that.”
“so, what did he have to say?”
“he said he was still trying to get here and to tell xenia he was sorry if she showed up.”
“did he try to call this xenia?”
“he might have. he didn’t say.”
“hm.” livingston balanced the phone in her hand. “i will keep this. we might be able to retrieve something on it. you can get along without it for a couple of days.”
“of course, officer. “
“anything else you can tell me?”
“he’s a good kid. a good worker. not like most of these young punks today.”
“that’s good to know. anything else?”
“yes. the reason he was going to start full time - his mother disappeared a few days ago. that’s why he was going to quit school and work full time - so he could keep supporting himself.”
“not like most of the young punks these days?”
“exactly.”
livingston of course knew all about yolanda’s disappearance. “thank you,” she told george. “that is very interesting. very interesting. you see how helpful you can be when you cooperate with the police.”
“do you want to wait for xenia?” daisy asked . “she should be here any minute. she is usually here by now.”
“yes, i think i will.”
“do you want anything while you wait?” daisy asked. “coffee?”
“coffee woufd be nice. and i will pay for it?”
“anything else? we got a great breakfast special.”
“just coffee for now, thank you.”
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