Michael didn’t look at her. He reached into his jacket and placed his phone on the counter, screen facing up.

“I’ve been coming in here all week,” he continued. “Sitting right there. Watching. Listening.”

He tapped the phone once. “And I have everything.”

Patricia’s face went pale. “Everything?”

Michael nodded. “Voided transactions. Cash discrepancies. Security footage. Patterns that line up perfectly with two specific employees.”

Troy took a step back. “You can’t prove anything.”

“I already have,” Michael said evenly. “And the authorities are on their way.”

Megan’s confidence collapsed in real time. “You’re blaming us? He’s the one giving money away!”

Michael turned to her then, and the look he gave her wasn’t angry. It was disappointed.

“Henry used his own money,” he said. “Every time. You used the diner’s.”

Troy’s mouth opened, then closed.

Patricia looked like she might sit down.

Michael shifted his attention to Henry.

Henry stood exactly where he had been moments before, shoulders slightly rounded, hands folded loosely in front of him. His face was calm, but there was confusion there now. Hurt, carefully contained.

“Henry,” Michael said, his voice softening, “I owe you an apology.”

Henry blinked. “Sir?”

“This place failed you,” Michael continued. “And I didn’t see it soon enough.”

He turned back to the room.

“Henry Lawson has been the most honest person working in this diner,” Michael said. “While others treated this job like something to take from, he treated it like something to protect.”

A murmur rippled through the customers. Heads nodded. Someone clapped once, then stopped, unsure.

Michael looked back at Henry. “You should never have been put in this position.”

Henry shook his head slightly. “I was just helping.”