The Price He Offered For One More Missing Man

Grant called before I finished sweeping Mason's shop the next morning.

"You had no right to contact my buyer."

"They contacted me."

"Same difference. Come see me. Alone."

I looked at the dust pile by my boot.

"You can meet all three of us. At June's office."

He hung up.

An hour later, June sent a meeting time. Grant had agreed.

I worked the hours Mason had promised. He paid me $144 and wrote a receipt for the shop's records. I put $40 in my gas tank and bought milk on the way home.

At two, the three of us sat across from Grant at June's small meeting table.

His watch kept clicking against the wood.

"There has been a misunderstanding," he said.

Reuben laid out the bank records.

"Then explain this."

"The benefit was part of the reunion. The film sale was part of the reunion. Money moves during production."

June slid Lora's agreement beside the records.

"This money had one purpose."

Grant looked at me.

"Eli understands how shows work. Sometimes you cover one expense until another check comes in."

"What expense?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

I put Vera's proposal on top of the other papers.

"You said you spent it fixing recordings you never had."

For a moment, he studied his own signature.

Then he reached into his jacket.

"I can put the money back today."

Reuben leaned forward.

Grant placed two sheets on the table.

The first transferred my footage rights to his company for $1. It included a space for Mason and Reuben to approve the sale.

The second was a public statement.

Due to an accounting mistake by Reuben Lane, benefit funds were temporarily unavailable.

There were more words after that. I didn't need them.

"You want him to sign that?" I asked.

"I want everyone to move on. The boy gets his lift. You get your job back. I'll even raise you fifty cents."

Mason took off his glasses.

"You brought a dollar to buy twenty years."

Grant ignored him.

"Reuben. Think about your son."

Reuben pulled both sheets closer. He read every line. Then he slid them back without touching the pen.

"You can return the money you took," he said. "You don't get to sell me that as a favor."

Grant's face changed.

"Walk away, then. See who believes you."

June stood.

"This meeting is over. I'll need your event records before tomorrow's doors open."

Outside, Reuben leaned against the brick wall.

"I wanted to sign," he said.

I waited.

"For about five seconds. I pictured that button on the lift."

"We all pictured it," Mason said.

Reuben rubbed his palms together.

"I'm tired of asking other people to help us get through a doorway."

I had no good speech for that. I stood beside him until he was ready to move.

We took copies of the records to the local police desk. Reuben made a report and got a case number. An investigator would contact him. Nobody promised an arrest by supper.

Then we called Lora.

"Monday still stands," she said. "But I can keep the repair estimate at that price for thirty days."

It was one small piece of ground that stayed under us.

That evening, Toby sat at Reuben's kitchen table making captions for the old entrance video. He wanted people who couldn't hear the announcer to know our names.

He typed slowly with two fingers.

ELI VOSS. MASON PIKE. REUBEN LANE.

"Do you want your ring names?" he asked.

"Our regular ones are fine," Reuben said.

"I put Dad's in twice," Toby told me. "It kept disappearing in that other video."

Reuben turned toward the sink.

I pretended to check a cable until he turned back.

Vera called at seven. Her company had stopped talks with Grant. She sent a signed letter saying they had paid him nothing and had not ordered any restoration work.

They still wanted to discuss a film with the three actual owners, after the benefit issue was settled.

I thanked her and asked for permission to show her letter.

"You have it," she said.

June called next.

She had received the event records. She had also received messages from donors asking why Reuben had been removed.

"The permit allows a short sponsor report before the matches," she said. "I'm putting the benefit report there. You're invited to speak. So is Grant."

A few minutes later, an updated program arrived on my phone.

At six o'clock Saturday, in front of every ticket holder, the screen belonged to us.