“Report Monday.

Bring the box if it helps.”

The cardboard was suddenly just cardboard.

I set it on the passenger seat and drove to the diner with the cracked red booths, because I wanted meatloaf and coffee that hadn’t been timed by a machine.

Marlene, the waitress, was wiping the same spot on the counter when I came through the door.

She looked at the box, then at my face.

“You look like somebody who just got his dog back,” she said.