Alma had arranged the Friday meeting for noon because she refused to let a lost evening shift turn into a whole day waiting for an answer. Mara arrived through the public entrance with her dispatch log in a plain folder. Nita met her and Ren by the desk. She had a paper bag with three rolls from the bakery, and she gave Alma the one with the poppy seeds without asking which she wanted. Alma had been working with her long enough for some choices to be remembered.
The manager, Ms. Vale, sat behind a desk with the crossed-out timesheet. She offered Alma another chair. Alma stayed standing until Ren and Mara had seats, then took her own. Mara noticed that Alma had chosen the place closest to the door. She kept her coat on.
“I want the reason for removing me from tonight's close,” Alma said. “I want to know if I'm paid. I want a next shift I can count on. And if Owen Price calls again, I want a plan that doesn't take my wages first.”
Vale looked at the timesheet. “We were trying to keep everyone safe. He claimed somebody would collect you after work as part of a private move. I didn't know whether he was trying to find you or warning us of something you hadn't told us.”
“He was trying to find me. I warned Nita he might. The rear door is restricted, and the code changed. You could have asked me before taking the shift.”
“I did call you.”
“You told me it was done.” Alma's voice did not rise. Nita lowered her eyes to her roll.
Vale set down the pen. “That is fair. I should have asked before I decided. I can't tell you yet whether payroll will approve hours you didn't work.”
“Then tell me when you'll ask them.”
Vale gave a time for an answer. Alma wrote it down. Mara kept her folder closed.
“There is another person here,” Alma said. “Mara Rowan dispatched a transport when I first left Owen. I asked her to say whether anybody has arranged a new one for today. I asked her not to tell you my old address or the route.”
Vale looked at Mara's folder. “Are you speaking for your employer?”
“No. I'm giving my own account as the dispatcher who handled the earlier ride. I have told my supervisor I may be asked about a client route, and I will document what I say here.” Mara had made the call that morning. Her supervisor had not promised it would be comfortable. “Months ago I arranged a driver from the clinic and a courier to meet Alma at a pharmacy lot. I did not drive her. I knew the courier then as Nora. She is Nell Voss.”
Vale's pen moved. Mara asked her to stop at the name. “I gave Nell a key to June's empty house last night for one night,” Mara said. “That was my choice. Tess did not agree to it. Nell does not have a current route for Alma through me.”
Alma had heard about the key from Mara before the meeting. She still looked at her now as if hearing it in this room cost something different. Mara kept speaking. “There is no transport scheduled by me or by the dispatch service for Alma today. June proposed a fallback before she died. Alma refused it. Tess has no pickup to make.”
“So the man was lying,” Vale said.
“He may believe what someone told him,” Alma said. “That doesn't make his call a reason to remove me without asking. What will you tell him if he calls again?”
Vale offered to say Alma was unavailable. Alma rejected it; unavailable still answered whether she was at work. Nita suggested saying the center did not give out staff schedules and ending the call. Alma accepted that, and asked for the same response at both desks. They agreed not to use Tess's name in any answer.
Mara had the old original slip ready if Alma wanted Vale to see it. Alma did not ask. She had heard enough for the current decision. Vale promised a written response on pay and a confirmed next shift by Monday afternoon. Alma wanted Saturday's hours offered first if a place opened. Vale said she would check. Alma wrote Monday afternoon beneath the first promised answer.
Outside, Alma took a bite of the roll Nita had bought. “I hated having you say June's transport aloud,” she told Mara.
“I know.”
“I asked you because he put a false one in my work. I don't want the old one passed around next week as gossip.”
“I'll keep my account to what you authorized.”
Alma looked at her. “You can say you are sorry about Nell staying in June's house without asking me to decide whether it was good for her.”
“I am sorry I hid it from Tess. I'm sorry I put another choice around you without telling you.” Mara stopped. She had begun to explain Nell's fear and heard how quickly the explanation would ask Alma to weigh it against her lost pay. “I should have told you before I came here.”
“Yes,” Alma said. She took another bite of the roll. “I don't know what I want from you after today. Today I wanted you to say there was no car.”
Mara nodded.
At the bus stop Nell called. “Are you taking me to the station?”
“I can take you to the public entrance. I won't find you an unrecorded driver or a different name.”
“If Owen is at the station?”
“Then tell me, and we can think about the next ordinary place. I won't promise a hidden route.”
Nell was quiet. “June would have found one.”
“She might have. I won't.”
“Are they paying Alma?” Nell asked.
“They haven't agreed to.”
“I thought they'd give it back. When they heard there wasn't a car.”
“They've heard.” Mara watched Alma fold the timesheet at the bus shelter. Nell said nothing for a while.
“I have a ticket. Five-ten.” Nell's voice thinned. “I can get there without you.”
“I believe you can.”
The line ended. Mara did not know whether Nell would use the paid seat. She knew she had stopped offering another version of June's help. She took the bus with Alma as far as the next stop, where Alma went to meet a friend for coffee. Alma did not ask Mara to accompany her. Mara watched her step down into the crowd, carrying the timesheet and the unfinished roll, going toward a life that still contained a Saturday shift she might or might not get.