Dinner Interrupted

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, keeping her eyes on the crowd. "Grant."

"Lieutenant, it's Chen at the precinct," the voice said. "Forensics finished pulling the footage from that market robbery earlier. I just forwarded the stills to your phone."

"Got it, Chen. I'll check them shortly."

Lola unlocked her screen and opened the attached images.

The frame showed a man in a dark charcoal suit catching the first suspect's punch with an open palm. The profile was unmistakably Jude Lawson...

Lola looked up from her phone to the indentations left in the concrete pillar along Building 11.

The clerk hadn't been imagining things; Jude was the one who had handled the two men at the deli.

By the ladder, Jude handed the boy to an FDNY paramedic.

10 feet away, neighbors had helped the mother back to her feet.

Seeing her son uninjured, she ran over, tears streaming down her face, thanking Jude repeatedly.