Cafe Midnight — Silver James

A burned-out homicide cop. A mysterious diner. A dead body. What could possibly go wrong?When that cop is Joe McGwire? Everything. Back on duty after a shootout where his partner died, Joe and his best friend, Insomnia, hit the streets. Drawn to a diner called Cafe Midnight, Joe walks into trouble.Welcome to Cafe Midnight, where the coffee's hot, you can still smoke, the payphone costs a nickel, and famous detectives hang out looking for a case.This short story is a fond homage to film noir and the detective novels of the last century. It's a tongue-in-cheek tale about a hard-driven homicide detective and the denizens of the dark he meets while investigating his latest murder.