Back Seat

Bloomfield Township, a Detroit suburb, Thursday, July 31, 1975, 10 pm. In the back room of the Silver Pheasant restaurant, sealed off by the police, the chairs sleep upside down on the tables. Outside, in the empty parking lot, only a green Chrysler is left.

The car belongs to Emmett Raskin, 62, who led the National Truckers Union for fourteen years, walked out of prison on Christmas 1971 barred from the union until 1980, and wanted his seat back anyway. Yesterday at 2 pm he was due here for a peace meeting with two men who never showed up.

At 2:20 pm, from the pay phonepay phone Public telephone, usually on a street or wall, that works with coins. behind the hardware store, he called his wife to complain about the cake and promised to be home at 4 pm to grill steaks. He never arrived. This morning at 7:20 the Chrysler was found unlocked, with nobody in it.

Three people knew where he would be at 2 pm. One of them knows which car he got into.

Room of a roadside restaurant near Detroit in 1975, with chairs upturned on the tables.