Dead Man: a short story

The year is 1950 and Hank Corman has a job to do. Surveillance. He's watching a diner in Newark, New Jersey. But the lead is bogus. The target of the investigation never shows. He decides to call it a day, but then he catches sight of someone he hasn't seen since the war. But what he's seeing can't possibly be. He saw this man die six years ago! He died in the skies over Nazi Germany.

He confronts him but the man tells Hank he's got the wrong guy. Mistaken identity. Hank goes back to his motel room and pours himself a drink. He replays in his mind the events that led up to his friend's death. Eventually he goes to bed, but in the middle of the night there is a knock. Hank knows who it is before he opens the door.