Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty Seven

Jackie said, "You fixed the door at last." "Yeah, do you like it?" "I've driven past this gate several times." Max sat behind the table, didn't speak, just waited. "Since that package arrived," Jackie said. She was standing in the doorway where a man had been killed ten days earlier.She looked crisp in white slacks and a bright green blouse, and when she removed her dark sunglasses, he could see her eyes. "The post office guys usually put the mail in the elevator downstairs, but he delivered this parcel up. Maybe he shook the box—you know, think there's at least half a million in it."

"Less than a tenth," Max said. "Yeah, it's your payment. I've got to settle the bill because there was no note and no explanation. But it's not a bond, Max." "I was a little hesitant to take that money." "You worked on that—if that's what you wanted." He felt awkward sitting there; he thought it would be better if he didn't say a word.She would realize that he understood what was going on.But the way she looked at him, the light in her eyes again, confused him."I thought you'd quit this business," she said. He shrugged.

"I have no idea." "How old are you, Max?" This surprised him, because she knew it. "fifty seven." "Don't you know what you want?" He could answer the question, but he hesitated.Then she said, "I know what I want. I'm leaving. My things are in the car. Why don't you take me out? I want to show you something." While he was still hesitating, she said: "Come on, Max. I won't hurt you." She smiled. He also smiled slightly and stood up from the table.He didn't want to go; he felt frustrated.However, he always had a feeling that even though he was optimistic for a while, he knew that even if things would develop to this point, they would eventually end like this.Therefore, he is psychologically prepared and intends to resign himself to fate.Or, if Nikolai was really thought of, he and he had been ignored all along.

She said: "When I went to the hospital to see the dragon that day, I saw Ray." It surprised him, reminded him of the time when she said they were alike.They are on the same page. Jackie was talking about it as they walked through the outer office.He opened the door for her, and she said, "Ray's working in a new field, looking for all sorts of weapons that soldiers from 'Desert Storm' bring back as souvenirs, Russian-made AK-47s, he said, There were even explosive hand grenades. They found a soldier who had shipped a four-pound plastic bomb to his wife and she showed it to a neighbor who had no idea what it was."

They walked along the front of the house. "Also, he was tracking down a guy who owned a gun shop. He said selling assault guns to minors was 'pathetic and ridiculous.' He really used those words. He called the gun shop owner ' He deserved a beating' and said he would have him arrested even if that was the last thing he should have done." "Did you tell Ray that you were leaving?" "I told him I might go. His ex-wife, Anita, was with him at the time. She was attractive, but, well, a little bit artificial." Max had a feeling he was missing something.Maybe they should sit down and talk, and he's going to ask her some questions.But they had rounded the corner and reached the parking lot.He saw a black Mercedes with the top down."That's Ordell's car," he said.

"I borrowed it," Jackie said. "They confiscated his Volkswagen, including the money in it. This one was put aside, you can say. The registration card was in the glove box." She looked Max for a while. "What's the matter? Haven't you borrowed someone else's car?" He said, "No borrowing after anyone's death." She went around to the other side of the car and looked at him through the low black Mercedes. "Come on, Max. I'm coming to get you out of everything here." "Deal with the scum of society," Max said, "trying to look respectable." He saw Jackie frowned, and his beautiful eyes narrowed for a moment. "That's how Ordell described my situation."

"So you like it?" Jackie said. Max hesitated. "Where are we going?" "I don't know," Jackie said.He saw her eyes begin to smile. "Does that matter?"