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Show 97 When Hall picks Jewel up again, she is at a roulette table, looking detached. She puts chips out, gets some back, puts others out again. Her expression is: All right -- I am submitting to this; I am following through what must be my part in this -- but you must know it's all just fucking lonely. Hunt takes a breath that he holds for a minute nearly. Minute and a half. Hall exits the monitor room again. The staff is busy checking inappropriate cuts, die tumbles, inconsistencies. Last week, Hall remembers, in the back office, they ripped the hearing aid off a man because they thought he'd been wired to some computer. Hall feels the power of some chemistry, some unapprehended law or set of forces. There's a glass elevator that drops from the grid, and he takes it. His brain feels unattached to his head, at best a satellite. In the employee lounge he gets coffee. Dealers are talking about the NBA draft and what's going first: The Big Man or Speed. -What's the point-spread on Height? -Lopez is giving seven-to-five on Agility. Hunt wonders where he is - though he knows he's in Michigan, Benton Harbor. What's happening with the Volvo? Can you repair, or do you have to replace, a rod? Should they have left New Hampshire? Tucson?! What painter ever worked out of Tucson?! Is he a Religious Painter? Suskind has warned him about that - Forget this Adoration and Annunciation shit! - Or is he really just a person skilled at portraits? Occasional still lifes? What's the route that he and Leah are taking from here, beside the lake, in Michigan ... to Arizona? |