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He nodded slowly "I've thought about it all the time," he said, "and I still can't explain it, not to myself and certainly not to anybody else I had the illusion that I could go to New York and kill this e in my life would be that I would have more money"

"But that's not the way it was"

"The instant I pulled the trigger," he said, "the illusion vanished like a portrait in sust of wind You couldn't even see where it had been And it was done, theit"

"There never is"

"No, there never is, not one bit of the past It's all etched in stone You can't erase a word, not a syllable" He sighed heavily "I thought… well, never ht it didn'tto die anyway And he was!"

"Yes"

"And so are we all, every last one of us We're all mortal Does that mean it's no crime to kill us?"

No criht He does it all the ti hi him an easy out What made me think that hat he wanted? If he'd been ready to die he could have taken pills, he could have put a plastic bag over his head There are enough ways For God's sake, he lived on a high floor, he could have gone out theIf that's what he wanted" He frowned "You can tell he wasn't eager to die There was only one reason for hiet money to live on He wanted his life to be as co as it lasted So I provided the money," he said, "and then I took away the life"

He'd relasses in the course of that speech, and now he put theh them at me "Well?" he said "Nohat happens?"

Always the beautiful question

"You have some choices," I said "There's a Cleveland police officer, a friend of a friend, who's fao to the stationhouse where you'll be placed under arrest and officially infor," he said

"Yes, that's what they call it Then of course you can have your attorney present, and he'll explain your options He'd probably advise you to waive extradition, in which case you'll be escorted back to New York for arraignment"

"I see"

"Or you can accoht The advantage in that, as far as you're concerned, is chiefly that it cuts out a certain amount of delays and red tape And there's another personal consideration"

"What's that?"

"Well, I won't use handcuffs," I said "If you're officially in custody you'll have to be cuffed throughout, and that can be both e and unco so I'et two seats together"

"On a plane," he said

"Oh, that's right You don't fly"

"I suppose it strikes you as terribly silly Especially now"

"If it's a phobic condition the rules of logic don't apply Mr Have, but I'll tell you this If you're officially taken into custody and escorted to New York, they'll o with you-"

"How long does it take on the train?"

"Under twelve hours"

"No kidding"

"The Lake Shore Li and arrives at ten minutes of two in the afternoon"

"And that's how you went to New York?"

"It's not that bad," he said "The seats recline You can sleep And there's a dining car"