“He collects books with bullet holes through them?”
“He collects things that are connected with violence. Expensive things.”
“Well, I’m very happy for you.”
“You sure you won’t change your mind and play on the beach with me?”
“I’m tempted.”
“But not enough.”
“Not enough to cause you more trouble than you’ve already had.”
“You wouldn’t be any trouble.”
“You’d be surprised,” I said.
Guerriero switched the van over into a faster lane on the Santa Monica freeway. He looked at me and then looked back at the road. “You mind if I ask you kind of a personal question?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“How much will you make off of this thing out here?”
“About seventy-five thousand, less expenses. The expenses will run about six, I guess, counting your five thousand.”
“And how long did it take?”
“About a week in all. Maybe a little more.”
“Let me ask you another real dumb question.”
“All right.”
“When I go back to school, is there anything I might study that would help me become a go-between?”
“Like me?”
“Yeah. Like you.”
I thought about it for a while. “Ethics,” I said finally. “You might study ethics.”