Chapter 95

  JASON TWILLY WAS WEARING chinos and a navy blue sweater and had a leather bag hooked over his right shoulder. He looked handsome, urbane¹, as if he’d just stepped from the pages of Town & Country, and his crooked² smile had lost its menace.

  “What are you doing here, Jason?”

  Yuki kept the door open about four inches, just enough to see and hear him. And she clamped her hand around the gun in her pocket, felt the power of that little weapon, knowing what it could do.

  “Hey, you know, Yuki, if I didn’t like you so much, I’d be really hurt. I spend most of my life fending³ women off, and you keep slamming doors in my face.”

  “How’d you find me?”

  “I waited for you to leave your apartment and followed you. Wasn’t that hard. Look, I’m sorry I got rough this morning.” He sighed. “It’s just that I’m in trouble. I took a huge advance on this book and the money’s gone.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah. Sports betting. A little weakness of mine.” Twilly added a dash of boyish charm to his smile. “To be honest, it’s more than a little weakness - and it’s kind of snowballed lately. See, I’m telling you this so you understand. Really nasty people want their money back. And they don’t care if my book crashes.”

  “Not my problem, Jason.”

  “Wait. Wait. Just listen, okay? I can’t give back the advance, you understand, and I’ve got these debts. All I need is your feelings, your insight, your own true words - that’s where we’ll find a satisfying ending to the Michael Campion story.”

  “Are you serious? After all the crap you’ve dished out? I have nothing to say to you, Jason.”

  “Yuki, this isn’t personal. It’s business. I’m not going to touch you, okay? I need one crummy hour of your time, and you’re going to benefit. You’re the devoted⁴ prosecutor⁵ whose conviction was snatched from you by the little whore with a heart of stone. Yuki, you were robbed!”

  “And if I don’t want to be interviewed?”

  “Then I’ll have to write around you, and that’ll really suck. Don’t make me beg anymore, okay?”

  Yuki took the gun out of her pocket. “This is a .357,” she said, showing it to him.

  “So I see,” Twilly said, his smile becoming a grin, the grin turning into laughter. “This is priceless.”

  “I’m glad you find me amusing.”

  “Yuki, I’m a reporter, not a freaking mobster. No, this is good. Bring your gun. God knows I want you to feel safe with me. Okay if we go for a walk?”

  “This way,” Yuki said.

  She stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

1 urbane   

adj.温文尔雅的，懂礼的

参考例句：

• He tried hard to be urbane.他极力作出彬彬有礼的神态。
• Despite the crisis,the chairman's voice was urbane as usual.尽管处于危机之中，董事长的声音还象通常一样温文尔雅。

2 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

3 fending   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的现在分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
• Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系，提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网

4 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

5 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。