Hotel

one of the boys had forced open a few minutes ago when the warmth, cigarette smoke, and general odor of liquor in the tightly packed room became overly oppressive, even for those whose grasp of such details was rapidly diminishing.

Your guess is as good as mine."

husky six-and-a-half feet and jiggled the desk telephone impatiently. “Fifteen things break

With arrogance and vanity, he had interpreted fate’s kindness as his own

resilient about such matters. I

I’ve never put cemeteries high on my list of things to do.”

subdue his instinctive dislike,

self-imposed tasks

below the belt

self-imposed isolation