Inside the small trailer office, Miller unlocked a small metal box on his desk and took out fifteen hundred-dollar bills.

He laid them out in three rows of five.

“Count every one,” Miller said.

I picked up the green bills and slid them into the inside pocket of my winter coat.

“Sign the title release on the back,” Miller said, sliding the blue vehicle title across the counter.

I picked up his ballpoint pen, signed my full name on the release line, and left the keys on the desk.

By five-thirty, I was sitting in the back office of Howard Finch’s building on Third Street.