Free No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

desk and stood on his toes and looked into the duct.
    He cut a length from the Venetian blind cord at the window and tied the end of the cord to
     the case. Then he unlatched the case and counted out a thousand dollars and folded the
     money and put it in his pocket and shut the case and fastened it and fastened the straps.
    He got the clothes pole out of the closet, sliding the wire hangers off onto the floor,
     and stood on the dresser again and pushed the case down the duct as far as he could reach.
     It was a tight fit. He took the pole and pushed it again until he could just reach the end
     of the rope. He put the grille back with its rack of dust and fastened the screws and
     climbed down and went into the bathroom and took a shower. When he came out he lay on the
     bed in his shorts and pulled the chenille spread over himself and over the submachinegun
     at his side. He pushed the safety off. Then he went to sleep.
    When he woke it was dark. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat listening. He
     rose and walked to the window and pulled the curtain back slightly and looked out. Deep
     shadows. Silence. Nothing.
    He got dressed and put the gun under the mattress with the safety still off and smoothed
     down the dustskirt and sat on the bed and picked up the phone and called a cab.
    He had to pay the driver an extra ten dollars to take him across the bridge to Ciudad
     Acuña. He walked the streets, looking into the shopwindows. The evening was soft and warm
     and in the little alameda grackles were settling in the trees and calling to one another.
     He went into a boot shop and looked at the exotics — crocodile and ostrich and elephant —
     but the quality of the boots was nothing like the Larry Mahans that he wore. He went into
     a farmacia and bought a tin of bandages and sat in the park and patched his raw feet. His
     socks were already bloody. At the corner a cabdriver asked him if he wanted to go see the
     girls and Moss held up his hand for him to see the ring he wore and kept on walking.
    He ate in a restaurant with white tablecloths and waiters in white jackets. He ordered a
     glass of red wine and a porterhouse steak. It was early and the restaurant was empty save
     for him. He sipped the wine and when the steak came he cut into it and chewed slowly and
     thought about his life.
    He got back to the motel a little after ten and sat in the cab with the motor running
     while he counted out money for the fare. He handed the bills across the seat and he
     started to get out but he didnt. He sat there with his hand on the doorhandle. Drive me
     around to the side, he said.
    The driver put the shifter in gear. What room? he said.
    Just drive me around. I want to see if somebody's here.
    They drove slowly past his room. There was a gap in the curtains he was pretty sure he
     hadnt left there. Hard to tell. Not that hard. The cab tolled slowly past. No cars in the
     lot that hadnt been there. Keep going, he said.
    The driver looked at him in the mirror.
    Keep going, said Moss. Dont stop.
    I dont want to get in some kind of a jackpot here, buddy.
    Just keep going.
    Why dont I let you out here and we wont argue about it.
    I want you to take me to another motel.
    Let's just call it square.
    Moss leaned forward and held a hundred dollar bill across the seat. You're already in a
     jackpot, he said. I'm tryin to get you out of it. Now take me to a motel.
    The driver took the bill and tucked it into his shirtpocket and turned out of the lot and
     into the street.
    He spent the night at the Ramada Inn out on the highway and in the morning he went down
     and ate breakfast in the diningroom and read the paper. Then he just sat there.
    They wouldnt be in the room when the maids came to clean it.
    Checkout time is eleven oclock.
    They could have found the money and left.
    Except of course that there were probably at least two parties looking for him and
     whichever one this was it wasnt