Russell came out of the yacht rental shop with Sylvis's share of the money, put his sports bag in the trunk, and looked at his watch again.

"She should be awake at this time, what should she do next......"

Russell muttered, opened the door and got into the car, then opened the storage compartment in the passenger seat and pulled a manual from a pile of cassette tapes. This is a 1990 edition of the Parenting Handbook for parents of children under the age of 10, published by the University of Chicago Press.

This was borrowed by Russell from the community's library.

When he went to the library to borrow books that day, the fat aunt at the front desk kept looking at him with curious eyes, and finally couldn't help but say, "There are childcare services in the community, and the price is not high, so you can come to me if you need it." Russell nodded, took the borrowed book and fled. Let him kill people and he won't blink his eyes, but let him take the child......

“… Arrange children's activity time reasonably, the morning is the best time of the day, can be used to learn some basic skills, cultivate a sense of art, in the afternoon is easy to fall into sleepiness, you can take children to outdoor activities, and play with peers...... Play ......"

Russell read the contents of the "Parenting Handbook" and felt more headache than reading the instruction manual of the weapon in Vietnam. The brochure lists a variety of outdoor activities that children should participate in, such as picnics on the grass, learning to ride a bike, and simple sports. But Russell didn't know what to do at all, a picnic on the grass, which meadow to go to? What should I bring for a picnic? Riding a bicycle, I don't have a bicycle at home. What are simple sports? Basketball?

“Shit！” Russell read for a while, threw the book back in the storage box, started the car, and left the docks of Imperial Port.

Russell lived in the Clinton district on the west side of Manhattan, also known as Midtown-West, but there was also a more well-known name: "Hell's Kitchen."

"Hell's Kitchen" is a well-known slum on the island of Manhattan, where a large number of poor Irish laborers and other minorities were gathered in the early years, and the city was poorly built and the law and order was chaotic. However, because the rent is cheap and it is relatively close to the center of New York, many singers and actors who come to New York to work hard will choose to settle here to pursue their dreams and seek opportunities to make a career. There have been many celebrities here, such as the famous action superstar Sylvester Stallone, pop queen Madonna and many more.

Parking the car downstairs, Russell got out of the car, and before getting out of the car, he took a picture in the mirror and ran his hand through his hair. The handbook says that parents should maintain a clean and tidy image in front of their children, which is conducive to the development of good hygiene habits in children.

After getting out of the car, Russell took out the sports bag in the trunk and grabbed it in his hand. For many years, Russell had been handling the money for the three dimes, and he would take the cash he received in batches to different shops, bars, and clubs owned by the Luciano family, and pay taxes in the form of disguised business money, and launder it into legitimate money.

Everyone trusted Russell, he was neither greedy for money nor lustful, and he had no desire for money. No one knows what Russell wants, and they don't want to know, they just know that Russell is reliable. Even if he is alone with the money, everyone is very relieved.

Russell clutched the money bag and looked around cautiously, he had always been cautious. Over the years, there have only been two attempts to rob him of his money bag, and once the snatcher was shot in the head by a gun; At one point he was pointed at the head with a gun, and then calmly snatched the gun and shot the two men in the head. From then on, none of the thugs in Clinton dared to provoke this man who often wore a black sweatshirt, and no one knew what was in his bag.

It was afternoon, and there were usually no robberies, so Russell left the parking lot and crossed the street, crossing an intersection to the apartment building, a building with a pale yellow façade. Russell climbed up the iron escalator on the exterior wall of the apartment, and when he reached the third floor, he took out the key to open the exterior door, and the moment the door opened, he felt wrong, someone!

Russell immediately took out a gun from his arms and aimed it at the person behind the door, and an exclamation came, it was a woman. Russell saw that he was Flo, a Mexican who worked as a maid at Villa Tony. She was facing Russell's black barrel, and she was so frightened that she didn't dare to move. Russell put the gun away, looked at Flo and said, "Why are you here?" ”

Flo was shocked, stroked his chest, swallowed his saliva, and said, "Yes... Arthur asked me to come. I called you, but I couldn't get through, no one answered. So I came over and waited for you, I just wanted to open the door to take some breath, and it turned out..."

Russell then remembered that his mobile phone was broken by the little girl who took it to the house, and he didn't have time to fix it. Russell understood what Arthur meant, and he must have asked Flo to come over to take care of the little girl, and Russell had grown his head during this time. Entering the corridor of the corridor, Russell took the key to open the door, and as soon as the door opened, Russell felt that his blood pressure was a little high.

The floor of the house was covered with white down, and the walls were painted with all kinds of graffiti, with small people, big trees, and the sun, and the original goose-yellow clean walls were painted in a mess. What's even more terrifying is that there are several dead rats lying on the floor of the living room, and they are sitting in a circle, with Russell's broken Nokia 2110 in the middle. The little girl sat cross-legged next to the dead mice, picked up the broken phone and listened to it for a while, then put it back in the middle of the dead mice. Repeat after two seconds.

Flo felt disgusted and frightened when she looked at such a scene, who was this little girl?

She remembers seeing her at Tony's villa that night, and she saw the little girl whisper something in Larry's ear, and the elder Larry rushed out of the house and jumped into the pool and drowned. Flo had nightmares for several days, and she wondered if she should do the job Arthur had introduced her to Russell to help take care of the little girl. In the end, the desire for money overcame the fear in her heart, but she wavered again when she saw this scene.

Russell put down the sports bag in his hand, walked up to the little girl, picked her up and put her on the sofa, and then threw a few dead mice into the kitchen trash can, wrapped them in black plastic bags and threw them at the door. When he saw Flo still stunned, he said, "Go ahead, and I'll give you the money, just like I did when I was with Tony." Clean up, cook a meal, and you're ready to go home. ”

As he spoke, Russell took out a roll of banknotes from his sports bag and threw it directly to Flo, "This is an advance payment, you take it first." ”

Flo took the money and put it in a small bag she carried with her, and when she got the money, she felt much more at ease and began to clean Russell's apartment. The little girl sat on the sofa in a daze, not saying a word. After living with Russell, the little girl never spoke. Russell was originally a taciturn person, and you can imagine how quiet the two were together.

The duvets scattered on the floor were swept into the bins, the messy items were sorted and sorted by Flo, the empty vases covered with dust were wiped clean and put back in place, only the graffiti on the walls could not be cleaned up for the time being. The layout of Russell's house is very simple, the living room has a sofa and a carpet, a table, two stools and a large wine cabinet, there is no TV, there is no radio, and the only large household appliance is the fan in the corner. There wasn't even a bed in the bedroom, just a Simmons mattress, a simple wardrobe, and a huge safe.

After tidying up, Flo felt that the house lacked everything, such as the little girl did not have a bed at all, and asked Russell where the little girl slept, and Russell said that she slept on the sofa. Flo was busy saying that sleeping on the couch was not good for the child's physical development, and that she should be bought a children's bed. Russell nodded and said he would buy it.

With the end of the pack, Flo decided to go downstairs to the nearby store to buy some groceries and groceries to liven up the humble apartment and prepare for dinner. Flo put on her shoes and grabbed her shopping bag to go out, when the little girl jumped down from the couch and walked up to Flo, looking up at Flo with her big eyes as if she were talking. She wanted Flo to take her out.

Flo looked at Russell, Russell nodded and agreed that Flo would take the little girl to go grocery shopping with him, and the "Parenting Handbook" said that letting children accompany parents to participate in some social activities would help him understand the society and better integrate in the future. Grocery shopping should be considered a social activity. The little girl didn't get into much trouble during this time, except for always killing the rats in the house and destroying the furniture.

So, Flo gently took the little girl's hand and went out together. The woman's natural motherhood dispelled Flo's fears, and the cute little girl reminded her of her daughter, who died of polio myelitis in Mexico. The little girl's hands were a little cold, and Flo tightened her grip and led her down the stairs carefully.

The little girl was short, and she could only take one step at a time. Flo took the little girl by the hand and asked, "What's your name?" The little girl didn't care, just concentrated on descending the stairs. Flo had just asked Russell, and Russell didn't know the girl's name. She didn't answer anything, but she wasn't deaf and dumb, which was weird.

"Why don't I call you Anna? I used to have a daughter named Anna. It's a simple and nice name. ”

The little girl looked at Flo and nodded, and Flo laughed, and it seemed that she agreed, and called her Anna from now on.

The two slowly walked to the first floor, when a large black and yellow Lonawe dog suddenly burst out and barked at Flo. Flo was so startled that the shopping bag in her hand fell to the ground, but she protected Anna first.

Not far away, a middle-aged white man with a shy stomach was snickering at this side, he was holding a dog leash in his hand, and it was the owner of the dog. He saw that his dog had scared the woman and screamed, and he was obviously very accomplished, and shouted in this direction, "Good baby, good baby! It's okay, it doesn't bite, it just loves to scream twice, don't be afraid. ”

But the way he bared his teeth and grinned, his saliva flowed straight down, which was quite terrifying. Anna hid behind Flo, but her face was not afraid, and she ignored Flo's exclamations, stepped forward to the Ronawe, reached out and touched its head. The barking dog calmed down, and then crouched down in front of the little girl, whining in his mouth.

The smile on the dog owner's face disappeared, when did his own dog become so well-behaved? This guy is the owner of a nearby raw meat factory, and he has always liked to scare women and children with big dogs for fun.

Flo was also very surprised, and Anna tamed the rampaging dog without saying a word. Anna turned her back to Flo, her lips suddenly moved a few times, and she muttered something towards the Ronaway, whose brown and black eyes were fixed on the little girl's lips. As soon as his lips stopped, the Ronawei dog suddenly turned around and ran towards the road, and a car happened to pass by, and with a "bang", the car and the dog collided together. The mighty Ronawe dog collapsed in a pool of blood and was killed by a dead man.

When the dog owner saw this, he immediately rushed to the road and roared like crazy with the dead Ronawe dog. He rushed to the cab of the car, pulled out the driver who had hit and killed the dog, and the two argued in the middle of the road. And Anna grabbed Flo's hand and shook it, signaling to leave quickly, it was time to go to the mall to buy groceries. Surprised, Flo calmed down, she didn't want to get involved in this conflict, so she led Anna away quickly.

Not long after walking, two gunshots were heard, and Flo hurriedly looked back to see that the crowd on the road had dispersed, and the driver got into the car and fled quickly, leaving only the dog owner and his Ronawe corpse lying in a pool of blood. After a while, the "whining" of a siren was heard in the distance, long and poignant.

Flo looked down at Anna, and subconsciously wanted to withdraw her hand from her small hand, but found that she was clutched tightly and couldn't pull it out.