Status Updates From Hit Me (Keller, #5)

This was my memento from Key Largo - finally reading it! Not my typical read, but I found it at a very unique used goods store

5. Keller’s Obligation *** Keller is reluctant to take on a job when he discovers the target is not only a juvenile but also a fellow stamp collector. He decides his obligation is to ensure the future of stamp collecting and will take out the client instead.

4. Keller’s Sideline **** Keller wants out of the hit man racket but needs to keep busy. His body feels too old to continue doing housing renovation work. Why not turn his stamp collecting hobby into a business and become a stamp broker / seller?

“There are approximately a third of a million Icelanders,” he said, as softly as he said everything, “and they are all descended from five Viking men and four Irish women.”

“It’s great chili,” Keller said.
“The secret’s the cumin,” she said, “except it’s not much of a secret, because you can smell it, can’t you? But there is a secret. Would you like to know what it is?”
“Sure.”
“Coffee. Leftover coffee, .... You simmer the beans in it. You can’t taste it, can you? I can’t, not even if I know it’s there. But it is there, and it makes all the difference.”

Keller took a long hot shower. When he was done drying off, he tossed his towel on the floor of the shower stall. That’s what the little card told you to do, but it was hard for Keller to get used to it. / This would save water, the management explained, and fight global warming, so Keller figured it was the least he could do. But he couldn’t throw a towel on the floor without imagining the look on his mother’s face.

“All I need,” he said, “is something that looks like a business. I need a sideline, but it doesn’t have to be a profitable one. It could even lose money and that would be all right. In fact, we could declare a net profit whether we actually earned one or not. Pay a few dollars in taxes and keep everybody happy.”
“You’ve got that quick Yankee mind,” she said. “I do admire that in a man.”