Inside the case.

I drove onto the ten freeway, just driving to get anywhere, I had lost a lot of blood while I was unconscious, so I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. I wound up in Santa Monica, near the pacific park, There was a McDonald's there, so I snuck into their bathroom to wash up my leg, and to change my clothes. Then I left to try to find some actual food. It had been a long night, so I figured I deserved some real food before I opened that case. of course it was late at night, so I ended up settling for Denny's. Anyway, after dinner, I parked not far from the pier and finally opened the briefcase.

Inside of the case I found three things, a pistol and shells, an envelope with cash inside, and a knife, in a small leather sheath. The pistol was a revolver, an old-fashioned sort of gun with a box of shells next to it, and a packing tag attached that said "protect yourself". I'd tell you more about it, but I still don't know what type of gun it is, none of the serial numbers were on it, everything identifying had been scraped off, except for the number 13 on the butt of the handle. The envelope had 1500 dollars inside, in bills of every size. I think that was the first time I had ever seen a five hundred dollar bill. The last item in the case was the knife, another really old-fashioned item, weirdly tapered handle, almost an hourglass shape, with a wide, flat blade. The blade was frosted metal, an uneven texture, a blotchy sort of etching on the surface. The knife also had a tag on it: "Use Me".

So, I had about 4800 dollars cash on me, a gun and a knife. I felt like a criminal, chased down by arsonists, and a cop who killed out of spite. I hadn't thought about Natalie all night, not until I was sitting under a boardwalk, spinning the chamber of a revolver did I realize what had happened. Someone had actually died because of me. I sat under that pier for hours thinking about that. She had actually died. I didn't leave the pier until the sun started coming up behind me. I drove inland for awhile and found a cheap hotel. I locked myself inside with all of my stuff, and slept.