The windows have been open all night,
So in this passage, from Al's POV, we learn he is sleeping in the mercedes, living in it as he shaves in it, and that he is pawning his rings slowly to pay. We realize that he has lost everything in LA and is now pinning his hopes on finding Sera, his once best girl, and re-asserting his control over her to work his way back to wealth and power. There is no no notion, at this point at least, that he is in trouble with organized crime like there was suggested in the movie version.
