Opening
The chase tightens. Newly energized K. William Hodges shakes off his depression and steps back into the role of protector just as Brady Hartsfield glides into his neighborhood disguised as the friendliest face on the block. Between a back-alley rescue, a white ice cream truck, and a lead that points to Olivia Trelawney’s sister, the story pivots from brooding to pursuit.
What Happens
Chapter 21
After lunch with Pete Huntley, Hodges walks to his car replaying the unsolved threads of the Olivia Trelawney case. He zeroes in on her insistence that she had only one Mercedes key despite documentation showing two were issued—and her subsequent suicide, which Pete once read as a confession of Guilt and Responsibility. Mr. Mercedes’s taunting letter now reframes that death; Hodges wonders if the killer hounded Olivia the same way he’s trying to hound Hodges.
Under a turnpike overpass, he spots three big teenagers working over a smaller kid. Instinct takes over. When the one in the Yankees cap sneers, “Fuck off, fatty,” Hodges whips out his “Happy Slapper”—an argyle sock packed with ball bearings—drops the mouthy one with a crack to the neck, boots another in the crotch, and bluffs the third with a hand-in-pocket “gun.” He returns the backpack to the boy, tells him to lay low and “pass it on,” and walks away buzzing—alive, useful, himself again.
Chapter 22
We switch to Brady Hartsfield, who peels off his Discount Electronix shirt and snaps into his second uniform: the gleaming whites of a Mr. Tastey driver. He follows every protocol, charms his coworker Shirley through gritted teeth, and smiles like a poster boy while his mind seethes—textbook The Banality of Evil.
Brady’s route runs through the West Side—Hodges’s street—giving him perfect cover to loiter, watch, and obey every traffic law. Rolling by Hodges’s house, he sees Jerome Robinson mowing. Brady’s internal voice curdles with racist contempt. He clocks Jerome as the “emotional safety net” that keeps Hodges anchored and, for now, out of a noose. The truck’s jingle tinkles, Brady waves, Jerome waves back, and the killer drives on, unseen in plain sight.
Chapter 23
Brady works his route with dead-eyed contempt: kids are spoiled; parents are sheep. He’s even researched how to poison the whole truck’s stock but shelved it—too messy for his current objective. What he wants is Hodges broken, disgraced, dead. That a man who “failed” to catch Brady got to retire with honors is an affront Brady can’t abide.
Jerome and his sister Barbara flag the truck. Brady plays the genial vendor, all smiles and biscuits for the family dog, Odell, while simmering with jealousy over Jerome’s looks, ease, and social life. He files the interaction away. To push Hodges toward suicide the way he pushed Olivia, Brady must isolate him. Step one: keep eyes on Jerome.
Meanwhile, Hodges drives without a plan and ends up in Sugar Heights, staring at Olivia Trelawney’s old house. A private security guard, Radney Peeples, approaches. Hodges pivots from challenge to camaraderie, using his old cop rhythm to flip a confrontation into intel. Peeples shares that Olivia’s sister, Janelle "Janey" Patterson, inherited everything, divorced, left Los Angeles, and now lives downtown in her mother’s condo. It’s Hodges’s first solid lead. He heads home, fully aware he’s outside the law and unwilling to stop. A note sticks out of his mail slot.
Character Development
Hodges reclaims his identity as a protector while edging back into investigator mode; Brady doubles down on camouflage and control. Jerome’s presence emerges as Hodges’s lifeline, and Janey becomes the first real path forward on Olivia’s mystery.
- K. William Hodges: Moves from paralysis to action. The overpass intervention rekindles his purpose and confidence; the Sugar Heights visit shows his investigative instincts are intact and adaptable.
- Brady Hartsfield: Perfects his mask as a rule-following everyman. His racism, misogyny, and envy intensify, clarifying a motive rooted in ego and domination rather than chaos for its own sake.
- Jerome Robinson: Solidifies as Hodges’s stabilizing force—competent, kind, and socially connected—making him target number one in Brady’s isolation strategy.
- Janelle “Janey” Patterson: Enters as a promising lead with access to Olivia’s estate and history, potentially unlocking what Olivia knew—and what broke her.
Themes & Symbols
Vigilantism and justice outside the law: Hodges acts first and asks questions later, using a homemade weapon rather than dialing 911. The scene under the overpass reframes him not as a rogue, but as a guardian who refuses bureaucratic delay when immediate harm is at stake.
The Banality of Evil dominates Brady’s chapters. The ice cream uniform, company checklists, and cheerful wave are his camouflage; ordinary rituals become the cloak for predation. The Mr. Tastey truck—a symbol of summer innocence—mutates into a surveillance platform and mobile lair, corrupting a childhood emblem into a tool of stalking.
Loneliness and isolation drive the killer’s playbook. Brady weaponizes isolation to break victims—he did it to Olivia and plans to do it to Hodges. Jerome’s role as an “emotional safety net” becomes the thematic hinge: community resists despair; sever the ties, and the target weakens.
Guilt and Responsibility lingers over Olivia’s keys and her death. Hodges’s reconsideration suggests her “guilt” may have been engineered, complicating easy narratives about blame and confession.
Key Quotes
“Fuck off, fatty.”
This taunt triggers Hodges’s decisive, physical response. The line crystallizes the bullies’ casual cruelty and catalyzes Hodges’s reawakening; his answer is not a lecture but action that restores order and signals his return to form.
“Pass it on.”
Hodges’s instruction to the rescued boy reframes his violence as protection with a moral aftershock: kindness should ripple outward. It underscores his belief that small acts of stewardship counterbalance everyday brutality.
“Emotional safety net.”
Brady’s phrase for Jerome reveals both his tactical acuity and his core method: isolate the target, then push. The wording turns friendship into a strategic obstacle, reducing human connection to a problem to be solved.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters mark the novel’s pivot from stasis to pursuit. Hodges moves from inward spiral to outward action, while Brady closes the physical distance under a harmless guise. The cat-and-mouse dynamic takes shape with heavy dramatic irony: we see the killer waving from the curb while the hero looks elsewhere. Janey’s introduction gives Hodges a concrete investigative lane, promising new insight into Olivia’s final days and the keys that never added up. Together, the threads tighten the narrative: the protector steps up, the predator circles closer, and the past starts talking.