Summary

The narrative shifts focus to Alys and Felix Buckman’s house. Felix Buckman is present with a coroner, who is examining Alys’ body. The narrative implies that when Jason saw a skeleton, it was merely due the effects of the mescaline. Alys has apparently died of a drug overdose. A police officer informs Buckman that Jason was at the house at the time of Alys’ death. Later, Buckman converses with his assistant, Herb Maime. Maime points out that if Alys’ death looks like a suicide, the few who know about Alys and Buckman’s incest may spread the information as a possible cause of the suicide. Buckman decides to frame Alys’ death as a murder and put the blame on two political enemies: marshals who led armies in “the Second Civil War” (207) and who helped demote Buckman. In Chapter 25, Buckman and Maime fabricate...