Part 4, Many Worm: Chapters 1-9 Summary

In chapter one, Smithback attends a press conference in which the mayor and the police commissioner plan to discuss the three murders connected to a killer apparently copying Leng's modus operandi and the attack on Nora Kelly. When the mayor makes his statement, he appears to be blaming this copycat killer on the article Smithback wrote on the Shottum letter. This causes Smithback some embarrassment, especially when other reporters begin asking questions to further incriminate Smithback. Finally, Smithback is able to ask some questions of the Museum president, Collopy, suggesting the Museum has obstructed justice by not allowing Nora Kelly to investigate the Catherine Street bones.

In chapter two, Nora and O'Shaughnessy go to the Doyers Street apartment building in Chinatown believed to have been built over Leng's second lab. Nora rents the room with...