Act 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Vernon Little finds normal times are gone as he sits in his underwear and Nikes in the sheriff's office on a hot Friday morning. Deputy Vaine Gurie returns his clothes and leads him to an interrogation room, where a picture of his friend, Jesus, hangs. Mom will not fetch Vernon, being too busy pumping the town for sympathy and furious he is cooperating in the inquiry. Vaine informs him he is an accessory to murder, no witnesses have come forward, the two forces underlying the world are cause and effect, and the two categories of people are citizens and liars. Liars are psychopaths who paint gray areas and in here, there is no gray - just facts and lies.

This settled, Vaine asks where Vernon is Tuesday morning at 10:15 AM, but Eileena interrupts, saying Mrs. Little is on the phone. Mom...