A week prior to the event at the Veblen Hotel on Thursday, in anticipation of the tragic death of a fine governor and a beloved congressman and their admirers, Booth Hendrickson, a senior official of the U.S. Department of Justice and trusted associate of David James Michael, seeded eight operatives in town. Their task was to make certain that Cora Gundersun would obtain everything she needed and would stay on track to earn her place in history, but also to take firm control of the investigation in the immediate aftermath of the explosion and fire.
By Sunday, the eight were reduced to three. They were assigned to be alert for loose ends that might unravel the operation and to tie them off at once upon discovering them.
The senior agent in charge of this reduced contingent is Huey Darnell, who had called Cora a stupid, skinny bitch to her face. At forty-six, Huey has gone through three wives, all harridans, and has sworn off matrimony. For the past year, he has been married only to booze, though he has concealed the intensity of this relationship from his employers.
In the rapture of bourbon, he arrives at Tuesday with the conviction that he is on top of the situation—which is when he learns that Sheriff Luther Tillman has taken a weeklong vacation beginning Monday, leaving undersheriff Gunnar Torval in charge. He should at once report this development to Booth Hendrickson. But if there is an Asshole of the Year award, Hendrickson has shelves full of trophies. Although Hendrickson and Huey are simpatico when it comes to a vision for America’s future, Huey prefers not to share his mishandling of the situation with his boss.
Instead, beginning late Tuesday afternoon, he and the two men remaining in town with him—Hassan Zaghari and Kernan Beedle—take turns conducting surveillance of the Tillman residence from a series of suitable vehicles parked across the street and half a block away. They see the daughter, Jolie, arrive home from school, and shortly thereafter the wife steps out to get the mail from the streetside box. They don’t get a glimpse of the sheriff in the first few hours of their watch, but he’s probably watching sports on TV and drinking beer.