I Hunt Killers

Jazz calls the police immediately, and G. William and his squad rush to the house to investigate:

They searched the house thoroughly scanned for listening devices, tromped through the surrounding area, questioned the nearest neighbors (no doubt thrilled to be awakened at five in the morning to be asked about ‘that Dent house’), and dropped roughly a metric ton of fingerprint dust on every conceivable surface(233).

Now they have certain confirmation that the Impressionist is following Billy’s pattern, so G. William escalates the search to find a maid with the initials I.H. He also informs Jazz that he is going to have a police officer guard the Dent house at all time, going forward: “‘The guy came here once.’ G. William’s tone offered no room for disagreement. ‘He could come back. I’m not letting him come and go as he pleases. Maybe this is a game to you, but not to me. Got it?’” (236). Suddenly, Melissa arrives on the scene. She tells Jazz that this environment is simply unfit for a teenager, and his grandmother belongs in an assisted living facility. Melissa will be submitting her report to the authorities soon; if Jazz wishes to counter, he will need to give her his reply in writing by Sunday evening. Jazz is angry, but there is no use in resisting.

Jazz calls Connie and lets her know that he will not be at school that day. Having been awake nearly all night, Jazz had hoped to sleep that afternoon, but Gramma Dent demands his attention: “He meant to rest on his day off, but being with Gramma during the day was like babysitting a toddler who thinks the height of fun is badgering you every single minute” (239). Jazz tries to set Gramma Dent in front of the television, but she is restless. Gramma Dent begins raving at Jazz, calling him a “pathetic child” (240). Her rant then turns to Jazz’s mother, how she was an awful person, which strikes a nerve with Jazz.

Gramma Dent’s words–that Jazz will turn out just like his father–affects him so much, he spends most of the day off school stewing in anger. His grandmother, though demented as she is, still has the power to affect him: “She [Gramma Dent] was goofy and childlike so much of the time that sometimes it was easy to forget that her madness had a cunning dimension to it, too. She knew Jazz’s weaknesses. She knew which buttons to push. And when the right synapses fired in the wrong order, she did it cruelly. Gleefully” (243).

That afternoon, Connie comes to collect Jazz at Gramma Dent’s house, and then they make their way to the hospital to visit Howie, who is still recovering: “In his room, Howie was in and out of sleep, heavily drugged and loopy” (245). Around dinnertime, Howie comes to consciousness and asks Jazz and Connie how things are going with the investigation to find the Impressionist. Jazz reports that they are still looking, and that there are no real leads yet. Connie mentions that, at school that day, word had spread about Ginny’s death, and there is a memorial service planned to honor her.

Jazz returns home to find Gramma Dent fast asleep on the floor: “How on earth, he wondered, looking down at her, could such a peaceful, contented-looking woman be such a lunatic monster How could she give birth to a force of pure evil, suckle it, raise it to its own grotesque brand of perfection?” (248). Jazz lets her sleep and makes his way upstairs to start working on his report for Melissa, to make his case why he should be allowed to stay in Gramma Dent’s house and not placed in foster care.

Chapter 25 switches, once again, to the third-person perspective of the Impressionist: “The Impressionist had the TV on for background noise as he went over the plans for his next piece of action. Everything was ready; there was no more preparation to be done. He only had to execute the plan” (250). The Impressionist considers the nature of control and alludes to the fact that he is being controlled by someone: “Everyone was a puppet to something[…]The Impressionist could see his strings. He knew how long they were. He knew their tensile strength. How much slack they had. He knew who pulled them” (250).

The Impressionist then flicks through his cellphone and pulls up a picture of Jazz. He thinks how he broke the “rule” of not engaging with Jazz, but he “couldn’t help himself” (251). He feels compelled toward Jazz: “Every rational part of him screamed to avoid the kid. But something deeper and more primal urged him forward, wanted him hurtling in Dent’s direction” (251). The chapter concludes with the Impressionist thinking how he is unstoppable, how “no one can stop us” (251).

At school the next day, the mood is one of quiet grief, due to the drama teacher Ginny’s sudden and traumatic death. Jazz thinks about how they only have two more days before “a woman with the initials I.H. would die” (252). Jazz believes that, at the moment, there are only two real suspects: Deputy Erickson and Doug Weathers. An announcement on the overhead school speakers issues that a moment of silence will be observed in Ginny’s memory.

After school, the cast of The Crucible gather at a student’s house before heading to the memorial. They want to do something to honor Ginny’s memory with something, perhaps a plaque or a statue. Jazz, however, is very resistant to the idea of using an object to celebrate Ginny’s life; instead, he suggests to the group that they honor her with an action.

The candlelight vigil for Ginny is held on the school’s football field that evening. The ceremony opened with a speech by Principal Jeffries, about what a wonderful asset Ginny was to the school. Principal Jeffries then opens up the podium to other members of the school community, who would like to offer words of remembrance about Ginny. Meanwhile, Jazz is surprised to see Jeff Fulton (the father of one of Billy’s victims, who had approached Jazz some days ago) take the stage. Fulton begins a heartfelt speech, identifying himself as the father of one of Billy Dent’s victims. He encourages the community to stay strong and tells them that humans have the incredible capacity to survive all types of horror. Jazz observes that nearly everyone in the stadium is crying—all but Jazz and one other person. That person is Doug Weathers, who Jazz sees from across the stadium pushing through the crowd to make his way toward Jazz: “God, that guy was everywhere! Was nothing sacred to him? Nothing at all?” (260). Jazz tells Connie he needs to get some fresh air in an attempt to evade Weathers. However, he is intercepted by G. William who grabs Jazz and tells him that they have a problem. Two days before the Impressionist was anticipated to strike, they already found another dead body.

The victim’s name had been Irene Heller, and she was found exactly as Jazz had predicted. G. William gives Jazz a picture from the crime scene: “Except for the difference in the shower tiles and the obvious differences between Isabelle and Irene, it could have been a picture of the very crime scene before Jazz” (263). G. William informs Jazz that Irene had not been a maid; she had been a stay-at-home mom who cleans houses during the day to supplement her husband’s income. G. William, at the end of his rope, asks Jazz to come look at the crime scene to see if he can infer anything about the Impressionist.

Jazz agrees, and they head to a “smallish split-level house in a shabby but clean neighborhood just off the main highway on the east side of Lob’s Nod” (263). Jazz observes Irene’s body in the shower and asks G. William if she had been sexually assaulted. Jazz suspects that, unlike Billy, the Impressionist is likely impotent, and therefore unable to rape victims as Billy did. Jazz explains: “This guy calls himself the Impressionist. He’s aping Billy’s imprint of someone else. Billy raped women as a way of showing his dominance and control[…]He wants to be able to rape, but he can’t. Because he’s just pretending to be Billy. He couldn’t rape her with his penis if you put a gun to his head and threatened to kill him. He used something else” (264). Jazz and G. William agree that the Impressionist is accelerating the timetable of his killings. Jazz also notes that the phase during which Billy posed bodies—when he was called the Artist—came just before his phase as Green Jack. The next victim, if the Impressionist continues to follow Billy’s lead, will be a blond, 26-year-old secretary with the initials B.Q. and she will be posed in a kitchen. Jazz takes his leave of G. William, heading to the Hideout where he can be alone with his thoughts.

On his way to the Hideout, Jazz hears an announcement on his Jeep’s radio, saying that the recent murders have been linked to a killer who goes by the name of the Impressionist. The radio announcement also notes that the Impressionist appears to be duplicating the crimes originally perpetrated by Billy Dent. Jazz switches of the radio station with a “savage jab” (269).

Connie is waiting for Jazz at the Hideout: “Connie sat on the beanbag chair, her long legs tucked up under her. The only light came through the milky plastic over the one window. In the near-dark, she looked like a statue carved out of walnut” (270). With her arms crossed over her chest, Connie angrily wants to know why Jazz abandoned her at the vigil for Ginny. She demands to know what is going on, and when Jazz is not immediately forthright, she accuses him of being like Billy: “You’re not a jerk[…]So you’re just acting like a jerk. You’re Billying me!” (271). Jazz apologizes, and says his aloofness was just a reflex. Connie accepts his apology, and they both settle into the beanbag, cuddling with one another.

Connie asks Jazz if he has any thoughts on who the killer might be. Jazz says that he does, but they are all obvious suspects, and anybody could be the killer. Once again, Jazz feels as though he is not doing enough to help stop the Impressionist. Connie assures him that he is not to blame: “Jazz[…]Stop it. It’s not your fault. You didn’t kill that woman. You didn’t kill Ginny” (275). Connie also reinforces that Jazz is not destined to become his father. Jazz, however, does not think that Connie is appreciating the horror of Jazz’s upbringing, and he reminds her that Billy Dent made Jazz everything he is, both “bad and good alike” (277). This angers Connie. She launches into a spiel about how the way you are raised does not determine your fate, and how people do not automatically become their parents. The fight escalates until Jazz explodes saying: “You know I could kill you, right?[…]I could do it right now. Right now. And there’s nothing you could do to stop me. Even though I’ve told you” (278). Connie calls his bluff and says that he should go ahead and do it, if that is what he intends to do. Jazz goes to speak, but she interrupts him: “What are you going to say? Because if it’s more of this ‘I’m too dangerous for you’ BS, I might just kill myself to get away from it. And then where would you be?” (281).

Connie storms to her vehicle and drives way from the Hideout, and it dawns on Jazz: “Connie was right. This wasn’t about him and his problems, his past. It was about Irene and Fiona and Carla and poor, poor Ginny. He had to do everything in his power to avenge them. And there was one more thing he could do” (282). At that moment, Jazz decides that he must go and visit Billy Dent in prison.

Connie does not speak to Jazz that night or the next morning. At Gramma Dent’s house, the driveway is mobbed by reporters, all who want a comment from Billy Dent’s son on the recent killings. Jazz slips some heavy tranquilizers into his grandmother’s morning oatmeal to keep her from getting into trouble and, wearing sunglasses, heads to his Jeep. Jazz drives to the police station to inform G. William of his plan to visit Billy Dent in prison. When Jazz reaches the police station, it is also mobbed with reporters, all wanting to know about the latest developments with the investigation into the Impressionist. G. William calls the Wammaket State Penitentiary and arranges for Jazz to visit his father that very afternoon. G. William has one of his deputies escort Jazz to the prison; but before they go, Jazz wants to stop at the hospital to see Howie.

When they arrive at the hospital, Connie is there visiting Howie. Howie immediately senses that something is up between them, even without them saying anything: “I’m a bleeder, not a moron. […] And I think the drugs they’ve pumped into me have, like, sent me to a higher plane of consciousness. You guys are fighting” (291). Connie admits that they had been fighting, but they are fine now. She loves him, and it was just an argument. She explains that she only wants the best for him. Jazz then announces that he is going to see his father. Connie and Howie are both shocked; Connie says that she is proud of him. Jazz tells them that he knows he will not get closure from “Dear Old Dad,” but maybe he can learn something from him that will help catch the Impressionist.

At Wammaket State Penitentiary, Jazz and the deputy are guided through several layers of security before reaching the warden. The warden tells Jazz that he is the first visitor that Billy Dent has agreed to see in years: “Billy hasn’t agreed to see anyone in the four years we’ve had him. Last person he saw was one of his lawyers. I didn’t think he would agree to see even you, but he surprised me. I can’t stop you from seeing him, but I can do everything possible to warn you” (296). Jazz affirms that he does indeed want to see Billy Dent.

Jazz is brought to a “small gray room” and left “sitting at a metal table that was bolted to the concrete floor” (297). The warden tells Jazz not to be nervous, that his men will protect him; but Jazz knows that the biggest risk with Billy Dent is psychological, not physical pain. A buzzer sounds, and Billy is lead into the room:

[Billy’s] mouth was twisted into a wry grin, his eyes wide and alight with what some people—none of them in this room—might mistake for an impish glee. He carried himself with a loose swagger, as if he expected music to strike up at any moment and he was trying to decide if he would dance or not. He wore bright orange prison-issue pants and a matching shirt, unbuttoned, with a clean white T-shirt underneath (299).

Billy is cuffed at both the hands and feet. The correctional officer reads Billy the rules: No moving from his seat, no touching, and in general no nonsense.

Billy’s sits down and issues his first words to Jazz: “Is it Father’s Day already?” (301). Jazz ignores Billy’s nonchalant tone and tells him that he is surprised to see that Billy has not been harmed in prison. It was Jazz’s understanding that there was a “pecking order” (301) in prison, and he assumed Billy would be at the bottom of that order. Billy says that there is indeed a pecking order, but he is at the top: “There sure is![…]There’s one hell of a pecking order! And your dear old daddy sits right up around the top. You got triple digits next to your name, they sort a king you in here. Like in checkers, you follow?” (302). Jazz notices that Billy’s hands have been freshly tattooed: “Jazz could see new prison tats on his father’s knuckles—fresh, from the looks of them. Raw. L-O-V-E spelled out on his right fist. F-E-A-R spelled out on the left” (303). Jazz compliments his new adornments.

The conversation between Billy and Jazz turns to sex. Billy wants to know if Jazz has a girlfriend and if he ever thinks about having any kids: “They grow up so fast, you know? Like you did, Jasper-boy. You ever think of having kids, Jasper? Giving me a grandbaby? Something for me to live for?” (304). As a manipulator himself, who learned from the best, Jazz knows exactly what to say to Billy to disarm him. He tells Billy that he is a virgin, and that he has no plans for children.

Billy asks Jazz to get to the point: “‘What brings you to see Dear Old Dad, kiddo?’ Billy leaned as far back as he could, given that he was tethered to the table and to his own ankle chain. Somehow, he managed to look relaxed and at peace. ‘I raised you to think of yourself; first, last, and always. So you gotta want something from me’” (309). Billy says he does not know anything about the Impressionist, but that he is going to help Jazz—so long as Jazz does a favor for him in return.