Summary

The story opens with a 1-page prologue written in first person. This person is Patrick Kenzie but he isn't identified until the next chapter. He says he often watched late-night news with his father, a fireman, and sometimes saw coverage of local fires, sometimes with his father rushing past as he helped battle a blaze. Sometimes, he watched fires in distant places. The previous summer, he saw a lot of death. He says some of those who died were innocent and that he was among those who did the killing.

In Chapter 1, Patrick Kenzie arrives at the Ritz-Carlton where he's meeting with three politicians. They are Representative Jim Vurnan, Senator Sterling Mulkern and Senator Brian Paulson. They talk politely for a moment then Mulkern says they have a situation they would like “cleared up discreetly and forgotten.” Mulkern says that “an important bill...