Chapter 1 Summary

When insurance agent Walter Huff has to make a routine call in Glendale, California, he remembers that there's an auto policy renewal pending for a certain Mr. Nirdlinger, who lives close by, so he drives over to see whether his client is home. After a few moments of bantering with the Nirdlinger's maid and pretending to be a friend, she lets him in, even though her employer is not at home. Walter ends up talking to his client's wife, Phyllis who is blue-eyed, blonde-haired, and attractive, but sort of washed-out looking. She keeps Walter talking by saying the Auto Club has been trying to sell her husband their brand of insurance along with a membership. While he is admiring the look of her trim figure under her blue pajamas, Walter senses that she is stalling, until she asks him if he handles accident...