Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

Spenser has two potential clients in his office, Margery and Roger Bartlett. Their teenage son, Kevin, is missing, and the Smithfield Police haven't been able to find him. Margery says "the boy" ran away. Roger doesn't know why Kevin would have left home. According to Roger, Kevin always got good grades until recently. He cites an "adolescent phase" as the reason. The one thing that Kevin took from home was a guinea pig. When Spenser asks if anyone was home when Kevin got the guinea pig, Margery is defensive, saying that she was at acting lessons—that a creative person simply must create. Spenser says that he fully understands because he's "trying to create some information". Roger interrupts, tells his wife that she should stop talking about herself and points out that this situation is about Kevin.

When asked if...