Summary

The third chapter opens at the Deer Run Correctional Institute, where Rich Devlin has worked as a corrections officer for ten years, since the prison opened. When opening was announced and the jobs posted, 500 Bakerton residents applied for the 65 jobs. It is still competitive to get a prison job ten years later. On this Friday morning in the Spring of 2012, Rich makes his rounds at the end of his shift, talking with the inmates who welcome conversation and walking by those who prefer not to.

After his shift ends, Rich helps tend bar at the Commercial, his father Dick Devlin’s bar on the first floor of a local hotel. His father is getting older, limping more from his war injuries sustained long ago, and he needs the help, so Rich works at the Commercial most nights. On this night, the bar is...