Summary

In the Prologue, Penn Cage, the mayor of Natchez explains that he has been visiting graves frequently, and has even been told he looks like a living ghost. Among the graves he visits are those of a white journalist named Henry Sexton and Penn’s fiancee Caitlin Masters who died as a result of her “reckless pursuit of a gang of killers” (2). Penn mentions his father was unable to come to Caitlin’s funeral because Sheriff Billy Byrd threatened to put him in jail in Natchez if he left the FBI’s protective custody to come to Natchez. Penn has not talked to his father since Caitlin’s death. Penn has also visited the grave of Forrest Knox. He beat the man’s gravestone with the butt of his gun and then fired into it five times when hitting it made no...