Chapters 1 to 3 Summary

Mike Stranahan enjoys the peace and solitude of his life on an old stilt house in the tidal flats of Biscayne Bay. No other stilt houses in the area are permanently inhabited and Stranahan bought his house for forty thousand dollars at a government auction. One day in January, one of the local fishing guides drops by and tells Mike that a man, calling himself Tim Gavigan, is out in a 20 ft white Seacraft looking for the house lived in by Mike Stranahan. Later in the day this individual turns up at Stranahan's stilt house and claims he is out of gas and could he borrow some. When Stranahan eventually shows himself, the stranger draws a .38 pistol but Stranahan seizes a mounted blue marlin off the wall and manages to pin the dorsal spike through the gunman's chest, killing him instantly...