Summary

Chapter 29. Book titles at the beginning of this chapter: Manual of Procedures, Civil; Nitroglycerine and Nitroglycerine Explosives; The Mystery of the Fiery Message; and Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy.

In this chapter, Orlean considers both the civil and the criminal cases against Harry Peak. She describes speaking with Victoria Chaney, the city’s litigator in the civil case and now a judge, who admits to liking Harry but sensing that he seemed lost. Chaney narrates the initial sequence of events in the case, including Harry’s presentation of another revised alibi, and the support of that alibi by Father Clark, one of the leaders of the American Orthodox Church (who was struggling with heart problems, Chaney says, and who had taken some nitroglycerine before his appearance). Orlean describes Chaney’s belief that Peak had set the fire to get attention...