Chapters 16-20 Summary

In chapter 16, Penn drives to the Payton home and tells Althea he is going to investigate Del's murder. The widow is relieved. The two discuss Del's murder, and Althea tells Penn about Agent Stone, one of the agents that had investigated the case, and another younger man who had shown almost no interest at all. Offering Penn tomatoes from the garden, Althea takes him outside where Penn is stunned to find the 1961 Ford Fairlane in which Del had been murdered. Looking the car over something strikes Penn as odd, and he takes a piece of the engine with him as he leaves. Driving home Penn realizes what seems out of place. Del Payton had been killed by a bomb made of dynamite, but Huey Moak, an explosives expert had taught Penn some things about bomb damage. The destruction of the Fairlane...