Summary

The narrator receives a phone call from her friend Kimberle, who asks her to keep her from killing herself. The narrator picks Kimberle up from the bar she is at and lets her move into her apartment. The two girls live in Indiana, and the narrator is worried about the looming threat of the local serial killer, who always kills a girl in the fall. When the narrator brings Kimberle into her apartment, she makes sure to point out her saran-wrapped first edition books, which are her prized possessions.

Soon after Kimberle moves in, the narrator notices that one of her books is missing. The narrator wonders how she can approach Kimberle about it without causing her to harm herself. Overall, however, the narrator is not concerned about Kimberle, because she is too busy worrying about the serial killer, who still has not...