Chapter 44 Summary

"About the Pike"

Tom Crick returns to the summer of 1943, with the image of a stuffed pike that was mounted in Dick's room. The pike is described as a killer fish, a part of its nature. It is in the mouth of the pike that Dick has hidden the key to the Atkinson trunk. Tom tells Dick that the baby Mary aborted was Dick's, and Dick tells Tom he wants to open the Atkinson trunk.

Chapter 44 Analysis

The pike as a killer mirrors that of Dick as the killer of Freddie Parr. The chapter links the concluding narrative where the death of Freddie is described in detail.