Larry Ott returns home to his parents’ old house in rural Mississippi to tend to his land and animals. Larry attaches a specially designed chicken coop to his tractor, intending to take the chickens out into the field to graze, but decides against it because of the weather. Going through his mundane morning routine of getting ready and collecting the mail, Larry finds a book from his book club that he looks forward to opening at the garage where he works. Larry’s mother calls from the nursing home and asks him to bring lunch, so he goes home to pick up a photo album to help her with her memory.

In a hurry, Larry drives faster than normal and muses that this probably isn’t such a good idea, since the police always keep a close eye on him; the day before, chief investigator Roy French showed up with a search warrant because of the missing girl in town, Tina Rutherford. Larry is a prime suspect in her disappearance. Inside the kitchen, Larry encounters someone wearing an old monster mask from Larry’s childhood that he’s had hidden in his closet. The masked man tells Larry, “Ever body knows what you did” (6), and he shoots Larry in the chest.