Crooked Letter Summary

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Summary: Chapter One: An introduction to Larry Ott The book starts with two important facts: A girl is missing and there is a monster waiting for Larry Ott at his house. Larry Ott is forty-one years old, single and lives alone in the former house of his parents in Amos, a small town in Mississippi. It is an isolated place; his nearest neighbor lives a mile away and there are no shops nearby. On the morning the story begins, he starts his day like always. He is going out with his tractor to cut the grass and to feed his chickens. Larry works as a mechanic, but only in theory. He has a small workshop with space for two cars and an old Ford pickup truck, that belonged to his father. He keeps tools in it in case someone needs help with his car. There is a gun rack in the truck, but Larry only uses it to hold his umbrella because he is not allowed to own a gun, due to an incident in his past. After feeding the chickens, Larry puts on his boiler suit and makes himself breakfast. Once again, the missing girl is mentioned in the news because she hasn't been found yet. After watching the news, he makes his way to his truck and drives to work. He hopes that, once in his life, he would have a customer. But, as usual, he knows that he will be spending the day drinking Coke and reading at his desk. But today, something unusual happens. He gets a call from the nursing home where his mother lives. She tells him, that she's having a good day and wants to eat lunch with her son. Larry decides to go home first to get a photo album because looking at old photos usually helps his mom to remember some things. Since he wants to get to the nursing home as quick as possible, he drives really fast, although he knows that it is a bad idea because the police have an eye on him. Apart from local teenagers who sometimes come to his yard in the middle of the night to disturb him and his sole friend Wallace Stringfellow, Larry's only visitors are the police. There is one police officer, Roy French, who comes to his house from time to time with a search warrant and searches his house and property. Larry never complains about these visits, he even understands why the police keeps coming. Larry knows that he is the kind of person who could be suspected of killing a girl. But this time, he gets a shock when he steps into the house. A shoe box is lying open on the table and when he turns around, he sees the face of a monster. He knows that the person is wearing a gray zombie mask that belongs to him and that he has kept hidden in the shoe box. This is something that French, the police officer, has never discovered. Before he can say a word, the man in the mask points a gun at him and accuses him of kidnapping the girl. Larry is defenseless and doesn't get the chance to tell the man that he didn't kidnap either the Rutherford girl, who has been missing since last week, nor Cindy Walker, a girl who disappeared twenty-five years ago. The man pushes the gun into Larry's chest but just before he fires it, Larry recognizes something about the man's eyes. When Larry opens his eyes again, he is lying on the floor. The man is staring at him, leaning against the wall. The attacker is breathing hard and is visibly shacking while he tells Larry to die. Larry can feel his own blood flowing from his chest but peculiarly he feels sympathy for the man. Larry can hear a buzzing sound in his head. When his attacker once again tells him to die, he knows that he would be glad to do so. Chapter Two: An introduction to Silas Jones Silas Jones is the only police officer in a small town in Mississippi, Chabot. Most of the time, the people call him either "32", the number on his baseball shirt when he played for the town, or they call him "Constable", his job title. While he is out on patrol one day, he notices a lot of buzzards in the sky flying over a particular place. The birds are a sign that there's a dead body and because of this fact, he decides to take a closer look. He drives down a small dirt road, looking for a dead animal. He reaches a gate with a "No hunting" sign on it, which shows that the land belongs to the Rutherford Lumber Company. The Rutherford's are a rich family. Since the place where Silas stopped is very isolated, he thinks that the missing girl, Tina Rutherford might be here. She is a nineteen-year-old student at "Ole Miss", the University of Mississippi. At the end of the summer, she left home to return to college, but never arrived. Since that incident, every police officer in the state has been looking for her. Silas opens the gate and drives through it. He hopes that his Jeep will break down, because then he might get a new one. His car is very old and not really suitable for the kind of roads he has to drive on, but the town administration doesn't have the money to buy him a new one. Silas gets out of the Jeep and the closer he comes to the buzzards, the stronger the smell becomes. Finally, he can see a body in a creek and although the birds have already eaten a lot of it, he knows who it is. A few days before, a burning car had been reported and from the M&M on the vanity license plates, he had known that the car belonged to Morton Morrisette, with whom he had played baseball at school. After he had to give up work because of an injury, Morrisette had made money by selling marijuana. Although the police knew about it, they had never arrested him because he wasn't selling hard drugs. Because of the burning car, the police knew, that he has been seeing a well-known drug addict called Charles Deacon. A search of Morrisette's house had shown that somebody had been shot there and that the body had been taken away. A few days later, they found his hat in a tree several miles from his home. Silas sits with some distance to the body. The face looks terrifying: swollen and partly eaten by the birds. When Roy French, his boss appears, Silas jumps up. French is glad that Silas didn't change anything at the crime scene, and he doesn't seem affected by the terrible smell or sight of the body. He puts on some waterproof pants and goes down into the water to take photographs. The two police officers speculate about how the body came to be in the creek. They agree that the killer must have been more intelligent than the drug addict Deacon. The next persons arriving at the crime scene are two paramedics and the coroner. One of the paramedics is Angie, Silas's girlfriend. The coroner simply confirms that the person is dead. The paramedics put on their protective clothing and go down to deal with the body. A local reporter and a couple more police officers arrive now, and Silas goes for a walk because he doesn't want to see how they put the remains of M&M's body into a bag. Later in his office, Silas regrets that he and M&M had lost contact after high school. But nevertheless, he knows that he and M&M would not have been friends because he is a police officer. Chabot only has a few buildings. Apart from the town hall, where Silas and Voncille, the only other fulltime employee of the town, have their offices, there is the mayor's real estate office, a post office, a bank, a combined diner and convenience store called "The Hub", as well as a grocery store and a drugstore that will probably have to close soon. There is a bar called the Chabot Bus where Silas and Angie often meet for drinks. Apart from this, there are just two more buildings, former offices that are no longer used, except by homeless people and drug addicts. Since there is no ATM (cash machine), the citizens have to drive 11 miles to Fulsom to get cash. Cell phones don't always work in the city. French tells Silas that he visited Larry Ott a few days before, because he is always a suspect when it comes to missing girls. French notices that Silas calls him Larry, implying that they are friends. Silas tries to deny it by saying that he knows him from school. Silas is surprised to hear that Larry's shop is closed at the moment, because he knows that this is completely out of character for him. Without really thinking about it, Silas finds himself heading for Larry's shop later that afternoon. Instinctively he feels that something is wrong. He thinks about the couple of times Larry tried to contact him since his return to Chabot and that he never called back. But a couple of weeks later, Larry caught him at home, but Silas ended the conversation as soon as possible because he didn't feel comfortable. Silas knows that people have avoided Larry the past years but didn't know why, until he came back to live in the town. Silas knows that Larry's business has not had any customers since Larry took over from his father. When Silas stops at his shop, he notices that Larry's truck really isn't there and his instinct tells him, that something is wrong. Silas has to go to another part of the town, he privately named Trash Avenue, because somebody called, that there is a snake in a mailbox and Silas has to get rid of it. While he does so, Irene, the owner of the mailbox, starts to flirt with him. After that, Silas has to direct the traffic and while he is standing there, thinking about that this isn't the job he wanted to do as a kid, he gets a call from Angie, who is at Larry's house. Her only comment is "Oh my God". Chapter 3 A flashback to Larry's and Silas's first meeting Larry and his father, Carl, are driving to school and pass Silas and his mother at the side of the road. Larry convinces his father to drive back and pick them up. It is obvious that Silas and his mother Alice are very poor. But another thing that is obvious, is that Larry's father and Alice must have met before. Larry doesn't have many friends in school. The white kids are teasing him, the black kids are bullying him. Larry hopes, that he and Silas could be friends, but as soon as they arrive at school, Silas disappears. After school, Larry tells his mother what happened. She doesn't seem to be happy about it and Larry feels bad, that he told her, because the tension between his mother and his father is very strange. The next day, Larry's mother drives him to school and slows down when she sees Alice and Silas. She gives them two coats, but Alice doesn't want to put hers on. Larry's mother becomes angry and says, that she has never minded using other people's things. It is clear, that they know each other. Since that day, Larry and his father don't pick them up anymore. We get to know, that Larry's father isn't very proud of his son. He thinks of him like he is some kind of loser. Larry has the idea, to teach Silas how to shoot with a gun, wondering if they can be friends. Larry goes to the little cabin where Silas and Alice are living. It is on the property of Larry's family. Silas's first thought is, that Larry wants to shoot him, but Larry says, that he just wants to go hunting. Silas asks him, if it is possible to borrow the gun, so that he can shoot some squirrels for his mother to cook. After Larry showed him how to use it, he says that Silas could keep it. Chapter 4 Silas and French investigate Larry's house after the attack Back in the present, Angie reports to Silas that she has found Larry lying on the floor in his own blood, a gunshot wound in the chest and a gun in his hand. It's not clear if he will survive or not. Silas calls French who sends him to Larry's house. Silas can see a lot of footprints in the mud, but nothing else interesting for him. When he reaches the barn, a lot of memories come back to his mind. He once met Larry in exactly this barn and they had spent a wonderful day there, just the two of them. Silas is waiting for French, who has visited Larry in the hospital. They investigate the house together, but don't find anything that might be important, except a case of beer in the fridge. They wonder, if Larry has started to drink, but Silas is quite sure that this is very unlikely. The gun which has been used is a .22 that has been fired once. French believes that Larry tried to commit suicide but Silas wonders, if Larry came home and found a drug addict in his house, who tried to kill him. Later this evening, Silas notices that his answering machine is blinking, and he presses "play". He hears Larry's voice, asking him to call him back, because he has something important to say. Chapter 5 The friendship between Larry and Silas comes to an end one summer The story is back in the past. Larry and Silas have become friends and are to be friends spending a l of time together although Alice has bidden with Larry. Larry tells Silas about Cindy Walker, a girl he really likes. Larry often went to her boure aler house alone, to see her sunbathing or smoking a cigarette but this time, Silas accompanied him. When they arrive at her house, Cindy isn't there but Carl and Cecil, Cindy's step-father. After a while, Cindy appears, only wearing a small towel. Cecil begins to argue and pulls on Cindy's towel until she is halfnaked. Before Larry can even think about it, Silas jumps up and helps Cindy get away from her stepfather. As soon as Larry gets home, he is in trouble. His father wants to know where his any can gun is, and Larry has to admit that he has lent it to Silas. Carl is furious and orders Larry to bring it back to him the next day. Larry's mother is angry, that Silas and Alice are still living in the cabinet and issues an ultimatum to her husband. She says, that if they don't leave for his wife and son one night away, she and Larry will. Carl shows his dislike for his wife and son and storms out of the house. The next morning, Larry leaves the house and heads over to Silas. Once again, he asks him to give him the gun back, but Silas refuses because it's the only one he has got. But out of nowhere, Carl appears and forces the boys to fight against each other. He is very drunk and threatens to beat them with his belt if they don't do what he says. Silas is about to win the fight when Larry calls him a nigger. Silas lets go of him, pushing him one last time to the ground and running towards the forest. Larry knows that he has said something unforgiving, which changed everything between them. Chapter 6 Silas makes a surprising discovery while looking through Larry's house One morning later, Silas is glad that Larry hasn't woken up until then, because that means that he doesn't have to see him yet. All the time, he has used Larry's insult as an excuse to avoid him. Silas goes back to Larry's house and because of the daylight, he can now see things he couldn't see the day before, like little splinters of glass and the butt of a joint. While investigating the house, Silas finds a shoebox in the attic. It contains old photos, mostly Larry as a baby. One photo shows baby Larry sitting on a black woman's lab. Silas gasps for breath as he recognizes that it is his own mother! When he was thirteen, his comfortable life in Chicago changed forever. Although Oliver, his mother's boyfriend had never liked Silas and ignored him they led a fairly normal life but then, Oliver was arrested by the police for assault. He has never liked Silas and ignored him all the time. He tried to escape but the police caught him. Alice had enough money for bail, but Oliver told her to scrape as much money as possible together because there was another warrant out there for him and once the police realized that and came to arrest him, he would have to go into prison for a long time. But when the police arrived, Alice and Silas had already left. They headed towards south but had difficulties to find a place to sleep. Silas couldn't shut up asking his mother what they were going to do and for the first time she slapped him in public. He turned to run away but his mother caught hold of his wrist and said: "Don't you dare run from the one person in this world that loves you." The bus driver insisted on driving them to a motel, but Silas knew that his mother me bus had to sleep with him to pay him for that. Silas didn't want to be a part of that and jumped off the truck. He ran down the street, hearing his mother and the bus driver, Charles, screaming his name. After a while, he had lost all sense of time and space. Suddenly, somebody pulled him behind a garbage can and took all his things, including his shoes. Silas tried to scream for help and Charles appeared and chased the thieves away. Back in the truck with his mother and Charles, he fell asleep and at the time he woke up, they were somewhere in Minnesota. His mother told him about her plan. She wanted to go to Chabot, a place she knew. After eating something in a diner, they caught a bus to Chabot. Back in the present in Larry's house, Silas decides to keep the photograph. He knows that it is forbidden to take something from a crime scene but it's the only photo be has from his mother and thinks that no one will miss one single photo. Chapter 7 The story of what happened on the evening Cindy Walker disappeared The story continues in a flashback to the year 1982. Larry is proud to have his first date ever with Cindy Walker. He doesn't want to tell his parents but actually, it wasn't him who asked her out but her who asked him if he wanted to go to the drive-in cinema. Larry's mother is excited about it, Carl, his father, makes fun of him. The boys in school cannot believe that Cindy has agreed to go out with Larry. They ask him if he has a condom and because he hasn't got any, David gives him one. Larry drives to Cindy's house to pick her up. Cecil, Cindy's stepfather, is sitting on the veranda. He threatens Larry not to harm Cindy and gets physical. The only thing that stops him, is Cindy stepping out of the door. Cecil calls her a whore. Cindy goes inside to speak with him for a moment, then comes back and the two of them walk to the car. After a couple of minutes, Cindy tells him the true reason why she has asked him on a date: She wants to see her secret boyfriend, because otherwise her stepfather would kill her. Larry is very disappointed and tries to convince Cindy to stay. But she tells him, that he is the only person who can help her and that she is pregnant and if her father finds out about her pregnancy, he will kill not only her but the father of the child as well. She tells him to drive to the cinema and to pretend that she is with him in the car. At 11.15 pm, he should pick her up. Larry follows her rules and watches the film alone. He starts worrying when she isn't at their meeting point at 11.30 pm. He wonders if Cindy and her boyfriend might have had an accident, but he can't find anything suspicious. Larry is afraid what he should tell Cecil. Thinking, that she may have already gone home, he drives around the corner into their street, but the house is completely dark. Out of a sudden, Cecil appears and screams at Larry, because he wants to know where Cindy is. Larry confesses that he has dropped her off. Cecil knocks him to the ground and tries to strangle him. Larry is only saved by Cindy's mother returning from work. A little while later, the sheriff arrives. At that point, he doesn't believe that anything has happened to Cindy, tells everyone not to worry and to call him if Cindy hasn't turned up the next morning. But unfortunately, she doesn't turn up the next days and things are getting pretty ugly for Larry. Being the chief suspect in a murder case although Cindy's body has never been found, he can't go to school anymore; his father starts to drink heavily, and his mother can't go to church anymore. About a year after the disappearance of Cindy Walker, Larry joins the Army. It suits him pretty well and he is trained to be a mechanic. Whenever he goes home, his parents have become stranger. He tries to spend so much time as possible out of the house or in front of the TV. One evening, Carl crashes his truck while driving drunk and dies of his injuries. After three years in the military, Larry is sent home to look after his mother. Silas has moved away and there has still been no trace of Cindy. The Walkers have moved away, and their house has fallen into disrepair. Larry takes his mother to a nursing home because she has Alzheimer's. Since then, he has spent every day waiting for customers, his evenings reading and his nights alone.