I Hunt Killers

Jazz wakes the next morning almost immediately saying to himself his personal mantra: “People matter[…]People are real” (64). This mantra is intended to counteract the sociopathic tendencies bred into him by his father. He gets dressed and leaves for the local café called the Coff-E Shop, where he and Howie’s daily weekday ritual is to meet there before school every morning.

Jazz gets there first and takes a seat at a table near the window. When Howie arrives, the waitress, Helen, comes over and takes their order. Jazz notices the local reporter enter the café and tells Helen that they’ll need their coffees to go. Jazz does not want to interact with the reporter, named Doug Weathers: “When Billy’s father had been caught and arrested, Weathers found himself in the catbird seat as the first reporter on the scene[…]Suddenly he was in demand as a ‘local expert,’ his mug plastered all over CNN and Fox News” (66). Jazz regards Weathers as a pest and a “sleazoid” (66)for wanting to capitalize on the murders. Jazz and Howie hurry out of Coff-E Shop to escape the line of questions from Weathers.

At school, Jazz can only think of the field where Jane Doe was found, and how he needs to view it as soon as possible: “Jazz wanted nothing more than to get back out to the field.