Mr. Mercedes

Brady Hartsfield is cruising the streets in his ice cream truck. On his last circuit, he drives past Jerome Robinson’s house. Jerome stops him to buy an ice cream for his kid sister, Barbara. It offends Brady that Jerome and his sister have “white” names; only their dog, Odell, has what Brady considers a “Black” name. By having white names, he feels that Jerome and his sister are violating the natural order. The scene is full of racial slurs and anti-Black stereotypes.

The narrative returns to Hodges as he parks across the street from Olivia’s former home, wondering who inherited her estate after her death. A local security guard stops to ask him what he is doing there. The security guard, Peeples, gives Hodges a different perspective on Olivia. Peeples admits that no one really liked her, but she wasn’t a bad person; she was generous with Christmas gifts for the neighborhood service people, and he thinks it’s a shame that she was harassed and blamed for the murders.

The guard tells Hodges that Olivia’s sister, Janelle Patterson, is in town. Hodges wonders if Olivia’s sister might have kept her papers and if, among those papers, there might be a letter or letters from the killer who sent the letter to Hodges.