Mr. Mercedes

Two days after Janey’s mother’s death, Hodges is with Jerome and Janey. Hodges is wearing a Humphrey Bogart fedora Janey bought for him. He warns them they need to be on the lookout for anyone who might seem to be following them. As they are leaving, Jerome remarks that his mother has been roped into taking Barbara and her friends to the ‘Round Here concert.

Hodges is planning to go with Janey to the viewing of her mother’s body at the funeral parlor. Janey considers this a vulgar “pagan” ceremony, but Holly and Charlotte insisted. Janey describes Charlotte as a pain and her cousin Holly as “weird” (259). She is afraid Holly—who has similar psychiatric conditions to Olivia—will have a breakdown during the viewing.

Brady is working on a plan to get into the ‘Round Here concert with his explosives; he means to go out with a bang and take thousands of teenage girls with him. After that, he’ll be with his mother again. Brady is currently living and sleeping in his basement control room while his mother’s body decomposes upstairs. The basement is where his little brother, Frankie, died. Frankie had brain damage, and his care expenses kept the family in poverty.