Stephen King’s The Bill Hodges Trilogy Concordance Read online

  CAR DEALERSHIP FAMILY, SUGAR HEIGHTS

  See SUGAR HEIGHTS CHARACTERS

  CARVER, HILDA

  See ROBINSON, BARBARA

  CARVER, GINNY

  See ROBINSON, BARBARA

  CAVELLI, MR.

  See ABBASCIA FAMILY

  CENTRAL STATES POWER

  See HARTSFIELD, NORM

  CHILD, LEE

  See WRITERS, CHARACTERS, AND ACTORS: MYSTERIES AND CRIME FICTION

  CHRISTINE

  In Stephen King’s 1983 horror novel, Christine, Christine is a demonic 1958 red Plymouth Fury that kills all of her owners’ enemies. (The book was also made into a very creepy film.) In Mr. Mercedes, the police who discover OLIVIA TRELAWNEY’s abandoned and bloody Mercedes are jumpy around the vehicle. They seem to expect it to turn on by itself “like that old Plymouth in the horror movie.”

  CITY CENTER AUDITORIUM EMPLOYEES

  JANITOR: This janitor arrived at the City Center Auditorium at about five a.m. on the ill-fated morning of April 10, 2009. He was greeted by the satirical cheers of the EARLY BIRDS CLUB, many of whom had been waiting all night in the First Annual City Job Fair’s growing line.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS (FIRST ANNUAL CITY JOB FAIR VICTIMS, MERCEDES MASSACRE VICTIMS)

  Early on the morning of April 10, 2009, many hours before the First Annual City Job Fair was due to open its doors, a man wearing a rubber clown mask and yellow gloves drove a stolen gray Mercedes sedan into the crowd of job-seekers waiting in line outside of the City Center Auditorium. This vicious attack, which purposefully targeted the city’s unemployed, claimed the lives of eight people, paralyzed three, and left many others permanently injured. Ironically, the individuals most seriously hurt were part of the EARLY BIRDS CLUB—those people who arrived at City Center the night before, in order to guarantee a good place in line.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—CRAY, JANICE: The first and last time we see the young unwed mother Janice Cray is in the opening chapter of Mr. Mercedes. Like the other members of the EARLY BIRDS CLUB, she is standing outside of the City Center Auditorium. However, unlike the other people in line, Janice has brought her baby daughter in a Papoose carrier strapped to her back.

  According to AUGIE ODENKIRK, brown-haired Janice was pretty but tired-looking. Although many of the other job-seekers assumed that Janice was irresponsible for bringing her baby daughter out in such damp weather, Augie realized the truth: Janice was unemployed, penniless, and desperate.

  At around three a.m., Augie lent Janice his sleeping bag so that she could change and feed baby PATTI in warmth and privacy. During the stampede that occurred as the MERCEDES KILLER drove OLIVIA TRELAWNEY’s stolen Mercedes sedan into the crowd, Augie lay down on top of Janice and her baby, in order to protect them. All three were killed.

  CRAY, MR. AND MRS.: Mr. and Mrs. Cray were the parents of JANICE CRAY. They lived in Vermont. According to Mr. Cray, their house was (financially speaking) underwater.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—CRAY, PATTI: Patti Cray was the baby daughter of JANICE CRAY, and traveled to the ill-fated First Annual City Job Fair at the City Center Auditorium in her mother’s Papoose carrier. Although she was bundled in a pink onesie complete with little mittens, she had a croupy cough that made AUGIE ODENKIRK worry. Many people in the job fair line assumed that Janice was irresponsible for bringing her baby daughter out in the damp and cold, but the truth of the matter was that Janice was not irresponsible, only desperate. Thanks to Augie’s kindness, Janice was able to feed Patti in the relative privacy and comfort of Augie’s sleeping bag. Baby Patti was one of the MERCEDES KILLER’s many victims. Hopefully, she was asleep when the attack occurred.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—EARLY BIRDS CLUB: The term Early Birds Club was coined by JANICE CRAY, and was her way of referring to the group of desperate people who needed jobs so badly that they were willing to camp out overnight in the City Center Auditorium parking lot in order to be first in line for the First Annual City Job Fair.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—FRIAS, KEITH: Keith Frias, a member of the EARLY BIRDS CLUB, stared at JANICE CRAY when she crawled into AUGIE ODENKIRK’s sleeping bag to change and feed her baby daughter, PATTI. (So did his unnamed male companion.) It was Keith who cried out, “Life is discovered on other planets!” when a janitor in gray fatigues passed through the City Center Auditorium lobby at a little past five a.m. on April 10, 2009. When the MERCEDES KILLER struck the crowd with his powerful automobile, Keith’s left arm was torn from his body.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—ODENKIRK, AUGUST (AUGIE): At 11:20 p.m., on April 9, 2009, Augie Odenkirk disembarked from the city’s last bus at the Marlborough Street stop, close to the City Center Auditorium, carrying a backpack and a rolled-up sleeping bag. Like all of the other unofficial members of the EARLY BIRDS CLUB, Augie was hoping to find a job at the First Annual City Job Fair, and was happy to camp out in the parking lot overnight to increase his chances of snagging employment. Augie assumed that he would be at the front of the job-seekers line. Unfortunately, upon arrival he discovered that more than two dozen people were already in line. However, Augie was the only person who had the foresight to bring a sleeping bag.

  Before being made redundant, Augie had been an office drone in the shipping department of GREAT LAKES TRANSPORT. However, by the time he reached the ever-growing line at the City Center Auditorium, he was willing to flip burgers at McDonald’s or become a greeter at Walmart. While waiting for the job fair to begin, divorced and childless Augie befriended the young unwed mother JANICE CRAY. Knowing that many of the employers would assume that Janice was irresponsible for bringing her young daughter out in such terrible weather, Augie toyed with the idea of presenting himself as Janice’s partner. However, he never got the chance to perform this act of kindness. When the MERCEDES KILLER drove into the crowd, Augie’s last act was to try to shelter Janice and Patti from the oncoming vehicle. Unfortunately, all three were killed.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—REIS, FRANCINE: Thirty-nine-year-old Francine Reis was one of the MERCEDES KILLER’s eight victims. As the car approached, she raised her left hand to protect herself and had the first three fingers of that hand torn off. Her wedding ring was discovered in the Mercedes’s grille, and two fingers were found at the scene of the crime. Her wedding ring finger was never located. (Detective BILL HODGES thought that it was either snatched by a seagull or taken as a grizzly souvenir by a survivor. He preferred the first of these two possibilities.) Francine was buried with her wedding ring on the third finger of her right hand.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—STOVER, MARTINE: As a result of the MERCEDES KILLER’s rampage, Martine Stover was paralyzed from the neck down.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—UNNAMED MAN: As a result of the MERCEDES KILLER’s rampage, this man was paralyzed from the waist down.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—WELLAND, WAYNE: Wayne Welland, a member of the EARLY BIRDS CLUB, was an elderly gent in line ahead of AUGIE ODENKIRK, and was the first to recognize the make of the MERCEDES KILLER’s car. He cried “HEY!” before he was killed.

  CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS—YOUNG MEN IN JOB FAIR LINE: These young men stared when JANICE CRAY slid inside AUGIE ODENKIRK’s sleeping bag to change and feed her baby. Augie told them to mind their own business. See also FRIAS, KEITH

  CITY PARK RAPIST

  See TURNPIKE JOE

  CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WARMUP JACKET KID

  See LOWTOWN DENIZENS

  CLEVELAND INDIANS

  The citizens of our small, unnamed city are Cleveland Indian fans since the Indians are the closest major league baseball team. PETE HUNTLEY is an Indians supporter. When BRADY HARTSFIELD was eighteen years old, he attended a Cleveland Indians game and experienced low-level police screening. Because of this, he expects very little screening at other public events. However, as he discovers when he visits the Mingo Auditorium, security has become much more rigorous.

  COLLEGE COMPUTER CLUB

/>   See ROBINSON, JEROME

  COUNTY MORGUE (HURON COUNTY MORGUE) CHARACTERS

  BILL HODGES has known the Huron County coroners for almost twenty years. Hence, it seems likely that the Huron County Morgue deals with all deaths in the city and surrounding area.

  GALWORTHY, DR.: Dr. Galworthy is the coroner at Huron County Morgue. BILL HODGES has known Dr. Galworthy since the nineteen-nineties.

  PATEL, DR.: Dr. Patel is BILL HODGES’s second contact at the Huron County Morgue.

  COYNE, JUDAS

  One of the roadies working at the ’ROUND HERE concert wears a Judas Coyne tee-shirt. This is a very clever reference to Joe Hill’s novel Heart-Shaped Box. In that book, Judas Coyne is an aging rock star who collects morbid memorabilia.

  CRAY, JANICE

  See CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS

  CRAY, MR. AND MRS.

  See CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS

  CRAY, PATTI

  See CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS

  CYBER PATROL

  See DISCOUNT ELECTRONIX CHARACTERS

  DAVIS, DONALD (DONNIE)

  The SHEILA DAVIS missing persons case was one of the few investigations that was still hanging fire when Detective BILL HODGES retired from the city’s POLICE force. The other unsolved crimes were those of the PARK RAPIST (aka TURNPIKE JOE), the PAWNSHOP BURGLAR, and the MERCEDES KILLER. Although the police had a major suspect in the Davis case (namely Sheila’s philandering husband), and though they strongly suspected foul play, they couldn’t arrest Donald Davis on suspicion of murder until they could produce a corpse for the district attorney, who was not-so-affectionately known as DIANA THE DOPE. The Davis case strongly resembled the real-life murder investigation involving SCOTT and LACI PETERSON, and it was this case that Hodges and Huntley often discussed while conducting their investigation.

  From the first, Hodges referred to Davis as “the camera-friendly wife murderer.” Unlike the innocent but socially awkward OLIVIA TRELAWNEY, who was vilified in the press, handsome and suave Davis was able to manipulate public opinion in his favor. In actuality, Davis was both a serial philanderer and a serial failure. He kept at least three women on the side during his marriage and constantly started businesses that were doomed to go belly-up, including his most recent venture, Davis Classic Cars. Tired of the debt and the other women, the long-suffering Mrs. Davis had finally decided to file for divorce, but as she was preparing the legal papers, she “disappeared.” The same day that he reported his wife missing, Donald Davis declared bankruptcy. Davis appealed to public sympathy by appearing on TV. Once the cameras were rolling, he cried crocodile tears and begged viewers to give information about his wife’s whereabouts.

  GAME WARDEN: While PETE HUNTLEY was having lunch with BILL HODGES at DeMASIO’S ITALIAN RISTORANTE in “Det.-Ret.,” he received a phone call from his new partner, IZZY JAYNES. Evidently a game warden had spotted some bones in an old gravel pit less than two miles from Donnie Davis’s summer place on the lake.

  KIDS: These two kids saw Donald Davis in the vicinity of his cabin around the time of his wife’s disappearance. Davis claimed to be mushroom hunting.

  DAVIS, SHEILA

  See DAVIS, DONALD

  DEATH CAR

  See TRELAWNEY, OLIVIA: GRAY LADY

  DEBBIE’S BLUE UMBRELLA

  See UNDER DEBBIE’S BLUE UMBRELLA

  DeMASIO’S ITALIAN RISTORANTE EMPLOYEES

  See LOWTOWN DENIZENS

  DeWITT, BETSY

  See ROBINSON, BARBARA

  DIANA THE DOPE

  See DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

  DISCOUNT ELECTRONIX CHARACTERS

  Discount Electronix is an electronics superstore. Its German parent company is Schyn Ltd. When he visits Discount Electronix in the Birch Hill Mall, BILL HODGES thinks that the business has about three months left to live. He’s probably right. Most of the store’s shelves are empty, and the stock that remains is mostly of the fifty-percent-off variety. The only thing keeping DE afloat is their CYBER PATROL, a fleet of three computer engineers in snot-green VWs who do outcalls rescuing damaged computers from serial computer abusers. Unluckily for Discount Electronix’s Cyber Patrol customers, the psychotic BRADY HARTSFIELD (aka the MERCEDES KILLER) is one of their repairmen.

  CHECKOUT GIRLS: These women wear blue dusters with yellow DE logos on them. When BILL HODGES sees these women, they look incredibly bored. Two are staring out the window. The third is reading Twilight.

  CUSTOMERS: Discount Electronix’s few customers can all be found in the Home Entertainment department buying up half-price DVDs.

  CYBER PATROL TEAM:

  FROBISHER, ANTHONY (TONES, TONES TURD, TONES THE TRUTH-TELLING TURD, MR. SPIFFY IN THE TIE): Geeky and bespectacled Anthony “Tones” Frobisher is the manager of Discount Electronix. He is also a member of the Cyber Patrol. Frobisher never goes out on computer calls because he has (as he says) a “RESPONSIBILITY TO THE STORE.” In BRADY HARTSFIELD’s opinion, Frobisher refuses to cruise around in the Cyber Patrol’s snot-green VWs because he wouldn’t know a hard drive crash if it bit him on the dick. FREDDI LINKLATTER’s rather apt nickname for her boss is “Tones Turd.”

  HARTSFIELD, BRADY: See HARTSFIELD, BRADY, listed separately

  LINKLATTER, FREDDI: Freddi Linklatter is a narrow-faced, narrow-hipped blonde with a butch haircut. She thinks of herself as a guy whom God denied a dick. Linklatter stands over six-foot-two, and tends to wear straight-leg 501s, motorcycle skids, and a plain white tee that hangs dead straight. (She has no bust.) She wears no makeup and no jewelry. Although she and BRADY HARTSFIELD joke around together, she secretly suspects that Hartsfield is pretty peculiar. Hartsfield, for his part, often tunes Freddi out during her “lesbo-feminist rants.”

  PITFALL HARRY: Pitfall! is a platform video game first released by Activision in 1982. The main character is called Pitfall Harry. Pitfall! has gone through many updates since its creation, but it remains a popular game. Freddi likes to play it (secretly) at work.

  CYBER PATROL TEAM CUSTOMERS:

  BATOOL, MR.: Owner of Batool’s Bakery, located in the slum area of Edgemont. His computer often suffers from the dreaded screen freeze (easily fixed by pressing alt, ctrl, and del at the same time, though Mr. Batool doesn’t know that). Hartsfield, who is racist to the bottom of his shriveled little soul, calls him Paki Boy.

  JESUS-JUMPER: This born-again Christian lectures FREDDI LINKLATTER on the evils of homosexuality.

  ROLLINS, MRS. PAULA: See SUGAR HEIGHTS CHARACTERS

  TRELAWNEY, OLIVIA: See TRELAWNEY, OLIVIA, listed separately

  WILLKINS, MRS. VERA: Elderly Vera Willkins, resident of the West Side of the city, frequently needs the help of Discount Electronix’s Cyber Patrol, since her keyboard often fills up with crumbs.

  DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

  DIANA THE DOPE: Diana the Dope is Detective PETE HUNTLEY’s derogatory nickname for the city’s district attorney. Huntley is mad that the DA won’t let him arrest DONALD DAVIS for murder without first producing a corpse. Similarly, she won’t allow Huntley to arrest YA JEFFERSON for knocking off fourteen liquor stores and pawnshops on his girlfriend’s testimony alone. Instead, Huntley has to catch Jefferson in the act of armed robbery. As a disgruntled Huntley says, “You bring Diana the Dope a steak, she says cook it for me, and if it isn’t medium-rare, I’ll send it back.”

  SILVER, JUDGE DANIEL: During his days on the police force, BILL HODGES gave testimony before Judge Silver on many occasions. Judge Silver makes a final appearance at the end of Mr. Mercedes. (I won’t tell you what it is, since that would be a spoiler!)

  DR. PHIL

  Dr. Phil is a TV psychologist. In one of the replies BILL HODGES sends to the MERCEDES KILLER via UNDER DEBBIE’S BLUE UMBRELLA, Bill claims that he would rather talk to a nut like merckill than spend time watching Dr. Phil and all the late-night infomercials. Since Hodges tells us that Dr. Phil appears on late-night television, we can assume that Dr. Phil is a different shrink from the
afternoon TV FAT FAMILY PSYCHOLOGIST that Bill watched during his depressing first six months in retirement.

  DRIVER OF BLACK SMART CAR

  See HODGES, KERMIT WILLIAM

  DRUGSTORE CHECKOUT GIRL

  On the day of the ’ROUND HERE concert, this unsuspecting checkout girl sells BRADY HARTSFIELD disposable razors, shaving cream, extra batteries, a pair of clear glass hornrims, and an extra-large ’ROUND HERE tee-shirt.

  EARLY BIRDS CLUB

  See CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS

  EVERETT, MARLO

  See POLICE (CITY POLICE)

  FABRIZIO (FABBY THE NOSE)

  See ABBASCIA FAMILY

  FENSTER, ANDY

  See HODGES, KERMIT WILLIAM

  FIRST ANNUAL CITY JOB FAIR

  See CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS

  FISH/FISHERMAN

  When retired detective BILL HODGES first receives a poison-pen letter from the MERCEDES KILLER, he knows that he has to respond very carefully. If he writes the wrong message, the killer will never write to him again. But if he is too obvious about wanting to discover the killer’s identity, the killer (who is very smart) will run rings around him. To Hodges, the crux of the matter is this: who will be the fish in this relationship, and who will be the fisherman?

  This reference to the fisherman echoes the story of another murderer found in Stephen King’s fiction, namely that of the child-murderer and cannibal Albert Fish, found in the King/Straub collaborative novel Black House. Like the Mercedes Killer, Albert Fish wrote an anonymous letter bragging about his crime. However, in the case of Fish, the letter was addressed to the young victim’s parents.

  FRANKIE

  See HARTSFIELD, FRANKIE

  FRIAS, KEITH

  See CITY CENTER MASSACRE VICTIMS

  FROBISHER, ANTHONY

  See DISCOUNT ELECTRONIX CHARACTERS: CYBER PATROL TEAM

  GAIL

  See ROBINSON, BARBARA

  GALLISON, JAMIE