The Last to See Them Alive

In the beginning of Part I, the nature of the “score” has not yet been made explicit, but Dick has stolen his father's twelve-gauge shotgun and has fabricated a story that the pair are planning to visit Perry’s sister in Fort Scott. They take to the road, making various stops along the way to purchase supplies: rubber gloves, rope, black stockings. The presence of a shot-gun foreshadows violence or murder.