Set in Cleveland, it begins outside a dive bar, Tam O'Shanter. The owners Karen and Tim discover a gutted body outside in the back alley. The alude to times gone by, similar murders with "The Butcher". The narrator, John, has some connection to these previous murders and how the murderer was never caught -- his father was assigned to that job and he caught a lot of grief when they never found him. John had recently talked to a magazine about the murders of their childhood now John fears he may have set off the chain of events. The murdered person was "oyster" a regular to the Tam.