It was surprising what old experiences remembered could do to a presumably educa
ted, civilized man." And Hugh Denismore, a young doctor driving his mother's Cad
illac from Los Angeles to Phoenix, is eminently educated and civilized. He is pr
ivileged, would seem to have the world at his feet, even. Then why does the sigh
t of a few redneck teenagers disconcert him? Why is he reluctant to pick up a di
sheveled girl hitchhiking along the desert highway? And why is he the first pers
on the police suspect when she is found dead in Arizona a few days later?
