The Investigation Continues...

This was supposed to be posted yesterday but I accidentally saved it to my drafts instead, so here it is now. Whoops. In the next section of the novel, Person’s unknown, Capote continues to switch between the happening in the town and the adventures of Dick and Perry. He aligns it so that the investigation of Holcomb is happening while there is an almost investigation of Perry. Perry is feeling guilty about the crime and can hardly eat, while Dick goes out of his way to hit stray dogs on the road and is continuing on in his daily life. We find out that Perry lied about murdering a black man, as does Dick. We are slowly learning that Perry never really felt comfortable about the whole thing, and really only did it to impress Dick. In doing so, Capote presents him as the follower and is guilt-ridden, reflecting their rumored relationship.

                While this “investigation” is happening between the two murderers, the investigation in Holcomb is at full force, Dewey, the lead investigator, receives calls day and night from the citizens of the town hoping to be a part of the capture of the murderer. He didn't have a lot of evidence to go off of aside from a bloody footprint, and his lead suspect was cleared due to a polygraph test. The "tips" that he gets from the people don't lead anywhere because they care more about finding any person who did it, than the actual culprit.

It's really interesting to read about people who have never experienced something like this before, and to see their reaction to the crime. They are paranoid and scared, yet at the same time they love having something actually happen in their small town, and become obsessed with the murders. They are willing to watch one of their friends be framed for it and don’t think about the consequences of accusing an innocent man, just as long as they can blame someone for it. Also, Dewey believes the murderers to be friends of the Clutter’s because he thinks they knew the layout of the house. As readers, we know this to be false because they were random victims of Dick and Perry, but the fact that Dewey came to this conclusion makes one wonder how Dick and Perry made it look like this.

Dewey’s involvement in the crime resembles Capote's in a way because he becomes almost obsessed, to the point that his wife is getting annoyed with all of the phone calls and papers strewn about the house. Capote, too, was very much involved with the murder and it took six years of his life. Whether this was really the case, or if Capote purposely exaggerated Dewey’s character to put himself in the story is unknown, but there is definitely a correlation between the too. It will be interesting to see how the witch-hunt continues within the town, and how Dewey continues with his investigation.