Walter Huff is delivering routine bonds to truck drivers in the Los Angeles area when he remembers that a client of his, Mr. Nirdlinger, needs to renew his automobile insurance. Huff visits Nirdlinger in his “House of Death,” a name that a journalist uses sensationally after the novel’s events to describe the home (3). 

Nirdlinger is out for the day and Huff meets his wife, Phyllis Nirdlinger, instead. Huff is instantly smitten with her. He promises to drop by the next day for dinner to speak with Mr. Nirdlinger about his auto-insurance. Before he leaves, Phyllis asks if he can sell accident insurance. Huff feels suspicious and suspects she has ill intentions.

Huff returns to his office at the insurance agency General Fidelity of California. Barton Keyes, a colleague of Huff’s, talks to him about a recent case of fraud he encountered. A truck driver that both Keyes and Huff thought should have been investigated before General Fidelity sold him insurance is currently in court for fraudulent insurance claims. He set his own truck on fire to collect on the insurance.

Huff’s secretary, Nettie, informs him that Phyllis called to cancel tomorrow night’s dinner.