Underworld

The Texas Highway Killer is filmed murdering a driver. The video is made by a young girl who happened to be playing with her family’s home-movie camera. Nick’s younger brother, Matt, wonders why the video fascinates so many people. He has seen it numerous times, and he thinks about the way in which the entire world is inside the camera, waiting for the moments to be caught. Matt calls out to Janet, his wife, to watch the video because “it is real this time, not fancy movie violence” (158), but she claims that she is too busy.

In the mid-1980s, Marian Shay travels to a job interview. After a two-hour drive, she takes a rest at a car show. There, she happens to run into Brian Glassic, whom she vaguely recognizes as Nick’s colleague. They have lunch together in the dining room of an old hotel and discover that they have a connection. As they flirt, they begin to share their vulnerabilities with each other. Marian confesses that she abandoned the family puppy in the middle of the wilderness because it barked too much. At the end of the lunch, Marian imagines going up to a hotel room with Brian.