Wool

Juliette attends Marnes’s funeral at the upper dirt farm. The ceremony is presided by priests and entails the attendees biting from a piece of fruit and throwing it on the coffin. She notices childless couples “biting vigorously into their fruit” (154) and figures that they are excited that the death means that there will be a lottery for the permission to have children.

Back at the office, Juliette finds that Peter Billings has been installed as Marnes’s replacement. She thinks he looks too young and “more the IT type” (158). Bernard is also there. He tries to take Holston’s file, but Juliette stops him. He reminds her that she reports to him. He also tells her that he is declaring a “forgiveness moratorium” (157) to bolster the silo’s spirits and let Juliette and Peter catch up on work. When Bernard reveals he will be running for mayor during the reelection, Juliette realizes that he may be trying to secure forgiveness for the case of Jahns’s death.

Juliette trains Peter to take care of most of the sheriff’s work so that she can be free to investigate Holston’s files. She sees that Holston spent most of his time investigating his wife’s reasons for going to clean, just as Juliette is now investigating him.