In only a couple of deliveries, Ferris’ apartment was nearly complete. He still wasn’t quite sure how he’d coerced Demos into helping him build five bookcases and a dining set. Demos was infamous for avoiding nearly every form of manual labor and had blatantly labeled his choices as ‘plebeian...

Sunlight baked the pavement along the Di Egidio Bridge. It was the southernmost bridge in the city, connecting the downtown area to Tennant Island. Cars rattled over the steel suspension and a ship horn groaned from the estuary, but the road was otherwise silent. Few people ever came to...