Tonight, just after midnight, the desk receives one name — and follows it through a whole evening.

Chapter 1 of an unfinished book, presented inside the This Day in Deaths broadcast. This episode opens with the series' new musical introduction and universal cold open, then leaves the obituary roll call behind to tell a single story in full.

On a rainy Friday on Lark Street, a municipal records clerk named Warren Bell arrives early at The Bacchanids — a lounge with a stuttering sign, wine-colored velvet curtains, and speed introductions advertised in the back pages. Warren has spent eleven years correcting small errors in names, addresses, and filings. He believes accuracy is a form of mercy. He has been called Walter. He has been called Wallace. He has brought a folded list of instructions for the evening: do ...