Baal was the sort of musician who plays in smokey, uncrowded bars,
             where only half the people there had come for the music and the rest are
             talking over it with loud and drunken abandon. Still, he was sufficiently
             well known that certain facts of his life were public knowledge -- at least
             in his hometown of Memphis. Things were changing for him. Baal had gotten a
             record deal with Metropolis, and free booze for a year at several local
             bars, and consequently his rent had been paid ahead of time for months. All
             this is relevant to the story, the audience must understand, because Baal
             killed Erik in a club venue where he was performing that night. Erik was
             his best friend -- he may have been his only close friend. Erik was a
             songwriter specializing in synthesizers. They had toured together (that was
             the official story, though Erik described it more as an extended bout of
             migrant homelessness), and they had lived together. Some had said they were
             lovers, though Baal had a reputation for womanizing and Erik had a
             girlfriend. Tonight, Baal had become very drunk and was refusing to play a
             requested Johnny Cash cover for the management. Erik, with his girlfriend
             on his arm, were trying to convince him otherwise. Suddenly Baal flew into
             a rage. Erik shrugged it off, saying casually something along the lines of:
             "I don't care, I'm not even your boyfriend." As he turned away, Baal
             knocked him to the floor, and then pouncing on him with a knife. In the
             brief struggle that ensued, Erik was fatally stabbed before Baal escaped
             from the venue. Baal has been a fugitive since, and is believed to have
             gone deep into the Appalachian mountains.
             The first theory to be explored, because it is one of the most
             important of criminal theories, is the social disorganization theory. It is
             relevant here, for this crime occurred at a seedy bar in a transitional
             zone of the city, and was committed by a...