Which in insurance parlance is called "the risk."

Actually, that's before something happens.

After something happens it's called "the loss."

When a risk becomes a loss – when what could happen does happen – is where Jack comes in.

This is what he does for California Fire and Life Mutual Insurance Company – he adjusts claims. He's been adjusting claims for twelve years now, and as gigs go Jack figures it's a decent one. He works mostly alone; no one gives him a lot of shit as long as he gets the job done, and he always gets the job done. Ergo, it's a relatively shit-free environment.

Some of his fellow adjusters seem to think that they take a lot of shit from the policyholders but Jack doesn't get it. "It's a simple job," he'll tell them when he's heard enough whining. "The insurance policy is a contract. It spells out exactly what you pay for and what you don't. What you owe, you pay. What you don't, you don't."

So there's no reason to take any shit or dish any out.

You don't get personal, you don't get emotional. Whatever you do, you don't get involved. You do the job and the rest of the time you surf.

This is Jack's philosophy and it works for him. Works for Goddamn Billy, too, because whenever he gets a big fire, he assigns it to Jack. Which only makes sense because that's what Jack did for the Sheriff's Department before they kicked him out – he investigated fires.

So Jack knows that the first thing you do when you investigate a house fire is you walk around the house.

SOP – standard operating procedure – in a fire inspection: you work from the outside in. What you observe on the outside can tell you a lot about what happened on the inside.

He lets himself in through the wrought-iron gate, being careful to shut it behind him because there's that barking dog.