in cold blood

He is an assistant to the chaplain in the prison. He becomes a kind of mentor to Perry and tries to convince Perry that he is talented. They had met when Perry was in prison, and Perry felt somewhat close to him. Willie-Jay was one of the reasons Perry came back to Kansas; when Willie-Jay was not available for him to talk to, he decided to accept "the score" to complete with Dick. Perry considers Willie-Jay to be his “real and only friend.”