Vocabulary

shrouded -  a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.
"The very facts were shrouded in uncertainty." (Page 38)
The paramedic put a shroud over the drug dealers body.
A clue I found was when they said shrouded i thought of covered. Like the facts were covered in uncertainty.
tedious - wordy so as to cause weariness or boredom, as a speaker or writer; prolix.
"composing a few tedious, uninspired editorials from the campus newspaper." (Page 39)
I went on a long tedious journey last week.
A clue I found was the word uninspired. When I heard this i new that tedious couldn't mean anything good.
smug - contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, or correctness; complacent.
"Stupidly, with a kind of smug removal that can't be fathom..." (Page 39)
That stupid smug thought he could out swim that wave.
My clue was when I heard the word smug I thought of someone stupidly showing off and that is what the sentence is kind of talking about.