Acceleration

Jacob makes Duncan unload a truck as punishment for missing work. On the radio, Duncan hears that a subway train hit and killed a 45-year-old woman the previous night (as she was pushed). Duncan can tell the news bothers Jacob. Jacob takes an early lunch, and Vinny calls. He says they should give their case to the police as it’s too dangerous to continue, but Duncan doesn’t want to let it go.

Jacob returns, slightly intoxicated. He tells Duncan that he chose this job because it’s quiet and predictable—and he wants Duncan to leave when his two months are done.

A man wearing thick glasses comes in. Jacob asks Duncan to find a book for him—he describes the journal and says the man lost it two weeks ago. Jacob then tells Duncan to leave, and he follows Roach.

At the subway station, Duncan watches Roach watch women like they’re food. He gets on a bus with him and then gets off at the same stop. He follows him to a house on Cedar Street, waiting until Roach leaves to get on another bus. Duncan finds a nearby store and asks if they have a pay phone.

Duncan calls Wayne and asks him to pick a lock. Duncan asserts that he’ll be the one who goes into the house in question, and Wayne agrees.

Wayne arrives, and Duncan tells him about Roach. Wayne asks why he and Vinny excluded him but doesn’t take it to heart. It starts raining as Wayne knocks on the front door (so as to not startle any elderly potentially in the house).

Wayne picks the lock. It smells like ammonia inside, and there’s a padlocked door leading downstairs. There’s also an old woman seated in front of a TV. If Roach’s journal is true, this is the woman who imprisoned him. Duncan sees captions on the TV and thinks she’s deaf. Wayne wants to leave. He opens the padlock and goes outside to wait for Duncan.

Downstairs, there are jars of formaldehyde on a table, containing animal parts and corpses. There are also pictures of anorexic woman on the walls, rodent skulls on the window ledge, and a police scanner. Duncan spots a stack of papers with the same handwriting from the journal as well as photos of the same women. He sees another door with a small opening in it. He opens the door. There is nothing inside but an empty bucket.

Someone starts coming down the stairs. Duncan hides in the closet. Roach looks at the closet door, knife in hand. Duncan explodes out and Roach blocks his path. He hits Roach with the bar used to hold the closet door shut and escapes upstairs and out the door. Roach continues to chase him. Duncan fails to locate Wayne, falls, and twists his ankle. Roach catches up with him on a subway platform.

Roach knocks Duncan off the platform. He tries to get back up, but Roach kicks him. Duncan hides under the platform.

Chapter 31 is a newspaper article reading “SUBWAY ASSAULT ENDS IN DEATH” (192). It describes a man getting hit and killed by a train. It mentions two men fighting but does not specify which of them died.

Duncan survived, but has a concussion, a broken forearm, and multiple stitches. Roach—Scott Weber—was the one killed. During his interrogation by the police, Duncan acts confused, using his concussion as an excuse. As it turns out, witnesses saw Roach chase him. There was also a previous assault charge against Roach by a prostitute (who declined to testify). Duncan’s parents and Wayne visit the hospital; the latter explains that he took refuge from the rain in a nearby store on the day of and failed to see Roach return—but witnessed the chase.

Duncan falls asleep but wakes to a familiar smell: Kim. He tells her he misses her before falling asleep again. When he wakes again, her scent lingers.

Duncan returns to work two weeks later. The cops no longer pester him. At home, the family holds a big barbecue—and Duncan burns the journal to start the fire.

Duncan and Vinny sneak into the public pool at night. Duncan dives to the bottom. He holds his breath and waits for screams, but hears nothing. He formally apologizes to Maya and tells Vinny that she’s no longer down there.