That afternoon, Chief Inspector Evariste Pilon becomes involved in the case. Pilon is a “great detective,” but the irrationalities of the cases he takes in Martinique tend to frustrate him. He arrives on the scene of Solibo’s death, and he is greeted by Chief Sergeant Bouaffesse, whose work he feels amounts to “a tropical delirium” (77). Pilon examines the scene, noting the blood from the attack on Doudou-Ménar. Pilon is not impressed with Bouaffesse’s failure to preserve the crime scene.

The audience observes Pilon through the bars of the police van, where they are being detained. Sidonise, the sherbet vendor who once had a romantic relationship with Solibo, begins to tell the audience a story. She says that the day before, she bought a shark from a fishing boat, intending to make stew. While leaving the dock, she saw Solibo and invited him over to cook and eat with her. He ended up preparing the stew and the rice. As he began to cook, the smell attracted the neighbors, who camped out in the kitchen, waiting to taste the shark stew. They all ate together. After the guests left, Solibo told Sidonise that he had never forgotten her, and she began to cry. When the story ends, the audience returns to the reality that they are in the police van.

Pilon and the medical inspector, Dr. Siromiel, examine Solibo’s body. Bouaffesse tells them that Solibo died after yelling “Patat’ sa!” He tells them that the body was cold when he arrived. Siromiel does a preliminary examination of the body, concluding that Solibo died of asphyxiation but was otherwise in good health. He rules it a suspicious death, and the inspectors begin to collect evidence. Pilon informs Bouaffesse of the doctor’s assessment. Bouaffesse thinks Solibo was poisoned.

Suddenly, Doudou-Ménar, “the Big Bag,” (86) storms back onto the scene and attacks Diab-Anba-Feuilles. Bouaffesse intervenes and punches Doudou-Ménar in the head. She turns and begins to attack Bouaffesse. The other policemen attack her until she collapses. The paramedics are reluctant to intervene because the police beat them earlier in the day for attempting to help. Siromiel attempts CPR, but Doudou-Ménar is dead. Diab-Anba-Feuilles “staggers” upright; he is alive. Siromiel returns his attention to Solibo’s body and notes that there are no typical signs of poisoning. He also notes how strange it is that ants have covered the body.

Bouaffesse is shocked to realize that Doudou-Ménar is dead. He tells Pilon that she was experiencing mental illness. The paramedics take Doudou-Ménar’s body away.

Then the paramedics attempt to take away Solibo’s body, but they cannot lift it because it suddenly weighs a ton and a half, then two tons, then five tons. The police begin to pray and touch their quimbois amulets. Diab-Anba-Feuilles begins to call for holy water. Pilon is shocked at being confronted with “one of our local mysteries” (92). Bouaffesse decides to call for a crane.

Pilon goes to the police van where the suspects are being held. When he opens the door, two of them attempt to escape before Bouaffesse violently stops them. Bouaffesse tells Pilon that the suspects had been drinking, so Pilon arrests them all for public intoxication. While they process the suspects, Pilon and Bouaffesse attempt to glean information about them and from them. Bouaffesse acts as an interpreter between Pilon and the suspects who only speak Creole. Pilon argues that he speaks Creole, and Bouaffesse asks why Pilon only speaks and writes in “polished French.”

The suspects all agree that “the word slit [Solibo’s] throat” (96). However, they cannot provide details about the times when specific events took place because they do not pay attention to rationalized time. They measure the passing of events differently. When Pilon asks why they did not react when the storyteller stopped speaking, they reply that “silence is speech” (98), so they did not worry immediately. They explain that when they noticed Solibo was dead, they attempted to revive him and sent Doudou-Ménar to get help.

After the questioning, the suspects are again detained in the police van. Bouaffesse and Pilon return to Solibo’s body. Bouaffesse looks more closely at the ants and realizes they are manioc ants. He is shocked, because manioc ants only live in Guadeloupe. One of the police concludes that they must be “ants disguised as manioc ants” (102). Pilon refuses to get dragged into the question of the ants. Instead, he considers the crime scene and concludes that none of the members of the audience reacted when Solibo collapsed because they came to watch Solibo die.

The tow truck arrives to lift Solibo’s body. However, when they begin to lift it, they realize that Solibo’s body is now “lighter than sugar cane ashes” (103). Bouaffesse begins to twirl around Solibo’s body like a baton. The other policemen join in. Meanwhile, the suspects watch them treating Solibo’s body like a toy. They know that this is not the proper way to care for the dead.

One of the suspects, La Fièvre, begins to tell the others another story about Solibo. He tells them that Ma Gnam was left alone in her old age because her children went to France, and Solibo often came to spend time with her. When she died, Solibo stopped her from being taken away and embalmed. Instead, he wanted to give her a traditional funeral. He invited the whole marketplace to her home, where a repast was held. People sang songs, ate, and told stories about Ma Gnam. The police arrived to break up the celebration, but Solibo held them off with his words. Then, another police van arrived, “led by a French officer” (107). The cops beat the guests and threw Solibo in jail. When La Fièvre finishes his story, the suspects return to watching the cops toy with Solibo’s body.

In a rage, Congo breaks the window with his forehead and wails in Creole, “So there’s no respect anymore?!” (108). Bouaffesse enters the van and asks Congo why he acted as he did. Congo replies, “People can’t live without respect” (109). Bouaffesse insults the old man and accuses him of poisoning Solibo. Pilon intervenes and reminds Bouaffesse to follow procedure. Finally, Solibo’s body is put on a stretcher in the ambulance, and the suspects are taken to the police station for further questioning.