This chapter consists of Mrs. Bainbridge’s written testimonial addressed to Doogan. She begins by sharing a 1930 newspaper clipping about Iris’s death. She confirms that seven-year-old Iris died after falling down a laundry chute at the Claremont Hotel, leaving six-year-old Isabella traumatized and mute for months. Mrs. Bainbridge also provides background about her own life, describing her marriage to her husband, Lionel, and the births of their children, Sadie and John.

Mrs. Bainbridge characterizes Sadie as possessing great beauty and constantly seeking attention, including inappropriate behavior with an artist. Due to an unplanned pregnancy, Sadie married Roger Stafford hastily and gave birth to Iris. Following the births of both her daughters, Sadie had severe postpartum depression. A family friend suggested psychiatric treatment with Dr. von Urban, and Sadie appeared to recover under his care. She became friends with his wife, Tillie, and the two women began playing tennis together at the Claremont Hotel, which Sadie enjoyed. It was during one of these visits that Iris died.

Sullivan drives to the Stafford mansion in San Francisco to speak with Isabella Stafford. While Chief Greening told him that he could not summon the Bainbridge girls to the station, Sullivan reasons that he didn’t say anything about going to question them. Sullivan has Miriam with him since Rosemary had a personal emergency that prevented her from coming home the previous night. He leaves Miriam in the car while he goes to talk to Isabella. 

To his surprise, Sullivan discovers that Isabella is the reporter who met him the previous night. Isabella claims to be excited that she is a suspect in the murder, but her alibi lines up with Nicole’s: She says that she was in Sonoma with her cousins at the time of the murder. She tells Sullivan that she met Wilkinson only once—at a party at Madame Chiang’s house, which is where she also learned that they were having an affair. She says that Nicole was at the party as well. As Sullivan leaves the house, he notices a painting of Isabella and Iris as young girls, and he realizes that the deceased Iris resembles the girl from his recent nightmare.

On his car radio, Sullivan receives a call from an officer who tells him that Jane Chao, a Chinese woman who checked into the Claremont Hotel on the day of Wilkinson’s murder, has gone missing. They trace her address to Berkeley, and Sullivan drives to her residence with Miriam still in the car. On the way, Sullivan tells her about why he became a police officer: He wanted to escape his rough family background by crossing what he terms as the “suspicion line.” 

At a rough public housing complex in Berkeley, Sullivan discovers Jane’s body in her apartment; she has been hacked to death with a hatchet. Sullivan suspects that one of Chinatown’s tongs might have had a hand in the killing since they use hatchets. The forensics lab reports that the Dy-Dee doll found at Wilkinson’s crime scene bears Jane’s fingerprints. 

Miriam is disturbed by the murder, and Sullivan feels bad that she was exposed to it. He drops her off at the store she works at before driving to the Bainbridge family’s country house in Sonoma. He finds Cassie there, butchering an animal. When Sullivan attempts to question her, Cassie repeats the same alibi as Isabella and Nicole, saying that she was at the country house with them on the night of the murder. When Sullivan attempts to question her further, she becomes evasive and escapes through a hidden basement exit. Sullivan can do nothing about this since he doesn’t have a warrant for her arrest.

The narrative shifts to Mrs. Bainbridge’s testimonial. She describes her son, John, and his wife, Justyna, as parents who fail to properly care for their children, Cassie and Nicole. She then focuses on her granddaughter Cassie’s character, portraying her as a fearless hunter who shows no fear in dangerous situations.

When Cassie was 16, she shot a pregnant doe during a hunting expedition. Upon realizing that the doe was in labor, Cassie performed an emergency cesarean section using her hunting knife, successfully delivering the newborn fawn. Over her father’s objections, Cassie insisted on keeping the rescued fawn. The caretaker’s daughter, Yuko Sasaki, offered to raise the fawn at the Bainbridge country house since Cassie could not keep it herself. Cassie agreed and handed the fawn over to Yuko, displaying emotional attachment to the animal she had saved.

Miriam is still staying with Sullivan since Rosemary hasn’t yet come home. At eight o’clock in the morning, Isabella arrives at Sullivan’s apartment unannounced, catching him off guard. Embarrassed by his humble living conditions, Sullivan responds rudely and dismisses her, asking her to come to his office during visiting hours if she needs to speak with him. 

After dropping Miriam off at school, Sullivan travels to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Andrew to investigate reports of a monk seen near the hotel on the night of the murder. Father Johmann confirms that Brother Gratian regularly delivers honey to the hotel but explains that the monk has taken a vow of silence. Sullivan attempts to question Brother Gratian, who refuses to speak and only stares at Sullivan silently from under the hood of his cassock. Sullivan then searches his quarters but finds no evidence of any wrongdoing. 

When he returns to his office, he discovers that Isabella has been waiting for him. She presents Sullivan with a theory about the murder: She says that a source told her that Wilkinson had planned to advise the US government against supporting Madame Chiang’s husband, giving Madame Chiang a political motive for murder. She says that they must have used Jane Chao to carry out the murder. 

Isabella then apologizes for showing up at his house and asks about Miriam. Despite his irritation at what he sees as her condescending interest in their lives, Sullivan finds her attractive. Before she leaves, Sullivan asks her if she was the one who was in Wilkinson’s room on the night of the murder, but Isabella denies it, saying that she was with her cousins. She also claims to have no knowledge of Cassie’s whereabouts.

The narrative returns to Mrs. Bainbridge’s deposition. She explains that her three granddaughters formed an unusually close bond due to their parents’ emotional absence. She provides character assessments: Nicole possesses intelligence but suffers from self-delusion, while Cassie displays “tomboy” characteristics and practical skills. Mrs. Bainbridge then focuses on Isabella’s psychological development following Iris’s death.

At age eight, Isabella wrote numerous letters to her supposedly hospitalized mother, Sadie, despite never receiving responses. Isabella later discovered that Sadie had been discharged for weeks and was socializing around the city while ignoring her daughter’s attempts at communication. Feeling deeply unwanted, Isabella found comfort in her grandmother, who told her that she was “like steel, forged in fire” (134). This helped foster Isabella’s resilience, and she eventually became outgoing and daring. However, she also developed her skills as a liar since she used deception as a survival mechanism and a tool of power. Despite everything, she remains loyal to Sadie, who still lives with Isabella.