Tommy confronts Mary-Beth. He claims to know who killed Calvin: Tracey, a woman he identifies as Birdie Chang’s “special friend.” Tommy alleges that Tracey was seen at the Palmyra, a bar near Calvin’s facility, hours before the murder. He also claims that the police are keeping him updated on the case. 

Tommy also admits that he had been secretly visiting and calling Calvin, which Mary-Beth feels as a betrayal of the private relationship she believed she had with her son. Tommy explains that Calvin had told him about people named Harrison and Lavender who were also at the Palmyra. He claims that he showed Harrison a photo of Tracey and that Harrison said she “probably did it” (140). Shaken by the news of Calvin’s secret life, Mary-Beth struggles to process Tommy’s accusations.

Birdie goes to a Seattle bar with Havi and her friends Agnes and Koyote. While there, the women discover that Calvin apparently died in a car accident. Birdie is immediately unsettled and worried that foul play might be involved. She feels a pressing need for an alibi and allows the women to take photos of her. Birdie reflects on her past wishes for Calvin to be dead and contemplates what her life will finally be like without the constant threat of him.

In a flashback, Linzie meets with Yale, whom her father has hired as a ghostwriter, to work on her memoir. Yale dismisses Linzie’s actual life story as “boring” and begins fabricating a more marketable narrative. He invents a new backstory in which Linzie received the call from the reality TV program The Dating Show at an airport while on her way to visit her mother, Irene, who he decides lives on a sustainable farm in Buffalo. 

This erases the truth: Linzie was working at a mall makeup counter when she learned about the show, and her mother had a substance addiction and has been missing for years. Yale insists that they must craft a compelling story, telling Linzie that while her life is uninteresting, the “bad stuff” involving Calvin is “gold” and will sell the book. He explains that overcoming one big trauma makes a hero, but two or three more means the reader will think “the problem’s probably you” (156).

In a letter to Birdie, Calvin states that his counselors believe he has a “death drive.” He questions the severity of his abuse of her, asking Birdie why she came to his house after knowing what he had done to her friend Francine. He denies Linzie’s claim that he specifically targeted “weak” girls. He expresses self-pity, describing a near-death experience he suffered while he was unhoused under the Julia Tuttle Bridge. He directs extreme, violent hatred toward Linzie, writing that she “should die.” The letter ends with Calvin suggesting that Linzie’s book could be an opportunity for him and Birdie to get “back on the same page” (159).

Birdie spends the night at Havi’s apartment but asks Havi not to tell Trace that she came to the reading. The conversation becomes tense when Havi reveals that she knows Birdie once cheated on Trace with a man. Birdie recalls the incident, remembering that she sought out the encounter to reclaim a sense of control after receiving an email from Calvin in which he questioned her sexuality. Havi admits that she has already told Trace that Birdie is at her apartment. Birdie calls a crying Trace, who delivers shocking news: Calvin wasn’t killed in a car accident; he was murdered.

An official intake form from 2012 for Calvin Boyer at the Gateway to Grace facility provides a clinical overview of his case. It records his age of attraction as girls aged six to 12 and notes his preference for the term “pedophilic disorder.” The form details his court-ordered GPS electronic monitor and secure continuous remote alcohol monitor (SCRAM) and a previous, severe case of septic malleolar bursitis caused by a prior monitor. It states that his mother is supportive, while his relationship with his father is “complicated.” The form highlights Calvin’s paranoia and fixation on a book being written about him. A diagnosis of potential narcissistic personality disorder is noted, but the report concludes that he’s a strong candidate for the program with a high probability of success.

On what would have been Calvin’s 36th birthday, Mary-Beth and Syl bring a cake to the Gateway facility. Mary-Beth privately acknowledges that without Linzie’s book, no one would care about her son, and that Linzie represents hope for any possibility of interest or an answer. Betty organizes a memorial meeting for Calvin with other residents. During the service, a resident named Zephyr praises Calvin as a mentor. The men then recite a vow, identifying themselves as “Minor Attracted Person[s]” who choose to be “virtuous” and will not harm children (178). While Mary-Beth feels a sense of community, Syl is visibly shaken and horrified by the ceremony.

The next morning, Birdie takes the ferry back to Whidbey Island. She remembers Rich, the stranger she met on her first ferry ride, and wonders about his connection to Calvin’s death. She recalls that the police eventually found a videotape that Calvin had made of her abuse but not the tapes he made of other children. 

Back at the farm, Thelma confronts Birdie for leaving without notice. She says that Birdie’s mother, Wendy, called a number of times while she was gone. To end the uncomfortable conversation, Birdie says that her mother called to let her know that her father died, a claim that sits uneasily against what she told Havi the night before: Her father died of stomach cancer when she was 11.