Willi does not respond to Wrecker’s texts for a week. Roger gets sicker and sicker with COVID and has to be hospitalized. Wrecker goes to see his mother; surprisingly, she gives him a check for Suzanne’s activist group. Carole also says that Wrecker’s father is in town. Wrecker goes to a tavern called The Boar, where Breakwater is scheduled to perform. He tries to confront his father, but Breakwater says they can talk after his set.

As Wrecker watches his father’s brief and uninspired show, he admires his courage at getting up in front of people to sing. Afterward, he compliments Breakwater, but he makes it clear that the man is a coward for abandoning Carole and Wrecker. Breakwater makes self-centered excuses for his behavior and describes his excitement about how well his new song is doing. He mentions that the band The Eagles is threatening to sue him over the song’s similarity to their “Tequila Sunrise.” Fed up with his father’s selfishness, Wrecker gets going.

Wrecker goes to the cemetery, but one of Silver Mustache’s thugs turns him away at the gate, claiming that the cemetery is reserved all night. Nearby, Willi quietly calls out to him from a hiding spot. She was skateboarding near the cemetery when the men there spotted her. They were angry so she hid. He tells Willi to get on his bike with him and ferries her a few blocks away to safety. He asks why she has not been in touch, and she says she has been at a spring soccer camp.

After Willi departs, Wrecker heads for the docks. Since the purple go-fast’s owners are at the cemetery, he sneaks aboard to investigate. He is shocked to see an assault rifle inside the cabin. He hears the men coming down the pier, and hurriedly gets away before they spot him.

Suzanne announces that Friends of Blue Waters is organizing a blockade of the harbor to prevent the first post-lockdown cruise ship from docking in Key West. Although the locals have voted to prevent the cruise ships from returning, the Florida state government in Tallahassee has overridden their referendum. Mr. Riley calls Wrecker to ask why Sarah’s grave was not cleaned overnight, and Wrecker explains about the men blocking the entrance. Wrecker sees how upset the elderly man is and immediately gathers his supplies to clean the grave.

School is back to meeting in person. Wrecker arrives late. At lunch, he tries to ask a friend of Willi’s where she is, but the girl scoffs at the idea that Wrecker and Willi might be friends and refuses to give him any information. After school, he heads for his boat. Willi is waiting there for him. Out on the water, they see that a boat has hit one of the channel markers. Wrecker knows it must have been a big boat traveling fast in the dark.

Willi has not been in contact because she is going through something she wants to keep private. She is afraid of the men at the cemetery, so Wrecker tells her that their boss has been paying him to keep an eye on Vachs’s crypt. As they pass the broken channel marker again, Wrecker sees the tell-tale sheen of oil on the water’s surface. He stops his skiff and dives into the water.

Under the surface, Wrecker sees the sunken purple go-fast boat. He is nowhere near as proficient a diver as his ancestors who salvaged wrecks. He can only make brief passes before his lungs start to burn. On one dive, he encounters a five-foot nurse shark; startled by Wrecker, the shark darts away. To his relief, he sees that there is no one aboard the sunken go-fast. He finds many mysterious pizza-box-shaped packages wrapped in blue waterproof tarp and duct tape. He manages to retrieve five before Willi sees a cabin cruiser coming and sounds the alarm.

Wrecker sails his small boat out toward the open sea. He navigates to shore alongside a shrimp trawler to hide from the cabin cruiser. After he moors his skiff at the docks, he bikes home, with Willi on his handlebars. Willi wants to get rid of the five boxes from the wreck, but Wrecker is thinking of keeping them so that he has leverage over Silver Mustache. They stash the boxes in Suzanne’s garden shed. Late that night, after Suzanne is asleep, he sneaks out and opens one of the boxes.

Several weeks later, when school is out for the summer, Roger is still in a Miami hospital; his daughter Suzanne is there with him. Wrecker has not heard from either Willi or Silver Mustache. Willi is out of touch because she is angry that he will not tell her what is in the pizza boxes, but not hearing from Silver Mustache makes Wrecker nervous. Wrecker takes a part-time job as a stocker at a local grocery store. He spends time in the area where Cabeza was lynched. He cannot understand how such a thing could happen in Key West, where he has never been subjected to any serious racism.

Finally, Silver Mustache texts that he wants to meet and appears in a silver Mercedes. Silver Mustache is banged up from the go-fast wreck—but Silver Mustache claims that he was in a car accident. When he comments on Wrecker’s summer job at the grocery store, Wrecker angrily asks whether he is spying on him. Silver Mustache answers that Key West is a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

Silver Mustache asks whether Wrecker has heard anything about boxes washing up on the island. Wrecker feigns ignorance. At the cemetery, Silver Mustache walks with a crutch. Wrecker notices that the date on Vachs’s grave is still wrong. Silver Mustache insists on giving Wrecker $200 for keeping watch over the grave for the past few weeks.

The next morning, Wrecker is startled to discover Willi in his bedroom. She is not leaving until he shows her what is inside the boxes. He explains that the go-fast belonged to the men from the graveyard and that their boss is keeping tabs on Wrecker. He takes Willi to the shed and shows her what is in the boxes: forged COVID vaccination cards, intended to be sold to people who want to work and travel without actually getting immunized against the virus.

Roger’s condition is upgraded and he is allowed to have family visits. Carole asks Wrecker to come to Miami for a visit; he resists, so she accuses him of being unwilling to leave Key West. That night, in the graveyard, Willi tells Wrecker that she saw two grave robbers at Vachs’s crypt. She shows Wrecker the smashed-in crypt door and tells him the men were frightened off by a siren and took off in a red Hummer. Wrecker snaps a photo before giving Willi a ride home on his bike.

As before, Willi gets off on a street near her house instead of letting Wrecker take her all the way home. This time, she twists her ankle as she dismounts, so Wrecker helps her walk. It turns out that she lives in a huge estate; Wrecker thinks that she has been trying to hide her family’s wealth. He is surprised when she kisses him on the cheek before going inside.

Wrecker returns to the cemetery and texts Silver Mustache the photo of Vachs’s crypt. Soon, Silver Mustache joins him. He is furious. Wrecker tells Silver Mustache what he knows about the vandals. Silver Mustache’s underlings arrive to board up the crypt door. Silver Mustache tells his men to guard the crypt until dawn and drives off with Wrecker.

Wrecker tells Silver Mustache that he has heard rumor about the missing packages: They were picked up by a shrimper from Galveston, Texas, and contain vaccination cards. Silver Mustache gives Wrecker more money and drops him back off at the cemetery. Wrecker sees fresh flowers on Cabeza’s grave and realizes that the black-haired girl must have been in the cemetery tonight, as well.