Ellie Dockerty tells Jake that she knows his references are fake. She attempted to get his immunization records from his previous employers in Maine, but they had never heard of him. His actions have placed himself and the school at risk of legal action from the State Board of Education. However, since he refused to take on another contract, she believes no one needs to know. Jake asks her to please encourage Sadie to be careful of the possible return of Johnny Clayton. Sadie refuses to see him on the last day of class, but Mike and Bobbi Jill give him the gift of a monogrammed pen.

Jake rents the small house across from the Mercedes Street house the Oswalds will soon move into. The first few weeks are quiet and filled with the desperation of his neighbors. He thinks often of Sadie and what he might say to her should he tell her the truth. When he goes to the airport to watch Lee Harvey and Marina Oswald arrive in Texas, he sees Sadie board a plan for Reno. Jake watches Robert Oswald and his family escort Lee Harvey and his family through the airport. Jake witnesses Lee Harvey’s cruelty toward Marina when he chastises her for swaddling the baby, June.