Moose tries his best to steer clear of Piper and Annie warns him that he needs to watch himself because “she’s planning something” (159). “On Wednesday I find out Piper has given Scout 105’s baseball, and then she’s stopped talking to Scout” (159). Scout admits to Moose later that Piper is “more trouble than she’s worth” (159).

Piper corners Moose after school, asking for his help with 105 because he will not talk with her— Piper desperately wants to meet Al Capone and fraternizing with other prisoners seems to be her only way of getting close to him. She is hoping to convince Moose to let Natalie talk with the prisoner while Moose and Piper spy on them. As a result of her sleuthing, she has found out that 105 is on gardening detail and that he only has about six months left on his sentence, which is why he’s been given so much freedom. Piper believes the prisoner is a good guy, but Moose just wants to keep Natalie safe until she gets into the Esther P. Marinoff School.

Piper asks the inevitable question: “what if [Natalie] doesn’t get in?” (163). Moose admits that “this is the question [his] whole family has been avoiding.