Shauna is ready to go into makeup for a shoot when she receives an envelope. In the bathroom, she meets Elizabeth and notices how “the brunette wig, the weight loss, the wire-framed spectacles—none of it altered the obvious” (296). Elizabeth initially wants Shauna to convince David that she has died for his own safety. However, Shauna says that it is too late for that because they have already seen the autopsy. Moreover, Shauna says Elizabeth has to stay around for David’s sake because without her, it is as though “he’s already dead” (297). Elizabeth says that Shauna should tell David the codeword “Dolphin” (298) and that he will understand where to meet her.

David asks Tyrese and Brutus to drive him to the Parkers’ residence. Hoyt asks who is at the door—a new way of behaving for a man who “preferred direct confrontation” (300). When David finds Hoyt in the kitchen, Hoyt asks David if he is armed. When he pats David down, the Glock skids across the linoleum. He asks if David is there to kill him. Then he takes the gun and points it straight at David’s chest. David confronts Hoyt, asking him whose body they cremated, as Elizabeth is still alive.