Exhausted and angry, Flak meets with his staff, Schroeder, and Boyette 12 hours after the execution. They need to get Boyette to Joplin, Missouri. Boyette assures Flak he can lead them directly to the remote spot where he buried Nicole’s body in a large metal toolbox from his construction job. They head to Missouri.

There, they recover the buried box. Boyette smugly unlocks it—finding it vindicates everything he has been saying. What they find is gruesome—the body is now little more than bones and pieces of fabric. They record the proceedings on camera. There is no doubt this is Nicole—her driver’s license and MasterCard are with her.

Donté’s family gathers for his funeral service.

Boyette has another seizure and is rushed to a Joplin hospital, with Schroeder accompanying. Meanwhile Flak waits for the sheriff. At the ER, doctors recommend keeping Boyette overnight for observation. When Schroeder and the doctors head to the third-floor room to check on Boyette, they find his room empty. Boyette is gone.

Flak phones his office and confirms finding the body. Because Texas will never admit a judicial error, Boyette will most likely be charged in Missouri. Flak acknowledges bitterly that “Koffee, Kerber, Judge Vivian Grale, the jurors, the appellate judges, the governor” (403) will never face charges.