Content Warning: The source material contains discussion of suicide.

“Dickie” receives a letter from the Roman police, asking him to return to answer more questions. He begins packing immediately, not to return to Rome but to flee. He realizes that he will have to get rid of Dickie’s possessions and reassume the identity of Tom Ripley. He decides to travel north of Rome, buy a used car, and then drive back into Rome, telling the police he had been traveling through Italy for the past few months. The idea of becoming Tom again depresses him. He decides to keep a few things of Dickie’s that are not monogrammed or that people will not remember. He also decides to send the rest of Dickie’s possessions to the American Express office in Venice under a different name, so that he can reclaim them some time in the future. The only things he keeps that are recognizably Dickie’s are his rings, which Tom puts into a box with odds and ends he has collected over the years.

Tom travels north and buys a car near Verona. He spends that night sleeping in the car, for authenticity, and then goes to Venice.